Causal Relationship Analysis of the Patient Safety Culture Based on Safety Attitudes Questionnaire in Taiwan

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Yii-Ching Lee

2018-01-01

Full Text Available This study uses the decision-making trial and evaluation laboratory method to identify critical dimensions of the safety attitudes questionnaire in Taiwan in order to improve the patient safety culture from experts’ viewpoints. Teamwork climate, stress recognition, and perceptions of management are three causal dimensions, while safety climate, job satisfaction, and working conditions are receiving dimensions. In practice, improvements on effect-based dimensions might receive little effects when a great amount of efforts have been invested. In contrast, improving a causal dimension not only improves itself but also results in better performance of other dimension(s directly affected by this particular dimension. Teamwork climate and perceptions of management are found to be the most critical dimensions because they are both causal dimensions and have significant influences on four dimensions apiece. It is worth to note that job satisfaction is the only dimension affected by the other dimensions. In order to effectively enhance the patient safety culture for healthcare organizations, teamwork climate, and perceptions of management should be closely monitored.

Attitudes to teamwork and safety among Italian surgeons and operating room nurses.

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Prati, Gabriele; Pietrantoni, Luca

2014-01-01

Previous studies have shown that surgical team members' attitudes about safety and teamwork in the operating theatre may play a role in patient safety. The aim of this study was to assess attitudes about teamwork and safety among Italian surgeons and operating room nurses. Fifty-five surgeons and 48 operating room nurses working in operating theatres at one hospital in Italy completed the Operating Room Management Attitudes Questionnaire (ORMAQ). Results showed several discrepancies in attitudes about teamwork and safety between surgeons and operating room nurses. Surgeons had more positive views on the quality of surgical leadership, communication, teamwork, and organizational climate in the theatre than operating room nurses. Operating room nurses reported that safety rules and procedures were more frequently disregarded than the surgeons. The results are only partially aligned with previous ORMAQ surveys of surgical teams in other countries. The differences emphasize the influence of national culture, as well as the particular healthcare system. This study shows discrepancies on many aspects in attitudes to teamwork and safety between surgeons and operating room nurses. The findings support implementation and use of team interventions and human factor training. Finally, attitude surveys provide a method for assessing safety culture in surgery, for evaluating the effectiveness of training initiatives, and for collecting data for a hospital's quality assurance programme.

A relational leadership perspective on unit-level safety climate.

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Thompson, Debra N; Hoffman, Leslie A; Sereika, Susan M; Lorenz, Holly L; Wolf, Gail A; Burns, Helen K; Minnier, Tamra E; Ramanujam, Rangaraj

2011-11-01

This study compared nursing staff perceptions of safety climate in clinical units characterized by high and low ratings of leader-member exchange (LMX) and explored characteristics that might account for differences. Frontline nursing leaders' actions are critical to ensure patient safety. Specific leadership behaviors to achieve this goal are underexamined. The LMX perspective has shown promise in nonhealthcare settings as a means to explain safety climate perceptions. Cross-sectional survey of staff (n = 711) and unit directors from 34 inpatient units in an academic medical center was conducted. Significant differences were found between high and low LMX scoring units on supervisor safety expectations, organizational learning-continuous improvement, total communication, feedback and communication about errors, and nonpunitive response to errors. The LMX perspective can be used to identify differences in perceptions of safety climate among nursing staff. Future studies are needed to identify strategies to improve staff safety attitudes and behaviors. Copyright © 2011 Wolters Kluwer Health | Lippincott Williams & Wilkins

The role of organizational trust in safety climate's influence on organizational outcomes.

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Kath, Lisa M; Magley, Vicki J; Marmet, Matthew

2010-09-01

Based on elements of social exchange theory and other conceptualizations of trust, a model was developed situating organizational trust as a central component to the relationship that safety climate has with organizational outcomes. Specifically, the model specified that two facets of safety climate--upward safety communication and management attitudes toward safety--would be positively related to organizational trust. Increased levels of trust would then predict increased motivation to engage in safe job-related behaviors, increased job satisfaction, and decreased turnover intentions. Another hypothesis investigated whether job safety relevance would moderate the relationship between safety climate and trust. Online survey research was conducted with 599 employees from 97 work groups across a New England grocery store chain. Hierarchical linear modeling indicated support for trust mediating the relationship between safety climate and organizational outcomes; further, the relationship between safety climate and trust was stronger within work groups where safety was more relevant. 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Medical students' situational motivation to participate in simulation based team training is predicted by attitudes to patient safety.

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Escher, Cecilia; Creutzfeldt, Johan; Meurling, Lisbet; Hedman, Leif; Kjellin, Ann; Felländer-Tsai, Li

2017-02-10

Patient safety education, as well as the safety climate at clinical rotations, has an impact on students' attitudes. We explored medical students' self-reported motivation to participate in simulation-based teamwork training (SBTT), with the hypothesis that high scores in patient safety attitudes would promote motivation to SBTT and that intrinsic motivation would increase after training. In a prospective cohort study we explored Swedish medical students' attitudes to patient safety, their motivation to participate in SBTT and how motivation was affected by the training. The setting was an integrated SBTT course during the surgical semester that focused on non-technical skills and safe treatment of surgical emergencies. Data was collected using the Situational Motivation Scale (SIMS) and the Attitudes to Patient Safety Questionnaire (APSQ). We found a positive correlation between students' individual patient safety attitudes and self-reported motivation (identified regulation) to participate in SBTT. We also found that intrinsic motivation increased after training. Female students in our study scored higher than males regarding some of the APSQ sub-scores and the entire group scored higher or on par with comparable international samples. In order to enable safe practice and professionalism in healthcare, students' engagement in patient safety education is important. Our finding that students' patient safety attitudes show a positive correlation to motivation and that intrinsic motivation increases after training underpins patient safety climate and integrated teaching of patient safety issues at medical schools in order to help students develop the knowledge, skills and attitudes required for safe practice.

The safety climate of a Department of Energy nuclear facility: A sociotechnical analysis

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Johnson, A.E.; Harbour, J.L.

1993-01-01

Government- and public-sponsored groups are increasingly demanding greater accountability by the Department of Energy's weapons complex. Many of these demands have focused on the development of a positive safety climate, one that not only protects workers onsite, but also the surrounding populace and environment as well. These demands are, in part, a response to findings which demonstrate a close linkage between actual organizational safety performance and the organization's safety climate, i.e., the collective attitudes employees hold concerning the level of safety in their organization. This paper describes the approach taken in the systematic assessment of the safety climate at EG ampersand G Rocky Flats Plant (RFP)

Team climate and attitudes toward information and communication technology among nurses on acute psychiatric wards.

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Koivunen, Marita; Anttila, Minna; Kuosmanen, Lauri; Katajisto, Jouko; Välimäki, Maritta

2015-01-01

Objectives: To describe the association of team climate with attitudes toward information and communication technology among nursing staff working on acute psychiatric wards. Background: Implementation of ICT applications in nursing practice brings new operating models to work environments, which may affect experienced team climate on hospital wards. Method: Descriptive survey was used as a study design. Team climate was measured by the Finnish modification of the Team Climate Inventory, and attitudes toward ICT by Burkes' questionnaire. The nursing staff (N = 181, n = 146) on nine acute psychiatric wards participated in the study. Results: It is not self-evident that experienced team climate associates with attitudes toward ICT, but there are some positive relationships between perceived team climate and ICT attitudes. The study showed that nurses' motivation to use ICT had statistically significant connections with experienced team climate, participative safety (p = 0.021), support for innovation (p = 0.042) and task orientation (p = 0.042). Conclusion: The results suggest that asserting team climate and supporting innovative operations may lead to more positive attitudes toward ICT. It is, in particular, possible to influence nurses' motivation to use ICT. More attention should be paid to psychosocial factors such as group education and co-operation at work when ICT applications are implemented in nursing.

The Spillover Effects on Employees’ Life of Construction Enterprises’ Safety Climate

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Xiang Wu

2017-11-01

Full Text Available Organizational safety climate will produce spillover effects and thus affect the individuals’ performance in their family life. As a mainstay industry in many countries, the construction industry has a considerable number of employees and the research on the spillover effects from the safety climate of construction enterprises has important theoretical and practical significance to improve the safety behavior of construction employees in their family life. In this study, we thoroughly reviewed the literature to identify the dimensions of the safety climate spillover, obtain empirical data of the construction employees through a questionnaire survey, and use the data analysis method to study the spillover effects of the safety climate of the construction enterprises from the perspective of work–family integration, and reveal its influence mechanism. This study developed a questionnaire to measure the safety climate spillover of the construction enterprises including two dimensions, namely values and behaviors, with nine measured items. Management commitment and safety attitude in the safety climate were positively related to the spillover, and management commitment had the greatest impact on the spillover, while the other components were not significantly related to the spillover. The two forms of spillover, values and behaviors, were mutually influential, and the safety climate had a more significant impact on the values. This paper contributes to the current safety research by developing a factor structure of spillover effects of the safety climate on the lives of construction employees, thus providing a more profound interpretation of this crucial construct in the safety research domain. The spillover effects of the safety climate’s measurement questionnaire serve as an important tool for spillover among construction enterprises. Findings can facilitate improvement in both theories and practices related to the spillover effects of the

Demographic variables in coal miners’ safety attitude

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Yin, Wen-wen; Wu, Xiang; Ci, Hui-Peng; Qin, Shu-Qi; Liu, Jia-Long

2017-03-01

To change unsafe behavior through adjusting people’s safety attitudes has become an important measure to prevent accidents. Demographic variables, as influential factors of safety attitude, are fundamental and essential for the research. This research does a questionnaire survey among coal mine industry workers, and makes variance analysis and correlation analysis of the results in light of age, length of working years, educational level and experiences of accidents. The results show that the coal miners’ age, length of working years and accident experiences correlate lowly with safety attitudes, and those older coal miners with longer working years have better safety attitude, as coal miners without experiences of accident do.However, educational level has nothing to do with the safety attitude. Therefore, during the process of safety management, coal miners with different demographic characteristics should be put more attention to.

The impact of situation-background-assessment-recommendation (SBAR) on safety attitudes in the obstetrics department.

