An analysis of safety culture attitudes in a highly regulated environment

Reversing Poor Safety Records: Identifying Best Practices to Improve Fleet Safety

Commercial motor vehicle safety is of utmost importance, as crashes involving commercial motor vehicles often result in significant property damage, injuries, fatalities, and financial loss for fleets. However, fleet managers are often unsure what strategies other fleets have used to successfully improve safety. To identify best practices, researchers completed case studies with nine commercial motor vehicle fleets that successfully improved their safety performance. A content analysis was performed, and the successful strategies were organized into the Haddon Matrix. Results showed that there was no one single strategy that fleets used to improve safety. Instead, fleets relied on a comprehensive approach focusing on pre-crash countermeasures, including addressing hiring practices, driver training, fleet safety culture, safety technologies, scheduling, and maintenance. However, an enhanced safety culture and advanced safety technology were identified as critical components to their safety improvement. Results from this study may help fleets understand what their peers have used to successfully improve safety and which strategies may not be as helpful.

A macroergonomics perspective for exploring safety culture factors: a qualitative content analysis approach

Objective. Although assessing safety culture is a useful approach in reducing occupational accidents, there are no qualitative examinations of it based on a systems approach. This study was conducted with the aim of explaining the experiences of gas refinement personnel on safety issues and extending safety culture constructs using a macroergonomics approach. Methods. A directed qualitative content analysis was used. Data were collected by 18 semi-structured interviews based on a work subsystems model as a guiding framework. Results. From the interviews, 420 codes were extracted. By placing codes into subsystems, five categories in the organization subsystem, two categories in the job subsystem, one category in the human subsystem, two categories in the technology subsystem and two categories in the environment subsystem emerged. In addition to the common factors in assessment scales, factors such as work schedule, safety standards in new technologies and external factors of the organization like financial conditions were considered effective for workers' attitudes and safety behaviors. Conclusion. Investigating personnel perspectives about safety in the workplace based on a macroergonomics approach developed distinct factors in safety culture. It seems that industry features, environment and technology along with organizational factors are important in assessing safety culture.

Safety culture transformation-The impact of training on explicit and implicit safety attitudes

The present paper investigates the changeability of safety culture elements such as explicit and implicit safety attitudes by training. Therefore, three studies with different time frames, training durations, and settings will be presented. In the first study, the short-term attitude change of students from an international environmental sciences study program was measured after safety training in a chemical laboratory. In the second study, the medium-term attitude change was assessed after a Crew Resource Management training for German production workers in the automotive industry. In the third study, the long-term attitude changes were measured after safety ethics training in a sample of German occupational psychology and business students. Different self-report measures were used to evaluate the training effectiveness of explicit safety attitudes. The change of implicit safety attitudes was assessed by Implicit Association Tests. The results of all three studies revealed a significant training effect on the explicit safety attitudes, but not on the implicit ones. Besides the training effect on the explicit attitudes, there was no effect of time frame (short-, medium-, long-term), training duration (2 h, 2 days, 12 weeks), and setting (chemical laboratory, automotive industry, safety ethics study program) on the attitude change. Based on the results, conceptual, methodological, and practical implications for training effectiveness and safety culture transformation are discussed.

Safety climate at agricultural cooperatives

INTRODUCTION

This study identifies determinants of safety climate at agricultural cooperatives.

METHODS

An extensive survey was designed to build upon past research done in collaboration with DuPont (Risch et al., 2014). In 2014 and 2015, the survey was administered to 1930 employees at 14 different agricultural cooperatives with 154 locations. Injury incidence data were also collected from each location to better understand the overall health and safety environment in this sector. An ordered probit model is used to identify variables that are associated with better safety climates.

RESULTS

Safety system components such as discipline programs, inspection programs, modified duty programs, off-the-job safety training programs, and recognition programs are positively related to individual safety climate for both managerial employees and nonmanagerial employees. Variables representing an employee's agricultural background, distance between their workplace and childhood home, and formal education are not associated with managerial safety climate. However, agricultural background and childhood home distance are associated with nonmanagerial safety climate.

