Dimensions Of Safety Climate Research Articles

Safety climate dimensions as predictors for risk behavior

This study examines the interactive relationship between three dimensions of safety climate (management commitment to safety, priority of safety, and pressure for production), and their impact on risk behavior reported by employees. The sample consisted of 623 employees from a chemical manufacturing organization in South Africa. Hierarchical regression analyses were carried out to test the direct effects and the interaction effect of the three safety climate dimensions on risk behavior. The results showed that, as expected, employees’ risk behavior was negatively related to management commitment to safety and priority of safety and positively related to pressure for production. Moreover, as expected, the three-way interaction between management commitment to safety, priority of safety and pressure for production was significant. When pressure for production was high, management commitment to safety was negatively related to risk behavior, regardless of level of priority of safety on plant. When pressure for production was low, the effect of management commitment to safety on risk behavior was nullified under conditions of high, as compared to low priority of safety on plant. These findings highlight the importance of managerial commitment to safety in contexts where employees experience tensions between production deadlines and safety procedures.

Psychometric properties of the Swiss version of the Nursing Home Survey on Patient Safety Culture

The Nursing Home Survey on Patient Safety Culture (NHSPSC) was specifically developed for nursing homes to assess a facility’s safety climate and it consists of 12 dimensions. After its pilot testing, however, no further psychometric analyses were performed on the instrument. For this study of safety climate in Swiss nursing home units, the NHSPSC was linguistically adapted to the Swiss context and to address the unit as well as facility level, with the aim of testing aspects of the validity and reliability of the Swiss version before its use in Swiss nursing home units. Psychometric analyses were performed on data from 367 nursing personnel from nine nursing homes in the German-speaking part of Switzerland (response rate=66%), and content validity (CVI) examined. The statistical influence of unit membership on respondents’ answers, and on their agreement concerning their units’ safety climate, was tested using intraclass correlation coefficients (ICCs) and the rWG(J) interrater agreement index. A multilevel exploratory factor analysis (MEFA) with oblimin rotation was applied to examine the questionnaire’s dimensionality. Cronbach’s alpha and Raykov’s rho were calculated to assess factor reliability. The relationship of safety climate dimensions with clinical outcomes was explored. Expert feedback confirmed the relevance of the instrument’s items (CVI=0.93). Personnel showed strong agreement in their perceptions in three dimensions of the questionnaire. ICCs supported a multilevel analysis. MEFA produced nine factors at the within-level (in comparison to 12 in the original version) and two factors at the between-level with satisfactory fit statistics. Raykov’s Rho for the single level factors ranged between 0.67 and 0.86. Some safety climate dimensions show moderate, but non-significant correlations with the use of bedrails, physical restraint use, and fall-related injuries. The Swiss version of the NHSPSC needs further refinement and testing before its use can be recommended in Swiss nursing homes: its dimensionality needs further clarification, particularly to distinguish items addressing the unit-level safety climate from those at the facility level.

Development and validation of safety climate scales for lone workers using truck drivers as exemplar

The purpose of this study was to develop and test the reliability and validity of a new scale designed for measuring safety climate among lone workers, using truck drivers as exemplar. The new scale employs perceived safety priority as the metric of safety climate and a multilevel framework, separating the measurement of organization- and group-level safety climate. The second purpose of this study was to compare the predictive power of generic items with trucking industry-specific ones. Three dimensions for each of the two levels of safety climate were drawn from the results. The organization-level safety climate dimensions were proactive practices, driver safety priority, and supervisory care promotion. The group-level safety climate dimensions were safety promotion, delivery limits, and cell phone disapproval. Predictive validity of both generic and industry-specific items was supported, but the industry-specific items provided a stronger predictive value. Results showed that the scale is a reliable and valid instrument to measure the essential elements of safety climate for truck drivers in the lone working situation.

