Safety climate and safety outcomes: A meta-analytic comparison of universal vs. industry-specific safety climate predictive validity

Acting out when psychosocial safety climate is low: understanding why middle-level managers experience upward mistreatment

Introduction

Upward mistreatment, despite being under studied, is an influential phenomenon affecting middle managers' well-being and performance. The work environment hypothesis of bullying proposes that an undesirable work context is the main cause of workplace bullying, suggesting the importance of creating an anti-mistreatment climate, that is, psychosocial safety climate (PSC). In this study, we argue that upward bullying and aggression are unsafe behaviors, a "retaliation" by employees resulting from their unsafe work context.

Methods

Using a large-scale multisource sample collected from 123 organizations, 6,658 middle managers and 34,953 employees, we examined the relationship between collective PSC, individual-perceived PSC and middle managers' experience of upward mistreatment.

Results

Single-level and multi-level modeling results suggested that PSC is an important element in reducing the likelihood of upward bullying and aggression, in turn, protecting managers' well-being. More importantly, upward bullying is a way that employees act out when there is an undesirable working context.

Discussion

Future research on workplace mistreatment should examine PSC and upward mistreatment. Interventions provided should focus on improving PSC which could in turn preventing upward mistreatment, thereby improving psychosocial safety for both employees and middle managers to prevent negative actions.

Safety climate and safety behaviors: Adapting and validating a positively worded safety climate scale through the time-lagged approach

BACKGROUND

Contemporary literature raises serious questions about the inclusion of negatively worded items in the safety climate scale. Despite these reservations, limited efforts have been made to address this shortcoming.

OBJECTIVE

The present study aims to adapt and empirically validate the ten-items group-level safety climate scale with the purpose of replacing negatively worded items with positively worded ones after a thorough validation process. The present study is one of the first to propose an empirically validated group-level safety climate scale that uses positive items to measure the safety climate construct.

METHODS

Study 1 was conducted using a sample of 135 participants. Study 2 used a time-lagged approach to validate the scale, with a sample of 173 production workers from six oil and gas organizations in Malaysia. The Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) method was used to test the hypothesized relationships.

RESULTS

In Study 1, the results of the exploratory factor analysis showed good reliability for the revised scale. In Study 2, the results of the PLS-SEM analysis demonstrated a positive relationship between safety climate and safety behaviors, thereby validating the revised and translated scale of safety climate.

CONCLUSION

The revised safety climate scale will not only improve data quality, but it will also increase response rates. Additionally, the revised scale will assist managers in understanding the true perceptions of safety climate in their organization, regardless of the cultural context in which the scale is used.

Improvement of short-term outcomes with VR-based safety training for work at heights

Serious games and virtual reality offer engaging learning opportunities and a cost-effective solution within an immersive and safe environment for safety training in construction. However, there have been few examples of safety training for work at heights developed using these technologies, especially commercial training. To fill this literature gap, a new VR-based safety training was developed and compared with lecture-based training across time. We conducted a quasi-experiment with a non-equivalent group design with 102 workers from six construction sites in Colombia. Learning objectives, observations from training centers, and national regulations were considered during the design of the training methods. Training outcomes were assessed using Kirkpatrick's model. We found that both training approaches were effective in improving knowledge test results and self-reported attitudes in the short-term; and risk-perception, self-reported behavior and safety climate in the long-term. In particular, participants of the VR-based training got significantly higher results in knowledge and reported higher attitudes (commitment and motivation) than participants of the lecture-based training. We suggest that safety managers and practitioners should invest in VR using serious games as an alternative to training programs based on short-term outcomes. Future work is needed to test VR for long-term outcomes.

