Thirty years of safety climate research: reflections and future directions

Understanding the organizational performance metric, an occupational health and safety management tool, through workplace case studies

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to use a comparative qualitative case study design to better understand how the observed characteristics of an organization correspond to their score on the organizational performance metric (IWH-OPM), a leading indicator tool designed to measure an organization’s occupational health and safety (OHS) performance.

Design/methodology/approach

Five organizations were recruited based on their diverse IWH-OPM scores obtained in a previous study. Qualitative data were collected from these cases and analyzed with consideration of OHS leadership; OHS culture and climate; employee participation in OHS; OHS policies, procedures and practices; and OHS risk control. Similarities and differences among organizations were examined in relation to these themes.

Findings

Three distinct groups of firms emerged from the cross-case analysis in terms of their overall OHS performance: high, medium and low. Higher firm IWH-OPM scores generally corresponded to better OHS performance in the workplace as observed through qualitative methods.

Originality/value

The findings are a step toward OHS leaders or practitioners eventually being able, based on an organization’s IWH-OPM score, to have a quick understanding of a workplace’s OHS status and of how best to support further improvement.

"Be careful!" Perceptions of work-safety culture among hired Latinx child farmworkers in North Carolina

BACKGROUND

Children as young as 10 years of age can be hired to work on farms. Many of these hired child farmworkers are Latinx. Although these children experience high rates of injury, little research has addressed work-safety perceptions among hired Latinx child farmworkers.

METHODS

For this qualitative study, we conducted in-depth interviews in North Carolina in 2016 with 30 Latinx child farmworkers, ages 10 to 17. Our analysis used the work-safety culture conceptual framework to delineate their perceptions of the psychological, behavioral, and situational elements of safety culture.

RESULTS

The child farmworkers describe a weak work-safety culture. Psychologically, they understand that their parents want them to be safe, but they observe that safety is important to only a fraction of their supervisors and coworkers. Behaviorally, they recognize many of the hazards they confront while working, but it is not clear how well they use this knowledge to mitigate these hazards or to change their behaviors to avoid these hazards. Situationally, several children note that the only safety training they receive is the imperative to "be careful." Most receive little formal training, much of the training they receive is informally provided by family members and coworkers rather than supervisors, and their training is geared more toward how to complete a task than how to complete the task safely.

CONCLUSIONS

Child farmworkers perceive that work-safety culture is of limited importance in agriculture. Regulations are needed that improve work-safety culture in agriculture, especially for those vulnerable due to minority age.

Attitude to safety rules and reflexivity as determinants of safety climate

INTRODUCTION

We present two studies that focus on the relationship between safety rules and the safety climate. It is expected that a reasoned acceptance, namely one based on an understanding of the bases for the rules and a collective management of the rules, should benefit the climate.

METHOD

In an initial study (N = 202) employees replied to a questionnaire that measured the safety climate, the level of the relationship with the safety rules, and the understanding of their bases. The results highlighted the fact that a reasoned acceptance of the rules is associated with an understanding of their bases and predicts the level of safety. In a second study (N = 258) employees replied to a questionnaire measuring team reflexivity, the safety climate, and the level of relationship with the safety rules. We observed that collective management of the rules mediated the relation between team reflexivity and the safety climate.

RESULTS

The results are discussed from the point of view of their practical implications. Developing safety climate requires that operators are trained to understand the basis of safety rules and team reflexivity.

The dynamic interplay of physical and psychosocial safety climates in frontline healthcare

Little is known about how safety climates concerning physical safety and psychosocial safety interact in the prediction of working conditions and subsequent worker health. Frontline healthcare was selected as the setting for this study on the dynamic interplay between physical and psychosocial safety climates because of a recent call for attention to working conditions in this industry. Poor safety climates for healthcare workers spill over into adverse outcomes for worker health, and when workers are compromised, then so too is their provision of quality patient care. We developed an integrated model of the relationships between psychosocial and physical safety climates, working conditions, and health and safety outcomes. A multilevel model was tested (N = 463 workers nested within n = 60 teams), and lagged analysis was conducted across four time points, each 6 months apart. The combination of safety climates significantly predict objective outcomes from hospital safety system records on staff accidents, absence, and patient incidents (quality of care), suggesting a dynamic interplay in the prediction of impacts on the worker, organization, and end-user. Integrated physical and psychosocial safety climate measures can be incorporated into hospital occupational health and safety reporting and response systems as effective lead indicators and key performance metrics for work health and safety.

Predicting the probability of occupational fall incidents: a Bayesian network model for the oil industry

Purpose. The probability of being injured or killed from an occupational incident is much higher than a process mishap in the oil and gas industry. The aim of this study was to establish a model for predicting the probability of occupational fall incidents using Bayesian networks. Methods. The study was performed in a selected number of oil refineries. Bayesian network variables (n = 18) were identified using literature as well as expert knowledge. These contributing factors were categorized into four layers (organizational, supervisory, preconditions and unsafe acts) according to the Swiss cheese model. Causal relationships among contributing factors were determined using expert judgment in combination with Dempster-Shafer theory. The conditional probability table of each contributing factor was measured using a questionnaire. Results. The prior probability of fall events was 5.34% (53 cases per 1000 operational workers in 12 months). The posterior probability predicted that using fall protection devices and safe working platforms will decrease more than half (58%) of fall occupational incidents. Conclusion. Bayesian network features including graphical representation, easy belief updating, performance testing and sensitivity analysis facilitate the process of predicting occupational incident probability including fall events. The proposed approach is a step toward quantitative risk analysis of occupational incidents.

