Positive Safety Climate Research Articles

The Link between Workplace Safety Climate and Job Performance among Nursing Staff: A Correlational Study

Background: Workplace safety climate and job performance are closely related. A positive safety climate is associated with better job performance, particularly in health care settings. Objectives: The study aims to investigate the relationship of workplace safety climate and job performance among nursing staff. Methodology: Correlation study design research used in the present study among 250 nurses choosing from Imam Hussein Hospital in Karbala Governorate which is located south of Iraq, about 105 km2 away from the capital, Baghdad. The study has been carried out during the period 17th September 2023 to 16th January 2024. Using questionnaire prepared and modified by the researcher. Results: The majority of nursing staff are females between the ages of 20 and 29, married, with diploma qualification and their monthly income is barely enough to cover their expenses. They reside in urban areas. Professionally, the majority of them had experience ranging from 1 to 5 years, and most of them work in surgical departments for 6-8 hours a day and do not work overtime. Health-wise, most of nurse’s sleep for 5-7 hours daily and do not suffer from any chronic diseases. There is significant relationship between workplace safety climate and job performance among nursing staff. Conclusion: The significant relationship between the two factors and emphasizing the importance of improving safety climates for enhanced job performance and better health outcomes in healthcare settings

Association between the safety climate and occupational injury in the Korean working population: a cross-sectional study.

Preventing occupational injuries remains a significant challenge in Korea. A positive safety climate can contribute to reducing workplace injuries. However, the impact of safety climate on preventing occupational injuries among the Korean workforce has not been adequately explored. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the relationship between the perceived safety climate and occupational injuries within the Korean working population. This study used baseline data from the Korean Work, Sleep, and Health Study (KWSH). The safety climate was measured using the brief version of the Nordic Safety Climate Questionnaire. Occupational injury was determined by whether injuries or accidents had occurred at workplaces in the past year. Logistic regression analysis was performed to examine the association between the safety climate and occupational injury. Participants who reported an unfavorable workplace safety climate were more likely to experience occupational injuries. Multiple logistic regression analysis revealed that the adjusted odds ratio (OR) for occupational injuries in an unfavorable safety climate was 2.20 (95% confidence interval [CI], 1.38-3.51) compared to a favorable safety climate. Specifically, factors such as "not encouraging employees to follow safety rules when on a tight schedule" (OR, 2.02; 95% CI, 1.25-3.24) and "not helping each other work safely" (OR, 1.98; 95% CI, 1.17-3.25) were significantly associated with occupational injuries. An unfavorable safety climate was associated with increased occupational injuries among Korean workers. Improving the safety climate in the workplace may reduce occupational injuries in Korea.

Safety Leadership: A Catalyst for Positive Safety Climate on Construction Sites

Limited research exists on safety leadership and safety climate in developing countries, despite their established importance in the construction industry. This study addresses this gap by investigating how immediate superiors’ safety leadership behaviours influence safety climate perceptions among construction professionals in southern India. Using a quantitative approach, the study collected valid questionnaire surveys among 279 construction professionals by convenience sampling across various construction sites. The survey revealed that safety leadership significantly and positively predicts five key safety climate factors: management’s commitment to safety, safety equipment and procedures, safety training, communication and openness, and group dynamics and safety culture. These findings highlight the critical role immediate superiors play in shaping safety climate perceptions through their commitment, communication, and employee involvement. This research underscores the importance of investing in safety leadership development to improve safety outcomes, reduce accidents and injuries, and enhance regulatory compliance within the Indian construction industry.

The Impact of Interpersonal Value Facets on Safety Culture: The Mediating Role of Safety Caring

In today’s organizational landscape, cultivating a robust safety culture is essential, particularly in high-risk sectors such as construction and utilities. The present research explores how several interpersonal value facets, including harmony value, respect and trust, caring and understanding, and safety caring overlap with one another and shaped the MEPCO’s safety culture. Drawing on social exchange theory, this study demonstrates how promoting specific positive organisational practices can encourage reception of these positive safe behaviours and thus, promote a positive safety climate. The research adopts cross-sectional research design where data is gained through questionnaires from the MEPCO employees, and then the data is analyzed by applying Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM). Consistent with the hypothesized effects, the analysis establishes the harmony value, respect and trust and caring and understanding factors of safety caring as being closely related. The safety caring component’s powerful influence over safety culture demonstrates the significance of emotionally sensitive and friendly work climates. This paper also brings contributions to the safety culture literature addressing relational aspects and offers practical recommendations for sectors characterized by high hazards and severe consequences to them.

