Safety-Management Practices and the Occurrence of Occupational Accidents: Assessing the Mediating Role of Safety Compliance

A prospective cohort study of perceived organizational support and occupational accidents and near-miss events among Japanese workers

INTRODUCTION

Preventing occupational accidents is a major global challenge, and employee safety practices play a crucial role in accident prevention. Although perceived organizational support (POS) is related to safety practices, there is currently insufficient evidence supporting a relationship between POS and occupational accidents. We investigated the relationships between POS and both occupational accidents and near-miss events that can lead to accidents in the following year among workers in various industries in Japan.

METHOD

This prospective cohort study was conducted from March 2022 to March 2023 using a questionnaire survey. In total, 9916 participants who completed the follow-up survey and met our inclusion criteria were analyzed. The follow-up survey asked participants about both occupational accidents and near-miss events experienced in the year following the baseline assessment. POS was evaluated at baseline using the eight-item version of the Survey of Perceived Organizational Support. Odds ratios (ORs) for the relationships between POS and occupational accidents and near-miss events were estimated using multilevel logistic regression analyses nested by industries.

RESULTS

The ORs for self-reported occupational accidents were significantly higher for the moderate (OR = 1.41, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.10-1.82), low (OR = 1.49, 95%CI: 1.18-1.89), and very low (OR = 2.03, 95%CI: 1.61-2.56) POS groups compared with the very high group. The ORs for self-reported near-miss events were also significantly higher for the moderate (OR = 1.21, 95%CI: 1.03-1.43), low (OR = 1.20, 95%CI: 1.03-1.40), and very low (OR = 1.56, 95%CI: 1.34-1.82) groups than the very high group.

CONCLUSIONS

Our findings suggest lower POS is related to a higher occurrence of occupational accidents and near-miss events in the following year. Organizations should consider enhancing employees' POS to reduce occupational accidents and near-miss events.

PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS

To enhance employees' POS, organizations should address identified antecedents of POS (e.g., fairness, supervisor support, rewards, favorable job conditions, and human resource practices).

Interprofessional collaboration mediates the relationship between perceived organizational learning and safety climate in hospitals: A cross-sectional study

BACKGROUND

Organizational learning (OL) and interprofessional collaboration (IPC) are said to enhance medical safety in hospitals, but the relationship between these variables has not been quantitatively tested.

OBJECTIVE

This study examines the mediating effects of IPC on the relationship between OL and safety climate (improvement, compliance, and patient/family involvement).

METHODS

An anonymous self-reporting questionnaire was administered to 1,495 healthcare workers from November 2021 to January 2022. The questions regarded the hospital's safety climate, OL, and IPC. A mediation analysis using structural equation modeling was conducted to examine the mediating role of IPC on the relationship between OL and the three safety climates. The indirect effect was estimated using 2,000 bootstrap samples.

RESULTS

Responses from 643 healthcare workers were analyzed. The direct effects of OL were 𝛽 = .74, 75 (p < .001) on improvement and involvement and 𝛽 = 0.1 (p > .05) on compliance. The indirect effects of IPC on improvement and involvement were 𝛽 = .14 (95%CI: .00 ∼ .06) and 𝛽 = .37 (95%CI: .04 ∼ .09), respectively.

CONCLUSION

This study determined the mechanisms that enhance a hospital's safety climate, demonstrating that IPC mediates the relationship between OL and improvement and patient/family involvement. However, OL and IPC are not related to compliance.

The impact of leadership styles on employee safety behaviour among Chinese healthcare workers: The moderating role of cooperation facilitation

With the support of social exchange theory and social impact theory, this study aimed to examine the impact of transactional and transformational leadership on safety behaviour with the moderating role of cooperation facilitation in Chinese healthcare workers. This study used a simple random sampling method and data were collected from healthcare workers in Zhenjiang city, Jiangsu province, China. A total of 376 questionnaires were utilised and partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) technique was used for data analysis. The result showed that transactional and transformational leadership positively impact safety behaviour of health care workers. The findings also indicated that cooperation facilitation positively moderates the relationship between transactional and transformational leadership on safety behaviour. This study provides an insightful contribution that leadership must encourage the workers to cooperate in safety-related activities to make the work environment healthier and safer. Lastly, this study also discussed some theoretical and practical implications for researchers and policymakers.

Impact of organization decision making styles and safety accountability on occupational health and safety implementation: The moderating role of mimetic motives

The agriculture sector is a traditional economic pillar of many emerging economies. However, it is facing greater occupational health and safety (OHS) challenges in Pakistan, and its performance is continuously decreasing. An effective OHS implementation provides better control over OHS challenges and may help to restore its former glory. Therefore, this study aims to explore different organizational decision-making styles and safety accountability to put OHS into practice in this sector. Based on institutional theory, a theoretical framework was developed. Two hundred and eighty-seven agriculture farms in Punjab, Pakistan were surveyed and analyzed using SmartPLS 3.3.7. The findings revealed that implementation styles (rational and incremental) and safety accountability positively impact OHS implementation. Similarly, the moderating role of mimetic motives was found positively significant in the relationship between rational style and OHS implementation, and negatively significant in the relationship between incremental style and OHS implementation. While no moderating effect of mimetic motive was found between safety accountability and OHS implementation. This study suggested that OHS implementation should not be viewed as a social or technical issue alone. Strategic arrangements should be made at the organizational level to gain better control over OHS challenges by considering the institutional environment in which the organization operates.

Moderating effect of safety culture on the association inter work schedule and driving performance using the theory of situation awareness

The adverse effects of work schedule on driving performance are relatively common. Therefore, it is necessary to fully understand an organisation's safety culture to improve driver performance in order to avoid road crashes. This study aims to investigate the moderating role of safety culture in the relationship between driver work schedules and driving performance. The study developed a conceptual framework based on the literature review of existing studies, which is supported by situation awareness theory that explains the model's relationships and supports the study's hypotheses. Three hundred four questionnaires were collected from oil and gas truck drivers then Structural equation modelling (SEM) was applied to test the study hypotheses. Derived from the findings, the outer loading for all items was above the threshold of 0.70 unless two items were deleted. The latent exogenous variables of safety culture and work schedule explained 59.1% of driving performance. Besides, work schedule and safety culture significantly impact driving performance. In addition, the results show that safety culture moderates the unfavourable work schedule impact on driving performance with an effect size of 23%. Therefore, this study showed strong evidence that safety culture acts as a critical moderator in reducing the negative impact of work schedule on driving performance in the energy transportation sector. Drivers with high safety culture can manage and reduce the effect of work schedule disorder on driving performance through their safety attitude and patterns compared to those drivers with low safety culture. Consequently, the improvement in driving performance will be noticed among drivers with a high awareness of safety culture.

Safety Management and Safety Performance Nexus: Role of Safety Consciousness, Safety Climate, and Responsible Leadership

Drawing from social system theory, social identity theory, and social exchange theory, this study examines how safety management practices are linked with employee safety performance through safety consciousness and safety climate. Furthermore, responsible leadership is introduced as a boundary condition in the safety consciousness-safety performance and safety climate-safety performance relationships. Data were collected from employees belonging to pharmaceutical firms located in different industrial zones of Lahore, Pakistan. The support is found for full mediation of safety consciousness and safety climate for the safety management and safety performance relationships. Responsible leadership moderates the safety consciousness-safety performance and safety climate-safety performance relationships so that when the safety climate is weak or the safety consciousness is low, a high level of responsible leadership enhances safety performance.