The Role of Wellness Climate in Small Business Health Promotion and Employee Wellbeing

Wellness involves physical, emotional, behavioral, social, and spiritual dimensions. A climate for wellness exists at both the psychological and organizational levels, consisting of individual and shared perceptions of policies, structures, and managerial behavior that support or promote employee wellbeing. This study explored the associations between psychological and organizational wellness climate and the effectiveness of a team health promotion training on employees' perceived physical and mental wellbeing and substance use. Employees from 45 small businesses completed self-report measures of wellness climate, wellbeing, positive unwinding behavior, work-family conflict, job stress, drug use, and alcohol use, assessed before, and one and six months after, attending either of two types of onsite health promotion training. Team Awareness training targeted improvements in the social climate at work. Healthy Choices training targeted individual health behavior. A control group did not receive training until after the study. Businesses were randomly assigned to conditions and data were analyzed using multi-level modeling. Models that included wellness climate as a mediator fit the data significantly better than models without climate as a mediator. Team Awareness participants showed greater improvements in wellness climate and wellbeing compared to the control group. Healthy Choices participants showed no changes in climate and no mediation effects of climate. Health promotion efforts may be enhanced by including wellness climate as a target in program design at multiple levels.

Employer safety obligations, safety climate, and safety behaviors in the ready-made garment context in Bangladesh

PURPOSE

The impact of employer safety obligations on safety climate and safety outcomes has become an important area of research in organizational and safety sciences. Evidence shows that employer safety obligations positively impact safety outcomes, including safety climate and safety behaviors. However, these relationships have not been thoroughly explored within the garment settings. This study is one of the first known studies to examine the relationships between employer safety obligations, safety climate, and safety behavior outcomes in a sample of garment employees.

METHODS

Two-wave time-lagged data were collected from 347 garment employees and their supervisors in Bangladesh. Hierarchical regression analysis was applied to examine hypothesized relationships using AMOS a SPSS.

RESULTS

Employer safety obligations positively influenced safety climate perceptions among garment employees. Safety climate perceptions are positively and significantly associated with safety behaviors, including safety compliance behaviors, prosocial safety behaviors, and proactive safety behaviors. Moreover, the safety climate mediates the influence of employer safety obligations on safety behaviors.

CONCLUSIONS

These findings provide important evidence of the relationships between employer safety obligations, safety climate, and safety behaviors in the garment industry of Bangladesh.

PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS

Ultimately, these findings guide the government, garment manufacturers, and managers to bolster garment employees' safety outcomes.

Linking Safety Climate and Safety Citizenship Behaviour in the Bangladeshi Garment Industry: Role of Employees’ Prosocial Motivation

Drawing on the self-determination theory, this study aimed to examine whether perceived safety climate influenced prosocial motivation, consequently affecting two types of safety citizenship behaviours: prosocial and proactive. Two-wave time-lagged data were collected from 334 readymade garment employees in Bangladesh. Hypothesised relationships were examined using analysis of moment structures (AMOS) and statistical package for the social sciences (SPSS). This study revealed that the perceived safety climate positively influenced prosocial motivation among garment employees. In addition, perceived safety climate is related to both types of safety citizenship behaviours. Moreover, this study found that the relationship between perceived safety climate and safety citizenship behaviours was mediated by prosocial motivation. This study is a pioneer in investigating the motivating mechanism of perceived safety climate to stimulate garment employees’ citizenship behaviours. These findings provide significant evidence and guidance for garment manufacturers and managers to bolster garment employees’ prosocial and proactive safety behaviours.

Safety climate in the Ghanaian printing industry

The concept of safety climate has gained attention from safety experts as one of the most efficient and effective ways to deal with occupational accidents and injuries across industries. This paper explores the safety climate and the effect of employees' demographic variables on the safety climate perception in the printing industry. We adopted the Safety Climate Scale (SCS) developed by Ghahramani and Khalkhali to measure the safety climate in the print manufacturing industry of Ghana. Our findings, based on all the dimensions in the scale, revealed an unsafe safety climate. Also, there was a correlation between demographic factors (age, gender, experience, and education) and perception of workplace safety climate. The major contribution of this paper is to extend empirical research that provides a greater understanding of the health and safety environment within the printing industry of Ghana and the personal and collective attitudes and patterns of behaviour that determine the commitment to organisations' health and safety practices. These findings are important for managers in the printing industry because they provide evidence about the current safety climate so that management can take the action to reduce risks and improve performance. To improve the safety climate, we recommend that management and other stakeholders within the printing industry must commit and communicate effectively, embrace safety practices and procedures, and be more accountable and responsible to minimise the effects of a poor safety climate.