Detecting Consensus Emergence in Organizational Multilevel Data: Power Simulations

Theories suggest that groups within organizations often develop shared values, beliefs, affect, behaviors, or agreed-on routines; however, researchers rarely study predictors of consensus emergence over time. Recently, a multilevel-methods approach for detecting and studying emergence in organizational field data has been described. This approach—the consensus emergence model—builds on an extended three-level multilevel model. Researchers planning future studies based on the consensus emergence model need to consider (a) sample size characteristics required to detect emergence effects with satisfactory statistical power and (b) how the distribution of the overall sample size across the levels of the multilevel model influences power. We systematically address both issues by conducting a power simulation for detecting main and moderating effects involving consensus emergence under a variety of typical research scenarios and provide an R-based tool that readers can use to estimate power. Our discussion focuses on the future use and development of multilevel methods for studying emergence in organizational research.

How do organizational practices relate to perceived system safety effectiveness? Perceptions of safety climate and co-worker commitment to safety as workplace safety signals

INTRODUCTION

Integrating safety climate research with signaling theory, we propose that individual perceptions of safety climate signal the importance of safety in the organization. Specifically, we expect that three work-related organizational practices (training effectiveness, procedure effectiveness, and work pressure) relate to the broader risk control system in the workplace via individual perceptions of safety climate as a broad management signal. Further, we expect this broad management signal interacts with a local environmental signal (co-worker commitment to safety) to amplify or diminish perceived system safety effectiveness.

METHOD

In a field study of oil and gas workers (N = 219; Study 1), we used mediation modeling to determine the relationships between work-related organizational practices, perceived safety climate, and perceived safety system effectiveness. In a field study of railway construction workers (N = 131; Study 2), we used moderated mediation modeling to explore the conditional role of co-worker commitment to safety.

RESULTS

We found that training effectiveness, procedure effectiveness, and work pressure predicted perceived system safety effectiveness indirectly via perceived safety climate (Studies 1 and 2) and that these indirect paths are influenced by co-worker commitment to safety (Study 2).

CONCLUSIONS

Findings suggest that perceived safety climate is driven in part by work practices, and that perceived safety climate (from managers) and co-worker commitment to safety (from the local environment) interact to shape workplace safety system effectiveness. Practical applications: The insight that training, procedures, and work pressure are meaningful predictors of perceived safety climate as a signal suggests that organizations should be cognizant of the quality of work-related practices for safety. The insight we offer on the competing versus complimentary nature of managerial safety signals (perceived safety climate) and co-worker safety signals (co-worker commitment to safety) could also be used by safety personnel to develop safety interventions directed in both areas.

WITHDRAWN: What does safety commitment mean to leaders? A multi-method investigation

The Publisher regrets that this article is an accidental duplication of an article that has already been published in Journal of Safety Research, 68 (2019) 203-214, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jsr.2018.12.011. The duplicate article has therefore been withdrawn. The full Elsevier Policy on Article Withdrawal can be found at https://www.elsevier.com/about/our-business/policies/article-withdrawal.

Leadership skills for strengthening jobsite safety climate

INTRODUCTION

Construction foremen may lack the leadership skills needed to create a strong jobsite safety climate. Many construction companies address this by sending their lead workers to the OSHA 30-h course; however the course does not include a leadership training module. This article describes the development and pilot testing of such a module and evaluation surveys designed to address this training gap.

METHODS

A 17-member curriculum development team, numerous subject matter experts, and an instructional design company helped us develop a comprehensive set of teaching resources and a set of survey instruments for evaluating the materials' effectiveness on improving safety leadership and safety climate. All materials and surveys were pilot tested with representative members of the target population.

RESULTS

Pilot surveys showed high reliability and data collected on the resulting Foundations for Safety Leadership (FSL) module indicated that the majority of foremen thought the training was helpful or valuable, particularly the discussion questions. The majority said they intended to use the skills on the jobsite. With the exception of the role-play activities, the trainers rated highly all other components, especially the videos and discussion questions. Modifications were made to the training materials and surveys based on pilot test findings. The most important result of the development and pilot testing efforts is that the OSHA Training Institute (OTI) included the FSL as an elective in the OSHA 30-h course.

CONCLUSIONS

The FSL module fills a needed skills gap by providing safety leadership training to all foremen who might otherwise not have access to it through their company or union. The continued success of the FSL training will be ensured by dissemination via the OSHA 30-h course, an established nationwide safety training program. Practical applications: The FSL training module has already been widely accepted by the construction industry as a useful approach for providing construction foremen/See new abstract lead workers with the knowledge and skills they need to become more effective jobsite safety leaders.

Exploring the Multilevel Perception of Safety Climate on Taiwanese Construction Sites

This study investigates multilevel differences in safety climate (SC) perception dimensions between management and laborers on Taiwanese construction sites. With Taiwan’s high rate of construction site safety incidents, implementing successful safety strategies requires understanding differences in SC perceptions between management and laborers. This study used a structured SC questionnaire with responses from 74 managers and 261 laborers. The analysis of collected data includes (1) descriptive statistics comparing the selected dimensions; (2) Pearson correlation analysis examining relationships between SC perception dimensions; (3) t-test and one-way ANOVA to assess relationships between the respondent’s background and SC perception dimensions; and (4) Post-Tukey comparison analysis to compare the SC perception differences between management and laborers. The results indicate that management-level staff show a higher degree of SC perception than laborer-level staff. This level of SC perception varies between individual dimensions. The strongest convergence between the two groups is observed in the dimension of ‘workmate care of each other’, and the greatest divergence is found in ‘risk decision making’. Previous studies regarding SC perception in Taiwan specifically focus on construction workers and neglect the differences in perception between management and laborers. The outcomes of this study contribute to the understanding of multilevel SC perceptions, which can be used in the development of targeted strategies to improve SC on construction sites.