CONCLUSIONS

Improving occupational health and safety is a priority for many agricultural cooperatives. Lower safety climate emerges as nonmanagerial employees have more experience with production agriculture and work nearer to their home community. Practical applications: Employees of agricultural cooperatives face a host of health and safety challenges that are likely to persist into the future. The safety system components associated with safety climate indicate that continuous feedback is important for improving occupational health and safety. Occupational health and safety programming should also acknowledge that many employees have experiences that influence their attitudes and behaviors.

The Relationship Between Safety Climate and Performance in Intensive Care Units: The Mediating Role of Managerial Safety Practices and Priority of Safety

Patient safety is defined as the absence of preventable harm to a patient during the delivery of healthcare. Evidence from several reports and research studies reflect the high incidence and subsequent high cost of patient harm in general and within intensive care units. Against this background, this study tests a theoretical framework addressing relationships among patient safety climate dimensions and their impact on safety performance. The dimensions refer to safety in terms of procedure suitability and information flow, managerial safety practices, and priority of safety. A retrospective cross-sectional analytical research study was conducted. The target population was recruited from the three intensive care units in the main tertiary level hospital in Malta. A sample of 215 healthcare professionals, who fit the eligibility criteria, participated in this research study, achieving a response rate of 82.7%. The “Survey on Patient Safety Climate” was utilized. Findings support the following hypotheses: the higher the extent to which safety procedures are perceived as suitable to the intensive care units' daily work demands and processes, the lower the intensive care units' clinical incidents (r = −0.269, p ≤ 0.01) and the higher the extent to which safety information flow is perceived as clear and unambiguous to the intensive care units' daily work demands and processes, the lower the intensive care units' clinical incidents (r = −0.295, p ≤ 0.01). Findings also support the following hypotheses: managerial safety practices mediate the relationship between safety procedure suitability/safety information flow and clinical incidents (p = 0.009, p = 0.014, respectively) and priority of safety mediates the relationship between safety procedure suitability/safety information flow/managerial safety practices and clinical incidents (p = 0.002, p = 0.002, p = 0.042, respectively). Health service managers must ensure employees perceive safety procedures as suitable and safety information as clear and unambiguous, emphasize the manager's role as a safety referent and safety change agent and create an organization that prioritizes safety over work pace, workload and pressure for production. Essentially, health service managers need to create safety leaders to drive the organization to patient safety.

Organization is also a "life form": Organizational-level personality, job satisfaction, and safety performance of high-speed rail operators

Although studies have suggested that personality can forecast safety performance at the individual level, the link between organizational-level personality and safety performance is rarely considered. On the basis of the Attraction-Selection-Attrition (ASA) theory, the present study investigated the direct and indirect effects of the organizational emergence of personality (Five-Factor Model) on individual-level outcomes (safety performance) in the high-speed rail industry. The sample consisted of 1035 high-speed rail operators in China. The results indicated that the effects of organizational-level personality on safety performance are similar to or stronger than the effects of individual-level personality. Specifically, organizational-level extraversion, agreeableness, and conscientiousness have significantly positive relationships with individual-level safety compliance and safety participation, while neuroticism has a significantly negative relationship with safety compliance and safety participation; the effect of openness to experience was not significant. Moreover, in terms of indirect effects, job satisfaction mediated the links of the four personality constructs (extraversion, agreeableness, neuroticism, and conscientiousness) with safety compliance and safety participation. These findings highlight the importance of organizational personality to improving employees' safety performance in safety-critical organizations.

Safety Culture Oversight: An Intangible Concept for Tangible Issues within Nuclear Installations

Traced back to the Chernobyl Accident analysis (INSAG-1), the concept of safety culture is regarded as a central phenomenon influencing behaviors and values within high-risk organisations. Many studies have already been conducted on safety culture within nuclear installations. Describing a model designed to capture and assess safety culture observations, this paper intends to highlight the role of safety culture within the overall regulatory nuclear safety oversight, and to show how intangible cultural elements can lead to the identification of tangible safety issues.

A hierarchical factor analysis of a safety culture survey

INTRODUCTION

Recent reviews of safety culture measures have revealed a host of potential factors that could make up a safety culture (Flin, Mearns, O'Connor, & Bryden, 2000; Guldenmund, 2000). However, there is still little consensus regarding what the core factors of safety culture are. The purpose of the current research was to determine the core factors, as well as the structure of those factors that make up a safety culture, and establish which factors add meaningful value by factor analyzing a widely used safety culture survey.