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Ting, Wan-Hua; Peng, Fu-Shiang; Lin, Ho-Hsiung; Hsiao, Sheng-Mou

2017-04-01

Previous studies evaluating the situation-background-assessment-recommendation (SBAR) have been shown to increase effective nurse-physician communication and collaboration. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the impact of the SBAR technique on safety attitudes in the obstetrics department. This study implemented the SBAR Collaborative Communication Education course and was conducted in a medical center from February 2012 to March 2015, which included an educational session on fetal heart rate monitoring, a case-based discussion, and a video demonstration on traditional and SBAR communication. The nurses in the obstetrics department were requested to report their clinical findings and recommendations using a novel SBAR list when abnormal fetal heart beat tracings occurred. All obstetric nurses were requested to complete the Chinese-version of the Safety Attitudes Questionnaire before and after the SBAR educational course. The primary outcome was to evaluate the effect of the SBAR technique on the safety attitudes of the obstetrics department. The secondary outcome was to evaluate the effect of the SBAR technique on the 5-minute Apgar score for neonates. Most values, including teamwork climate, safety climate, job satisfaction, and working conditions, significantly improved at both postintervention surveys compared with the preintervention survey. There were no significant differences in the number of the neonates with less than seven 5-minute Apgar scores between the pre- and postintervention periods. The SBAR technique, which uses a novel structured handover list, is a feasible tool for nurse-obstetrician communication, and it may improve most dimensions of safety attitudes in the obstetrics department. Copyright © 2017. Published by Elsevier B.V.

Europeans' attitudes towards climate change

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2009-07-01

This report presents the results of a survey on Europeans' attitudes towards climate change which was carried out in January and February 2009. The survey focuses on: Citizens' perceptions of climate change in relation to other world problems; Citizens' perceptions of the seriousness of climate change; The extent to which citizens feel informed about climate change - its causes, consequences and ways of fighting it; Citizens' attitudes towards alternative fuels and CO2 emissions; Whether citizens feel that climate change is stoppable or has been exaggerated, and what impact it has on the European economy; Whether citizens have taken personal action to fight climate change. This Eurobarometer survey was carried out by TNS Opinion and Social network between 16 January and 22 February 2009. The interviews were conducted among 26,718 citizens in the 27 Member States of the European Union, the three candidate countries for accession to the European Union (Croatia, Turkey and the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia) and in the Turkish Cypriot Community.

Patient safety climate in a hospital specialized in oncology

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Maria Helena Barbosa

2015-12-01

Full Text Available The study’s objective was to assess the safety climate from the perspective of a health team from a hospital specialized in oncology. An observational sectional study, conducted with 66 health professionals, using the Safety Attitudes Questionnaire. For analysis, Student’s t test and Sperman’s correlation (α=0.05 were used. The instrument’s general score was 70.28. The domain with best score was satisfaction at work (86.74 and, the domains with lower scores were perception from management (64.99 and stress perception (61.74. There was no differences of means statistically significant between genders, but it was present between those who had gone through graduate school or not. There was no correlation between scores and career time in the specialty at the institution. The final assessment demonstrated fragilities in the perception of health professionals related to questions involving the institutional climate of safety.

Measuring safety climate in a nuclear power plant - an experience sharing

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Vincy, M.U.; Varshney, Aloke; Khot, Pankaj

2016-01-01

In this paper the author discusses the experience gained in safety climate measurement of an Indian nuclear power plant. Safety performance is increasingly part of an organization's sustainable development. Nuclear power stations are falling under the category 'high reliability' industries in the world as far as work safety is concerned. Both the research and the practical experience continually point to two underlying factors that drive safety outcomes: the quality of an organisation's leadership and the resulting culture. After years of development in safety technology and safety management system in the industry, management of nuclear industry world over has come to recognize that safety culture has to be addressed if high standards of health and safety are to be maintained. Therefore, nuclear industries in India have been carrying out measurement of safety climate for more than ten years. The objectives of the study are to examine people's values, attitude, perception, competencies, and patterns of behaviour that determine the commitment to, and effectiveness of health and safety management in the industry based on a questionnaires survey and their analysis

Multilevel models in the explanation of the relationship between safety climate and safe behavior.

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Cheyne, Alistair; Tomás, José M; Oliver, Amparo

2013-01-01

This study examines the relationships between components of organizational safety climate, including employee attitudes to organizational safety issues; perceptions of the physical working environment, and evaluations of worker engagement with safety issues; and relates these to self-reported levels of safety behavior. It attempts to explore the relationships between these variables in 1189 workers across 78 work groups in a large transportation organization. Evaluations of safety climate, the working environment and worker engagement, as well as safe behaviors, were collected using a self report questionnaire. The multilevel analysis showed that both levels of evaluation (the work group and the individual), and some cross-level interactions, were significant in explaining safe behaviors. Analyses revealed that a number of variables, at both levels, were associated with worker engagement and safe behaviors. The results suggest that, while individual evaluations of safety issues are important, there is also a role for the fostering of collective safety climates in encouraging safe behaviors and therefore reducing accidents.

Safety climate in Swiss hospital units: Swiss version of the Safety Climate Survey

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Gehring, Katrin; Mascherek, Anna C.; Bezzola, Paula

2015-01-01

Abstract Rationale, aims and objectives Safety climate measurements are a broadly used element of improvement initiatives. In order to provide a sound and easy‐to‐administer instrument for the use in Swiss hospitals, we translated the Safety Climate Survey into German and French. Methods After translating the Safety Climate Survey into French and German, a cross‐sectional survey study was conducted with health care professionals (HCPs) in operating room (OR) teams and on OR‐related wards in 10 Swiss hospitals. Validity of the instrument was examined by means of Cronbach's alpha and missing rates of the single items. Item‐descriptive statistics group differences and percentage of ‘problematic responses’ (PPR) were calculated. Results 3153 HCPs completed the survey (response rate: 63.4%). 1308 individuals were excluded from the analyses because of a profession other than doctor or nurse or invalid answers (n = 1845; nurses = 1321, doctors = 523). Internal consistency of the translated Safety Climate Survey was good (Cronbach's alpha G erman = 0.86; Cronbach's alpha F rench = 0.84). Missing rates at item level were rather low (0.23–4.3%). We found significant group differences in safety climate values regarding profession, managerial function, work area and time spent in direct patient care. At item level, 14 out of 21 items showed a PPR higher than 10%. Conclusions Results indicate that the French and German translations of the Safety Climate Survey might be a useful measurement instrument for safety climate in Swiss hospital units. Analyses at item level allow for differentiating facets of safety climate into more positive and critical safety climate aspects. PMID:25656302

Attitude of Nurses toward the Patient Safety Culture: A Cross-Sectional Study of the Hospitals in Tehran, Iran

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Maryam Saberi

2017-07-01

Conclusion: According to the results, attitude of the nurses in the selected hospitals was poor toward the dimensions of the patient safety culture. Therefore, it is strongly recommended that specific training interventions be performed to enhance the work conditions and safety climate in these hospitals

Organisational culture: variation across hospitals and connection to patient safety climate.

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Speroff, T; Nwosu, S; Greevy, R; Weinger, M B; Talbot, T R; Wall, R J; Deshpande, J K; France, D J; Ely, E W; Burgess, H; Englebright, J; Williams, M V; Dittus, R S

2010-12-01

Bureaucratic organisational culture is less favourable to quality improvement, whereas organisations with group (teamwork) culture are better aligned for quality improvement. To determine if an organisational group culture shows better alignment with patient safety climate. Cross-sectional administration of questionnaires. Setting 40 Hospital Corporation of America hospitals. 1406 nurses, ancillary staff, allied staff and physicians. Competing Values Measure of Organisational Culture, Safety Attitudes Questionnaire (SAQ), Safety Climate Survey (SCSc) and Information and Analysis (IA). The Cronbach alpha was 0.81 for the group culture scale and 0.72 for the hierarchical culture scale. Group culture was positively correlated with SAQ and its subscales (from correlation coefficient r = 0.44 to 0.55, except situational recognition), ScSc (r = 0.47) and IA (r = 0.33). Hierarchical culture was negatively correlated with the SAQ scales, SCSc and IA. Among the 40 hospitals, 37.5% had a hierarchical dominant culture, 37.5% a dominant group culture and 25% a balanced culture. Group culture hospitals had significantly higher safety climate scores than hierarchical culture hospitals. The magnitude of these relationships was not affected after adjusting for provider job type and hospital characteristics. Hospitals vary in organisational culture, and the type of culture relates to the safety climate within the hospital. In combination with prior studies, these results suggest that a healthcare organisation's culture is a critical factor in the development of its patient safety climate and in the successful implementation of quality improvement initiatives.

The relationship between patient safety climate and occupational safety climate in healthcare - A multi-level investigation.

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Pousette, Anders; Larsman, Pernilla; Eklöf, Mats; Törner, Marianne

2017-06-01

Patient safety climate/culture is attracting increasing research interest, but there is little research on its relation with organizational climates regarding other target domains. The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between patient safety climate and occupational safety climate in healthcare. The climates were assessed using two questionnaires: Hospital Survey on Patient Safety Culture and Nordic Occupational Safety Climate Questionnaire. The final sample consisted of 1154 nurses, 886 assistant nurses, and 324 physicians, organized in 150 work units, within hospitals (117units), primary healthcare (5units) and elderly care (28units) in western Sweden, which represented 56% of the original sample contacted. Within each type of safety climate, two global dimensions were confirmed in a higher order factor analysis; one with an external focus relative the own unit, and one with an internal focus. Two methods were used to estimate the covariation between the global climate dimensions, in order to minimize the influence of bias from common method variance. First multilevel analysis was used for partitioning variances and covariances in a within unit part (individual level) and a between unit part (unit level). Second, a split sample technique was used to calculate unit level correlations based on aggregated observations from different respondents. Both methods showed associations similar in strength between the patient safety climate and the occupational safety climate domains. The results indicated that patient safety climate and occupational safety climate are strongly positively related at the unit level, and that the same organizational processes may be important for the development of both types of organizational climate. Safety improvement interventions should not be separated in different organizational processes, but be planned so that both patient safety and staff safety are considered concomitantly. Copyright © 2017 National Safety

Do differences in attitudes explain differences in national climate change policies?

