Data literacy for safety professionals in safety management: A theoretical perspective on basic questions and answers

Abstract

The use of data in safety management has become more prevalent, especially in the era of big data. Hence a growing number of organizations have begun to require safety professionals to use safety-related data to inform their safety management practices. Data Literacy for Safety Professionals (DLSP) is a prerequisite for data-driven safety management, and has become an essential skill for safety professionals as safety management becomes a data-driven profession. Unfortunately, DLSP has never been explored. Using the concept of data literacy, this study focuses on the potentially important value of safety-related data and DLSP in safety management, and aims to give preliminary answers to some fundamental questions concerning DLSP from a theoretical perspective. The questions examine (1) what it is, (2) what its main components are, and (3) what factors influence it. Other theoretical and practical contributions include a discussion on the growing importance of safety-related data for safety management, a rationale for fostering and studying DLSP, and suggestions for future research. This paper is the first to study the basic questions of DLSP specifically, thus its results hold important implications for developing and studying DLSP in the future.