Organizational Safety Management Research Articles

The three ages balance for patient safety.

The evolution of the patient safety perspectives, the technological age, the human factor age and the safety management age, have no clear cut and coexist. The current edition of the Current Opinion in Anesthesiology Technology, Education and Safety section presents an eclectic compendium of articles addressing these views from the technological improvements, human factor developments and organizational safety management impacting patient safety. Every solution, every patch to fill the cheese hole, holding the domino piece to fall, opens a new disruption elsewhere that needs to be addressed following the zero-preventable harm path.

Development of effective human factors interventions for aviation safety management.

In the aviation industry, safety management has moved away from capturing frontline failures toward the management of systemic conditions through organizational safety management systems (SMS). However, subjective differences can influence the classification of active failures and their associated systemic precursors. With levels of professional experience known to influence safety attitudes, the present research examines whether experience levels among airline pilots had an impact on the classification of causal factors using the Human Factors Analysis and Classification System (HFACS). Differences in the paths of association between categories were evaluated in an open-system context. Pilots working in a large, international airline were categorized into high (≥10,000 total flight hours) and low (<10,000 h) experience groups and asked to classify aircraft accident causal factors using the HFACS framework. One-way ANOVA tests were carried out to determine experience effects on the utilization of the HFACS categories, and chi-squared analyses were used to assess the strength of association between different categories within the framework. Results from 144 valid responses revealed differences in the attribution of human factors conditions. The high experience group was more inclined to attribute deficiencies to high-level precursors and found fewer paths of associations between different categories. In contrast, the low experience group presented a greater number of associations and was comparatively more affected by stress and uncertainty conditions. The results confirm that the classification of safety factors can be influenced by professional experience, with hierarchical power distance impacting the attribution of failures to higher-level organizational faults. Different paths of association between the two groups also suggest that safety interventions can be targeted through different entry points. Where multiple latent conditions are associated, the selection of safety interventions should be made with consideration of the concerns, influences, and actions across the entire system. Higher-level anthropological interventions can change the interactive interfaces affecting concerns, influences, and actions across all levels, whereas frontline-level functional interventions are more efficient for failures linked to many precursor categories.

Realizing Smart Safety Management in the Era of Safety 4.0: A New Method towards Sustainable Safety

Safety 4.0 is a new stage of safety science coincident with the development of Industry 4.0. In Safety 4.0, safety researchers and professionals attach importance to the perspective of safety information and emerging technologies in safety management, and thus promote a new concept: smart safety management (SSM). However, there are still many gaps in its fundamental theory, and there are few fundamental studies on the concept and essence of SSM. In order to fill these gaps, this paper introduces a theoretical study on the method of SSM. Firstly, in order to clarify the concept of smartness in the era of information, we elaborate the smartness performance of artificial entities and the essence of smart safety capability on the basis of analyzing the smartness performance of smart safety entities (SSEs). Then, we review the new characteristics and requirements of organizational safety management research and practice in the era of Safety 4.0; on this basis, we propose the definition and connotation of SSM in the era of Safety 4.0, and elaborate the specific content of the SSM method. Specifically, we divide SSM into four modules, safety information processing, safety action, inspiring awareness of safety and internal optimization, and thus build the content model of SSM. By expounding the contents and steps of the four modules, we further elaborate how to conduct SSM in industrial organizations. Then, we propose a SSM ecosystem for realizing sustainable safety in industrial organizations and analyze the approaches to realizing SSM in coal mine safety production. Finally, we analyze the significance of SSM in supporting sustainable safety and discuss the practical challenges that SSM may encounter in the future. The results show that SSM is a method based on safety intelligence, and it can support sustainable safety through the four aspects of comprehensive function, safety predictability, safety awareness and continuous optimalization.