Evaluating the Impact of the Inspiring School Program in High Schools

This research aims to evaluate the Inspirational School Program using the CIPP (Context, Input, Process, Product) model, focusing on providing insights and recommendations for enhancing its effectiveness and sustainability. Data collection methods in qualitative descriptive research include interviews, observation, and documentation. The study's sample population comprises individuals associated with SMA Negeri 5 in Banjarmasin, including educators, school leaders, and grade XI students. In-person interviews were conducted with the school principal, homeroom teacher, counselling teacher, and students. Data analysis techniques encompass data collection, reduction, presentation, and verification/conclusion. The results indicate that the school's needs align with the Ministry of Education and Culture guidelines. Despite limited local government support, the program planning and evaluation processes have been implemented effectively despite obstacles. The Product Evaluation Stage reflects positive outcomes, including literacy, numeracy, character development, and school safety climate improvements. Educator and staff competence have also seen enhancements. It is recommended to align implementation with the Independent Curriculum, bolster human resources through educator and staff training, enhance infrastructure support, and seek increased government assistance to sustain and improve the program. These measures aim to enhance productivity further and ensure the continued success of the Inspirational School Program.

Safeguarding nurses' mental health: The critical role of psychosocial safety climate in mitigating relational stressors and exhaustion.

Burnout among nurses is a pervasive concern in healthcare, with profound implications for patient care and nurse well-being. While research has highlighted the detrimental effects of burnout on many aspects of nursing, including patient safety and quality of care, the underlying mechanisms driving burnout warrant further investigation. In this cross-sectional study, we surveyed 196 nurses from diverse Italian hospitals using an online questionnaire via Qualtrics. Our findings revealed significant negative correlations between psychological safety climate and both relational stressors and emotional exhaustion. Conversely, relational stressors positively correlated with emotional exhaustion, and a significant negative indirect effect of psychological safety climate was found for emotional exhaustion through relational stressors, emphasizing the pivotal role of psychological safety climate in mitigating nurse burnout. Our study underscores the potential effectiveness of interventions targeting psychological safety climate and relational stressors in alleviating emotional exhaustion and burnout among nurses. Theoretical implications underscore the importance of deepening the role of psychological safety climate in mitigating emotional exhaustion, while practical implications emphasize the need for fostering a positive psychological safety climate and implementing targeted interventions to support nurses' well-being.

Nurses' perceptions about the patient safety climate in Primary Health Care.

to evaluate the patient safety climate in Primary Health Care from the perspective of nurses working in the services. a quantitative and cross-sectional study conducted with 148 nurses from a municipality in the state of São Paulo. The Brazilian version of the Primary Care Safety Questionnaire Survey and personal, professional, and organizational performance variables (intention to stay at work, job satisfaction, care quality, and frequency of incidents) were used. Parametric and non-parametric comparison tests and Spearman's correlation coefficient were performed, considering a 5% significance level. the safety climate was positive, varying from 4.52 to 5.33 and differing across districts for workload (p=0.0214) and leadership (p=0.0129). The safety climate professional variables and dimensions differed in relation to the frequency of incidents. Teamwork and safety and learning system were strongly correlated with job satisfaction and moderately with perceived care quality. teamwork and safety and learning system stood out for their positive correlations with job satisfaction and care quality. A positive safety climate favors the involvement of Primary Care nurses to develop improvement plans aligned with the National Patient Safety Program. (1) The safety climate is perceived differently across health districts. (2) There is a correlation between the climate dimensions and professional satisfaction. (3) Workload and leadership exert an influence on the safety climate perception. (4) There is a relationship between the safety climate and reporting of care-related incidents. (5) The safety climate is perceived differently among nurses regarding their role.