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tjernstroem, E.; Tietenberg, T.

2008-01-01

In meeting the threat posed by climate change nations have responded quite differently. Using an extensive data set this study explores factors that affect individuals' attitudes towards climate change and how those attitudes ultimately affect national climate change policy. The results show that attitudes do indeed matter in implementing policy and that attitudes are shaped not only by how individuals react to the specific attributes of climate change, but also by information, by the openness of society and by attitudes toward the trustworthiness of government. (author)

The perception of the patient safety climate by professionals of the emergency department.

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Rigobello, Mayara Carvalho Godinho; Carvalho, Rhanna Emanuela Fontenele Lima de; Guerreiro, Juliana Magalhães; Motta, Ana Paula Gobbo; Atila, Elizabeth; Gimenes, Fernanda Raphael Escobar

2017-07-01

The aim of this study was to assess the patient safety climate from the perspective of healthcare professionals working in the emergency department of a hospital in Brazil. Emergency departments are complex and dynamic environments. They are prone to adverse events that compromise the quality of care provided and reveal the importance of patient safety culture and climate. This was a quantitative, descriptive, cross-sectional study. The Safety Attitudes Questionnaire (SAQ) - Short Form 2006 was used for data collection, validated and adapted into Portuguese. The study sample consisted of 125 participants. Most of the participants were female (57.6%) and had worked in emergency department for more than 10years (56.8%). Sixty-two participants (49.6%) were nursing professionals. The participants demonstrated satisfaction with their jobs and dissatisfaction with the actions of management with regard to safety issues. Participants' perceptions about the patient safety climate were found to be negative. Knowledge of professionals' perceptions of patient safety climate in the context of emergency care helps with assessments of the safety culture, contributes to improvement of health care, reduces adverse events, and can focus efforts to improve the quality of care provided to patients. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Safety Climate, Perceived Risk, and Involvement in Safety Management

OpenAIRE

Kouabenan , Dongo Rémi; Ngueutsa , Robert ,; Safiétou , Mbaye

2015-01-01

International audience; This article examines the relationship between safety climate, risk perception and involvement in safety management by first-line managers (FLM). Sixty-three FLMs from two French nuclear plants answered a questionnaire measuring perceived workplace safety climate, perceived risk, and involvement in safety management. We hypothesized that a positive perception of safety climate would promote substantial involvement in safety management, and that this effect would be str...

Correlation between safety climate and contractor safety assessment programs in construction.

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Sparer, Emily H; Murphy, Lauren A; Taylor, Kathryn M; Dennerlein, Jack T

2013-12-01

Contractor safety assessment programs (CSAPs) measure safety performance by integrating multiple data sources together; however, the relationship between these measures of safety performance and safety climate within the construction industry is unknown. Four hundred and one construction workers employed by 68 companies on 26 sites and 11 safety managers employed by 11 companies completed brief surveys containing a nine-item safety climate scale developed for the construction industry. CSAP scores from ConstructSecure, Inc., an online CSAP database, classified these 68 companies as high or low scorers, with the median score of the sample population as the threshold. Spearman rank correlations evaluated the association between the CSAP score and the safety climate score at the individual level, as well as with various grouping methodologies. In addition, Spearman correlations evaluated the comparison between manager-assessed safety climate and worker-assessed safety climate. There were no statistically significant differences between safety climate scores reported by workers in the high and low CSAP groups. There were, at best, weak correlations between workers' safety climate scores and the company CSAP scores, with marginal statistical significance with two groupings of the data. There were also no significant differences between the manager-assessed safety climate and the worker-assessed safety climate scores. A CSAP safety performance score does not appear to capture safety climate, as measured in this study. The nature of safety climate in construction is complex, which may be reflective of the challenges in measuring safety climate within this industry. Am. J. Ind. Med. 56:1463-1472, 2013. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

The predictive validity of safety climate.

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Johnson, Stephen E

2007-01-01

Safety professionals have increasingly turned their attention to social science for insight into the causation of industrial accidents. One social construct, safety climate, has been examined by several researchers [Cooper, M. D., & Phillips, R. A. (2004). Exploratory analysis of the safety climate and safety behavior relationship. Journal of Safety Research, 35(5), 497-512; Gillen, M., Baltz, D., Gassel, M., Kirsch, L., & Vacarro, D. (2002). Perceived safety climate, job Demands, and coworker support among union and nonunion injured construction workers. Journal of Safety Research, 33(1), 33-51; Neal, A., & Griffin, M. A. (2002). Safety climate and safety behaviour. Australian Journal of Management, 27, 66-76; Zohar, D. (2000). A group-level model of safety climate: Testing the effect of group climate on microaccidents in manufacturing jobs. Journal of Applied Psychology, 85(4), 587-596; Zohar, D., & Luria, G. (2005). A multilevel model of safety climate: Cross-level relationships between organization and group-level climates. Journal of Applied Psychology, 90(4), 616-628] who have documented its importance as a factor explaining the variation of safety-related outcomes (e.g., behavior, accidents). Researchers have developed instruments for measuring safety climate and have established some degree of psychometric reliability and validity. The problem, however, is that predictive validity has not been firmly established, which reduces the credibility of safety climate as a meaningful social construct. The research described in this article addresses this problem and provides additional support for safety climate as a viable construct and as a predictive indicator of safety-related outcomes. This study used 292 employees at three locations of a heavy manufacturing organization to complete the 16 item Zohar Safety Climate Questionnaire (ZSCQ) [Zohar, D., & Luria, G. (2005). A multilevel model of safety climate: Cross-level relationships between organization and group

Religion Does Matter for Climate Change Attitudes and Behavior.

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Morrison, Mark; Duncan, Roderick; Parton, Kevin

2015-01-01

Little research has focused on the relationship between religion and climate change attitudes and behavior. Further, while there have been some studies examining the relationship between environmental attitudes and religion, most are focused on Christian denominations and secularism, and few have examined other religions such as Buddhism. Using an online survey of 1,927 Australians we examined links between membership of four religious groupings (Buddhists, Christian literalists and non-literalists, and Secularists) and climate change attitudes and behaviors. Differences were found across religious groups in terms of their belief in: (a) human induced climate change, (b) the level of consensus among scientists, (c) their own efficacy, and (d) the need for policy responses. We show, using ordinal regression, that religion explains these differences even after taking into account socio-demographic factors, knowledge and environmental attitude, including belief in man's dominion over nature. Differences in attitude and behavior between these religious groups suggest the importance of engaging denominations to encourage change in attitudes and behavior among their members.

Validation of the Dutch language version of the Safety Attitudes Questionnaire (SAQ-NL).

Science.gov (United States)

Haerkens, Marck Htm; van Leeuwen, Wouter; Sexton, J Bryan; Pickkers, Peter; van der Hoeven, Johannes G

2016-08-15

As the first objective of caring for patients is to do no harm, patient safety is a priority in delivering clinical care. An essential component of safe care in a clinical department is its safety climate. Safety climate correlates with safety-specific behaviour, injury rates, and accidents. Safety climate in healthcare can be assessed by the Safety Attitudes Questionnaire (SAQ), which provides insight by scoring six dimensions: Teamwork Climate, Job Satisfaction, Safety Climate, Stress Recognition, Working Conditions and Perceptions of Management. The objective of this study was to assess the psychometric properties of the Dutch language version of the SAQ in a variety of clinical departments in Dutch hospitals. The Dutch version (SAQ-NL) of the SAQ was back translated, and analyzed for semantic characteristics and content. From October 2010 to November 2015 SAQ-NL surveys were carried out in 17 departments in two university and seven large non-university teaching hospitals in the Netherlands, prior to a Crew Resource Management human factors intervention. Statistical analyses were used to examine response patterns, mean scores, correlations, internal consistency reliability and model fit. Cronbach's α's and inter-item correlations were calculated to examine internal consistency reliability. One thousand three hundred fourteen completed questionnaires were returned from 2113 administered to health care workers, resulting in a response rate of 62 %. Confirmatory Factor Analysis revealed the 6-factor structure fit the data adequately. Response patterns were similar for professional positions, departments, physicians and nurses, and university and non-university teaching hospitals. The SAQ-NL showed strong internal consistency (α = .87). Exploratory analysis revealed differences in scores on the SAQ dimensions when comparing different professional positions, when comparing physicians to nurses and when comparing university to non-university hospitals. The SAQ

Safety climate mapping in a nuclear power plant - an experience sharing

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Vincy, M.U.; Varshney, Aloke; Khot, Pankaj

2016-01-01

In this paper the author discusses the experience gained in safety climate measurement of an Indian nuclear power plant. Safety performance is increasingly part of an organisation's sustainable development. Nuclear power stations are falling under the category 'high reliability' industries in the world as far as work safety is concerned. Both the research and the practical experience continually point to two underlying factors that drive safety outcomes: the quality of an organisation's leadership and the resulting culture. After years of development in safety technology and safety management system in the industry, management of nuclear industry world over has come to recognize that safety culture has to be addressed if high standards of health and safety are to be maintained. Therefore, nuclear industries in India have been carrying out measurement of safety climate for more than ten years. The objectives of the study are to examine people's values, attitude, perception, competencies, and patterns of behaviour that determine the commitment to, and effectiveness of health and safety management in the industry based on questionnaires survey and their analysis. A questionnaire, consists of 66 statements with 11 attributes, was designed to seek the views of managers, supervisors and front line workers on key aspects of the safety culture. Each of the discrete group was also classified according to their role in the organisation

Safety climate practice in Korean manufacturing industry

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Baek, Jong-Bae; Bae, Sejong; Ham, Byung-Ho; Singh, Karan P.