Investigating professional values among pilots, cabin crew, ground staff, and managers to develop aviation safety management systems

Professional culture differences resulting from occupational training and experiences are widely known to affect the behaviours of groups and individuals. Yet a research gap exists on whether professional differences can influence safety-relevant core values held within individuals which are typically considered a product of national culture. The present study compared the core values of pilots, cabin crew, non-managerial ground staff, and airline managers by evaluating whether professional culture influenced levels of agreement towards cultural concepts relevant to safety. Results from N = 317 aviation professionals found significant differences between the four professional groups on attitudes towards power distance, individualism, time orientation, and indulgence vs. restraint. Social and physical distance to headquarters, confined work environments, and loyalty to work interfaces affected core cultural values of power distance and individualism among pilots and cabin crew. Frontline pilots and managers opposed on time-orientation, highlighting the potential for conflicts on decision making due to differences in the perceived balance between safety and performance. Professional culture also influenced sociological preferences related to values of indulgence vs. restraint. The findings support the usage of core values as a basis for human behaviour analysis and highlights the importance to include cultural ergonomics concepts when devising organisational safety management strategies.

Estimating Safety Outcomes of Increased Organisational Safety Management in Trucking Companies

The present study investigated possible consequences for the number of killed and seriously injured (KSI) in traffic if trucking companies in Norway introduced the organisational safety management (OSM) measures in the stepwise approach called the “Safety Ladder” for road goods transport. The aim of the paper was to estimate the potential of OSM to prevent KSIs involving HGV drivers in Norwegian companies, given the current prevalence and effect. On the basis of these analytical steps, the present study concluded that OSM measures seem to provide an efficient approach to reduce the number of KSIs involving HGVs, especially as previous research indicates low implementation. The estimates in the example calculations varied between 7 and 52 KSI, which potentially can be avoided per year (retrospectively). Thus, OSM measures may reduce KSIs with a share of up to 51% of the total number of KSIs involving HGVs in Norway, when taking into consideration the known effects in robust studies and current prevalence of OSM.

Voice Endorsement and Employee Safety Voice Behavior in Construction Projects: The Mediating Role of Leader-Member Exchange.

Employee safety voice refers to publishing opinions and suggestions related to workplace safety issues. In recent years, it has gradually become a hot topic in the field of organizational safety management research. Voice endorsement is the leader’s positive feedback to employees, and it is a necessary condition and key link for employees to achieve the purpose of voicing. Although there are many types of research on employee safety voice behavior and voice endorsement, few studies have explored the relationship between the two. Therefore, through a paired questionnaire survey of 214 leaders and 344 employees in construction projects, drawing on social exchange theory, using leader-member exchange (LMX) as a mediating variable, we discuss the mechanism of voice endorsement on employee safety voice behavior. The results show that in construction projects, voice endorsement negatively affects employee safety voice behavior and LMX, and LMX positively affects employee safety voice behavior. LMX has a mediating role in the relationship between voice endorsement and employee safety voice behavior. The results of this study can provide useful guidance for improving employee safety voice behavior management.

The Effects of Safety Management Systems, Attitude and Commitment on Safety Behaviors and Performance

Safety culture is part of organizational culture, and assessing corporate safety culture as a means of increasing safety performance is gaining acceptance. Based on Cooper’s reciprocal model, this paper studied the effects of managerial safety commitment and workers’ personal safety attitude as well as the organization safety management system (SMS) towards individual safety compliance and participation, and their relationship with safety performance. Questionnaires were obtained from employees and contractors of a large steel company in 14 functional departments. Modified reciprocal safety models were verified by structural equation model (SEM). The SMS and personal attitude have effects on compliance behavior. Participation behavior was influenced by the SMS and management commitment. Perceived performance was affected by compliance and participation behavior and management commitment as well. Successful implementation of a SMS will strongly motivate the workers’ participation in safety activities and compliance with safety regulation. Managers’ strong commitment toward safety is essential to foster safety performance. A Good safety attitude will motivate the worker to follow safety regulations for self-protection but does not encourage him to participate in safety activities. Increasing managerial safety commitment such as concerns about workers’ safety participation activities and participation safety activities will directly motivate the worker’s safety participation.