Nurses’ perceptions of patient safety climate in intensive care units: A cross-sectional study

To investigate registered nurses' perceptions of the patient safety climate in intensive care units and to explore potential predictors for overall perception of safety and frequency of incident reporting. A cross-sectional design was conducted, using the questionnaire Hospital Survey on Patient Safety Culture, measuring 12 patient safety climate dimensions: seven at unit and three at hospital level, two outcomes and in addition two outcome items. Ten intensive care units (ICUs) in six hospitals in one hospital trust in Norway. In total, 220 registered nurses (RNs) responded (72%). Seven of 12 dimensions achieved a RN proportion of positive scores over 55%. Five achieved a lower proportion. Significant differences in RNs' perceptions of patient safety were found between types of units and between the four hospitals. The total variance in the outcome measure explained by the model as a whole was for the outcome dimensions "overall perception of safety" 32%, and "frequency of incident reporting" 32%. The variables at the unit level made a significant contribution to the outcome. RNs in ICU are most positive to patient safety climate at unit level, hence improvements are needed concerning incident reporting, feedback and communication about errors and organisational learning and continuous improvement.

The cross‐level impact of patient safety climate on nursing innovation: a cross‐sectional questionnaire survey

To explore the cross-level effects of the four dimensions of patient safety climate on nursing innovation. Across the globe, nursing innovation is highly encouraged by nursing experts to improve nursing outcome. Nursing innovation, in turn, is affected by organisational climate, and a critical aspect of organisational climate is patient safety. This is a cross-sectional study. We employed a questionnaire survey to collect data and selected nurses from Taiwan hospitals as samples. A total of 808 valid questionnaires in 172 teams of four hospitals were collected. Patient safety climate was aggregated by individual-level data; thus, we examined r(wg) , ICC 1 and ICC 2. Hierarchical linear modelling was used to analyse the data. Of these three dimensions of nursing innovation, the level of knowledge creation was perceived by the nurses as the highest. In terms of patient safety climate, managerial practices regarding patient safety scored the highest, followed by patient safety procedures, patient safety information flow and patient safety priority. Only patient safety information flow yielded a significant positive influence on knowledge creation, innovation behaviour or innovation diffusion. Hospital nurses do achieve better performance in knowledge creation. Patient safety information flow has positive and cross-level impact on nursing innovation; therefore, the method to increase safety information flow is the key focus of nursing innovation management. Through the improvements made in patient safety climate, hospital managers could promote the development of nursing innovation. Patient safety information flow is positively associated with nursing innovation. Patient safety information could be integrated in nursing training in all levels. Rules and procedures regarding patient safety should be drafted in simple and clear terms. A procedure to review and revise the rules and procedures will also be helpful in improving patient safety information flow.

Safety Climate Dimensions as Predictors for Risk-Taking Behaviour

The sample consisted of 623 employees from a chemical manufacturing organization in South Africa. Hierarchical regression analyses were carried out to test the expected three-way interaction of the...

Automated text analysis to examine qualitative differences in safety schema among upper managers, supervisors and workers

Differences in people’s understanding of the concept of safety within an organization represent a barrier to communication, and may potentially undermine attempts to improve safety. The current study used a qualitative research design to examine whether safety schemas differed between individuals with and without leadership responsibilities. A representative sample of upper managers (N=6), supervisors (N=7) and workers (N=12) were purposively sampled and interviewed. A machine learning algorithm was used to automatically extract concepts and themes from the interview transcripts. Results identified 10 emergent safety climate themes that formed the basis of the safety climate schema. Many of these themes aligned with dimensions of safety climate identified in the academic literature. Results also indicated that safety climate schema of upper managers, supervisors and workers differed. Upper managers were concerned more with themes relating to ‘culture’ and ‘people’; supervisors were concerned more with themes relating to ‘corporate values’, ‘management practices’ and ‘safety communication’; and workers were concerned more with themes relating to ‘procedures’ and ‘safety training’. Results are discussed in relation to safety climate theory and in terms of how managers can use this knowledge to improve safety communicate and align safety schemas.