The influence of pandemic-related workplace safety practices on frontline service employee wellbeing outcomes

The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed the vulnerability of frontline employee (FLEs) to infections and other hazards and highlighted the importance of workplace safety practices (WSP) for service organizations. In response to the critical issue of service safety, we developed and empirically tested a model proposing that WSPs negatively influence FLE perceptions of pandemic related threats and positively influence their perceptions of organizational supportiveness (POS). In turn, these perceptions have time-lagged effects on two aspects of FLE wellbeing-reduced emotional exhaustion and increased work engagement. Utilizing data from a two-wave (separated by a month) survey panel consisting of 310 FLEs across the United States, we found evidence for all hypothesized relationships. We discuss the practical and theoretical implications of our findings and provide suggestions for future research on service safety on the organizational frontlines.

A tale of six climates: Reflections and learnings after the development of six industry-specific safety climate scales

INTRODUCTION

Researchers are finding merits in utilizing industry-specific safety climate scales that capture the nuances of context, and tend to show stronger associations with safety behavior and outcomes like incidents. Yet, to date, guidance around the practicalities of developing and validating such industry-specific scales is lacking in the safety science literature.

METHOD

In this paper we outline our experiences developing six industry-specific safety climate scales and highlight strengths and limitations of our approach. We also briefly review the industry-specific safety climate literature and offer highlights for consideration when developing such scales. Our method to develop industry-specific safety climate scales followed an established best practice structure: literature review of existing published industry scales, collation and review of existing scale items, consultation interviews with industry experts, item drafting, exploratory and confirmatory statistical analyses, and finally, a real-world ecological validity test.

RESULTS

Our research highlighted the diversity of safety climate dimensions (both the conceptual and content domains of each dimension) when it is considered at an industry level. Also, the literature reviews revealed a dearth of industry-specific safety climate scales in the areas we engaged with, so our project filled a glaring gap in research and practice. Best practice safety climate scale development methods are provided to stimulate further research.

CONCLUSIONS

We conclude with reflections on the nature of safety climate within and across industries, and offer suggestions for future lines of research across other contexts (e.g., national culture, geography, and regulatory settings). We suggest that industry-specific safety climate scales have a specific use case, such as identifying specific areas to improve and evaluating the impact of safety interventions.

PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS

This article provides applications for both applied researchers (to improve capabilities in safety climate scale development) and practitioners who wish to measure organisational safety climate and design effective interventions. Engaging with regulators to build safety climate scales is powerful because their personnel have rich experiences to share across multiple workplaces. Organisational researchers can engage with survey panels to build robust scales. Finally, industry-specific nuances can lead to richer insights into an organisation's safety climate.

Adapting, adopting, and advancing change: A framework for future research in the psychology of occupational safety

INTRODUCTION

While there are numerous reviews of the research on the psychology of occupational safety, these studies provide weak guidance on where the research should go next. Accordingly, we introduce a simple framework for thinking about future research in this area: the adapting, adopting, and advancing change framework. This framework summarizes how external, technological, and theoretical developments have driven research in the psychology of occupational safety and uses these observations as evidence to imagine ways in which they may continue to do so.

METHOD

We critically reviewed seminal research in the psychology of occupational safety using the adapting, adopting, and advancing change framework. Adapting to change means considering external changes such as the fluctuating nature of work and the labor market. Adopting change refers to incorporating the latest technological and technical advances to facilitate more robust research methods and analyses. Finally, advancing change refers to theoretical advances and how they will push psychology of occupational safety research forward.

RESULTS

We highlight several avenues for future research that emerge at the convergence of the framework's three themes, including developing the safety skill construct, assessing variation in demand appraisals on safety outcomes, distinguishing safety climate from related constructs, and examining safety constructs that are usually considered as outcomes (e.g., injuries) as predictors instead.