Structural equation modeling of work-related conditions on safety perception and safety education in waste and recycling collectors

Waste and recycling collectors are responsible for cleaning, collecting, transporting and sorting various garbage. The purpose of this study is to investigate relationships between work-related conditions, safety perception and safety education in waste and recycling collectors. A total of 675 workers who collect domestic, street, recyclable or food waste were selected by stratified sampling in the waste and recycling industry. A structural equation model was used to analyze whether work-related conditions and safety perception affect safety education factors and whether there exists a causal relationship between them. According to the results of structural equation modeling, work-related conditions directly affect the level of safety education and indirectly affect the level of safety education by having an impact on safety perception. Waste and recycling collectors are more likely to participate in safety education and to be more concerned about safety education as company size and salaries increase. The results of this study suggest that accident-prevention measures that are appropriate to job characteristics are effective because worker's features and their safety climate are different according to job type in the service industry.

Safety climate, hearing climate and hearing protection device use among transportation road maintainers

BACKGROUND

It is important to understand workplace factors including safety climate that influence hearing protection device (HPD) use. We sought to investigate the association between HPD use, safety climate, and hearing climate, a new measure specific to hearing.

METHODS

A survey was developed and distributed among transportation "maintainers" who perform road maintenance and repair. A new hearing climate measure was designed by adapting a safety climate measure. HPD use was assessed by asking workers how often they wear HPD while in noise. The differences in safety climate and hearing climate were compared by the frequency of HPD use using analysis of variance.

RESULTS

Among 166 maintainers, 54% reported always or almost always wearing HPD while noise exposed. High-frequency HPD users reported a statistically significant higher safety climate (P = 0.004) and hearing climate (P = 0.003).

CONCLUSIONS

Hearing climate predicts the frequency of HPD use and may be a useful measure when assessing and improving hearing conservation programs.

A randomised controlled trial of an educational intervention to promote safe behaviours in petrochemical workers: a study protocol

BACKGROUND

The worldwide concern about safety has created a need for new and effective strategies to improve safety in the workplace. Based on reported studies, approximately 90% of workplace accidents are due to unsafe behaviour and human error. Therefore, the most important strategy in reducing the rate of these accidents is training workers regarding safe behaviour and avoiding human error. There is limited research on understanding the barriers to promoting safe behaviour amongst petrochemical workers. This paper presents a protocol for an intervention study, using training sessions in combination with an educational software (application). The intervention aims to both promote workers' safe behaviour and reduce the rate of occupational accidents.

METHODS

One hundred seventy-six workers will be recruited to this study from an Iranian petrochemical industry. The study is Mixed Methods Research (MMR) which will be carried out in two phases. In the first phase, using a qualitative approach, in-depth interviews will identify the causes of unsafe behaviour in the petrochemical industry. In the second phase, models of safe behaviour used in workplaces and the petrochemical industry will be investigated. The findings of the first phase will be matched with the constructs of these models to produce a well-suited conceptual model. Questionnaires and an educational intervention will be designed based on the results of the two phases. The workers will receive training interventions using direct methods, involving training sessions and workshops, and in an indirect method for which educational software will be designed. A randomised controlled trial (RCT) will assess comparability between the intervention group and the control group at baseline, after the intervention, and at a three-month follow up.

DISCUSSION

This research will provide a practical approach for promoting safe behaviours and reducing occupational hazards amongst industrial workers.

TRIAL REGISTRATION

Iranian Registry of Clinical Trials: IRCT20170515033981N2 . Registered 19 June 2018.

Multi-level safety climate associations with safety behaviors in the fire service

INTRODUCTION

Limited research associated with safety climate has been completed within the fire service. Given this dearth of information, the present study sought to identify a valid and reliable measure of safety climate at both the workgroup and organizational levels within the fire service.

METHODS

Researchers surveyed 994 firefighters in two large metropolitan fire departments. Preliminary analyses including psychometrics, confirmatory factor analyses, and shared perception analyses were completed. A linear mixed model analysis was then completed to assess the relationships between workgroup safety climate, organizational safety climate, and safety behaviors, including both safety compliance and safety citizenship behaviors.

RESULTS

Measures of safety climate at the workgroup (WGSC) and organizational levels (OSC) were derived. WGSC factors include supervisor support (α = 0.92), vertical cohesion (α = 0.89), and horizontal cohesion (α = 0.94). OSC factors include management commitment (α = 0.91), safety programs/policies (α = 0.89), perceived fairness (α = 0.86) and incident command (α = 0.90). Confirmatory factor analyses confirmed our multi-factor models were a good fit to the data. The linear mixed model analysis found that WGSC positively predicted safety compliance behavior (B = 0.13, p < .001) and safety citizenship behavior (B = 0.22, p < .001) and OSC positively predicted safety compliance behavior (B = 0.16, p < .001) and safety citizenship behavior (B = 0.15, p < .001).

CONCLUSIONS

This work presents reliable and valid measures of both workgroup and organizational safety climate, which have positive relationships with safety behavior outcomes. Practical application: The measures, which were developed through an extensive multi-method process, provide a means for researchers and practitioners to assess safety climate in the fire service and provides guidance for future safety climate research, including informing intervention research, which could potentially bolster safety climate and enhance safety in the fire service.

The Safety Climate Assessment Tool (S-CAT): A rubric-based approach to measuring construction safety climate

INTRODUCTION

This paper presents the development and validation of a new rubric-based Safety Climate Assessment Tool (S-CAT). The S-CAT gives companies the opportunity to use rubric descriptors, rather than traditional Likert scale responses, to self-assess their level of safety climate maturity and receive a composite score benchmarked against others in the S-CAT database.

