2391 - Relationship between Safety Culture and Transport Worker Health

Abstract

2nd Highest Scoring Abstract: Researcher Background Recent examples of the relationship between Safety Culture, transportation worker's health and the public health is found in the derailment of major commuter trains in Seattle and New York, not to mention the catastrophic fire and explosion that let Forty-two people dead, with five more missing and presumed dead from workers failure to properly secure a set of tank cars loaded with highly flammable petroleum that derailed and burned down most of the town of Lac-Megantic, Quebec, Canada. Several regulatory factors and the underlying and pervasive Safety Culture that exists within an organization have recently begun to receive increased attention from public health and transportation safety professionals and government officials charged with regulating transportation. Moreover, descriptions of key factors that contribute to the makeup of a safety culture as well as new and psychometrically valid measures of safety culture have recently come in to use. However, this study seeks to remedy the fact that there is very little published data that provides concrete evidence of the empirical relationship between safety culture and the occurrence of accidents, injuries and other health benefits. Methods The 68-item Safety Culture Scale (Sherry & Colarossi, 2016) for the transportation industry was administered to employees of a global shipping company. Approximately 100+ vessels and their crews were invited to complete surveys using online and paper methods. Survey data were analyzed using SPSS. Results Results from N=1601 completed surveys indicate that Safety Culture is significantly related to the decreased reporting of injuries, near misses, and lost work time. Significant correlations were found between number of work injuries and employees’ perception that supervisors, co-workers and safety officers contributed to make the work place safe (r= -.123, -.137 and -.146,p Conclusions Results provide empirical support for the preventative role of organization safety culture in the transportation industry public health and safety. A strong safety culture supported by management, safety professionals, employees and coworkers was related to improved health and the reduction of work accidents and injuries.