2008-01-01

Safety climate survey was sent to 642 plants in 2003 to explore safety climate practices in the Korean manufacturing plants, especially in hazardous chemical treating plants. Out of 642 plants contacted 195 (30.4%) participated in the surveys. Data were collected by e-mail using SQL-server and mail. The main objective of this study was to explore safety climate practices (level of safety climate and the underlying problems). In addition, the variables that may influence the level of safety climate among managers and workers were explored. The questionnaires developed by health and safety executive (HSE) in the UK were modified to incorporate differences in Korean culture. Eleven important factors were summarized. Internal reliability of these factors was validated. Number of employees in the company varied from less than 30 employees (9.2%) to over 1000 employees (37.4%). Both managers and workers showed generally high level of safety climate awareness. The major underlying problems identified were inadequate health and safety procedures/rules, pressure for production, and rule breaking. The length of employment was a significant contributing factor to the level of safety climate. In this study, participants showed generally high level of safety climate, and length of employment affected the differences in the level of safety climate. Managers' commitment to comply safety rules, procedures, and effective safety education and training are recommended

Safety climate practice in Korean manufacturing industry.

Science.gov (United States)

Baek, Jong-Bae; Bae, Sejong; Ham, Byung-Ho; Singh, Karan P

2008-11-15

Safety climate survey was sent to 642 plants in 2003 to explore safety climate practices in the Korean manufacturing plants, especially in hazardous chemical treating plants. Out of 642 plants contacted 195 (30.4%) participated in the surveys. Data were collected by e-mail using SQL-server and mail. The main objective of this study was to explore safety climate practices (level of safety climate and the underlying problems). In addition, the variables that may influence the level of safety climate among managers and workers were explored. The questionnaires developed by health and safety executive (HSE) in the UK were modified to incorporate differences in Korean culture. Eleven important factors were summarized. Internal reliability of these factors was validated. Number of employees in the company varied from less than 30 employees (9.2%) to over 1000 employees (37.4%). Both managers and workers showed generally high level of safety climate awareness. The major underlying problems identified were inadequate health and safety procedures/rules, pressure for production, and rule breaking. The length of employment was a significant contributing factor to the level of safety climate. In this study, participants showed generally high level of safety climate, and length of employment affected the differences in the level of safety climate. Managers' commitment to comply safety rules, procedures, and effective safety education and training are recommended.

Safety climate practice in Korean manufacturing industry

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Baek, Jong-Bae [Department of Safety Engineering, Chungju National University, Chungju 380-702 (Korea, Republic of); Bae, Sejong [Department of Biostatistics, University of North Texas Health Science Center, 3500 Camp Bowie Boulevard, Fort Worth, TX 76107 (United States)], E-mail: sbae@hsc.unt.edu; Ham, Byung-Ho [Department of Industrial Safety, Ministry of Labor (Korea, Republic of); Singh, Karan P. [Department of Biostatistics, University of North Texas Health Science Center, 3500 Camp Bowie Boulevard, Fort Worth, TX 76107 (United States)

2008-11-15

Safety climate survey was sent to 642 plants in 2003 to explore safety climate practices in the Korean manufacturing plants, especially in hazardous chemical treating plants. Out of 642 plants contacted 195 (30.4%) participated in the surveys. Data were collected by e-mail using SQL-server and mail. The main objective of this study was to explore safety climate practices (level of safety climate and the underlying problems). In addition, the variables that may influence the level of safety climate among managers and workers were explored. The questionnaires developed by health and safety executive (HSE) in the UK were modified to incorporate differences in Korean culture. Eleven important factors were summarized. Internal reliability of these factors was validated. Number of employees in the company varied from less than 30 employees (9.2%) to over 1000 employees (37.4%). Both managers and workers showed generally high level of safety climate awareness. The major underlying problems identified were inadequate health and safety procedures/rules, pressure for production, and rule breaking. The length of employment was a significant contributing factor to the level of safety climate. In this study, participants showed generally high level of safety climate, and length of employment affected the differences in the level of safety climate. Managers' commitment to comply safety rules, procedures, and effective safety education and training are recommended.

Patient safety climate and worker safety behaviours in acute hospitals in Scotland.

Science.gov (United States)

Agnew, Cakil; Flin, Rhona; Mearns, Kathryn

2013-06-01

To obtain a measure of hospital safety climate from a sample of National Health Service (NHS) acute hospitals in Scotland and to test whether these scores were associated with worker safety behaviors, and patient and worker injuries. Data were from 1,866 NHS clinical staff in six Scottish acute hospitals. A Scottish Hospital Safety Questionnaire measured hospital safety climate (Hospital Survey on Patient Safety Culture), worker safety behaviors, and worker and patient injuries. The associations between the hospital safety climate scores and the outcome measures (safety behaviors, worker and patient injury rates) were examined. Hospital safety climate scores were significantly correlated with clinical workers' safety behavior and patient and worker injury measures, although the effect sizes were smaller for the latter. Regression analyses revealed that perceptions of staffing levels and managerial commitment were significant predictors for all the safety outcome measures. Both patient-specific and more generic safety climate items were found to have significant impacts on safety outcome measures. This study demonstrated the influences of different aspects of hospital safety climate on both patient and worker safety outcomes. Moreover, it has been shown that in a hospital setting, a safety climate supporting safer patient care would also help to ensure worker safety. The Scottish Hospital Safety Questionnaire has proved to be a usable method of measuring both hospital safety climate as well as patient and worker safety outcomes. Copyright © 2013 National Safety Council and Elsevier Ltd. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Safety climate and accidents at work

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Ajslev, Jeppe; Dastjerdi, Efat Lali; Dyreborg, Johnny

2017-01-01

Aim: Occupational safety climate is utilized as a way to measure the risk of accidents and injuries at work. This study investigates which factors are associated with safety climate and accidents at work. Methods: In the 2012 round of the Danish Work Environment and Health Study, 15,144 workers...... from the general working population of Denmark replied to questions about safety climate and accidents at work. Mutually adjusted logistic regression analyses determined the association between variables. Results: Within the last year, 5.7% had experienced an accident resulting in sickness absence....... The number of safety climate problems was progressively associated with the odds ratio (OR) for accidents. For one safety climate problem the OR for accidents was 2.01 (95% CI 1.67–2.42), for four or more safety climate problems the OR was 4.57 (95% CI 3.64–5.74). Young workers (18–24 years) had higher odds...

An investigation of safety attitude in a number of manufacturing companies in Urmia

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Abolfazl Ghahramani

2016-12-01

Result: The results indicated that majority of participants (78.9 % had a moderate safety attitude level and the mean (±SD score of total safety attitude was 3.19 (±0.25. “Commitment to safety and participation in safety activities” and “safety talk and risk information communication” obtained the highest and lowest scores of safety attitude factors, with mean (SD of 3.97(±0.52 and 2.53(±0.58, respectively. In addition, the participants from private companies showed a better safety attitude than those of governmental companies (P-value<0.05. Managers and workers, who had previously received safety training, reported a different attitude toward various factors of safety attitude, in comparison with untrained groups. Conclusion: Since the majority of participants had a moderate safety attitude, this research suggests the study companies to attempt in order to increase the quantity and quality of safety training courses, as well as safety communication of managers and supervisors with workers for improving their attitude toward safety and subsequently decreasing occupational accidents.

Railway safety climate: a study on organizational development.

Science.gov (United States)

Cheng, Yung-Hsiang

2017-09-07

The safety climate of an organization is considered a leading indicator of potential risk for railway organizations. This study adopts the perceptual measurement-individual attribute approach to investigate the safety climate of a railway organization. The railway safety climate attributes are evaluated from the perspective of railway system staff. We identify four safety climate dimensions from exploratory factor analysis, namely safety communication, safety training, safety management and subjectively evaluated safety performance. Analytical results indicate that the safety climate differs at vertical and horizontal organizational levels. This study contributes to the literature by providing empirical evidence of the multilevel safety climate in a railway organization, presents possible causes of the differences under various cultural contexts and differentiates between safety climate scales for diverse workgroups within the railway organization. This information can be used to improve the safety sustainability of railway organizations and to conduct safety supervisions for the government.

Associations between safety climate and safety management practices in the construction industry.

Science.gov (United States)

Marín, Luz S; Lipscomb, Hester; Cifuentes, Manuel; Punnett, Laura

2017-06-01

Safety climate, a group-level measure of workers' perceptions regarding management's safety priorities, has been suggested as a key predictor of safety outcomes. However, its relationship with actual injury rates is inconsistent. We posit that safety climate may instead be a parallel outcome of workplace safety practices, rather than a determinant of workers' safety behaviors or outcomes. Using a sample of 25 commercial construction companies in Colombia, selected by injury rate stratum (high, medium, low), we examined the relationship between workers' safety climate perceptions and safety management practices (SMPs) reported by safety officers. Workers' perceptions of safety climate were independent of their own company's implementation of SMPs, as measured here, and its injury rates. However, injury rates were negatively related to the implementation of SMPs. Safety management practices may be more important than workers' perceptions of safety climate as direct predictors of injury rates. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Comparing NICU teamwork and safety climate across two commonly used survey instruments.

Science.gov (United States)

Profit, Jochen; Lee, Henry C; Sharek, Paul J; Kan, Peggy; Nisbet, Courtney C; Thomas, Eric J; Etchegaray, Jason M; Sexton, Bryan

2016-12-01

Measurement and our understanding of safety culture are still evolving. The objectives of this study were to assess variation in safety and teamwork climate and in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) setting, and compare measurement of safety culture scales using two different instruments (Safety Attitudes Questionnaire (SAQ) and Hospital Survey on Patient Safety Culture (HSOPSC)). Cross-sectional survey study of a voluntary sample of 2073 (response rate 62.9%) health professionals in 44 NICUs. To compare survey instruments, we used Spearman's rank correlation coefficients. We also compared similar scales and items across the instruments using t tests and changes in quartile-level performance. We found significant variation across NICUs in safety and teamwork climate scales of SAQ and HSOPSC (pteamwork scales (teamwork climate and teamwork within units) of the two instruments correlated strongly (safety r=0.72, pteamwork r=0.67, p<0.001). However, the means and per cent agreements for all scale scores and even seemingly similar item scores were significantly different. In addition, comparisons of scale score quartiles between the two instruments revealed that half of the NICUs fell into different quartiles when translating between the instruments. Large variation and opportunities for improvement in patient safety culture exist across NICUs. Important systematic differences exist between SAQ and HSOPSC such that these instruments should not be used interchangeably. Published by the BMJ Publishing Group Limited. For permission to use (where not already granted under a licence) please go to http://www.bmj.com/company/products-services/rights-and-licensing/.