Measuring safety climate in elderly homes

IntroductionProvision of a valid and reliable safety climate dimension brings enormous benefits to the elderly home sector. The aim of the present study was to make use of the safety climate instrument developed by OSHC to measure the safety perceptions of employees in elderly homes such that the factor structure of the safety climate dimensions of elderly homes could be explored. MethodIn 2010, surveys by mustering on site method were administered in 27 elderly homes that had participated in the "Hong Kong Safe and Healthy Residential Care Home Accreditation Scheme" organized by the Occupational Safety and Health Council. ResultsSix hundred and fifty-one surveys were returned with a response rate of 54.3%. To examine the factor structure of safety climate dimensions in our study, an exploratory factor analysis (EFA) using principal components analysis method was conducted to identify the underlying factors. The results of the modified seven-factor's safety climate structure extracted from 35 items better reflected the safety climate dimensions of elderly homes. The Cronbach alpha range for this study (0.655 to 0.851) indicated good internal consistency among the seven-factor structure. Responses from managerial level, supervisory and professional level, and front-line staff were analyzed to come up with the suggestion on effective ways of improving the safety culture of elderly homes. The overall results showed that managers generally gave positive responses in the factors evaluated, such as "management commitment and concern to safety," "perception of work risks and some contributory influences," "safety communication and awareness," and "safe working attitude and participation." Supervisors / professionals, and frontline level staff on the other hand, have less positive responses. The result of the lowest score in the factors - "perception of safety rules and procedures" underlined the importance of the relevance and practicability of safety rules and procedures. ConclusionThe modified OSHC safety climate tool provided better evidence of structural validity and reliability for use by elderly homes' decision makers as an indicator of employee perception of safety in their institution. Impact on industryThe findings and suggestions in the study provide useful information for the management, supervisors/professionals and frontline level staff to cultivate the safety culture in the elderly home sector. Most important, elderly homes can use the modified safety climate scale to identify problem areas in their safety culture and safety management practices and then target these for intervention.

EMS Providers’ Perceptions of Safety Climate and Adherence to Safe Work Practices

Background. Occupational injuries are an important source of morbidity for emergency medical services (EMS) providers. Previous work has shown that employee perceptions of an organization's commitment to safety (i.e., safety climate) correlate with adherence to safe practices. Objective. To assess the association between perceived safety climate and compliance with safety procedures in an urban EMS system with >100,000 calls/year. Methods. EMS providers were issued a self-administered survey that included questions on demographics, years of experience, perceived safety climate, and adherence to safety procedures. Safety climate was assessed with a 20-item validated instrument. Adherence to safety procedures was assessed with a nine-item list of safety behaviors. Strict adherence to safety procedures was defined as endorsing “agree” or “strongly agree” on 80% of items. The effect of safety climate on compliance with safe practices was estimated using multiple logistic regression. Results. One hundred ninety-six of 221 providers (89%) completed surveys; 74% were male; the median age was 36–40 years; and the median amount of experience was 8 years. One hundred twenty-seven of 196 respondents (65%) reported strict adherence to safe work practice. Factor analysis confirmed the original six-factor grouping of questions; frequent safety-related feedback/training was significantly associated with safe practices (odds ratio [OR] = 2.14, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.01–4.51). Conclusion. EMS workers perceiving a high degree of perceived safety climate was associated with twofold greater odds of self-reported level of strict adherence to safe work practices. Frequent safety-related feedback/training was the one dimension of safety climate that had the strongest association with adherence to safe workplace behaviors.

Research on the Relationship Between Safety Leadership and Safety Climate in Coalmines

Abstract The importance of leadership for effective safety management has been the focus of research attention in industry for a few years. However, safety leadership in relation to safety climate has rarely been examined. This study has investigated the relationship between safety leadership and safety climate in the context of coal mine. Self-administered questionnaires that included a safety leadership scale and a safety climate scale were used to collect data in three coal mines in China. The number of returned valid questionnaires was 450, and the response rate was 88.2%. Exploratory factor analysis identified three dimensions of safety leadership and four dimensions of safety climate. The structural equation modeling results suggest that the active management of safety leadership positively affects safety training of safety climate, the safety motivation of safety leadership positively affects the safety commitment and the safety involvement of safety climate, and the safety monitor of safety leadership positively affects the safety awareness of safety climate. The study findings also reveal positive associations among safety climate. The results of the statistical analysis indicated that coal mine leaders would do well to develop a strategy to change their leadership styles by which they improve the safety climates.

Content validity and internal consistency of the Dutch translation of the Safety Attitudes Questionnaire: An observational study