CONCLUSIONS

In doing so, we provide a clear structure to help researchers better identify the most effective directions for future research on the psychology of occupational safety.

Development and testing of a tool to measure the organizational safety climate aboard US Navy ships

INTRODUCTION

Safety climate is a critical human factor that can increase safety-related behaviors and reduce accidents. This research reports on a three-phase program of development and validation of a safety climate survey tool initiated by U.S. Naval Surface Forces after numerous accidents and near misses.

METHOD

The initial survey was administered to 4,042 sailors aboard 30 warships, and factor analysis supported a three-factor measure of a safety climate composed of operational compliance, positive work environment, and organizational resources. The predictive validity of the newly developed safety climate measure was tested against the number of accidents reported in the 12 months after the safety climate survey.

RESULTS

This analysis revealed that a positive work environment and operational compliance were linked to fewer accidents; surprisingly, organizational resources were linked to more accidents. Implications for future research on safety climate and occupational safety are discussed.

Divergent effects of transformational leadership on safety compliance: A dual-path moderated mediation model

Research on the relationship between transformational leadership and safety compliance has yielded equivocal results. This study investigates how and when transformational leadership produces divergent effects on safety compliance. Using a time-lagged research design, we collect data from a sample of 309 employees in the Chinese construction industry to examine the hypothesized relationship. We find that transformational leadership positively affects safety compliance through employees’ felt obligation toward their leader. However, transformational leadership also negatively impacts safety compliance through safety risk tolerance. We further show that employees’ perception of the safety climate plays a contingent role in the above processes. Specifically, a high-level perceived safety climate strengthens the positive indirect effect of transformational leadership on safety compliance through felt obligation, while a low-level perceived safety climate strengthens the negative indirect effect of transformational leadership on safety compliance through safety risk tolerance. The theoretical and practical implications of the findings are also discussed.

Moderating Effect of Psychological Well-Being on the Effect of Workplace Safety Climate on Job Stress

AIM

The main purpose of this study is to reveal the moderating effect of psychological well-being on the effect of workplace safety climate on job stress.

METHODS

: The cross-sectional study was designed inclusive of the use of the survey method. 291 healthcare professionals returned the survey forms, among those, 75.9% of the participants were women, and the mean age of the sample was 32.83±6.03. Most of the participants (66.6%) had a Bachelor's degree or higher. We analyzed the data using, a structural equation modeling framework used to test both direct and mediating effects. Hayes' (2013) Model 4 was used to identify the mediating role of psychological well-being on the effect of workplace safety climate on job stress.

RESULTS

:According to the analysis results, the created model is significant, and psychological well-being plays a mediating role on the effect of workplace safety climate on job stress, reinforcing the negative effect of workplace safety climate on job stress.

CONCLUSION

Our results revealed that first the safety environment perceived by the employees reduces their stress. Second, psychological well-being plays a mediating role in relation to the effect of safety climate on job stress. This role contributes to the reduction of stress through the improvement of the safety climate.

Synergetic effect of safety culture and safety climate on safety performance in SMEs: does transformation leadership have a moderating role?

Objectives. In developing countries, health and safety is not given importance especially in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Incidents in health and safety are continuously increasing. The major reason is a lack of workplace safety culture. Secondly, enterprises lack resources, therefore it becomes hard for them to provide safety climate. Along with safety climate and safety culture, the behavior of leadership plays a significant role toward safety performance. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to analyze the moderating role of leadership for gaining safety performance through safety culture and safety climate. Methods. For the said purpose, the authors collected data from laborers and managers. A structured questionnaire was adopted and, after ensuring the reliability, structural equation modeling was applied. Results. The findings revealed that safety culture and safety climate both have a significant impact over safety performance; however, transformational leadership only moderates the relationship between safety culture and safety performance. Conclusions. Identification of the moderating role of transformational leadership is a significant contribution in social cognitive theory. Future researchers are also guided to identify the same link for large industries of developing countries.