Characteristics and Causes of Particularly Major Road Traffic Accidents Involving Commercial Vehicles in China.

Major accidents occurred frequently in the road transportation industry, and the resulting harm to drivers, property loss, and traffic interruption are very serious. This study investigated 11 particularly major accidents involving commercial vehicles in China, and performed analysis on accident characteristics regarding the time, location, types of vehicles, and accident causation at different levels based on the 24Model. Large buses and dangerous goods vehicles were involved in 10 accidents and they all occurred on a freeway. The months from May to August, especially during the time periods of 2:00–4:00 and 14:00–16:00 every day, were the most prone to accidents. The driver’s speeding and fatigued driving, and vehicle failure were the direct causes of most of the accidents. The defects in organizational safety management involved 12 system elements, such as safety accountability, education and training, etc. Procedures are of no use if they were not followed, and there was often no effective process to assess the implementation of procedures in many organizations. The weaknesses in organizational safety culture were the source of accidents, which was mainly manifested in members’ inadequate cognition of key elements in the aspects of safety importance, safety commitment, safety management system, etc. Understanding the characteristics and root causes of accidents can help to prevent the recurrence of similar mistakes and strengthen preventative measures in road transportation enterprises.

Challenges in meeting patient assessment international standards in ambulatory tuberculosis services

Abstract Background Limitations of tuberculosis (TB) diagnostic tools and measures restrict proper TB control in places with high drug-resistant TB prevalence. This study aimed to explore gaps in the primary health care (PHC) TB services in Armenia compared to international standards on Assessment of Patients (AOP). Methods We applied mixed methods to assess the AOP standards in 30 outpatient TB centers using observational and documents/medical records review's standardized checklists, in-depth interviews, and focus group discussions. Evaluation was conducted in all 10 regions of Armenia and the capital city Yerevan. Joint Commission International Standards for Ambulatory Care, International Standards for TB Care, and WHO framework, served as a guideline for this assessment. Results PHC physicians are qualified for a set of examinations to diagnose TB. Planned reassessments are conducted continuously, though defined writings for the scope and content of reassessments administered by each clinical discipline is absent. Laboratory departments provide high quality services to the TB patients with the defined timeframes for reporting the results. Laboratory and radiology services staff is qualified and experienced. The biosafety rules are compliant with local and international standards. However, the location and conditions of the laboratory departments are mostly non-compliant with the standards. Lack of modern equipment restricts maintaining proper environmental controls, including ventilation systems. Laboratory technicians have little knowledge of the organization's safety management program and its relation to the laboratory safety program. The facilities have neither formal quality control programs regulated by documents and policies nor an identified radiation safety program protocol. Conclusions On the level of AOP standards, the PHC TB services in Armenia have satisfactory performance. However, assessed standards for this function required certain improvements. Key messages In Armenia, the tuberculosis care in PHC facilities presents high level of compliance for patient assessment international standards. To fully meet the standards, facilities need to reconstructed/renovated laboratories and establish the radiology and diagnostic equipment management, quality control and radiation safety programs.

Analysis of a catastrophic commercial coach crash based on an improved accident causation model: cause classification and lessons learned

Introduction. This study aimed to perform an in-depth analysis of a catastrophic coach crash that occurred on the Chinese expressway, and thus draw useful lessons to avoid similar mistakes. Methods. Various causes were identified from the investigation report based on a proposed accident causation model, which provides a universal pathway for accident analysis from the individual level to the organizational level. Results. Driver error in an emergency affected by fatigue and speeding led directly to the crash. Accordingly, drivers in coaches should be monitored effectively and their unsafe acts must be corrected in a timely manner to avoid the formation of unsafe habits. Based on individual flaws, weaknesses in the construction of the organizational safety management system and safety culture were further deduced and discussed. Conclusion. The work and rest system, as well as the dynamic monitoring system for drivers, should be perfected strictly according to the regulations. Additionally, external factors regarding deficiencies in the design and management of the expressway and the supervision of the transportation company also had great impact on this crash. In summary, more efforts should be taken regarding root causes at the organizational level, regardless of internal or external factors.