Factors Affecting Safety Courtesy Behavior among Thai Flight Crews: Construct Validity and Structural Regression Analysis

Previous research indicates that safety climate has a significant impact on safety-related behaviors in a variety of circumstances; however, few researchers have examined at how safety climate affects safety courtesy behaviors among flight crews. The purpose of this study was to investigate the elements connecting to safety courtesy behaviors in Thai flight crews context using confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling technique on 590 Thai flight crew samples. The results confirmed that the fleet safety climate had a favorable influence on flight crew safety courtesy behaviors via an increase in their safety knowledge and safety behavior. Furthermore, the direct, indirect, and total effects of fleet safety climate on safety courtesy via safety knowledge and safety motivation were significant. According to the findings, even in the Thai flight crews setting, a positive fleet safety climate, along with positive safety knowledge and positive safety motivation, can lead to desirable safety courtesy conduct. As a result, airlines should stress these elements and promote fleet-wide safety policies to encourage positive safety courtesy behavior among flight crews members. Future research should expand on the findings of this study by conducting additional multi-level analyses or use qualitative methods to delve into deeper results.

A Model for Foundational Effects of Perceived Organizational Policies on Safety Climate

Organizational climate is the ascribed psychological meaning and significance associated with the procedures, policies, and practices that are recognized and rewarded in the workplace and, hence, mediate the effects of environmental stimuli on individuals’ responses. Safety climate is a specific organizational climate, i.e., organizational climate for safety. Previous research claimed that organizational climate provides a foundation for safety climate, but without elaboration on the foundational mechanisms. This paper attempts to fill this knowledge gap. As organizational climate is a multi-dimensional phenomenon, this paper chooses two dimensions: perceived organizational support (POS) and participative decision making (PaDM). Drawing on an interactive approach to forming climate perceptions, this paper introduces two interactive constructs—leader–member exchange (LMX) and team-member exchange (TMX)—and establishes a multiple mediation model depicting the foundational effect of organizational climate on safety climate. A random sample of 292 Hong Kong-based construction personnel is used to validate the model. The results show that both POS and PaDM are positively associated with perceived safety climate (β1 = 0.175, p < 0.01; β2 = 0.502, p < 0.005), both LMX and TMX fully mediate the effect of PaDM on safety climate (effect sizes are 0.146 and 0.076, respectively), and only LMX partially mediates the effect of POS on safety climate (effect size is 0.131). This study sheds light on the foundational effects of organizational climate on safety climate. POS can improve the quality of reciprocal exchange about safety matters between construction personnel and their supervisors and hence raise construction personnel’s awareness of the priority of safety. PaDM can improve the quality of reciprocal exchange about safety matters vertically and horizontally and hence have construction personnel aware of the importance of safety. In practice, this paper suggests that project managers recognize and reward construction personnel’s contributions in a timely manner, genuinely care about their well-being, and take their suggestions seriously in making decisions. In this way, the quality of both vertical and horizontal exchange about safety matters improves, and a sound and positive safety climate ensues.

Investigating Workplace Safety Programs in a Chemical Industry in Africa

Safety is a critical component in any organisation. The purpose of this study was to investigate the safety culture of a chemical industry in Africa. This was a cross-sectional study conducted among 124 employees from South Africa, Ghana, Nigeria, Kenya and Zimbabwe. Data were collected using self-administered questionnaire via online programme (QuestionPro). The majority of the respondents were satisfied with the overall organisational culture, workplace condition and the support provided by management to ensure employee safety within the organisation. The respondents attested to a positive safety climate, although some felt that it would be of benefit to recognise and reward safety performance. Employee awareness of ImproChem’s safety standards and the level of compliance were also satisfactory. More focus can be directed to increasing individual hazard recognition and elimination to ensure “No harm to anyone ever”.

