SAFETY MANAGEMENT PRACTICES AND EMPLOYEE TURNOVER INTENTIONS. A SURVEY OF CONSTRUCTION EMPLOYEES IN BAYELSA STATE, NIGERIA
The link between safety management practices and turnover intentions among construction employees in Bayelsa State have had little or no empirical backing. This study therefore probed the empirical link between safety management practices and turnover intentions among construction employees in Bayelsa State. To achieve this, the survey design was adopted and the questionnaire was used to generate relevant data. The respondents to the questionnaire comprised 212 workers drawn from five construction companies based in Bayelsa State. Data collected was analyzed with descriptive and inferential statistics, thus the hypotheses were tested using the Spearman’s RHO with the aid of the statistical package for the social sciences (SPSS). The results indicated a negative and significant relationship between all the safety management variables and employees’ turnover intentions. Consequently, it was established that there is a significant link between safety management practices and turnover intentions of employee in the studied organization. The study thus established that improvements in safety management practices will result in lower employee turnover in construction firms. It was thus recommended that there should be total commitment of executives and the entire workforce to the improvement of safe work practices in the company as this will minimize accidents and fatalities, foster employee satisfaction and reduce labour turnover.
Keywords: Safety management, turnover intentions, safety performance, safety training, management commitment to safety.