Nursing practice environment, job outcomes and safety climate: a structural equation modelling analysis.

Science.gov (United States)

Dos Santos Alves, Daniela Fernanda; da Silva, Dirceu; de Brito Guirardello, Edinêis

2017-01-01

To assess correlations between the characteristics of the nursing practice environment, job outcomes and safety climate. The nursing practice environment is critical to the well-being of professionals and to patient safety, as highlighted by national and international studies; however, there is a lack of evidence regarding this theme in paediatric units. A cross-sectional study, in two paediatric hospitals in Brazil, was conducted from December 2013 to February 2014. For data collection, we used the Nursing Work Index - Revised, Safety Attitudes Questionnaire - Short Form 2006 and the Maslach Burnout Inventory, and for analysis Spearman's correlation coefficient and structural equation modelling were used. Two hundred and sixty-seven professional nurses participated in the study. Autonomy, control over the work environment and the relationship between nursing and medical staff are factors associated with job outcomes and safety climate and can be considered their predictors. Professional nurses with greater autonomy, good working relationships and control over their work environment have lower levels of emotional exhaustion, higher job satisfaction, less intention of leaving the job and the safety climate is positive. Initiatives to improve the professional practice environment can improve the safety of paediatric patients and the well-being of professional nurses. © 2016 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

The aspect of personnel metal attitude in the production safety

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Joyosukarto, Priyanto M.

2002-01-01

The occurrence of an accident could always be traced to component/system failures and/or human error. The two factors are closely related to competency of the personnel's involved, in which mental attitude is a decisive factor. Furthermore mental attitude could be viewed as an element of Safety (S) Culture. Consequently, S. Culture could might created or at lea ts, be enhanced by the introduction of appropriate values, norms, as well as attitudes. The ABC and TBC of safety norm have been discussed briefly. Whereas mental attitude has been defined and discussed in detail and graded into six levels, namely: attending, responding, complying, accepting, preferring, and integrating. To assure highest level of safety, personnel must achieve integrating level of attitude, in the sense that he would merely do an action on the basis of safety values and/or norms prevailing in the system, not due to external pressure. Furthermore, considering the work as a physical and an emotional activity resulting in stress and strain on the body, Karate exercises have been promoted as an alternative for enhancing mental attitude by means of reducing personnel vulnerability to strain and stress. This method is accomplished by exploiting Roux's Low of conditioning effect and by implementation of an in-depth understanding on the spiritual aspect of Karate. It is concluded that in the field of production safety, there is a positive correlation between Karate, mental attitude, competence, performance, quality, and safety

Safety climate and firefighting: Focus group results.

Science.gov (United States)

DeJoy, David M; Smith, Todd D; Dyal, Mari-Amanda

2017-09-01

Firefighting is a hazardous occupation and there have been numerous calls for fundamental changes in how fire service organizations approach safety and balance safety with other operational priorities. These calls, however, have yielded little systematic research. As part of a larger project to develop and test a model of safety climate for the fire service, focus groups were used to identify potentially important dimensions of safety climate pertinent to firefighting. Analyses revealed nine overarching themes. Competency/professionalism, physical/psychological readiness, and that positive traits sometimes produce negative consequences were themes at the individual level; cohesion and supervisor leadership/support at the workgroup level; and politics/bureaucracy, resources, leadership, and hiring/promotion at the organizational level. A multi-level perspective seems appropriate for examining safety climate in firefighting. Safety climate in firefighting appears to be multi-dimensional and some dimensions prominent in the general safety climate literature also seem relevant to firefighting. These results also suggest that the fire service may be undergoing transitions encompassing mission, personnel, and its fundamental approach to safety and risk. These results help point the way to the development of safety climate measures specific to firefighting and to interventions for improving safety performance. Copyright © 2017 National Safety Council and Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Development and validation of the ACSI : measuring students' science attitudes, pro-environmental behaviour, climate change attitudes and knowledge

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Dijkstra, E. M.; Goedhart, M. J.

2012-01-01

This article describes the development and validation of the Attitudes towards Climate Change and Science Instrument. This 63-item questionnaire measures students' pro-environmental behaviour, their climate change knowledge and their attitudes towards school science, societal implications of

Adaption and validation of the Safety Attitudes Questionnaire for the Danish hospital setting

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Kristensen, Solvejg; Sabroe, Svend; Bartels, Paul

2015-01-01

PURPOSE: Measuring and developing a safe culture in health care is a focus point in creating highly reliable organizations being successful in avoiding patient safety incidents where these could normally be expected. Questionnaires can be used to capture a snapshot of an employee's perceptions...... of patient safety culture. A commonly used instrument to measure safety climate is the Safety Attitudes Questionnaire (SAQ). The purpose of this study was to adapt the SAQ for use in Danish hospitals, assess its construct validity and reliability, and present benchmark data. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The SAQ...... tested in a cross-sectional study. Goodness-of-fit indices from confirmatory factor analysis were reported along with inter-item correlations, Cronbach's alpha (α), and item and subscale scores. RESULTS: Participation was 73.2% (N=925) of invited health care workers. Goodness-of-fit indices from...

Organizational culture and climate for patient safety in Intensive Care Units.

Science.gov (United States)

Santiago, Thaiana Helena Roma; Turrini, Ruth Natalia Teresa

2015-02-01

Objective To assess the perception of health professionals about patient safety climate and culture in different intensive care units (ICUs) and the relationship between scores obtained on the Hospital Survey on Patient Safety Culture (HSOPSC) and the Safety Attitudes Questionnaire (SAQ). Method A cross-sectional study conducted at a teaching hospital in the state of São Paulo, Brazil, in March and April 2014. As data gathering instruments, the HSOPSC, SAQ and a questionnaire with sociodemographic and professional information about the staff working in an adult, pediatric and neonatal ICU were used. Data analysis was conducted with descriptive statistics. Results The scales presented good reliability. Greater weaknesses in patient safety were observed in the Working conditions andPerceptions of management domains of the SAQ and in the Nonpunitive response to error domain of the HSOPSC. The strengths indicated by the SAQ wereTeamwork climate and Job satisfactionand by the HSOPC, Supervisor/manager expectations and actions promoting safety and Organizational learning-continuous improvement. Job satisfaction was higher among neonatal ICU workers when compared with the other ICUs. The adult ICU presented lower scores for most of the SAQ and HSOPSC domains. The scales presented moderate correlation between them (r=0.66). Conclusion There were differences in perception regarding patient safety among ICUs, which corroborates the existence of local microcultures. The study did not demonstrate equivalence between the SAQ and the HSOPSC.

Predictors of Attitudes Toward Non-Technical Skills in Farming.

Science.gov (United States)

Irwin, Amy; Poots, Jill

2018-01-01

Farming is a high-risk sector with up to 170,000 worldwide fatalities reported per year; it is therefore vital to identify methods of mitigating the dangers of this industry. Research within high-risk industries, such as aviation, shipping, and agriculture, has identified the importance of non-technical skills (NTS) in maintaining effective, safe performance and reducing error and injury. However, there is a lack of research evaluating factors that may contribute to NTS attitudes and behaviors. As a first step to address this literature gap, the current study evaluated a range of individual and environmental factors as potential predictors of attitudes toward NTS in agriculture. A sample of 170 farmers from within the United Kingdom and Ireland were surveyed using an online questionnaire. The questionnaire included measures of personality, stress, attitudes toward safety (safety climate, motivation, and risk), environmental stressors (workload, work-life imbalance), and non-technical skills (team and lone worker). Attitudes toward safety climate, compliance, and motivation showed a significant association with both team-based and lone worker NTS. Conscientiousness correlated positively with the majority of the NTS elements. Multiple regression analysis indicated neuroticism and conscientiousness demonstrated capacity to predict NTS attitudes. Concerns about costs and equipment, attitudes toward safety climate, and safety motivation were also found to be significant predictors of NTS attitudes. The results indicate the utility of individual characteristics and environmental factors when predicting farming NTS attitudes. As a result, these elements could be important when evaluating engagement with NTS and developing NTS training initiatives in agriculture.

Safety climate and safety behaviors in the construction industry: The importance of co-workers commitment to safety.

Science.gov (United States)

Schwatka, Natalie V; Rosecrance, John C

2016-06-16

There is growing empirical evidence that as safety climate improves work site safety practice improve. Safety climate is often measured by asking workers about their perceptions of management commitment to safety. However, it is less common to include perceptions of their co-workers commitment to safety. While the involvement of management in safety is essential, working with co-workers who value and prioritize safety may be just as important. To evaluate a concept of safety climate that focuses on top management, supervisors and co-workers commitment to safety, which is relatively new and untested in the United States construction industry. Survey data was collected from a cohort of 300 unionized construction workers in the United States. The significance of direct and indirect (mediation) effects among safety climate and safety behavior factors were evaluated via structural equation modeling. Results indicated that safety climate was associated with safety behaviors on the job. More specifically, perceptions of co-workers commitment to safety was a mediator between both management commitment to safety climate factors and safety behaviors. These results support workplace health and safety interventions that build and sustain safety climate and a commitment to safety amongst work teams.

Do Leadership Style, Unit Climate, and Safety Climate Contribute to Safe Medication Practices?

Science.gov (United States)

Farag, Amany; Tullai-McGuinness, Susan; Anthony, Mary K; Burant, Christopher

2017-01-01

This study aims at: examining if leadership style and unit climate predict safety climate; and testing the direct, indirect, and total effect of leadership style, unit climate, and safety climate on nurses' safe medication practices. The Institute of Medicine and nursing scholars propose that safety climate is a prerequisite to safety practices. However, there is limited empirical evidence about factors contributing to the development of safety climate and about the association with nurses' safe medication practices. This cross-sectional study used survey data from 246 RNs working in a Magnet® hospital. Leadership style and unit climate predicted 20% to 50% of variance on all safety climate dimensions. Model testing revealed the indirect impact of leadership style and unit climate on nurses' safe medication practices. Our hypothesized model explained small amount of the variance on nurses' safe medication practices. This finding suggests that nurses' safe medication practices are influenced by multiple contextual and personal factors that should be further examined.