Impact of patient safety climate on infection prevention practices and healthcare worker and patient outcomes

BackgroundStandard precautions may prevent patient health care associated infections and provider occupational exposures but are not often used by health care workers. A positive patient safety climate might contribute to improved adherence. The aim of this study was to determine the relationships among patient safety climate, standard precaution adherence, and health care worker exposures and HAIs. MethodsThis multi-site, cross-sectional study included survey data from nurses on patient safety climate, observational data on adherence, and existing health care worker exposure and health care associated infections data. Data were aggregated to hospital unit level for correlational and multivariable regression analyses. ResultsA total of 5,285 standard precaution observations and 452 surveys were collected across 43 hospital units. Observed adherence to all categories of standard precautions was 64.4%; there were significant differences by provider role. Multivariable models identified key predictors explaining sizeable variance in methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (41%), catheter associated urinary tract infections (23%), mucotaneous exposures (43%) and needlestick and sharps injuries (38%). DiscussionThis study produced findings not previously published thus advancing the state of the science in patient and occupational health safety. These include identifying modifiable features of the safety climate and key organizational characteristics associated better outcomes. ConclusionsIn this novel study we identified that a positive patient safety climate and adherence to standard precautions predict key HAI and occupational health outcomes.

The effect of benevolent leadership on safety behavior: A moderated mediation model

Introduction: While high quality leadership is of great importance for enhancing safety behavior in the workplace, there has been a lack of research on how benevolent leadership influences such behavior. Subordinates’ moqi (i.e., their unspoken understanding of the work expectations, intentions, and requirements of their superiors) and safety climate were introduced to examine this relationship. Method: Based on implicit followership theory, this study explores the relationship between benevolent (well meaning, kindly) leadership and employees' safety behavior, as well as the mediating role of subordinates' moqi and the moderating role of safety climate. 608 employees of a petroleum company in China were randomly selected as participants, and the data were collected in two stages. Results: The results showed that: (1) Benevolent leadership is positively correlated with employees' safety behavior. (2) Subordinates' moqi mediates between benevolent leadership and employees' safety behavior. (3) Safety climate moderates the mediating role of subordinates' moqi between benevolent leadership and employees' safety behavior. (4) The positive effect of subordinates' moqi on employees' safety behavior is enhanced under a positive safety climate. Conclusions: Benevolent leadership is an effective leadership style that enhances employees’ safety behaviors by promoting a moqi state between supervisors and subordinates. The invisible environmental climate, in particular, the safety climate, should be a key focus in the promotion of safety behaviors. Practical Applications: This study further broadens the research perspective of employee safety behavior from the perspective of implicit followership theory. It also provides practical guidance for improving employee safety behavior, namely selecting and cultivating benevolent leaders, enhancing subordinates' moqi, and actively fostering a positive organizational safety climate.

Does managers’ walking around benefit workplace safety? A safety climate intervention field study

The present research uses a pre-post quasi-experiment to investigate the effect of a manager-based intervention on organization-level safety climate promotion by managers’ safety management actions, which is operationalized as safety management by walking around (SMBWA). Considering that the highly observable and consistent management actions in SMBWA are effective signals to demonstrate managers’ commitment to safety and can provide favorable information concerning safety climate, we hypothesized that the SMBWA would improve the organization-level safety climate. In addition, we argued that the intervention could bring other benefits to employees, that is, a positive organization-level safety climate boosted by SMBWA, as a form of organizational resource, could reinforce safety motivation and alleviate burnout, which, in turn, could benefit safety behavior at the individual level. A total of 19 working sites with 224 employees from a Chinese petrochemical organization participated in our study (n = 119 in 10 experimental groups; n = 105 in 9 control groups). The results of the linear mixed models indicated that the organization-level safety climate, individual-level safety motivation, burnout, and safety behavior significantly changed in the experimental group but not in the control group. Furthermore, the multilevel path modeling results showed that the relationship between SMBWA and safety behavior was mediated by organization-level safety climate (first-stage mediator), and safety motivation and burnout (second-stage mediators). The theoretical and practical contributions to safety climate intervention research and workplace safety improvement are discussed.

How does authentic leadership influence the safety climate in nursing?

BackgroundAuthentic leadership controls quality care and the safety of patients and healthcare professionals, especially nurses.AimThis study examined the influence of nurses’ authentic leadership on the safety climate.MethodsIn this predictive research,...

