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Articles

The role of employee perceptions of safety priorities on safety outcomes across organisational levels

ORCID Icon, ORCID Icon, , ORCID Icon, ORCID Icon & ORCID Icon
Pages 768-777 | Received 17 Mar 2020, Accepted 16 Nov 2020, Published online: 01 Feb 2021
 

Abstract

Research has shown that safety climate predicts safety outcomes in various occupational settings. One important component of safety climate is employees’ perceived priorities of safety in an organisation relative to other operational demands (e.g. productivity or efficiency). The relationships between three dimensions of employee perceptions of safety priorities (company, supervisor, worker), employee safety behaviour and self-reported injury outcomes were examined in the current study. Survey data were collected from 858 field workers (a response rate of 89%) at a TV-cable installation company. Results showed that all three dimensions of employee perceptions of safety priorities had significant and unique positive relationships with employee safety behaviour. Furthermore, safety behaviour was a significant mediator of the relationship between the three types of perceived safety priorities and missed work days due to workplace injury. The results showed the value of addressing employee perceptions of safety priorities across organisational levels when trying to improve workplace safety and reduce costly injuries.

Practitioner Summary: The study examined relationships between the three different organisational levels of employee perceptions of safety priorities and employee safety behaviour and injury outcomes. The results demonstrated the value of addressing employee perceptions of safety priorities held by different levels of management as well as the worker level to improve workplace safety and reduce costly injuries.

Abbreviations: AIC: Akaike Information Criterion; BIC: Bayesian Information Criterion; CFA: confirmatory factor analysis; CFI: comparative fit index; CI: confidence interval; NAICS: the North American Industry Classification System; RMSEA: root mean square errors of approximation; SB: safety behavior; SD: standard deviation; SE: standard error; SIC: the standard industrial class; SP: safety priority.

Acknowledgements

The authors wish to thank the following team members for their invaluable assistance: Michelle Robertson, Susan Jeffries, Peg Rothwell, Anna McFadden, and Jenn Rineer for data collection, analysis and general assistance; Nils Fallentin for project development; Mo Wang for technical consulting.

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