Development of a multilevel health and safety climate survey tool within a mining setting.

Science.gov (United States)

Parker, Anthony W; Tones, Megan J; Ritchie, Gabrielle E

2017-09-01

This study aimed to design, implement and evaluate the reliability and validity of a multifactorial and multilevel health and safety climate survey (HSCS) tool with utility in the Australian mining setting. An 84-item questionnaire was developed and pilot tested on a sample of 302 Australian miners across two open cut sites. A 67-item, 10 factor solution was obtained via exploratory factor analysis (EFA) representing prioritization and attitudes to health and safety across multiple domains and organizational levels. Each factor demonstrated a high level of internal reliability, and a series of ANOVAs determined a high level of consistency in responses across the workforce, and generally irrespective of age, experience or job category. Participants tended to hold favorable views of occupational health and safety (OH&S) climate at the management, supervisor, workgroup and individual level. The survey tool demonstrated reliability and validity for use within an open cut Australian mining setting and supports a multilevel, industry specific approach to OH&S climate. Findings suggested a need for mining companies to maintain high OH&S standards to minimize risks to employee health and safety. Future research is required to determine the ability of this measure to predict OH&S outcomes and its utility within other mine settings. As this tool integrates health and safety, it may have benefits for assessment, monitoring and evaluation in the industry, and improving the understanding of how health and safety climate interact at multiple levels to influence OH&S outcomes. Copyright © 2017 National Safety Council and Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Safety climate and self-reported injury: assessing the mediating role of employee safety control.

Science.gov (United States)

Huang, Yueng-Hsiang; Ho, Michael; Smith, Gordon S; Chen, Peter Y

2006-05-01

To further reduce injuries in the workplace, companies have begun focusing on organizational factors which may contribute to workplace safety. Safety climate is an organizational factor commonly cited as a predictor of injury occurrence. Characterized by the shared perceptions of employees, safety climate can be viewed as a snapshot of the prevailing state of safety in the organization at a discrete point in time. However, few studies have elaborated plausible mechanisms through which safety climate likely influences injury occurrence. A mediating model is proposed to link safety climate (i.e., management commitment to safety, return-to-work policies, post-injury administration, and safety training) with self-reported injury through employees' perceived control on safety. Factorial evidence substantiated that management commitment to safety, return-to-work policies, post-injury administration, and safety training are important dimensions of safety climate. In addition, the data support that safety climate is a critical factor predicting the history of a self-reported occupational injury, and that employee safety control mediates the relationship between safety climate and occupational injury. These findings highlight the importance of incorporating organizational factors and workers' characteristics in efforts to improve organizational safety performance.

Multilevel model of safety climate for furniture industries.

Science.gov (United States)

Rodrigues, Matilde A; Arezes, Pedro M; Leão, Celina P

2015-01-01

Furniture companies can analyze their safety status using quantitative measures. However, the data needed are not always available and the number of accidents is under-reported. Safety climate scales may be an alternative. However, there are no validated Portuguese scales that account for the specific attributes of the furniture sector. The current study aims to develop and validate an instrument that uses a multilevel structure to measure the safety climate of the Portuguese furniture industry. The Safety Climate in Wood Industries (SCWI) model was developed and applied to the safety climate analysis using three different scales: organizational, group and individual. A multilevel exploratory factor analysis was performed to analyze the factorial structure. The studied companies' safety conditions were also analyzed. Different factorial structures were found between and within levels. In general, the results show the presence of a group-level safety climate. The scores of safety climates are directly and positively related to companies' safety conditions; the organizational scale is the one that best reflects the actual safety conditions. The SCWI instrument allows for the identification of different safety climates in groups that comprise the same furniture company and it seems to reflect those groups' safety conditions. The study also demonstrates the need for a multilevel analysis of the studied instrument.

Causal model of safety-checking action of the staff of nuclear power plants and the organization climate

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Fukui, Hirokazu; Yoshida, Michio; Yamaura, Kazuho

2000-01-01

For those who run an organization, it is critical to identify the causal relationship between the organization's characteristics and the safety-checking action of its staff, in order to effectively implement activities for promoting safety. In this research. a causal model of the safety-checking action was developed and factors affecting it were studied. A questionnaire survey, which includes safety awareness, attitude toward safety, safety culture and others, was conducted at three nuclear power plants and eight factors were extracted by means of factor analysis of the questionnaire items. The extracted eight interrelated factors were as follows: work norm, supervisory action, interest in training, recognition of importance, safety-checking action, the subject of safety, knowledge/skills, and the attitude of an organization. Among them, seven factors except the recognition of importance were defined as latent variables and a causal model of safety-checking action was constructed. By means of covariance structure analysis, it was found that the three factors: the attitude of an organization, supervisory action and the subject of safety, have a significant effect on the safety-checking action. Moreover, it was also studied that workplaces in which these three factors are highly regarded form social environment where safety-checking action is fully supported by the workplace as a whole, while workplaces in which these three factors are poorly regarded do not fully form social environment where safety-checking action is supported. Therefore, the workplaces form an organizational environment where safety-checking action tends to depend strongly upon the knowledge or skills of individuals. On top of these, it was noted that the attitude of an organization and supervisory action are important factors that serve as the first trigger affecting the formation of the organizational climate for safety. (author)

Causal model of safety-checking action of the staff of nuclear power plants and the organization climate

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Fukui, Hirokazu [Institute of Nuclear Safety System Inc., Seika, Kyoto (Japan); Yoshida, Michio; Yamaura, Kazuho [Japan Institute for Group Dynamics, Fukuoka (Japan)

2000-09-01

For those who run an organization, it is critical to identify the causal relationship between the organization's characteristics and the safety-checking action of its staff, in order to effectively implement activities for promoting safety. In this research. a causal model of the safety-checking action was developed and factors affecting it were studied. A questionnaire survey, which includes safety awareness, attitude toward safety, safety culture and others, was conducted at three nuclear power plants and eight factors were extracted by means of factor analysis of the questionnaire items. The extracted eight interrelated factors were as follows: work norm, supervisory action, interest in training, recognition of importance, safety-checking action, the subject of safety, knowledge/skills, and the attitude of an organization. Among them, seven factors except the recognition of importance were defined as latent variables and a causal model of safety-checking action was constructed. By means of covariance structure analysis, it was found that the three factors: the attitude of an organization, supervisory action and the subject of safety, have a significant effect on the safety-checking action. Moreover, it was also studied that workplaces in which these three factors are highly regarded form social environment where safety-checking action is fully supported by the workplace as a whole, while workplaces in which these three factors are poorly regarded do not fully form social environment where safety-checking action is supported. Therefore, the workplaces form an organizational environment where safety-checking action tends to depend strongly upon the knowledge or skills of individuals. On top of these, it was noted that the attitude of an organization and supervisory action are important factors that serve as the first trigger affecting the formation of the organizational climate for safety. (author)

Development and Validation of the ACSI: Measuring Students' Science Attitudes, Pro-Environmental Behaviour, Climate Change Attitudes and Knowledge

Science.gov (United States)

Dijkstra, E. M.; Goedhart, M. J.

2012-01-01

This article describes the development and validation of the Attitudes towards Climate Change and Science Instrument. This 63-item questionnaire measures students' pro-environmental behaviour, their climate change knowledge and their attitudes towards school science, societal implications of science, scientists, a career in science and the urgency…

Climate and climate-related issues for the safety assessment SR-Site

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2010-12-01

The purpose of this report is to document current scientific knowledge on climate and climate-related conditions, relevant to the long-term safety of a KBS-3 repository, to a level required for an adequate treatment in the safety assessment SR-Site. The report also presents a number of dedicated studies on climate and selected climate-related processes of relevance for the assessment of long term repository safety. Based on this information, the report presents a number of possible future climate developments for Forsmark, the site selected for building a repository for spent nuclear fuel in Sweden (Figure 1-1). The presented climate developments are used as basis for the selection and analysis of SR-Site safety assessment scenarios in the SR-Site main report /SKB 2011/. The present report is based on research conducted and published by SKB as well as on research reported in the general scientific literature

Climate and climate-related issues for the safety assessment SR-Site

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

2010-12-15

The purpose of this report is to document current scientific knowledge on climate and climate-related conditions, relevant to the long-term safety of a KBS-3 repository, to a level required for an adequate treatment in the safety assessment SR-Site. The report also presents a number of dedicated studies on climate and selected climate-related processes of relevance for the assessment of long term repository safety. Based on this information, the report presents a number of possible future climate developments for Forsmark, the site selected for building a repository for spent nuclear fuel in Sweden (Figure 1-1). The presented climate developments are used as basis for the selection and analysis of SR-Site safety assessment scenarios in the SR-Site main report /SKB 2011/. The present report is based on research conducted and published by SKB as well as on research reported in the general scientific literature

Assessing safety culture in NICU: psychometric properties of the Italian version of Safety Attitude Questionnaire and result implications.

Science.gov (United States)

Zenere, Alessandra; Zanolin, M Elisabetta; Negri, Roberta; Moretti, Francesca; Grassi, Mario; Tardivo, Stefano

2016-04-01

Neonatal intensive care units (NICUs) are a high-risk setting. The Safety Attitude Questionnaire (SAQ) is a widely used tool to measure safety culture. The aims of the study are to verify the psychometric properties of the Italian version of SAQ, to evaluate safety culture in the NICUs and to identify improvement interventions. A cross-sectional study was conducted in 6 level III NICUs. The SAQ was translated into Italian and adapted to the context, a confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was performed to validate the questionnaire. 193 questionnaires were collected. The mean response rate was 59.7% (range 44.5%-95.7%). The answers were analysed according to six factors: f1 - teamwork climate, f2 - safety climate, f3 - job satisfaction, f4 - stress recognition, f5 - perception of management, f6 - working conditions. The CFA indexes were adequate (McDonald's omega indexes varied from 0.74 to 0.94, the SRMR index was equal to 0.79 and the RMSEA index was 0.070, 95% CI = 0.063-0.078). The mean composite score was 57.6 (SD 17.9), ranging between 42.3 and 69.7 on a standardized 100-point scale. We highlighted significant differences among units and professions (P < 0.05). The Italian version of the SAQ proved to be an effective tool to evaluate and compare the safety culture in the NICUs. The obtained scores significantly varied both within and among the NICUs. The organizational and structural characteristics of the involved hospitals probably affect the safety culture perception by the staff. © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Underlying influence of perception of management leadership on patient safety climate in healthcare organizations - A mediation analysis approach.