METHOD

The S-CAT is composed of 37 separate indicators of 8 safety climate factors identified by construction industry subject matter experts. The eight factors have between three and six indicators each with its own rubric-based response-scale. The scales comprise descriptors for five levels of safety climate maturity ranging from "inattentive" to "exemplary." Nine hundred and eighty-five respondents working in the construction industry completed the S-CAT via our online safety climate website. We used company recordable incident rates (RIR) to assess the S-CAT's criterion-related validity.

RESULTS

Cronbach alphas for each factor ranged from 0.77 to 0.90 and a confirmatory factor analysis supported the hypothesized eight factor structure with a higher-order safety climate factor. Seven of the eight factor scores, as well as the overall S-CAT score, were significantly negatively correlated with RIR. Moreover, a relative weights analysis indicated that a weighted combination of the eight safety climate factors explained 27% of the variance in organizational RIR.

CONCLUSIONS

These findings provide evidence that the S-CAT is a reliable tool allowing construction companies to self-assess their safety climate along eight different factors. Moreover, the S-CAT was significantly associated with organizational injury rates. Practical applications: We discuss how companies can use the rubric descriptors to strengthen their safety management systems and improve their safety climate maturity.

Patient and visitor aggression in healthcare: A survey exploring organisational safety culture and team efficacy

AIMS

This study investigates nurse managers' perception of organisational safety culture and team efficacy in managing patient and visitor aggression , and determines the predictors of team efficacy.

BACKGROUND

Patient and visitor aggression is a serious hazard in healthcare. A positive organisational safety culture regarding patient and visitor aggression enhances the safety and staff efficacy in managing patient and visitor aggression.

METHODS

A cross-sectional online survey including nurse managers in psychiatric and general hospitals (n = 446) was conducted in Switzerland, Austria and Germany (November 2016-February 2017). Data were analysed descriptively and through binary logistic regression.

RESULTS

The key results are as follows: "Working in a mental health setting" was 3.5 times more likely, "consideration of the physical environment" was four times more likely and a "shared organisational attitude" was twice as likely to predict high team efficacy. In comparison to psychiatric hospitals, general hospital managers perceived organisational safety cultures to be less positive.

CONCLUSIONS

A positive organisational safety culture leads to the perception that teams are more effective at managing patient and visitor aggression.

IMPLICATIONS FOR NURSING MANAGEMENT

Consideration of the physical environment and a positive shared organisational attitude regarding patient and visitor aggression are crucial for high team efficacy. General hospitals could benefit from approaches utilized in psychiatry to enhance staff efficacy in managing patient and visitor aggression.

Evaluation of safety climate differences among employees' demographic variables: a cross-sectional study in two different-sized manufacturing industries in Malaysia

Introduction. Demographic information is one of the key parameters that organizations utilize to modify their practices in order to respond to the existing risk within work environments. The present article aims to assess the level of safety climate factors as well as to evaluate the influence of personal factors on safety climate in two different-sized industries. Methods. A total of 216 employees in two large and three small and medium-sized chemical manufacturing industries responded to a questionnaire. Descriptive statistics were used to measure the safety climate level; a two-independent-sample Mann-Whitney U test and a Kruskal-Wallis test were run to compare the difference in safety climate scores among different demographic variables. Results. The lower level of safety climate in small and medium-sized industries revealed lower understanding and performance of management and non-management with regard to safety climate compared to the large industries. Additionally, significant mean differences on some safety climate factors among demographic variables were detected in both sizes of industries, emphasizing the important role of the employees' demographic variables on the plants' safety climate. Conclusion. Improving organization-level and group-level safety climates is recommended to improve employees' level of safety climate and control their personal factors.

Psychosocial safety climate, safety compliance and safety participation: The mediating role of psychological distress

We conceptualize that psychosocial safety climate (PSC) has a positive effect on employees' safety behavior by reducing their psychological distress. A high-level PSC environment reduces psychological distress by eliminating the employees' need for devoting psychological resources toward safety concerns. This preserves psychological resources to be invested in important behaviors i.e., safety compliance and participation. Data were collected from 190 production workers in the oil and gas industry across three states of Malaysia. Results showed strong support for our hypotheses. PSC was negatively linked with psychological distress. Psychological distress predicted safety compliance and participation and mediated the relationship between PSC and safety compliance/participation. Results suggest that in order to improve safety compliance and participation, management in safety-sensitive industries should pay attention to psychosocial factors in the work environment. The implications of these results for safety interventions and further research are discussed.

Development and psychometric evaluation of a safety climate scale for vineyards

BACKGROUND

This study aimed to develop a questionnaire-based tool measuring the safety climate in vineyards and to assess its psychometric properties.

METHODS

A literature search was conducted to identify the dimensions and items that constitute the safety culture construct in various occupational sectors and to draft a conceptual framework. Content validity appraisal was performed by 16 farm managers or pesticide operators. The resulting preliminary conceptual framework consisted of 9 dimensions and 42 questions. Then, a telephone survey was conducted in the French Aquitaine (Bordeaux) region with 312 vineyard workers. Item-total correlation tests, Cronbach's alpha analysis and a principal component analysis were performed to confirm the unidimensionality of the scale under construction. Structural equation modeling (SEM) techniques were used to verify the model hypothesized from the exploratory analyses and to determine how well it fits the data.

RESULTS

Exploratory analyses resulted initially in a 9-dimension, 20-item safety climate questionnaire. Internal consistency proved good with a Cronbach's alpha equal to 0.81. The SEM approach suggested two dimension groupings for a better fit of the data (7 dimensions operationalized through the same 20 items). Internal model parameters showed that the more influential dimensions of safety climate were Management commitment, Communication and feedback, Rules and practices, and Knowledge (all standardized path coefficients ≥ 0.7).