Exploration of relationships between safety performance and unsafe behavior in the Chinese oil industry

Safety performance is comprised of two components, safety compliance and safety participation. However, relationships between safety performance and unsafe behavior have not been thoroughly investigated. In this work, scales for safety compliance and safety participation were revised for use in the oil industry, and job burnout scale was developed on the basis of the Maslach Burnout Inventory-General Survey (MBI-GS). A structural equation model was then employed to investigate the interactions of these factors for 238 front-line oil workers from the PetroChina Huabei Oilfield Company in China. From the results, it was determined that workers' unsafe behavior could not be reduced significantly solely from these two dimensions of safety performance. Compared with safety participation, safety compliance was found to have a greater influence on unsafe behavior. However, job burnout was found to be a significant moderator between these two components and unsafe behavior. Furthermore, it was determined that oil workers' occupational psychological health conditions must be taken into account to improve organizational safety management and reduce workers’ unsafe behavior.

RESEARCH ON RISK CLASSIFICATION METHOD OF ASSEMBLY OCCUPANCIES

Due to the densely population and mobility characteristics of the crowd, generally accidents happened in assembly occupancies will trigger a chain reaction, and then bring heavy casualties and property loss, and result disastrous consequences. In the context of safety regulation resources limited, building risk classification system of assembly occupancies is important for "scientific predicting, and hierarchical controlling” In this paper, a software with a graphical user interface is designed using MATLAB GUI to analyze and calculate risks of stampede accident caused by gathered crowds in the video. A velocity extraction method based on cross-correlation algorithm is adopted, and the risk characteristic parameters such as velocity variance is also applied. In this way, real-time analysis and early-warning for risks of stampede accident in time and space can be achieved. Also, the algorithm is applied to the surveillance video of the stampede in Shanghai and its feasibility is proved. Empirical research shows that, the assembly occupancies risk rating model built in this paper has good effectiveness, simplicity and practicability, applies to the government safety regulation and organization safety management, and can improve the safety situation of assembly occupancies effectively.

The safety ladder: developing an evidence-based safety management strategy for small road transport companies

ABSTRACTTraffic accidents account for between 20% and 40% of work-related accidents in industrial countries, and research indicates that road transport companies often have little focus on organisational safety management (OSM). There is thus a huge and largely untapped road safety potential in improving the safety of people who drive in their work, by focusing on OSM. Road transport companies in European countries are often small, however, with limited resources in terms of time, financial resources and competence on road safety. The main aim of the present article is therefore to develop an OSM strategy for small road transport companies. Based on a systematic literature review, taking Norwegian research as its point of departure, the article concludes that four measures seem to be most realistic for small goods-transport businesses, and that these measures seem to have the greatest safety potential. These four measures can be arranged on a ladder, where businesses start at the lowest and most basic level, before proceeding to the next step. While our stepwise safety-ladder approach has not been validated, it is expected that further research would confirm the value of the strategy proposed.

Pike River Mine Disaster: Systems-Engineering and Organisational Contributions

The Pike River mine (PRM), an underground coal mine in New Zealand (NZ), exploded in 2010. This paper analyses the causes of the disaster, with a particular focus on the systems engineering and organisational contributions. Poor systems-engineering contributed via poorly designed ventilation, use of power-electronics underground, and placement of the main ventilation fan underground. Management rushed prematurely into production even though the technology development in the mine was incomplete. Investment in non-productive infrastructure was deprioritised resulting in inadequate ventilation, and the lack of a viable second emergency egress. The risk assessments were deficient, incomplete, or not actioned. Warnings and feedback from staff were ignored. Risk arises as a consequence of the complex interactions between the components of the sociotechnical system. Organisations will need to strengthen the integrity of their risk management processes at engineering, management, and board levels. The systems engineering perspective shows the interacting causality between the engineering challenges (ventilation, mining method, electrical power), project deliverables, management priorities, organisational culture, and workers’ behaviour. Use of the barrier method provides a new way to examine the risk-management strategies of the mine. The breakdowns in organisational safety management systems are explicitly identified.

