Abstract

Safety at work should be considered as the result of the daily interaction of operators. The present research wants to analyze which factors are involved in the development of social networks about safety at work. We assumed that two relational non-technical skills, such as safety communication and safety team member support, affect the in-degree and out-degree bonds of workers in social networks. One hundred and eight workers of a warehouse were the participants of the research, in which they were asked to fill out a self-reported questionnaire. Multiple linear regression analysis was used to test the hypotheses. Results confirmed that safety communication and safety support skills play a role in determining the quantity and the quality of social bonds that workers can create at the workplace. To be specific, while safety communication was found to be associated with out-degree centrality (b = 0.24; p = 0.01), a nonsignificant relationship was found for in-degree centrality. In contrast, safety team member support was found to be associated with in-degree centrality (b = 0.28; p = 0.04). In other words, on the one hand, it was found that high levels of safety communication skills are associated with the tendency of workers to proactively search for colleagues with whom they can share information about safety. On the other hand, workers with high levels of safety support skills tend to be considered as reference points in terms of safety by colleagues, who are more prone to look for their help. Implications for both scientists and practitioners are discussed.

Highlights

  • The statistical office of the European Union (Eurostat) revealed that the warehouse sector is exposed to safety risks at the workplace, being one of the most threatening for workers’ health

  • While social network analysis (SNA) was generally applied to analyze how social networks affect teamwork, this study focuses on the role of supporting skills of workers as a mean to understand how these are spread in teams and how they influence safety outcomes

  • The number of nodes was greater than the number of workers who fulfilled the questionnaire since they were asked to indicate the colleagues with whom they usually exchange relevant safety information: the number of nodes represents those workers who were identified by co-workers, regardless of their participation in the questionnaire

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Summary

Introduction

The statistical office of the European Union (Eurostat) revealed that the warehouse sector is exposed to safety risks at the workplace, being one of the most threatening for workers’ health. In Italy, (where this study was conducted), the number of fatal accidents at work was above average compared to that recorded in other European states [1]. Workplace Injuries (INAIL) confirmed the national trend, recording an overall number of fatal accidents exceeding a thousand workers in 2019 [2]. Given the threatening situation for workers’ health, workplace safety needs to be improved by analyzing, under different perspectives, the dynamics that lead to accidents and injuries. Greater attention should be paid to non-technical skills (NTS), as their crucial role within the field of industrial safety has been demonstrated [3]. In other words, improving NTS is of the utmost importance to improve the overall safety levels at work [5]

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