THE CONNECTION BETWEEN SAFETY COMPLIANCE BEHAVIOUR, SAFETY COMMUNICATION AND SAFETY STANDARD AND PROCEDURE: AN INVESTIGATION AMONG WORKERS IN MALAYSIAN SME'S

Small and medium enterprises are in the midst of enhancing Malaysia's GDP in recent years, despite the uncertain world economic conditions. In 2019, it is expected that 41 per cent of the country's GDP is contributed by SMEs, especially SMEs based on halal products and services. Around 70% from 19 million of the employment in Malaysia have formed in the SME firms, with not less than 5% of them employed by SME's manufacturing companies. On the contrary, statistics on occupational accidents in Malaysia do not record significant alterations in aggregate. Nevertheless, the manufacturing sector remains a major contributor to the highest pace of industrial accidents in Malaysia. Based on reports announced by the authorities' agencies, more than half of occupational accidents in Malaysia are due to employee negligence and unsafe behaviour while working. This study focused on identifying the link between safety rules and procedures; and safety communication in determining the workers' safety compliance behaviour. A study utilizing a questionnaire was carried out involving 382 respondents from 50 small and medium manufacturing companies in Kedah, Malaysia. Then, the data were analysed using SPSS that involved data screening and hypothesis testing. The findings demonstrate that safety communication and safety rules and the procedure substantially correlated with safety compliance behaviour. The result of this study would provide the small and medium manufacturing companies with supplementary information on workplace safety, thus creating a safer and healthier working environment.