Behavioural Determinants of Occupational Safety Compliance among Oil and Gas Workers in Nigeria's South-South Region: A Structural Equation Modelling Approach

Abstract

Occupational accidents remain persistently high in Nigeria's oil and gas industry despite substantial investments in engineering controls, safety management systems, and regulatory frameworks, yet existing research has predominantly focused on technical and procedural dimensions with limited empirical attention to behavioural determinants of safety compliance in developing economy contexts. This study therefore investigated the influence of safety motivation, safety climate, and risk perception on occupational safety compliance among oil and gas workers in Nigeria’s South‑South region using Structural Equation Modelling (SEM). A cross‑sectional survey design was adopted involving 416 oil and gas workers (198 direct employees, 218 contract workers) drawn from offshore platforms, onshore flow stations, and swamp/mangrove operational environments across Rivers, Delta, Bayelsa, and Akwa Ibom States. Data were collected using the validated Behavioural Factors and Occupational Health and Safety Management Scale (BFOHS‑MS). Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) and Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) were conducted using AMOS v.28 and SmartPLS 4.0, and mediation was tested using bootstrap resampling (5,000 resamples) with bias‑corrected confidence intervals. The measurement model demonstrated acceptable fit (CFI=0.93, TLI=0.92, RMSEA=0.058, SRMR=0.047). Safety motivation emerged as the strongest predictor of safety compliance (β=0.42, p<0.001), followed by safety climate (β=0.35, p<0.001) and risk perception (β=0.21, p=0.003). Safety motivation partially mediated the relationship between safety climate and safety compliance (indirect effect β=0.18, 95% CI: 0.12‑0.24, p<0.001), accounting for 40% of the total effect. Contract workers demonstrated significantly lower safety compliance scores compared to direct employees (β=‑0.48, p<0.001), and the model explained 58% of the variance in safety compliance (R²=0.58). We conclude that behavioural and organisational variables—particularly safety motivation, safety climate, and risk perception—are critical determinants of occupational safety compliance within Nigeria’s petroleum sector; interventions should prioritise enhancing intrinsic safety motivation and strengthening organisational safety climate alongside engineering controls, and contract workers represent a vulnerable subgroup requiring targeted behavioural interventions.