Adaptation of the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality's 'Hospital Survey on Patient Safety Culture' to the Bosnia and Herzegovina context

OBJECTIVES

Measuring staff perspectives on patient safety culture (PSC) can identify areas of concern that, if addressed, could lead to improvements in healthcare. To date, there is no validated measure to assess PSC that has been tested and adapted for use in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH). This research addresses the gap in the evidence through the psychometric assessment of the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality's: 'Hospital Survey on Patient Safety Culture' (HSOPSC), to determine its suitability for the health system in BiH.

SETTING

Nine hospitals.

PARTICIPANTS

Healthcare professionals (n=1429); nurse (n=823), doctors (n=328), other clinical personnel (n=111), non-clinical personnel (n=60), other (n=64), no response (n=43).

PRIMARY AND SECONDARY OUTCOME MEASURES

A translated version of HSOPSC was used to conduct psychometric evaluation including exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). Comparison between the original HSOPSC and the newly adapted 'Hospital Survey on Patient Safety Culture for Bosnia and Herzegovina' (HSOPSC-BiH) was carried out.

RESULTS

Compared with the original survey, which has 12 factors (42 items), the adapted survey consisted of 9 factors (29 items). The following factors from the original survey were not included in their original form: Communication Openness, Feedback and Communications about error, Overall Perceptions of Patient Safety and Organisational learning-Continuous Improvement. The results of the CFA for HSOPSC-BiH showed a better model fit compared with the original HSOPSC. The absolute and relative fit indices showed excellent model adjustment.

CONCLUSIONS

The BiH version of Hospital Survey on Patient Safety Culture demonstrated satisfactory psychometric properties, with acceptable to good internal consistency and construct validity. Therefore, we recommend the HSOPSC-BiH as a basis for assessing PSC in BiH. This survey could provide insight into patient safety concerns in BiH so that strategies to overcome these issues could be formulated and implemented.

Analyzing the mediating effect of economic performance on the relationship between green construction practices and health and safety performance in Nigeria

The adoption of green construction practices (GCP) has been on the increase in recent years as a means of reducing the negative effects of construction on the natural environment. However, GCP have been discovered to expose the construction workers to numerous health and safety (HS) risks, resulting from a decline in safety investment due to the economic burden associated with its adoption. This study explores the means through which GCP influence the HS performance of construction projects through economic performance. To obtain the views of contractors, a survey questionnaire was developed, and data was collected from project managers and site managers of "class A" contractors, with a response rate of 81.55%. The partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) technique was adopted to analyze the data. The results show that the effect of GCP on HS performance is fully mediated by economic performance. The study concludes that for projects that adopt GCP to have high levels of HS performance, they are required to have an optimal economic performance. Efforts should be intensified by the government in providing subsidies, tax waivers, and other incentives for adopters of GCP to ensure the economic performance of their projects since it guarantees high HS performance.

Evaluating the Consistency Between Conceptual Frameworks and Factors Influencing the Safe Behavior of Iranian Workers in the Petrochemical Industry: Mixed Methods Study

BACKGROUND

Unsafe worker behavior is often identified as a major cause of dangerous incidents in the petrochemical industry. Behavioral safety models provide frameworks that may help to prevent such incidents by identifying factors promoting safe or unsafe behavior. We recently conducted a qualitative study to identify factors affecting workers' unsafe behaviors in an Iranian petrochemical company.

OBJECTIVE

The aims of this study were to (1) conduct a review of the relevant research literature between the years 2000 and 2019 to identify theoretical models proposed to explain and predict safe behavior in the workplace and (2) to select the model that best reflects our qualitative findings and other evidence about the factors influencing safe behaviors among petrochemical workers.