CONCLUSIONS

Owing to its good psychometric properties, we hope this score will help in drawing up relevant interventions aimed at improving safety culture, raising pesticide risk awareness, and hopefully inducing more sustainable practices in the medium-term future.

Development of A Safety Climate Scale for Geological Prospecting Projects in China

The geological prospecting industry has developed rapidly in China over the past few years. It has made outstanding contributions to the discovery of new mineral resources, new energy sources, and the excavation and utilization of resources. However, geological prospecting projects do not have effective safety management measures at present. Moreover, the geological prospecting project has its own traits and features that differ from other industries, leading to the fact that safety management measures in other industries cannot be used in geological prospecting projects. Therefore, development of an effective safety management measuring tool is urgent and necessary. In recent years, safety climate has drawn great attention from scholars, and research results have been successfully applied in construction, coal mining and other industries. Based on the extensive literature review on safety climate as well as its organizational structure and employees' individual behavior characteristics, this paper first extracted the factor structure of the safety climate and then developed a safety climate scale for geological prospecting projects. This paper used the methods of exploratory factor analysis and reliability analysis to ensure the developed safety climate scale was valid and reliable. The safety climate scale developed has four dimensions, i.e., project leader's safety commitment, safety institutions, risk response, and employee's safety attitude, containing a total of 17 measurable items. This study contributes to the current literature by exploring the factor structure of the safety climate for geological prospecting projects, and further provides a scientific basis for improvements in the geological prospecting industry. Meanwhile, the findings not only provide technical support for investigating and analyzing the safety management levels of the geological prospecting industry, but also contribute to the benchmarking standards among different enterprises and projects.

Essential Elements for Effective Safety and Health Education in Postsecondary Construction Career Technical Education

Because Career Technical Education (CTE) programs at the community/technical college level are among the few places new construction workers receive training or preparation, they are an important vehicle for educating new and young workers about occupational health and safety (OSH). We developed recommendations for (1) OSH "core competencies" that all postsecondary construction students should achieve and (2) "essential elements" for OSH education in construction training programs. Based on a review of the literature, subject matter expert focus groups, and iterative engagement with an expert advisory group, we identified fourteen core competencies and a list of essential supporting elements at the school, program, and instructor levels. Knowledge and recognition of the importance of effective safety and health management systems served as the foundation for elements and competencies. Findings provide an important starting point for systematically improving the preparation of construction CTE students that can help keep them safe on the job.

Managing care errors in the wards

Purpose

The importance of an error management culture (EMC) that integrates error prevention with error management after errors occur has been highlighted in the existing literature. However, few empirical studies currently support the relationship between EMC and errors, while the factors that affect EMC remain underexplored. Drawing on the conceptualisation of organisational cultures, the purpose of this paper is to verify the contribution of authentic leadership in steering EMC, thereby leading to reduced errors.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors conducted a cross-sectional survey study. The sample included 280 nurses.

Findings

Results of a full structural equation model supported the hypothesised model, showing that authentic leadership is positively associated with EMC, which in turn is negatively associated with the frequency of errors.

Practical implications

These results provide initial evidence for the role of authentic leadership in enhancing EMC and consequently, fostering error reduction in the workplace. The tested model suggests that the adoption of an authentic style can promote policies and practices to proactively manage errors, paving the way to error reduction in the workplace.

Originality/value

This study was one of the first to investigate the relationship between authentic leadership, error culture and errors. Further, it contributes to the existing literature by demonstrating both the importance of cultural orientation in protecting the organisation from error occurrence and the key role of authentic leaders in creating an environment for EMC development, thus permitting the organisation to learn from errors and reduce their negative consequences.

Using a psychological contract of safety to predict safety climate on construction sites

INTRODUCTION

The fact that safety climate impacts safety behavior and delivers better safety outcomes is well established in construction. However, the way workers safety perception is inclined and developed is still unclear.

METHOD

In this research, the influence of supervisors' developing safety climate and its impact on workers' safety behavior and their conceptualization of safety is explored through the lens of the 'Psychological Contract' (PC). More specifically, it is argued that 'Psychological Contract of Safety' (PCS) is a vital factor in explaining how workers attach meaning to a supervisor behavior. Extant research suggests: (a) safety climate is based on the perception of workers regarding safety; and (b) PCS is based on perceived mutual obligations between workers and supervisors. As a result, this research argues that if PCS or mutual obligations between workers and supervisors are fulfilled, then safety climate of the workers will be positively influenced. A model is presented depicting PCS as an alternative intervention in understanding how safety climate could be influenced and predicted by the level of fulfillment of mutual safety obligations. Using Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) the model of the PCS is validated with data collected from a mega-construction project in Australia.

RESULTS

The results suggest that to have a positive and strong safety climate, top-level managers must ensure that mutual safety obligations between supervisor and workers are fulfilled. This enables the PCS to be introduced as a new 'predictor' of safety climate. Practical applications: The novel outcome of the research could be considered as a management intervention to modify supervisors' behavior to produce better safety outcomes.

Influences on safety consciousness in a utility company: A sequential mediation model

INTRODUCTION

The purpose of this research was to determine whether the influence of supervisory support for safety on safety consciousness is direct or indirect. Based in part on predictions from the Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA) and Social Cognitive Theory (SCT), we examined the extent to which belief (safety self-efficacy) and attitude (cavalier safety attitude) mediate the impact of supervisory support for safety on employee safety consciousness.