Science.gov (United States)

Weng, Shao-Jen; Kim, Seung-Hwan; Wu, Chieh-Liang

2017-02-01

We aim to draw insights on how medical staff's perception of management leadership affects safety climate with key safety related dimensions-teamwork climate, job satisfaction and working conditions. A cross-sectional survey using Safety Attitude Questionnaire (SAQ) was performed in a medical center in Taichung City, Taiwan. The relationships among the dimensions in SAQ were then analyzed by structural equation modeling with a mediation analysis. 2205 physicians and nurses of the medical center participated in the survey. Because not all questions in the survey are suitable for entire hospital staff, only the valid responses (n = 1596, response rate of 72%) were extracted for analysis. Key measures are the direct and indirect effects of teamwork climate, job satisfaction, perception of management leadership, and working conditions on safety climate. Outcomes show that effect of perception of management leadership on safety climate is significant (standardized indirect effect of 0.892 with P-value 0.002) and fully mediated by other dimensions, where 66.9% is mediated through teamwork climate, 24.1% through working conditions and 9.0% through job satisfaction. Our findings point to the importance of management leadership and the mechanism of its influence on safety climate. To improve safety climate, the implication is that commitment by management on leading safety improvement needs to be demonstrated when it implements daily supportive actions for other safety dimensions. For future improvement, development of a management system that can facilitate two-way trust between management and staff over the long term is recommended. © The Author 2016. Published by Oxford University Press in association with the International Society for Quality in Health Care. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com

Climate and climate-related issues for the safety assessment SR-Can

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Naeslund, Jens-Ove

2006-11-01

The purpose of this report is to document current scientific knowledge of the climate-related conditions and processes relevant to the long-term safety of a KBS-3 repository to a level required for an adequate treatment in the safety assessment SR-Can. The report also includes a concise background description of the climate system. The report includes three main chapters: A description of the climate system (Chapter 2); Identification and discussion of climate-related issues (Chapter 3); and, A description of the evolution of climate-related conditions for the safety assessment (Chapter 4). Chapter 2 includes an overview of present knowledge of the Earth climate system and the climate conditions that can be expected to occur in Sweden on a 100,000 year time perspective. Based on this, climate-related issues relevant for the long-term safety of a KBS-3 repository are identified. These are documented in Chapter 3 'Climate-related issues' to a level required for an adequate treatment in the safety assessment. Finally, in Chapter 4, 'Evolution of climate-related conditions for the safety assessment' an evolution for a 120,000 year period is presented, including discussions of identified climate-related issues of importance for repository safety. The documentation is from a scientific point of view not exhaustive, since such a treatment is neither necessary for the purposes of the safety assessment nor possible within the scope of a safety assessment. As further described in the SR-Can Main Report and in the Features Events and Processes report, the content of the present report has been audited by comparison with FEP databases compiled in other assessment projects. This report follows as far as possible the template for documentation of processes regarded as internal to the repository system. However, the term processes is not used in this report, instead the term issue has been used. Each issue includes a set of processes together resulting in the behaviour of a

Climate and climate-related issues for the safety assessment SR-Can

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Naeslund, Jens-Ove (comp.)

2006-11-15

The purpose of this report is to document current scientific knowledge of the climate-related conditions and processes relevant to the long-term safety of a KBS-3 repository to a level required for an adequate treatment in the safety assessment SR-Can. The report also includes a concise background description of the climate system. The report includes three main chapters: A description of the climate system (Chapter 2); Identification and discussion of climate-related issues (Chapter 3); and, A description of the evolution of climate-related conditions for the safety assessment (Chapter 4). Chapter 2 includes an overview of present knowledge of the Earth climate system and the climate conditions that can be expected to occur in Sweden on a 100,000 year time perspective. Based on this, climate-related issues relevant for the long-term safety of a KBS-3 repository are identified. These are documented in Chapter 3 'Climate-related issues' to a level required for an adequate treatment in the safety assessment. Finally, in Chapter 4, 'Evolution of climate-related conditions for the safety assessment' an evolution for a 120,000 year period is presented, including discussions of identified climate-related issues of importance for repository safety. The documentation is from a scientific point of view not exhaustive, since such a treatment is neither necessary for the purposes of the safety assessment nor possible within the scope of a safety assessment. As further described in the SR-Can Main Report and in the Features Events and Processes report, the content of the present report has been audited by comparison with FEP databases compiled in other assessment projects. This report follows as far as possible the template for documentation of processes regarded as internal to the repository system. However, the term processes is not used in this report, instead the term issue has been used. Each issue includes a set of processes together resulting in the

Organizational Culture and Climate and Mental Health Provider Attitudes Toward Evidence-Based Practice.

Science.gov (United States)

Aarons, Gregory A; Sawitzky, Angelina C

2006-02-01

Mental health provider attitudes toward adopting evidence-based practice (EBP) are associated with organizational context and provider individual differences. Organizational culture and climate are contextual factors that can affect staff acceptance of innovation. This study examined the association of organizational culture and climate with attitudes toward adopting EBP. Participants were 301 public sector mental health service providers from 49 programs providing mental health services for youths and families. Correlation analyses and multilevel hierarchical regressions, controlling for effects of provider characteristics, showed that constructive culture was associated with more positive attitudes toward adoption of EBP and poor organizational climates with perceived divergence of usual practice and EBP. Behavioral health organizations may benefit from consideration of how culture and climate affect staff attitudes toward change in practice.

Safety climate and culture: Integrating psychological and systems perspectives.

Science.gov (United States)

Casey, Tristan; Griffin, Mark A; Flatau Harrison, Huw; Neal, Andrew

2017-07-01

Safety climate research has reached a mature stage of development, with a number of meta-analyses demonstrating the link between safety climate and safety outcomes. More recently, there has been interest from systems theorists in integrating the concept of safety culture and to a lesser extent, safety climate into systems-based models of organizational safety. Such models represent a theoretical and practical development of the safety climate concept by positioning climate as part of a dynamic work system in which perceptions of safety act to constrain and shape employee behavior. We propose safety climate and safety culture constitute part of the enabling capitals through which organizations build safety capability. We discuss how organizations can deploy different configurations of enabling capital to exert control over work systems and maintain safe and productive performance. We outline 4 key strategies through which organizations to reconcile the system control problems of promotion versus prevention, and stability versus flexibility. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2017 APA, all rights reserved).

Does Employee Safety Matter for Patients Too? Employee Safety Climate and Patient Safety Culture in Health Care.

Science.gov (United States)

Mohr, David C; Eaton, Jennifer Lipkowitz; McPhaul, Kathleen M; Hodgson, Michael J

2015-04-22

We examined relationships between employee safety climate and patient safety culture. Because employee safety may be a precondition for the development of patient safety, we hypothesized that employee safety culture would be strongly and positively related to patient safety culture. An employee safety climate survey was administered in 2010 and assessed employees' views and experiences of safety for employees. The patient safety survey administered in 2011 assessed the safety culture for patients. We performed Pearson correlations and multiple regression analysis to examine the relationships between a composite measure of employee safety with subdimensions of patient safety culture. The regression models controlled for size, geographic characteristics, and teaching affiliation. Analyses were conducted at the group level using data from 132 medical centers. Higher employee safety climate composite scores were positively associated with all 9 patient safety culture measures examined. Standardized multivariate regression coefficients ranged from 0.44 to 0.64. Medical facilities where staff have more positive perceptions of health care workplace safety climate tended to have more positive assessments of patient safety culture. This suggests that patient safety culture and employee safety climate could be mutually reinforcing, such that investments and improvements in one domain positively impacts the other. Further research is needed to better understand the nexus between health care employee and patient safety to generalize and act upon findings.

Patient safety culture in Norwegian nursing homes.

Science.gov (United States)

Bondevik, Gunnar Tschudi; Hofoss, Dag; Husebø, Bettina Sandgathe; Deilkås, Ellen Catharina Tveter

2017-06-20

Patient safety culture concerns leader and staff interaction, attitudes, routines, awareness and practices that impinge on the risk of patient-adverse events. Due to their complex multiple diseases, nursing home patients are at particularly high risk of adverse events. Studies have found an association between patient safety culture and the risk of adverse events. This study aimed to investigate safety attitudes among healthcare providers in Norwegian nursing homes, using the Safety Attitudes Questionnaire - Ambulatory Version (SAQ-AV). We studied whether variations in safety attitudes were related to professional background, age, work experience and mother tongue. In February 2016, 463 healthcare providers working in five nursing homes in Tønsberg, Norway, were invited to answer the SAQ-AV, translated and adapted to the Norwegian nursing home setting. Previous validation of the Norwegian SAQ-AV for nursing homes identified five patient safety factors: teamwork climate, safety climate, job satisfaction, working conditions and stress recognition. SPSS v.22 was used for statistical analysis, which included estimations of mean values, standard deviations and multiple linear regressions. P-values safety factors teamwork climate, safety climate, job satisfaction and working conditions. Not being a Norwegian native speaker was associated with a significantly higher mean score for job satisfaction and a significantly lower mean score for stress recognition. Neither professional background nor work experience were significantly associated with mean scores for any patient safety factor. Patient safety factor scores in nursing homes were poorer than previously found in Norwegian general practices, but similar to findings in out-of-hours primary care clinics. Patient safety culture assessment may help nursing home leaders to initiate targeted quality improvement interventions. Further research should investigate associations between patient safety culture and the occurrence

Connecting stakeholders and climate science: A summary of farmer, rancher, and forester climate data needs and climate change attitudes

Science.gov (United States)

The mission of the USDA Southwest Regional Climate Hub is to provide farmers, ranchers and forest land owners and managers with information and resources to cope with the impacts of climate change. As such, a clear understanding of landowner needs for weather and climate data and their attitudes abo...

Defining the patient safety attitudes and influencing factors of health professionals working at maternity hospitals.