METHODS

This research used mixed methods. Initially, we conducted a qualitative study of factors that Iranian petrochemical workers believed affected their safety behavior. Four themes emerged from the semistructured interviews: (1) poor direct safety management and supervision; (2) unsafe workplace conditions; (3) workers' perceptions, skills, and training; and (4) broader organizational factors. Electronic databases, including PubMed, Embase, Scopus, Google Scholar, EBSCOhost, and Science Direct, were then searched for eligible studies on models to explain and predict safe behaviors, which were published between the years 2000 and 2019. Medical subject headings were used as the primary analytical element. Medical subject headings and subheadings were then extracted from the literature. One researcher conducted the search and 3 researchers performed screening and data extraction. Then, constructs described in each study were assessed to determine which were the most consistent with themes derived from our qualitative analysis.

RESULTS

A total of 2032 publications were found using the search strategy. Of these, 142 studies were assessed and 28 studies met the inclusion criteria and were included in the review. The themes identified in the qualitative study most closely matched 3 scales included in Wu et al's model that measured safety behavior and performance, safety leadership, and safety climate in petrochemical industries. Poor direct safety management and supervision matched with safety leadership and its subscales; unsafe workplace conditions matched with safety climate and its subscales; workers' perceptions, skills, and training matched with safety performance and its subscales; and broader organizational factors matched with some subscales of the model.

CONCLUSIONS

This is the first literature review to identify models intended to explain and predict safe behavior and select the model most consistent with themes elicited from a qualitative study. Our results showed that effective safety leadership and management and safety climate and culture systems are the most frequently identified factors affecting safe behaviors in the petrochemical industry. These results can further help safety researchers and professionals design effective behavior-based safety interventions, which can have a more sustainable and persistent impact on workers' safety behaviors.

TRIAL REGISTRATION

Iranian Registry of Clinical Trials IRCT20170515033981N2; https://www.irct.ir/trial/26107.

INTERNATIONAL REGISTERED REPORT IDENTIFIER (IRRID)

RR2-10.1186/s12889-019-7126-1.

Psychometric properties and validation of the Brief NORSCI safety perceptions and climate inventory in the Norwegian waste management industry

A valid, standardized tool for assessing workplace safety can help organizations and employers to detect potential safety risks. This is crucial to improve safety and protect employees and production against accidents and injuries. As no such tool has so far been developed for the waste management industry, this study aimed to establish the psychometric properties and the concurrent validity of the 11-item Brief Norwegian Safety Climate Inventory (Brief NORSCI). A cross-sectional questionnaire study was conducted with 543 workers from the formal Norwegian waste management industry. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses showed that the Brief NORSCI exhibited good psychometric properties. Replicating previous validation studies of the inventory, the findings suggested a three-factor structure reflecting Individual intention and motivation, Management's prioritization of safety, and Safety routines. The three first-order factors of the inventory could be combined in a composite second-order safety climate factor. Both the overall composite score and the three subscales correlated in the expected directions with measures of job characteristics (i.e., job demands and resources), leadership, social climate, and severe accidents, thus indicating high concurrent validity. This study supported the validity and reliability of the Brief NORSCI as an assessment tool to measure both individual safety perceptions and group level safety climate among waste management workers. The findings suggest that application of the Brief NORSCI as a safety assessment tool may contribute to the development of a stronger safety profile among organizations and companies in waste management.

The impact of empowerment and technology on safety behavior: evidence from mining companies

Major technological advances that are being introduced in the global mining industry have an impact on work and employee attitudes toward safety. The objective of this study was to analyze the impact of empowerment and technology on safety behavior. The research design was cross-sectional, and the sample was composed of 403 employees in mining companies. To measure safety behavior we used Neal, Griffin and Hart scales, and psychological empowerment was measured using the Spreitzer scale. The results indicated high levels of empowerment on safety behavior and medium levels of technology's promotion and prevention factors in the employees surveyed. Also, the study revealed that the meaning dimension of empowerment and the promotion technology factor positively affect safety behavior. A further contribution of the study is in the design of a scale to measure the impact of technology on safety behavior, as there are no known scales for this.