Flying high: pilot peer coaching to champion well-being and mitigate hazardous attitudes

PurposeThe “Germanwings” air crash in 2015 in which 150 people were killed highlighted the challenges pilots working in the aviation industry face. Pilots regularly work for extensive periods in inhospitable and high-pressure operational conditions, exposing them to considerable work-related stress. This has raised calls for a more systemic cultural change across the aviation industry, championing a more holistic perspective of pilot health and well-being. The study aims to explore how peer coaching (PC) can promote an inclusive psychosocial safety climate enhancing pilot well-being and can mitigate hazardous attitudes and dysfunctional behaviours.Design/methodology/approachAdopting an interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA), semi-structured interviews and questionnaires were conducted with military and civilian peer coach/coachee pilots and key industry stakeholders, totalling 39 participants. The research provided significant insights into the perceived value of PC in promoting both pilot health and mental well-being (MW) and flight safety across the aviation industry.FindingsThe study highlights four key PC superordinate themes, namely, coaching skills, significance of well-being, building of peer relationships and importance of confidentiality and autonomy. Such combined themes build reciprocal trust within peer conversations that can inspire engagement and effectively promote personal well-being. The contagious effect of such local interventions can help stimulate systemic cultural change and promote a positive psychosocial safety climate throughout an organisation and, in this case, across the aviation industry. This study provides a PC conceptual framework “Mutuality Equality Goals Autonomy Non-evaluative feedback, Skill Confidentiality Voluntary Supervisory (MEGANS CVS),” highlighting the salient features of PC in promoting MW.Research limitations/implicationsThe study highlights the salient features of PC and its role in promoting peer conversations that enable personal transition, openness and acceptance. This study also highlights how PC and well-being can be used to encourage inclusivity and engagement, thereby strengthening institutional resilience.Practical implicationsThis study highlights how PC that can assist HRM/HRD professionals to embed a more inclusive and salutogenic approach to MW that can reshape organisational cultures. This study highlights the significance and link of workplace stress to hazardous attitudes and dysfunctional behaviours. It further notes that whilst the MEGANS CVS peer coaching framework has been applied to pilots, it can also be applied across all sectors and levels.Social implicationsThis study highlights the value of PC as an inexpensive means to engage at the grassroots level, which not only improves personal performance, safety and well-being but by building peer relationships can also act as a catalyst for positive and deep organisational cultural change.Originality/valueThis study offers the MEGANS CVS framework that exposes insights into PC practice that can assist HRM/HRD professionals embed a more inclusive and salutogenic approach to health and well-being that can reshape organisational cultures. This study highlights the significance and link of workplace stress to hazardous attitudes and dysfunctional behaviours, and whilst this framework has been applied to pilots, it can also have relevance across all sectors and levels. This study calls for a “salutogenic turn,” employing MW and PC to transform organisational capabilities to be more forward-thinking and solution-focused, promoting an inclusive “just culture” where leaders positively lead their people.

How Did COVID-19 Pandemic Impact Safety Performance on a Construction Project? A Case Study Comparing Pre and Post COVID-19 Influence on Safety at an Australian Construction Site

COVID-19 had a significant impact on construction projects due to labor shortages and COVID-19 restrictions, yet little is known about the impact it had on construction safety. To address this gap, an Australian construction project was selected to study the impact of COVID-19 on safety performance, safety climate and safety leadership. The study collected data from safety climate surveys, leading and lagging safety indicators and used linear regression to compare safety performance pre and post the onset of COVID-19. Our results showed after the onset of COVID-19 there was a significant reduction (Pr > F at 0.05%) in incident rate, an improvement in supervisor safety leadership and safety climate, and satisfaction with organisational communication. The study identified the increase level of safety awareness due to COVID-19 did not result in an increase in the level of engagement in safety leadership. Interestingly, participation in the safety leadership activities did not improve until a change of Project Manager occurred. The study determined leaders who establish a positive safety climate within a project could negate the safety performance impact of COVID-19. The study confirms the importance of site safety leadership in maintaining engagement in risk management and the value of focused safety communication.

Safety culture in surgical centers from the perspective of the multiprofessional team

Objective: to evaluate the safety culture through an observation of the safety climate of health workers from a Surgical Center. Methods: cross-sectional study in eight surgical centers from a hospital complex. A validated Brazilian version of the Safety Attitudes Questionnaire/Operating Room was applied to a convenience sample of 172 health and support workers (physicians and nurses). The Chi-squared, Student's T, and Mann-Whitney's tests were used. Results: the general evaluation showed a positive safety climate. Only the nursing professionals reached the minimum score that indicates a positive result in the domain Quality of communication and collaboration. The domains Safety climate, Stress recognition, Communication in the surgical environment, and Perception of professional performance showed positive results, while Perception of management and Work conditions had the worst scores. Conclusion: the safety climate was positive. Nonetheless, communication showed shortcomings pointed out by the workers. Contributions to practice: identifying domains that need to be improved helps fomenting safety culture in surgical centers, leading to better care outcomes and work environments.

