Abstract
The aim of this study is to compare individual and organizational factors as predictors of accident frequency. Four hypotheses based on the literature were presented: 1) both individual and organizational factors contribute to accident frequency, 2) individual factors have more impact than organizational factors, 3) both Organizational citizenship behaviour and Perceived organizational support are positively associated with safety behaviour, and 4) among the four organizational factors, Perceived organisational support has the most impact. The participants were 320 Ghanaian industrial workers from textile factories, breweries and mines. Organizational safety climate was measured using the 50-item Workplace Safety Scale. Organizational citizenship behaviour, Perceived organizational support and job satisfaction were measured by standardised scales. Individual factors were gender, age, education, marital status and job tenure. The respondents reported their accidents during the past 12 months. Models were tested using Structural Equation Modelling: Both individual and organizational factors contributed to accident frequency supporting hypothesis 1. Hypothesis 2 was rejected as organizational factors were more strongly related to accident frequency than individual factors. Organizational citizenship behaviour and Perceived organizational support were positively associated with safety performances as Hypothesis 3 suggested. In line with Hypothesis 4 the strongest predictor of safety behaviour was Perceived organizational support. This study showed that both individual and organizational factors are contributory for accident process. However, the influence of organizational factors was stronger than that of individual factors. Implications for safety in Ghanaian organizations were discussed.
Highlights
Organizational climate is defined as a relatively enduring quality of the internal environment of an organization that is experienced by its members, influences their behavior, and can be described in terms of the values of a particular set of characteristics of the organization (Tagiuri & Litwin, 1986)
Four hypotheses based on the literature were presented: 1) both individual and organizational factors contribute to accident frequency, 2) individual factors have more impact than organizational factors, 3) both Organizational citizenship behaviour and Perceived organizational support are positively associated with safety behaviour, and 4) among the four organizational factors, Perceived organisational support has the most impact
Organizational citizenship behaviour, Perceived organizational support and job satisfaction were measured by standardised scales
Summary
Organizational climate is defined as a relatively enduring quality of the internal environment of an organization that is experienced by its members, influences their behavior, and can be described in terms of the values of a particular set of characteristics of the organization (Tagiuri & Litwin, 1986). The division of organizational climate that has impacted the safety performances of workers is termed organizational safety climate. Safety climate is regarded in the literature as the shared perceptions of safety values, norms, beliefs, practices, and principles of workers in their work environments (Zohar, 1980). Research in this area began in the early 1980s with Zohar’s (1980) ubiquitous study. Among the prominent importance of safety perception surveys as leading indicators of safety performance, they have helped in the identification of precursors to accident occurrence, and by doing so, effectively decreased accident occurrence. By providing proactive information regarding safety problems before they develop into accidents and injuries, safety perception surveys have provided guidance to management in developing specific safety programmes
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