Too individualistic for safety culture? Non-traffic related work safety among heavy goods vehicle drivers

IntroductionThis article reports on a study of non-traffic related work safety among drivers of heavy goods vehicles in Denmark. In the heavy goods vehicle transport (HGV) sector only 6.4% of workplace accidents involving drivers are traffic related. HGV work is characterised by solitary work, as drivers tend to work at a physical distance from their own company and their working environment is also influenced by the working environment of other companies e.g. the places where they deliver goods. This study focuses on an analysis of HGV drivers’ and managers’ differentiated understandings of risk and safety and its management within an organisational context. The situational focus involves viewing HGV drivers’ working environment as a part of the organisational structure as well as of other social relationships. An understanding of safety culture as practice is applied with the view of identifying values and attitudes as well as organisational and technical aspects in relation to how individualist or collectivist understandings of risk and safety influence the working environment in HGVs. MethodThe study applied a mixed methods approach and in this article the qualitative interviews conducted with drivers and managers is the primary data source. ResultsThis study suggests a widespread understanding of drivers as being individually oriented in their work, from drivers and management alike. However, the study also demonstrates that, in conducting their work, the drivers are actually interdependent, and share knowledge frequently, albeit informally. The organisational structure of the company shapes their individual attitudes towards safety but they also report being dependent on relationships with, and information from, their fellow colleagues, former colleagues and friends who shape their understandings and attitudes towards hazards and safety practices. The analysis points to risk-taking and unsafe practices as prevalent among HGV drivers, who often refer to risk as trivial and the management of such risks as one’s own responsibility. Knowledge of how to manage risks in everyday practice is shown to be principally related to personal experiences but also to the good advice and examples of fellow drivers. ConclusionsThe analysis points to interdependent and collectivist practices among HGV drivers even though they are perceived as being individualistically oriented when it comes to safety. Therefore, non-traffic related safety practices, in this case the loading and unloading of vehicles, occur in the grey zone of organisational safety management. Despite the fact that organisational safety initiatives are initiated, the management sees limited possibilities for enforcing them and hence safety practice is often left to the individual driver. Practical applicationsA safety culture perspective might enhance work safety among HGV drivers if we are able to understand workplace culture in a pluralistic way. Collectivist practice among the drivers can be utilised in order to improve knowledge sharing and situational safety practices. The informal communication identified among the drivers might offer a new model for safety initiatives based on more collectivist, albeit informal, safety culture practices on behalf of HGV companies.

A method for extracting key performance indicators from maritime safety management norms

The maritime transportation industry currently employs several mandatory and non-mandatory norms of organizational safety management. These safety norms are commonly included in integrated maritime safety management systems, which aim at developing, monitoring, controlling and improving the safety of all related shipping operations. These systems are typically evaluated by following key performance indicators, which enable defined measures for various safety management components. However, the identification of indicators addressing safety management requirements constitutes a complex and generally unsystematic process for safety managers in the maritime industry. This article proposes a new method to assess the guidelines available in maritime safety management norms. The proposed method is applied to assess the content of two maritime safety management norms. The aim of this assessment is to identify a set of maritime safety management indicators that can systematically measure the most relevant components of maritime safety management. The application of this method resulted in the identification of 53 key performance indicators for monitoring and reviewing 23 identified safety management components that are commonly integrated into the functioning of maritime safety management systems. The method proposed provides guidance to accurately capture the actual aim and function of the key performance indicators. Furthermore, the indicators and safety components obtained with this method can be adopted as the basis for a safety management system and/or for the analysis of a safety management system already established in the industry.

