Abstract
The health and safety (H&S) of construction workers has been a subject of much deliberation for
decades. However, there is scant literature focusing on aspects of workers’ safety performance
(SP) relating to their unhealthy and unsafe eating behavior. The paper presents findings on a
principal components analysis (PCA) of H&S performance measures. A 10-item questionnaire
which was developed after an extensive literature review was used to collect empirical data on SP
of construction workers in the Gauteng Province of South Africa. Results showed that SP could
be reasonably measured by two constructs. The two constructs were clearly defined by the PCA
as trailing and prevailing. The emerged trailing measures were named lagging indicators while the
prevailing ones were designated as leading indicators. The results lend support to extant literature
which advocates the use of both leading and lagging safety performance indicators for effectively
assessing construction workers’ safety performance. The study provides evidence which could be
beneficial in psychometric evaluation of construction workers’ safety performance and behaviours
on construction sites.