BackgroundPatient safety is fundamental to healthcare quality. Attention has recently focused on the patient safety culture of an organisation and its impact on patient outcomes. A strong safety climate appears to be an essential condition for safe patient care in the hospital. A number of instruments are used to measure this patient safety climate or culture. The Safety Attitudes Questionnaire is a validated, widely used instrument to investigate multiple dimensions of safety climate at the clinical level in a variety of inpatient and outpatient settings. ObjectivesThe purpose of this study is to explore the face- and content validity and the internal consistency of the Safety Attitudes Questionnaire in a large Belgian academic medical center. MethodThe translation into Dutch was done by three researchers. A panel of fifteen Dutch speaking experts evaluated the translation and its content validity. Content validity was quantified by the content validity index (CVI) and a modified kappa index. Face validity was evaluated by two nurses and two physicians who assessed the Dutch version of the SAQ. A cross-sectional design was used to test internal consistency of the SAQ items by calculating Cronbach's alpha and corrected item-total correlations. ResultsTwenty-three of the 33 SAQ items showed excellent and seven items showed good content validity. One item had a fair kappa value (item 20) and two items had a low content validity index (items 15 and 16). The average CVI of the total scale was 0.83 and ranged from 0.55 to 0.97 for the six subscales. The face-validity was good with no fundamental remarks given. The SAQ's overall Cronbach's alpha was 0.9 and changed minimally when removing items. The item-total correlations ranged from 0.10 to 0.63, no single items were strongly correlated with the sum of the other items. ConclusionWe conclude that in this study the Dutch version of the Safety Attitudes Questionnaire showed acceptable to good psychometric properties. In line with previous evidence, this instrument seems to be an acceptable to adequate tool to evaluate the safety climate.

Identification of dimensions in Organizational Safety Climate and relationship with safety behavior

The purposes of this study were 1) to identify the dimensions of organizational safety climate and 2) to examine how these dimensions were related to safety climate and safety behavior in organization. The present study proposed 10 dimensions of safety climate (Management's commitment; Effectiveness of safety communication; Safety rules and procedures; Supportive environment; Supervisory environment; Worker's involvement; Appraisal of physical work environment and work hazards; Work pressure; Competence; Safety training) based on Mohamed(2002)'s and Zohar(1980)'s study. Questionnaire was administered to 210 workers in a shipbuilding company. The results of the confirmatory factor analysis showed that these 10 dimensions could be the valid factors of safety climate. The results of the multiple regression analysis which utilized safety climate as a criterion revealed that 4 dimensions were significant predictors(Appraisal of physical work environment and work hazards, Safety rules and procedures, Worker's involvement, Management's commitment). The same multiple regression analysis which used safety behavior as a criterion showed that 5 dimensions were significant predictors(Competence, Management's commitment, Safety rules and procedures, Worker's involvement, Supportive environment). Limitations of the study and implications for future research were discussed.

Identification of Dimensions in Organizational Safety Climate and Relationship with Safety Behavior

The purposes of this study were 1) to identify the dimensions of organizational safety climate and 2) to examine how these dimensions were related to safety climate and safety behavior in organization. The present study proposed 10 dimensions of safety climate (Management's commitment; Effectiveness of safety communication; Safety rules and procedures; Supportive environment; Supervisory environment; Worker's involvement; Appraisal of physical work environment and work hazards; Work pressure; Competence; Safety training) based on Mohamed(2002)'s and Zohar(1980)'s study. Questionnaire was administered to 210 workers in a shipbuilding company. The results of the confirmatory factor analysis showed that these 10 dimensions could be the valid factors of safety climate. The results of the multiple regression analysis which utilized safety climate as a criterion revealed that 4 dimensions were significant predictors(Appraisal of physical work environment and work hazards, Safety rules and procedures, Worker's involvement, Management's commitment). The same multiple regression analysis which used safety behavior as a criterion showed that 5 dimensions were significant predictors(Competence, Management's commitment, Safety rules and procedures, Worker's involvement, Supportive environment). Limitations of the study and implications for future research were discussed.

An Empirical Investigation of the Influence of Safety Climate on Safety Citizenship Behavior in Coal Mine

Safety citizenship behavior (SCB) is a higher-order construct consisting of various behaviors such as helping co-workers, promoting safety programmers, demonstrating initiative, suggesting changes for improving safety. Those behaviors are very importance for coal mine safety because of the dynamics of hazard in coal mine. However, safety climate in relation to SCB has rarely been examined. This study has investigated the influence of safety climate on SCB in the context of coal mine. Self-administered questionnaires that included a SCB scale and a safety climate scale were used to collect data in three coal mines in China. The number of returned valid questionnaires was 450, and the response rate was 88.2%. Exploratory factor analysis identified two dimensions of SCB and four dimensions of safety climate. The structural equation modeling results suggest that the safety climate positively affects SCB. The results of the statistical analysis indicated that coal mine leaders would do well to develop a strategy to improve the safety climate that can produce the highest levels of safety behavior.

