Building a Safety Culture: The Role of Leadership and Safety Climate on CPO Production Operators in Palm Oil Companies in South Kalimantan

Workplace accidents in the palm oil industry, particularly involving Crude Palm Oil (CPO) processing operators, have shown an upward trend, manifesting in incidents such as unit collisions, slips, and overturning. These incidents are primarily attributed to inadequate safety behavior among workers. This study aims to investigate the influence of safety leadership on safety behavior, both directly and indirectly through safety climate as a mediating variable. Using a quantitative approach, the study surveyed 223 CPO operators selected through simple random sampling. Data were collected via structured questionnaires and analyzed using Structural Equation Modeling with Partial Least Squares (SEM-PLS) in SmartPLS 3.0. The findings reveal that: (1) safety leadership significantly influences safety behavior, (2) safety leadership positively affects safety climate, (3) safety climate significantly contributes to safety behavior, and (4) safety climate mediates the relationship between leadership and behavior. These results emphasize the pivotal role of leadership and a supportive safety climate in cultivating a safety culture and promoting compliant behavior among CPO operators in South Kalimantan's palm oil sector.