METHOD

A 92-item survey was constructed by subject matter experts and was administered to 25,574 workers across five multi-national organizations in five different industries. Exploratory and hierarchical confirmatory factor analyses were conducted revealing four second-order factors of a Safety Culture consisting of Management Concern, Personal Responsibility for Safety, Peer Support for Safety, and Safety Management Systems. Additionally, a total of 12 first-order factors were found: three on Management Concern, three on Personal Responsibility, two on Peer Support, and four on Safety Management Systems.

RESULTS

The resulting safety culture model addresses gaps in the literature by indentifying the core constructs which make up a safety culture.

IMPACT ON INDUSTRY

This clarification of the major factors emerging in the measurement of safety cultures should impact the industry through a more accurate description, measurement, and tracking of safety cultures to reduce loss due to injury.

Safety perception referents of permanent and temporary employees: safety climate boundaries in the industrial workplace

OBJECTIVE

To explore the significant referents of safety perceptions among permanent and temporary employees in order to identify the boundaries of safety climate in a heterogeneous workforce.

METHOD

Collection of data from semi-structured interviews with employees in manufacturing organizations, using a combination of qualitative and quantitative methods to identify basic safety perceptions. Independent raters used content analysis to examine the data.

RESULTS

Analysis of the data revealed differences between safety themes at organization, group and individual levels. Themes relating to the individual were more prevalent among temporary employees, while those relating to the group and the organization prevailed among permanent employees.

CONCLUSIONS

Permanent employees view organizational and group levels as significant referents of safety perceptions, while temporary employees focus on the individual level. The results challenge the current view of safety climate as a uniform concept for all employees and prescribe boundary conditions for safety climate. It is suggested that organizations should implement "tailor-made" safety-climate practices according to the referents of employee sub-groups.

Exposure to fall hazards and safety climate in the aircraft maintenance industry

PROBLEM

Falls represent a significant occupational hazard, particularly in industries with dynamic work environments. This paper describes rates of noncompliance with fall hazard prevention requirements, perceived safety climate and worker knowledge and beliefs, and the association between fall exposure and safety climate measures in commercial aircraft maintenance activities.

METHODS

Walkthrough observations were conducted on aircraft mechanics at two participating facilities (Sites A and B) to ascertain the degree of noncompliance. Mechanics at each site completed questionnaires concerning fall hazard knowledge, personal safety beliefs, and safety climate. Questionnaire results were summarized into safety climate and belief scores by workgroup and site. Noncompliance rates observed during walkthroughs were compared to the climate-belief scores, and were expected to be inversely associated.

RESULTS

Important differences were seen in fall safety performance between the sites. The study provided a characterization of aircraft maintenance fall hazards, and also demonstrated the effectiveness of an objective hazard assessment methodology. Noncompliance varied by height, equipment used, location of work on the aircraft, shift, and by safety system.

DISCUSSION

Although the expected relationship between safety climate and noncompliance was seen for site-average climate scores, workgroups with higher safety climate scores had greater observed noncompliance within Site A. Overall, use of engineered safety systems had a significant impact on working safely, while safety beliefs and climate also contributed, though inconsistently.

IMPACT ON INDUSTRY

The results of this study indicate that safety systems are very important in reducing noncompliance with fall protection requirements in aircraft maintenance facilities. Site-level fall safety compliance was found to be related to safety climate, although an unexpected relationship between compliance and safety climate was seen at the workgroup level within site. Finally, observed fall safety compliance was found to differ from self-reported compliance.

An evaluation of a new instrument to measure organisational safety culture values and practices

The main aim of this research is to evaluate a safety culture measuring instrument centred upon relevant organisational values and practices related to the safety management system. Seven dimensions that reflect underlying safety meanings are proposed. A second objective is to explore the four cultural orientations in the field of safety arising from the competing values framework. The study sample consisted of 299 participants from five companies in different sectors. The results show six dimensions of organisational values and practices and different company profiles in the organisations studied. The four cultural orientations proposed by the competing values framework are not confirmed. Nevertheless, a coexistence of diverse cultural orientations or paradoxes in the companies is observed.