Exploring the Differences in Safety Climate Among Mining Sectors

Currently, the US mining industry is encouraged, but not required to adopt a formal health and safety management system. Previous research has shown that the adoption of such systems has been more difficult in some subsectors of the mining industry than others. Given the interdependencies between management systems and safety climate in addition to their predictive utility of incidents, it is important to assess differences in the perceptions of safety climate among mining subsectors in the USA. If significant differences exist, then mining subsectors may not necessarily be able to adopt a one-size approach to system implementation. To that end, the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health assessed mineworkers' perceptions of several individual and organizational safety climate constructs. Participants consisted of 2945 mineworkers at coal, industrial mineral, and stone/sand/gravel mine sites throughout 18 states. Linear regressions were used to answer the research question. The results suggest that coal miners, in comparison to those miners in industrial mineral and stone/sand/gravel sectors, had significantly less favorable perceptions on each of the organizational climate constructs measured (i.e., organizational support, supervisor support and communication, coworker communication, engagement/involvement, and training) (p < 0.001 in all cases). Importantly, these results parse out organizational indicators to show that perceptions are not only lower in one area of organizational or supervisor support. Rather, engagement, training, and communication practices were all significantly lower among coal miners, prompting considerations for these significant differences and actions that can be taken to improve system practices.

NOSACQ-50 for Safety Climate Assessment in Agricultural Activities: A Case Study in Central Italy

Safety climate assessment has been recognized as a powerful tool to bring to light workers' perceptions related to safety practices, attitudes and behaviors at the workplace. Accordingly, its investigation can provide useful information about safety problems within a company before accidents occur. In literature, numerous studies can be found investigating safety climates in different types of industry. However, safety climate assessment in agricultural activities is addressed scarcely, even though agriculture represents a very hazardous sector. To reduce this gap, the present study proposes an investigation of safety climate among farmers by means of the Nordic Safety Climate Questionnaire (NOSACQ-50). The results of the survey brought to light a low level of safety perception of the interviewed sample, especially as concerns safety commitment and risk-taking attitudes. In particular, a different attitude toward safety issues has been registered depending on both the position and gender of the interviewed farmers. Overall, the output of this cross-sectional analysis adds to the current literature by expanding knowledge of safety climate among farmers, representing a baseline for further investigations based on human-centered approaches to enhance safety in agriculture and consequently social and workplace aspects of sustainable agricultural systems.

Evaluating Climate between Working Excellence and Organizational Innovation: What Comes First?

This research introduces a new concept of organizational climate, seen as a "mediator", namely a factor liable to produce positive effects on both individual performances and on work processes and relations, thereby creating a favorable relationship between work excellence and organizational innovation. Health systems have been called to promote sustainability, as actors who work for the health and well-being of their patients. Starting from these considerations, this work shows the main results of a longitudinal study conducted in the pediatric department of a large hospital in southern Italy, for a period of three years (May 2014–May 2017). The reference survey was very broad because in the first step of the research a general questionnaire was adopted which included various aspects. Subsequently, the analysis of the influence of the “climate” factor was carried out according to a 3-dimensional scheme: structural, interpersonal/relational and individual. The focus was therefore set—especially in the second survey—on those indicators responding to the objective of the research and that were consistent with the epistemological choice made. The main scope was to verify the conditions according to which the organizational climate can emerge as a novel factor capable of siding with and orienting innovative patient-centered policies of human resources management.

Safety climate: Systematic literature network analysis of 38 years (1980-2018) of research

The objective of this paper is to examine the safety climate knowledge epistemology using bibliometric and systematic literature network analysis. For this purpose, bibliometric information of research article published on safety climate topic was retrieved from Scopus databases. In total, 494 articles published between 1980 and 2018 were retrieved. These articles cover 1373 authors, 203 journals and 2511 keywords. Information collected was analyzed employing bibliometric and network analysis approach using an open source computer program R and VOSviewer. The main findings of the study reveal the publication trends in safety climate literature since 1980 to present, identifies most productive authors, and most influential research work. Our findings suggest that Huang and Zohar are the top publishing authors in safety climate domain. Zohar's work has the highest citations. The most influential articles have been published in Journals such as Accident Analysis and Prevention, Journal of Applied Psychology, Safety Science and Journal of Safety Research. Network analysis of these articles yielded co-citation networks of most influential works, bibliographical coupling network and keywords co-occurrence network yielded the structure of safety climate knowledge. Findings of our research have theoretical and practical implications in the area of safety climate.