A theoretical model to ascertain determinates of occupational accidents among Ghanaian industrial workers

Safety is one issue that is of paramount importance to both workplace management and employees.Thus workplace safety has been a topical issue in the occupational and organizational literature. In recent years, research in occupational accidents and organizational safety management literature has seen a gradual shift in emphasis on human error to comprehensive models that stress the role of both individuals and organizational factors in the workplace. In this study, we used a framework that incorporates both these aspects as determinates of occupational accidents, and therefore provides a link between perceptions of the work environment and individual characteristics. The individual factors comprised employees’ educational level, and organizational role, and the organizational factors, organizational citizenship behaviours, organizational support, job satisfaction, and perception of workplace safety. Based on data from 320 Ghanaian industrial workers, we tested a model that specified these organizational factors as mediators between human factors and accident frequency. Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) was employed to test a mediation model and supported a model fit of the data. The results demonstrated support for our hypothesised model. The analysis also provided useful assessment of which variables in the study contributed to workplace injury, as well as determining the effect sizes for all parameters in the model. Among the intervening variables, workers’ perception of workplace safety indicated the strongest impact on accident frequency. Implications for advancing management of workplace safety and future research directions are discussed. Relevance to industryWorkplace fatalities are a result of both human and work environmental factors. Organizational management will reduce accident frequency if attention is paid to social structures in the workplace.

The Development of a New Safety Culture Evaluation Index System

Safety culture has become an important issue in safety research and organizational safety management due to its latent implications on safety performance. The main aim of this research is to develop a reliable safety culture evaluation index system based on the Integrated Safety Culture Model (ISCM). Firstly two forms of safety culture evaluation index system were constructed and every index was described. Then the weights of index were determined by using Delphi method and the reliability of the index system was also examined based on data from survey. The results indicated that evaluation index system was effective and applicable and expected to be as the basis of final safety culture quantitative measurement tool.

Leading indicators of system safety – Monitoring and driving the organizational safety potential

An indicator can be considered any measure – quantitative or qualitative – that seeks to produce information on an issue of interest. Safety indicators can play a key role in providing information on organizational performance, motivating people to work on safety and increasing organizational potential for safety. We will describe the challenges of monitoring and driving system safety. Currently, the same lead indicators are used – explicitly or implicitly – for both purposes. The fact that the selection and use of safety performance indicators is always based on a certain understanding (a model) of the sociotechnical system and safety is often forgotten. We present a theoretical framework for utilizing safety performance indicators in safety–critical organizations that incorporates three types of safety performance indicators – outcome, monitor and drive indicators. We provide examples of each type of indicator and discuss the application of the framework in organizational safety management. We argue that outcome indicators are lag indicators since outcomes always follow something; they are the consequences arising from multiple other situational and contextual factors. Monitor and drive indicators are lead indicators. The main function of the drive indicators is to direct the sociotechnical activity in the organization by motivating certain safety-related activities. Monitor indicators provide a view on the dynamics of the organization: the practices, abilities, skills and motivation of the personnel – the organizational potential for safety. We conclude that organizations should better acknowledge the significance of monitor and drive indicators in safety management.

Measuring Hospital Safety Culture: Testing the Hsopsc Scale

As part of an organization's safety management strategy, it is important to assess the level of safety climate with a valid instrument. The aim of this study is to investigate the psychometric properties of the Hospital Survey on Patient Safety Culture (HSOPSC) based on a sample of clinical staff from Scottish acute hospitals and to determine the suitability for Scottish healthcare setting. The data were collected from 1966 clinical staff (estimated 22% response rate) from one acute hospital from each of seven Scottish Health Boards. In order to test the psychometric properties of the questionnaire, a split-half cross-validation technique was used. The data were randomly split into two, and Exploratory (EFA) and Confirmatory factor analyses (CFA) were conducted on the calibration and validation data sets to investigate and check the original US model fit from a Scottish sample. EFA results showed a 10 factor optimal measurement model. The CFA were then performed to compare the model fit of two alternative models (10 factor alternative model vs. 12 factor original model). It was demonstrated that both factor structures performed equally well in a Scottish sample. Furthermore, reliability analyses of each component yielded satisfactory results. Therefore no modifications are required to the original 12 factor model which is suggested for use since it would allow researchers the possibility of cross-national comparisons.