METHOD

A survey of 995 employees was distributed across 24 work groups in an electric utility company, and sequential mediation modeling was used to determine indirect effects on safety consciousness.

RESULTS

We found that the effect of supervisory support on safety consciousness was indirect, fully mediated through both efficacy and attitude in a sequential mediation model. Practical applications: Supervisors should be aware of and emphasize supportive behaviors and create welcoming conditions for employees to raise safety concerns. Furthermore, organizational programs pertaining to safety improvement need to consider how to develop positive beliefs regarding safety activity and attitudes and reduce negative ones.

Evaluating Targeted Intervention on Coal Miners' Unsafe Behavior

Miners’ unsafe behavior is the main cause of roof accidents in coal mines, and behavior intervention plays a significant role in reducing the occurrence of miners’ unsafe behavior. However, traditional behavior intervention methods lack pertinence. In order to improve the intervention effect and reduce the occurrence of coal mine roof accidents more effectively, this study proposed a targeted intervention method for unsafe behavior. The process of targeted intervention node locating was constructed, and based on the analysis of 331 coal mine roof accidents in China, three kinds of targeted intervention nodes were located. The effectiveness of targeted intervention nodes was evaluated by using structural equation model (SEM) through randomly distributing questionnaires to miners of Pingdingshan coal. The results show that, in preventing roof accidents of coal mines, the targeted intervention nodes have a significant positive impact on the intervention effect. The method can also be applied to the safety management of other industries by adjusting the node location and evaluation process.

What does safety commitment mean to leaders? A multi-method investigation

INTRODUCTION

Perceived management safety commitment as an aspect of safety climate or culture is a key influence on safety outcomes in organizations. What is unclear is how perceptions of management commitment are created by leaders.

METHOD

To address this gap in the literature, we position safety commitment as a leadership construct viewed from the perspectives of the leaders who experience and demonstrate it. In this paper, an established multidimensional commitment framework is applied to leaders' safety commitment (consisting of affective, normative, and calculative commitment). Via an exploratory sequential mixed methods design combining interviews (n = 40) and surveys (n = 89), we investigate the applicability of this theoretical conceptualization to safety commitment.

RESULTS

The results indicate the multiple dimensions captured leaders' safety commitment well, safety commitment can be demonstrated via a range of behaviors, and the dimensions' association with behavioral demonstrations aligned with those of other types of commitment reported in the literature. Only affective safety commitment was consistently associated with demonstrations of safety commitment. The link between high levels of affective and normative safety commitment and demonstrations was more pronounced when participants perceived their company's safety climate more positively.

CONCLUSIONS

Adopting a focus on leaders' experience of safety commitment offers opportunities for new research into the way in which safety commitment perceptions are shaped by leaders. Practical application: The findings can support leaders' reflection about their personal mindset around safety and support them in fostering strong safety climates and cultures. It further encourages organizations in creating work environments that in particular foster affective and normative safety commitments in leaders.

When safety climate is not enough: Examining the moderating effects of psychosocial hazards on nurse safety performance

AIM

To examine the association between components of safety climate and psychosocial hazards with safe work behaviours and test the moderating effects of psychosocial hazards on the safety climate-safety performance relationships.

BACKGROUND

The effects of a strong safety climate on safety performance are well cited, however, the conditions that have an impact on this relationship warrant attention. While the psychosocial hazards commonly reported by nurses are predictors of well-being and job attitudes, evidence suggests that these may also place boundaries on the effects of safety climate on safe work practices.

DESIGN

This study used a cross-sectional design to collect data from 146 nurses.

METHODS

Participants were recruited through convenience sampling and snowball sampling methods in 2017. Nurses completed an online questionnaire and received a $5 e-gift card as compensation. SPSS v.23 and PROCESS v3.0 were used to analyse the data.

RESULTS/FINDINGS

A strong safety climate was positively associated with nurses' safety performance. While psychosocial hazards did not predict safety performance, they did moderate the safety climate-performance relationship. High levels of perceived stressors weakened the association between promoting two-way safety communication, the use and implementation of procedures to promote safe work practices and management's endorsement of health and safety with safe work performance.

CONCLUSION

The positive effects of safety climate on nurses' safety performance are contingent on the levels of psychosocial hazards nurses experience. When aiming to improve safety performance among nurses, it is important for efforts to also focus on the psychosocial conditions of the work environment.

Fostering Safety Communication among Construction Workers: Role of Safety Climate and Crew-Level Cohesion

Safety communication among construction workers is fundamental to effective safety management. However, evidence suggests that poor safety communication is a common problem in construction workplaces. In fact, previous research has unveiled a number of systemic barriers to effective safety communication in the construction industry. When workers do not sufficiently communicate relevant safety hazards and appropriate injury prevention measures, unexpected injuries can follow. Therefore, research examining factors that promote or impede effective safety communication is necessary. Towards achieving this goal, the purpose of the current research was to evaluate the effect of safety climate and crew cohesion on the demonstrated safety communication levels. The goal was achieved by gathering empirical data from 57 construction workplaces in the United States. More specifically, the participating construction workplaces were visited, and data pertaining to the safety climate and crew-level cohesion were first collected using questionnaire surveys. Next, a safety communication survey instrument was administered, and the data necessary to compute network density-a social network metric that is indicative of safety communication levels was gathered. The analysis of the data suggested that a positive relationship exists between safety climate and safety communication levels. Likewise, construction crews that demonstrated higher levels of cohesion exhibited superior safety communication levels. Finally, evidence also suggested that a synergetic effect exists between safety climate and crew cohesion in improving safety communication levels.

