Work safety climate. Comparison of selected occupational groups

PLoS One. 2020 Dec 14;15(12):e0243056. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0243056. eCollection 2020.

Abstract

Implementation of effective programs to improve occupational safety should be linked to an understanding of the specific nature of the given job. The aim of the research was to compare occupational groups with different job-related specificities: industrial production line workers, retail workers and mine rescuers, in terms of their assessment of the work safety climate. The survey covered 2,995 respondents with diversified demographic characteristics. The study used an abridged version of the Safety Climate Questionnaire by Znajmiecka-Sikora (2019) to assess 10 separate safety climate dimensions. The results of the MANOVA multivariate analysis, Wilks' multivariate F-tests and univariate F tests prove that there is a statistically significant difference between the respondents representing the three occupational groups collectively in terms of global assessment of all work safety climate dimensions, and also indicate significant differences between workers belonging to the three occupational groups in terms of their assessment of the individual dimensions of the work safety climate, except the organization's occupational health and safety management policy as well as technical facilities and ergonomics, which may be due to the universality of the requirements set for organizations with regard to these two aspects of safe behavior. The differences observed in the assessment of the remaining work safety climate dimensions induces one to promote more differentiated and individualized activities, taking into account the work specificity and the nature of the threats occurring in the respective working environment of the representatives of the different occupations. The difference in assessment of the work safety climate found in the research encourages one to create practical programs for safety, not only in the procedural and technical dimension, but also in the social and psychological one.

Publication types

  • Comparative Study
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Female
  • Humans
  • Male
  • Occupational Health
  • Occupations / classification*
  • Organizational Culture
  • Risk Factors
  • Safety Management / methods*
  • Surveys and Questionnaires
  • Workplace / psychology*

Grants and funding

The following institutions provided funding for publication fees: Institute of Psychology, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Silesia in Katowice, Katowice, Poland, awarded to MSS; and Institute of Psychology, University of Lodz in Łódz, Poland, awarded to MZS. The Ministry of Science and Higher Education in Poland provided support for this study to ACC, under the 2019-2022 program "Regional Initiative of Excellence", project number 012 / RID / 2018/19.