호텔 안전분위기가 호텔종사자의 안전행동에 미치는 영향

The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of the hotel safety climate on the safety behavior of hotel workers, the mediating role of safety motivation, and the moderating role of safety leadership. Five hotels in China were targeted, and to prevent common method bias, the questionnaire was conducted three times with a time lag, and a total of 512 valid data were obtained. To verify the hypothesis, analysis was performed through the SPSS Process Macro. The study results indicate that a safety climate positively affects the safety compliance and safety participation of hotel workers. In addition, safety motivation mediated the relationship between safety climate and safety behavior, and the moderating effect of safety leadership on safety compliance was also supported. However, there was no moderating effect of safety leadership on safety participation, which is inferred to be due to the characteristics of the hotel industry. As a result of this study, it was found that safety leadership, a topic that was rarely addressed in previous safety-related studies, moderates the relationship between safety motivation and safety behavior of hotel workers. In addition, in the hotel industry, safety-related areas are being expanded through self-determination theory to understand the safety behavior of hotel workers and customers. Based on these research results, it can be suggested that hotels should develop strategic plans to establish a positive safety climate and actively come up with measures to motivate hotel workers to take safety behavior. However, the lack of coherence in terms because existing safety-related studies were mainly dealt with in psychology and engineering fields, makes it clear that the establishment of terminology should be preceded in the future. In addition, the limitation of this study is that the analysis of safety-related variables was carried out without distinction at the group level or the individual level.

Assessment of workplace safety climate among power sector employees: A comparative study of cross-culture employer in Pakistan.

Pakistan’s power sector has undergone extensive reforms to improve its technical and monetary performance over the last two decades. However, despite its fast-growing and hazardous nature, safety research remains limited in this context. This study aims to address this gap by assessing the level of safety climate in the power sector and comparing the safety climate in plants operated by multinational companies (MNCs) and local companies (LCs).To this end, five power plants operating in the southern part of the Punjab region (in Pakistan) were included in this study. The Nordic Occupational Safety Climate Questionnaire (NOSACQ-50), an analytical tool comprising of 50 items across seven dimensions, was used to determine the level of safety climate. An independent T-Test was then applied to compare the means in two different setups to draw a conclusion about overall safety climate differences. In MNCs, overall management/leadership perception improved; however, workers in both setups responded similarly in many cases. The lowest observed score in both setups was related to worker’s prioritization of safety and risk non-acceptance. The study highlights the importance of a company’s policies, procedures, and leadership commitments in creating a stronger safety climate by instilling trust in workers. The study further demonstrates that cross-cultural and strong policies devised by multinational companies help to improve the overall safety climate andconcludes that promoting an efficient and positive safety climate in the power sector is a long journey and that can only be achieved if all workers and leaders take on an active role.

Impact of empowering leadership on safety behavior and safety climate: mediating and moderating role of safety monitoring

PurposeThis paper aims to critically evaluate the impact of empowering leadership on safety behavior and safety climate during safety monitoring at a nuclear power plant (NPP) in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).Design/methodology/approachData were collected using questionnaires filled out by 500 participants from the UAE nuclear sector. The relationships among the variables were analyzed using structural equation modeling.FindingsThe results indicated that empowering leadership has a positive impact on safety behavior, and a positive safety climate leads to increased levels of safety behavior (compliance and participation). The results also showed that safety climate partially mediates the relationship between empowering leadership and safety behavior.Originality/valueThis study contributes to the existing knowledge regarding empowering leadership, safety monitoring, behavior and climate. Because limited information is available on this topic, this study extends the research on the relationship between empowering leadership and safety research at an NPP. Specifically, it outlines that safety monitoring partially mediates the relationship between empowering leadership and safety behavior. This research enables NPPs worldwide to incorporate empowering leadership to enhance safety monitoring and ensure better safety behavior and climate.