How Work Intensification Relates to Organization-Level Safety Performance: The Mediating Roles of Safety Climate, Safety Motivation, and Safety Knowledge

Recent changes in the world of work have led to increased job demands with subsequent effects on occupational safety. Although work intensification has been linked to detrimental safety behavior and more accidents, there is so far no sufficient explanation for this relationship. This paper investigates the mediating roles of safety climate, safety motivation, and safety knowledge in the relationships of work intensification with components of safety performance at an organizational level. Safety engineers and managers from 122 Austrian high-accident companies participated in a cross-sectional survey. In line with our hypotheses, work intensification negatively related to both components of safety performance: safety compliance and safety participation. The results of a serial multiple mediation analysis further revealed safety climate and safety motivation to be serial mediators of the relationship between work intensification and safety performance. Unexpectedly, safety knowledge and safety climate only serially mediated the relationship between work intensification and safety compliance, but not the relationship between work intensification and safety participation. This study provides evidence for the detrimental effect of work intensification on safety performance across organizations. Additionally, this study offers an explanation as to how work intensification affects safety performance, enabling practitioners to protect their occupational safety procedures and policies from work intensification.

Adult attention deficit hyperactivity disorder symptoms and passive leadership: The mediating role of daytime sleepiness

Passive leadership is attracting empirical interest with the detrimental effects of this type of leadership on a broad array of individual and organizational outcomes becoming apparent. However, just why leaders would engage in this type of nonleadership has received less research attention. We investigate whether and how leaders' attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is associated with passive leadership. Using a framework specifying how the physiology of sleepiness impacts the workplace, we hypothesize that leaders' ADHD is associated with passive leadership indirectly through daytime sleepiness. After controlling for leaders' age, gender, and preclinical symptoms of depression and anxiety, standard ordinary least squares regression procedures were implemented through Hayes' PROCESS models. Multisource data from 98 leader-follower groups (M number of followers per leader = 4.38, SD = 1.78) showed that the effects of leaders' ADHD symptoms on passive leadership were mediated by daytime sleepiness. Conceptual, methodological, and practical implications are discussed.

The measurement equivalence of a safety climate measure across five faultlines

This study examines the appropriateness of comparing safety climate survey responses across multiple faultlines-hypothetical dividing lines that split a group into subgroups based on one or more attributes. Using survey data from 8790 employees of a multinational chemical processing and manufacturing company from 76 work sites nested within 19 different countries, we examined the multilevel measurement equivalence of a safety climate measure across cultural dimensions, survey languages, organizational hierarchy, employment arrangements, and work environments. As simulation studies support the faultline at the individual-level requires measurement equivalence tests that are different from the faultline at the country-level, we used multi-group multilevel confirmatory factor analyses for the Level-3 faultline, and multilevel factor mixture models for known classes for the Level-1 faultlines. The results demonstrated that faultlines can prevent safety climate measurement equivalence, which prohibits the aggregation of individual-level scores to higher levels and making comparisons across faultlines. This first study on multilevel safety climate measurement equivalence serves as both a warning to safety climate researchers and practitioners regarding the importance of faultlines and reminds us to consider the level of the faultlines when testing measurement equivalence with multilevel data.

Unintended consequences of management strategies for improving labor productivity in construction industry

INTRODUCTION

Labor productivity and safety are important topics in the construction industry. Even so, the literature provides little information for project managers trying to determine how management strategies designed to improve labor productivity impact safety.

METHOD

This research addresses the gap by measuring the impact of two groups of management strategies that involve human resource related management strategies and construction related management strategies related to safety performance in construction projects. Data were collected from 111 general construction projects through the survey.

RESULTS

The results show that the relationship between the implemented management strategies and safety performance is nuanced with 'Communication' harming safety performance while implementation of 'Labor Management,' 'Supervision and Leadership,' 'Planning' and 'Management of Construction' strategies improve the level of safety performance. This study took a further step by measuring the impact of the interactions between the two groups of management strategies on safety performance. The results show that the interactions of construction and human related management strategies are not always in the favor of safety. Practical Applications: This paper adds to the literature on the relationship between productivity and safety in the construction industry. The research findings can assist project managers to improve labor productivity without harming the safety of laborers unintentionally.

Reducing workplace accidents through the use of leadership interventions: A quasi-experimental field study

There is increasing evidence to suggest that leaders need to use a combination of leader behaviors to successfully improve safety, including both transformational and transactional styles, but there has been limited testing of this idea. We developed a leadership intervention, based on supervisor training in both transformational and active transactional behaviors, and implemented it with supervisors at a UK-based chemical processing company. The study found that the supervisory training intervention led to significant improvements in perceived employee safety climate, over an eight-week period, relative to the comparison group. Although we found no change in the frequency of leader behaviors, the intervention was effective in helping supervisors to apply active transactional leader behaviors in a safety-critical context. The results indicated that transformational leader behaviors were already at a high level and effectively linked to safety. Our findings suggest not only that employees may be receptive to safety-related active transactional behaviors within high-risk situations, but furthermore, leaders can be trained to adjust their behaviors to focus more on active transactional behaviors in safety-critical contexts.

Teamwork and Safety Climate in Homecare: A Mixed Method Study

A rapidly changing homecare service sector implies difficulties to control safety and health risks for staff and to guarantee standardised deliveries of services to recipients. This study aimed to describe staff perceptions of safety climate and practices in homecare service teams, and suggestions for improvements. A second aim was to identify if and how the appraisals of safety climate were related to individual perceptions of safety, mental strain and adverse events/injury. A convergent parallel mixed methods design was used. Nursing assistants and care aides (133 in total, representing 11 work teams) in the north of Sweden replied to a survey and participated in focus group interviews. Results were analysed with ANOVA (inter-team differences) and by qualitative content analysis. Significant diversity was identified between the teams in five of seven dimensions of safety climate. Important areas for improvement were: a need to define and agree on criteria for a safe working environment; leadership prioritising safety at work; and management able to provide trust, support and time. A prerequisite for these agreements was improved authority and communication between all parties involved. The safety climate dimensions were related to personal perceptions of safety and mental strain and, partly, to adverse events/injuries.