Competency-based training for patient handling

A technique-training approach has traditionally been used to address the problem of back pain associated with patient handling. This project aimed to investigate whether different levels of safety culture, based on competency-based training, resulted in different behaviour (physical and cognitive) for patient handling tasks. Sixteen healthcare organisations in the UK participated from the acute and primary healthcare sectors. Archival data for each organisation were benchmarked against the Royal College of Nursing competencies for manual handling. Behavioural data were collected on two patient handling tasks: (1) sitting-to-standing and (2) repositioning-in-sitting using observations (postural analysis) and interviews (verbal protocol analysis). The data were analysed for each organisation and then grouped by task and method into larger data sets. These data sets were triangulated using the key decision-making points (from the interview data) as the framework. The results showed that in organisations with a more positive safety culture the nursing staff demonstrated more complex decision-making about the patient handling tasks and had lower levels of associated postural risk.

Readiness to Report Medical Treatment Errors

BACKGROUND

Medical error reporting is an essential component of patient safety enhancement. However, increasingly, the literature points to a problem of underreporting of treatment errors, mainly as a result of the fear of malpractice lawsuits and limited formal data collection systems. Few studies, if any, have examined the influence of informal aspects of the organization, such as safety climate, on employees' willingness to report errors.

OBJECTIVES

This study investigated the relationship between safety climate aspects and personnel readiness to report treatment errors in different hospital departments.

METHOD

The model was tested in 3 hospitals (n = 632 in 44 medical departments of 3 types; internal medicine, surgery, and intensive care). Three safety climate aspects were measured using questionnaires: the way employees perceive the safety procedures, the safety information flow within their department, and the relative priorities given to safety in the department. Readiness to report was measured by tallying each department's annual number of treatment errors reported to the hospitals' risk management systems.

RESULTS

Negative binomial regression analysis indicated that the more personnel perceive procedures as suitable and safety information as available, the higher was their willingness to report treatment errors. These relationships significantly differed depending on the department type.

CONCLUSIONS

Hospitals should take into account the perceptions of personnel regarding safety procedures and information and understand that these perceptions operate differently in different department types in their effect on the staff's willingness to report treatment errors.

Safety-culture in a Norwegian shipping company

PROBLEM

Although there has been considerable interest in safety culture and safety climate in many industries, little attention has been given to safety culture in one of the world's riskiest industries, shipping.

METHOD

Using both self developed items and items from published research on safety culture, safety climate, and quality and management style, a 40-item safety culture questionnaire was developed. The questionnaire was distributed in a self-administered form to sailors onboard 20 vessels and to officers attending a seminar in Manila. A total of 349 questionnaires were collected (total response rate, 60%).

RESULTS, DISCUSSION AND IMPACT ON INDUSTRY

Principal component analysis (PCA) revealed 11 factors when the Kaiser eigenvalue rule was used and four factors when the scree test criterion was used. The factor structure in the material confirmed structures found in other industries. The relative importance of the factors from the factor analysis on "level of safety" measures was tested by canonical correlation analysis and regression analysis. The results confirmed previous research and showed that the most important factors were influential across industries. To determine weather differences existed between nationalities, occupations, and vessels the factors from the PCA was subjected to Multiple Discriminant Analysis. Significant differences between occupations, nations, and vessels were found on one or more of the factors from the PCA.

Organizational influence on working people's occupational noise protection in Hong Kong

INTRODUCTION

While there is some evidence of the influences of personal knowledge and organizational factors on workers' hearing protection, a causal model examining relationships between these variables is lacking.

METHOD

To create and test such a model, this study collected data from 1,701 workers in Hong Kong through a random sample telephone survey.

RESULTS

Fitting the model to the data revealed that organizational regulation of occupational noise protection was a root cause of workers' protective behavior, whereas workers knowledge about the protection exhibited only a minimal effect.

CONCLUSIONS

These findings cast doubt on the significance of personal knowledge as a unique factor contributing to noise protection. The study also finds that organizational regulation was predictable by a number of organizational and industrial factors.

IMPACT ON INDUSTRY

To prevent occupational deafness, organizational regulation accompanied by regular inspection and a norm of noise protection is important.