Modeling attitudes and perceptions as predictors for changing safety margins during organizational change

This study describes the relations between different dimensions of leadership commitment, safety climate and attitudes toward change, and how these affect employee perceptions of safety during organizational change in a high risk environment. We collected data from a European national air navigation services provider during a volatile 3-year corporatization process that ended in the sudden collapse of a deliberate change implementation project. Surprisingly, despite visible signs of internal and external stress caused by the volatile and disruptive change process, we did not observe any change in the traditional safety metrics of incident and accident reporting during the study. The study is based on a large survey ( n = 422) of individual attitudes and perceptions of safety climate, perception of leadership commitment to safety, attitudes to organizational change, and perception of safety. The data support the claim that perception of safety at least, in part, depends on individual perceptions of the leadership’s commitment to safety, and the safety climate in place at a given point in time. The model shows how employee perceptions of the leadership’s commitment to safety and safety climate are related to both attitudes toward change, and to perceived safety.

Safety climate and safety behavior in the passenger ferry context

This research empirically evaluates safety climate and safety behavior in the passenger ferry context. Using survey data collected from 155 respondents working for passenger ferry companies in Taiwan, hierarchical regression analysis was used to examine the effects of safety climate on self-reported safety behaviors. Confirmatory factor analysis identified five main dimensions of safety climate as measured on a passenger ferry safety climate scale: safety policy, safety motivation, emergency preparedness, safety training, and safety communication. Further, safety training and emergency preparedness were found to positively affect self-reported safety behaviors with respect to safety compliance and safety participation. The study also revealed positive associations among respondents’ age, ferry capacity, and safety compliance. Implications of the study findings for increasing safety in ferry operations and their contribution to the development of safety management are discussed.

The effect of safety climate on seafarers’ safety behaviors in container shipping

This study empirically examined safety climate and its effects on safety behaviors from seafarers’ perceptions in the container shipping context. Research hypotheses were formulated and tested using survey data collected from 608 seafarers working on 124 vessels belonging to 13 of the top 20 global container carriers. A structural equation model was used to examine the effect of safety climate dimensions, namely, safety policy, perceived supervisor safety behavior, and safety management, on safety behavior. The results revealed a positive association between safety climate and seafarers’ safety behavior. The contribution of the study findings to the development of safety climate theory and their managerial implications for vessel safety in shipping operations are discussed.

Safety climate dimensions, leader–member exchange, and organizational support as predictors of upward safety communication in a sample of rail industry workers

The freedom employees feel to communicate safety concerns with their supervisors, termed upward safety communication, has been shown to be related to adverse safety events ( Hofmann and Morgeson, 1999). Research to date has demonstrated that good supervisor–employee relationships (leader–member exchange), a sense that the organization values an employee (perceived organizational support) and safety climate (including perceived management attitudes toward safety, job demands interfering with safety, and pressure from coworkers to behave safely) all contribute to employees’ comfort in bringing up safety issues with their supervisors. However, little is known about which specific dimensions of safety climate are most predictive of upward safety communication. Using a sample of 548 railway workers, we found that when all factors were considered simultaneously using dominance analysis, the dominant factor predicting upward safety communication was perceived management attitudes toward safety, followed by job demands interfering with safety and then leader–member exchange. Implications for research and practice are discussed.

Hospital Safety Climate and Safety Outcomes: Is There a Relationship in the VA?

Strengthening safety climate is recognized as a necessary strategy for improving patient safety. Yet there is little empirical evidence linking hospitals' safety climate with safety outcomes.The authors explored the potential relationship between safety climate and Veterans Health Administration hospital safety performance using the Patient Safety Indicator (PSI) rates. Safety climate survey data were merged with hospital discharge data to calculate PSIs. Linear regressions examined the relationship between hospitals' safety climate and dimensions of safety climate with individual PSIs and a PSI composite measure, controlling for organizational-level variables. Safety climate overall was not related to the PSIs or to the PSI composite, although a few individual dimensions of safety climate were associated with specific PSIs. Perceptions of frontline staff were more closely aligned with PSIs than those of senior managers.

Communication and collaboration: it's about the pharmacists, as well as the physicians and nurses

ObjectiveCollaboration and communication as dimensions of patient safety climate have been measured in acute care hospital units, and discrepant viewpoints have been documented between different professional groups, particularly between physicians...