Job Satisfaction and Perceived Health in Spanish Construction Workers during the Economic Crisis

The attitude towards work, either satisfaction or dissatisfaction, could influence the way in which workers perceive their health status. To check this hypothesis, this study analyses job satisfaction and its relationship with occupational health perception of Spanish construction workers. A descriptive, cross-sectional, observational study was carried out through a socio-demographic data questionnaire, the General Scale of Job Satisfaction and the SF-36 Health Survey. The study was conducted from January 2014 to June 2015, on a sample of 302 individuals belonging to Andalusian companies using the stratified random method to access companies from different provinces and sizes. The findings indicate that work experience in the sector increases general satisfaction: workers above 55 years of age are more satisfied with their work than those between 36 and 45. Likewise, workers with an experience of 2–5 years show higher levels of overall satisfaction, in opposition to workers with 6 months and 2 years of experience. On the other hand, workers without a contract and interns are the most dissatisfied in job terms. Also, there is a positive correlation between job satisfaction and the positive dimensions of health perception (physical functioning and physical and social role functioning), as well as a negative correlation between job satisfaction and bodily pain and general health perceived.

Identification of Safety-Related Opinion Leaders among Construction Workers: Evidence from Scaffolders of Metro Construction in Wuhan, China

This study aimed to reveal opinion leaders who could impact their coworkers’ safety-related performance in Chinese construction teams. Questionnaires were distributed to 586 scaffolders in Wuhan to understand their opinions about influencing their coworkers, serving as the foundation for a social network analysis to identify the potential opinion leaders among workers. A further controlled trial with the identified workers was conducted to select real opinion leaders by comparing their influence on others’ safety-related behavior, followed by an association analysis to profile these opinion leaders. Two main sources of opinion leaders were identified: foremen and seasoned workers. Implementing interventions through opinion leaders resulted in better safety-related behavior performance. Furthermore, compared with education level, the association analysis results indicated that one’s practical skills and familiarity with respondents was more important in the formulation of opinion leaders. This research introduces the concept of opinion leaders into construction safety and proposes an approach to identify and validate opinion leaders within a crew, thus providing a tool to improve behavior promotion on sites, as well as a new perspective for viewing interactions among workers.

Development and validation of a new safety climate scale for petrochemical industries

BACKGROUND

While a considerable body of research has studied safety climate and its role as a leading indicator of organizational safety, much of this work has been conducted with Western manufacturing samples.

OBJECTIVE

The current study puts emphasis on the cross-validation of a safety climate model in the non-Western industrial context of Iranian petrochemical industries.

METHODS

The current study was performed in one petrochemical company in Iran. The scale was developed through conducting a literature review followed by a qualitative study with expert participation. After performing a screening process, the initial number of items on the scale was reduced to 68.

RESULTS

Ten dimensions (including management commitment, workers' empowerment, communication, blame culture, safety training, job satisfaction, interpersonal relationship, supervision, continuous improvement, and reward system) together with 37 items were extracted from the exploratory factor analysis (EFA) to measure safety climate. Acceptable ranges of internal consistency statistics for the sub-scales were observed. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) confirmed the construct validity of the developed safety climate scale for the petrochemical industry workers. The results of reliability showed that the Cronbach's alpha coefficient for the designed scale was 0.94. The ICC was obtained 0.92.

CONCLUSION

This study created a valid and reliable scale for measuring safety climate in petrochemical industries.

Factors influencing unsafe behaviors: A supervised learning approach

Despite its potential, the use of machine learning in safety studies had been limited. Considering machine learning's advantage in predictive accuracy, this study used a supervised learning approach to evaluate the relative importance of different cognitive factors within the Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA) in influencing safety behavior. Data were collected from 80 workers in a tunnel construction project using a TRA-based questionnaire. At the same time, behavior-based safety (BBS) observation data, % unsafe behavior, was collected. Subsequently, with the TRA cognitive factors as the input attributes, six widely-used machine learning algorithms and logistic regression were used to develop models to predict % unsafe behavior. The receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves show that decision tree provides the best prediction. It was found that intention and social norms have the biggest influence on whether a worker was observed to work safely or not. Thus, managers aiming to improve safety behaviors need to pay specific attention to social norms in the worksite. The study also showed that a TRA survey can be used to extend a BBS to facilitate more effective interventions. Lastly, the study showed that machine learning algorithms provide an alternative approach for analyzing the relationship between the cognitive factors and behavioral data.

Digging deeper into the shared variance among safety-related climates: the need for a general safety climate measure

We combined three independent streams of workplace climate research, safety, violence prevention, and civility, to devise a general safety climate scale that explicitly addressed a variety of risks. A confirmatory factor analysis suggested that a higher-order factor may be responsible for the similarity in relationships across these safety-related climate measures with exposure to organizational hazards and resulting employee outcomes. As a result, a concise 10-item measure was developed and validated to assess a possible general safety climate factor. Further analyses suggested that the use of a general safety climate measure did not attenuate the relationships with workplace hazards and employee outcomes. Although different safety-related climate variables may be theoretically distinct, there may not be a measurable benefit in promoting one form of climate over others. Future studies should consider employing the general safety climate measure in place of domain-specific climate measures, unless the domain-specific climate is solely of interest.