Investigating the Relationship between Safety and Organizational Culture in the Production Line Employees of One of the Automobile Companies

Abstract

Background and Objective: Safety activities focus on reducing workplace risks, and very few activities focus on increasing organizational and safety culture. The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between organizational culture and safety at one of the largest automobile companies in the country. Materials and Methods: The current research was a correlational study that was conducted at a specific point in time. The statistical population of this research was the employees of paint and body salons of an automobile company. In total, 402 people were selected using the limited population sampling formula. The data collection tool, which was a questionnaire, had three sections, including demographic characteristics, organizational culture, and employee safety culture. In order to investigate organizational culture, a 29-question questionnaire based on the 10 indicators of the Robbins model was used, and for organizational culture, a 37-question organizational culture questionnaire was used. Results: The average age of the participants was 36.06±4.72 years, and the average organizational culture score in this industrial unit was 84.03±18.45. The correlation test showed the relationship between organizational culture and safety culture to be 0.652 and significant (P<0.001). In addition, 69.6% of observations were unsafe, and 30.4% were safe. No statistically significant relationship was found between unsafe behavior and demographic variables, except for age and work experience. Conclusion: There was a significant relationship between safety and organizational culture, and individual factors and management factors had the greatest impact on safety culture. Safety culture, as a part of the organizational culture structure in organizations and industries, focuses on occupational health and safety issues. Giving importance to the safety culture or any change in the work culture and attitude of the employees can help overcome the obstacles in the way of safety in the workplace.