Exploring patterns of multiple climates and their effects on safety performance at the department level

INTRODUCTION

This paper represents a first attempt to fill a gap in research about different specific climates and safety outcomes, by empirically identifying patterns of climates and exploring the possible effect of different climates at the department level on some specific safety outcomes. The first objective was to explore how different specific climates (safety, communication, diversity and inclusion) can be associated to each other, considering the department level of analysis. The second objective was to examine the relationships between those patterns of climates with safety performance (compliance and participation behaviors).

METHOD

A total of 429 blue-collar workers in 35 departments answered a questionnaire covering safety, diversity, inclusion, and communication climate measures. Cluster analysis was performed to identify clusters of departments with different climate patterns and their impact on safety compliance and safety participation behaviors. Subsequently, a hierarchical multiple linear regression was conducted at the individual-level to test the effect of climate patterns, by controlling for some sociodemographic variables.

RESULTS

Results showed the existence of four differentiated clusters of departments. Three of those clusters showed homogenous patterns (coherent association among perceptions of low, medium and high climates) and one heterogeneous (low and medium perceptions). The findings also revealed that the higher the climates perceptions, the higher the levels of safety participation and safety compliance, with safety participation being more affected than compliance.

CONCLUSIONS

The present research showed the associated effects of some organizational climate factors, such as fair treatment, inclusion, safety and communication within the organization, which had not been previously studied in their combined relationships, on safety behaviors. Practical applications: Several other organizational climate factors, such as fair treatment, inclusiveness and communication, may play an important role in safety, showing the importance of broadening the focus on safety climate as one of the main predictors of safety behaviors.

Perceived Workplace Health and Safety Climates: Associations With Worker Outcomes and Productivity

INTRODUCTION

This study investigates the associations between perceived workplace health and safety climates and a variety of worker and employer outcomes.

METHODS

Self-reported data were collected from an employee health assessment offered at 3 companies (n=959) in 2014. Independent variables included 2 climate variables: perceived safety climate and perceived health and well-being climate. Logistic regression models, performed in 2016-2017, explored the associations between the 2 climate variables and 3 sets of outcomes: worker outcomes, worker health behaviors, and employer outcomes.

RESULTS

Perceived workplace safety climate was positively associated with physical activity and optimal sleep. Stronger perceived workplace health and well-being and safety climates were related to less depression, higher job and life satisfaction, less back pain, and higher general health. Stronger perceived climates of workplace safety and health and well-being were associated with less productivity loss.

CONCLUSIONS

Conditions of work, such as perceived climate, are associated with improved worker behaviors (physical activity and sleep), worker outcomes (depression, job and life satisfaction, back pain, and general health), and employer (productivity) outcomes.

How is safety climate formed? A meta-analysis of the antecedents of safety climate

The purpose of this meta-analysis was to provide a comprehensive quantitative review of research to date on the antecedents of psychological and organizational safety climate. Building upon and expanding Zohar’s conceptual model, antecedents were organized into three broad categories: situational factors, interpersonal interactions, and personal factors. Data were gleaned from 136 primary studies to calculate effect sizes for 38 antecedents and the relative importance of each antecedent within the three categories. Antecedent effect sizes were generally homologous for psychological and organizational safety climate, with the strongest effect sizes for interpersonal interactions followed by organizational climate and leadership. The magnitude of the safety climate antecedent effect sizes tended to be stronger in health-care industry studies and varied inconsistently as a function of the industry-specific nature of the safety climate measure. This meta-analysis provides a much needed summary of the research to date in an effort to guide future research and practice on the development and improvement of safety climate in organizations.

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.