Exploring the Effect of Safety Leadership and Safety Performance in Solid Waste Management Industry: Supporting SDGs

This study is motivated by the essential role that solid waste management (SWM) plays in advancing the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), specifically in fostering sustainable cities and communities (SDG 11) and promoting health and well-being (SDG 3). The contributions of SWM workers are fundamental to achieving these sustainability goals, as they actively support waste management and environmental initiatives. Therefore, ensuring the safety and well-being of SWM workers is critical to sustaining SWM efforts and advancing the SDGs. However, workplace accidents—often resulting from unsafe practices—pose ongoing challenges in the sector, highlighting the need to understand factors that influence worker safety behavior. Safety leadership, particularly through supervisory coaching, concern, and proactive monitoring, has been recognized as an effective driver of safety performance. This study investigates how these aspects of safety leadership impact safety behaviors and accident reduction among SWM workers engaged in public sanitation—an area with limited prior research. Data were analyzed through structural equation modeling using partial least squares (PLS-SEM). Results indicate that safety leadership, as demonstrated through coaching, concern, and monitoring, significantly influences safety behaviors among SWM workers. Furthermore, both coaching and monitoring show particularly strong effects in reducing accident rates within the company. This study examines the impact of safety leadership dimensions—coaching, concern, and monitoring—on safety behaviors and accident reduction among solid waste management (SWM) workers in Kedah, Malaysia. Leveraging Social Exchange Theory and Accident Causation Theory, the research reveals that while coaching and monitoring significantly reduce accidents, the influence of safety concern was unexpectedly limited. These findings provide theoretical insights and practical recommendations for enhancing safety performance in high-risk industries, supporting Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) such as health (SDG 3) and sustainable cities (SDG 11)