Science.gov (United States)

Tunçer Ünver, Gamze; Harmanci Seren, Arzu Kader

2018-02-27

To determine patient safety attitudes of midwives, nurses and physicians and to examine the difference or correlation in patient safety attitudes of midwives, nurses and physicians working in maternity hospitals. It has been suggested that it is necessary to define the factors affecting patient safety attitudes of health professionals working in maternity hospitals. A descriptive and correlational design was employed.The sample comprised 58 midwives, 134 nurses and 63 physicians (255) in two maternity hospitals in Istanbul, Turkey. The data were collected using an 'information form' and a 'Patient Safety Attitude Questionnaire'. The safety attitudes of participants were generally found to be negative. However, midwives had more positive patient safety attitudes and the age, unit, adequacy of patient safety training and the importance of patient safety were the most effective variables. As health professionals working in maternity hospitals generally have negative patient safety attitudes and because patient safety training provided better attitudes among the participants, these training programmes should be developed and implemented considering the differences among age groups and units. Health professionals have different views on the patient safety culture; therefore, training needs to involve everyone to create a shared vision for patient safety. © 2018 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Evaluation of safety climate and employee injury rates in healthcare.

Science.gov (United States)

Cook, Jacqueline M; Slade, Martin D; Cantley, Linda F; Sakr, Carine J

2016-09-01

Safety climates that support safety-related behaviour are associated with fewer work-related injuries, and prior research in industry suggests that safety knowledge and motivation are strongly related to safety performance behaviours; this relationship is not well studied in healthcare settings. We performed analyses of survey results from a Veterans Health Administration (VHA) Safety Barometer employee perception survey, conducted among VHA employees in 2012. The employee perception survey assessed 6 safety programme categories, including management participation, supervisor participation, employee participation, safety support activities, safety support climate and organisational climate. We examined the relationship between safety climate from the survey results on VHA employee injury and illness rates. Among VHA facilities in the VA New England Healthcare System, work-related injury rate was significantly and inversely related to overall employee perception of safety climate, and all 6 safety programme categories, including employee perception of employee participation, management participation, organisational climate, supervisor participation, safety support activities and safety support climate. Positive employee perceptions of safety climate in VHA facilities are associated with lower work-related injury and illness rates. Employee perception of employee participation, management participation, organisational climate, supervisor participation, safety support activities and safety support climate were all associated with lower work-related injury rates. Future implications include fostering a robust safety climate for patients and healthcare workers to reduce healthcare worker injuries. Published by the BMJ Publishing Group Limited. For permission to use (where not already granted under a licence) please go to http://www.bmj.com/company/products-services/rights-and-licensing/

Safety climate and injuries: an examination of theoretical and empirical relationships.

Science.gov (United States)

Beus, Jeremy M; Payne, Stephanie C; Bergman, Mindy E; Arthur, Winfred

2010-07-01

Our purpose in this study was to meta-analytically address several theoretical and empirical issues regarding the relationships between safety climate and injuries. First, we distinguished between extant safety climate-->injury and injury-->safety climate relationships for both organizational and psychological safety climates. Second, we examined several potential moderators of these relationships. Meta-analyses revealed that injuries were more predictive of organizational safety climate than safety climate was predictive of injuries. Additionally, the injury-->safety climate relationship was stronger for organizational climate than for psychological climate. Moderator analyses revealed that the degree of content contamination in safety climate measures inflated effects, whereas measurement deficiency attenuated effects. Additionally, moderator analyses showed that as the time period over which injuries were assessed lengthened, the safety climate-->injury relationship was attenuated. Supplemental meta-analyses of specific safety climate dimensions also revealed that perceived management commitment to safety is the most robust predictor of occupational injuries. Contrary to expectations, the operationalization of injuries did not meaningfully moderate safety climate-injury relationships. Implications and recommendations for future research and practice are discussed.

The influence of authentic leadership on safety climate in nursing.

Science.gov (United States)

Dirik, Hasan Fehmi; Seren Intepeler, Seyda

2017-07-01

This study analysed nurses' perceptions of authentic leadership and safety climate and examined the contribution of authentic leadership to the safety climate. It has been suggested and emphasised that authentic leadership should be used as a guidance to ensure quality care and the safety of patients and health-care personnel. This predictive study was conducted with 350 nurses in three Turkish hospitals. The data were collected using the Authentic Leadership Questionnaire and the Safety Climate Survey and analysed using hierarchical regression analysis. The mean authentic leadership perception and the safety climate scores of the nurses were 2.92 and 3.50, respectively. The percentage of problematic responses was found to be less than 10% for only four safety climate items. Hierarchical regression analysis revealed that authentic leadership significantly predicted the safety climate. Procedural and political improvements are required in terms of the safety climate in institutions, where the study was conducted, and authentic leadership increases positive perceptions of safety climate. Exhibiting the characteristics of authentic leadership, or improving them and reflecting them on to personnel can enhance the safety climate. Planning information sharing meetings to raise the personnel's awareness of safety climate and systemic improvements can contribute to creating safe care climates. © 2017 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Dimensions of Safety Climate among Iranian Nurses.

Science.gov (United States)

Konjin, Z Naghavi; Shokoohi, Y; Zarei, F; Rahimzadeh, M; Sarsangi, V

2015-10-01

Workplace safety has been a concern of workers and managers for decades. Measuring safety climate is crucial in improving safety performance. It is also a method of benchmarking safety perception. To develop and validate a psychometrics scale for measuring nurses' safety climate. Literature review, subject matter experts and nurse's judgment were used in items developing. Content validity and reliability for new tool were tested by content validity index (CVI) and test-retest analysis, respectively. Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) with varimax rotation was used to improve the interpretation of latent factors. A 40-item scale in 6 factors was developed, which could explain 55% of the observed variance. The 6 factors included employees' involvement in safety and management support, compliance with safety rules, safety training and accessibility to personal protective equipment, hindrance to safe work, safety communication and job pressure, and individual risk perception. The proposed scale can be used in identifying the needed areas to implement interventions in safety climate of nurses.

The Impact of Seafarers’ Perceptions of National Culture and Leadership on Safety Attitude and Safety Behavior in Dry Bulk Shipping

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Chin-Shan Lu

2016-06-01

Full Text Available This research aims to examine the effects of national culture and leadership style on safety performance in bulk shipping companies. Survey data collected from 322 respondents working in dry bulk carriers was used, a multiple regression analysis was conducted to analyze the influence of national culture and leadership styles (i.e. transformational, passive management, and contingent reward on safety attitude and safety behavior. The results indicate that national culture dimensions such as power distance, uncertainty avoidance, collectivism, and long-term orientation had a positive influence on safety behaviour. Long-term orientation had a positive influence on safety attitude, whereas masculinity had a negative influence on safety attitude of seafarers. Specifically, this research found that transformational leadership had a positive influence on safety attitude and safety behaviour of seafarers. Moreover, practical implication from the research findings to improve ship safety in dry bulk shipping were discussed.

Disentangling the roles of safety climate and safety culture: Multi-level effects on the relationship between supervisor enforcement and safety compliance.

Science.gov (United States)

Petitta, Laura; Probst, Tahira M; Barbaranelli, Claudio; Ghezzi, Valerio

2017-02-01

Despite increasing attention to contextual effects on the relationship between supervisor enforcement and employee safety compliance, no study has yet explored the conjoint influence exerted simultaneously by organizational safety climate and safety culture. The present study seeks to address this literature shortcoming. We first begin by briefly discussing the theoretical distinctions between safety climate and culture and the rationale for examining these together. Next, using survey data collected from 1342 employees in 32 Italian organizations, we found that employee-level supervisor enforcement, organizational-level safety climate, and autocratic, bureaucratic, and technocratic safety culture dimensions all predicted individual-level safety compliance behaviors. However, the cross-level moderating effect of safety climate was bounded by certain safety culture dimensions, such that safety climate moderated the supervisor enforcement-compliance relationship only under the clan-patronage culture dimension. Additionally, the autocratic and bureaucratic culture dimensions attenuated the relationship between supervisor enforcement and compliance. Finally, when testing the effects of technocratic safety culture and cooperative safety culture, neither safety culture nor climate moderated the relationship between supervisor enforcement and safety compliance. The results suggest a complex relationship between organizational safety culture and safety climate, indicating that organizations with particular safety cultures may be more likely to develop more (or less) positive safety climates. Moreover, employee safety compliance is a function of supervisor safety leadership, as well as the safety climate and safety culture dimensions prevalent within the organization. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Nuclear power, climate change and energy security: Exploring British public attitudes

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Corner, Adam; Venables, Dan [School of Psychology, Cardiff University, Tower Building, Park Place, Cardiff CF10 3AT (United Kingdom); Spence, Alexa [School of Psychology/Horizon Digital Economy Research, University of Nottingham (United Kingdom); Poortinga, Wouter [Welsh School of Architecture, Cardiff University (United Kingdom); School of Psychology, Cardiff University, Tower Building, Park Place, Cardiff CF10 3AT (United Kingdom); Demski, Christina [School of Psychology, Cardiff University, Tower Building, Park Place, Cardiff CF10 3AT (United Kingdom); Pidgeon, Nick, E-mail: pidgeonn@cardiff.ac.uk [School of Psychology, Cardiff University, Tower Building, Park Place, Cardiff CF10 3AT (United Kingdom)

2011-09-15

Public attitudes towards nuclear power in the UK have historically been deeply divided, but as concern about climate change and energy security has exerted an increasing influence on British energy policy, nuclear power has been reframed as a low-carbon technology. Previous research has suggested that a significant proportion of people may 'reluctantly accept' nuclear power as a means of addressing the greater threat of climate change. Drawing on the results of a national British survey (n=1822), the current study found that attitudes towards nuclear remain divided, with only a minority expressing unconditional acceptance. In general, people who expressed greater concern about climate change and energy security and possessed higher environmental values were less likely to favour nuclear power. However, when nuclear power was given an explicit 'reluctant acceptance' framing - allowing people to express their dislike for nuclear power alongside their conditional support - concerns about climate change and energy security became positive predictors of support for nuclear power. These findings suggest that concern about climate change and energy security will only increase acceptance of nuclear power under limited circumstances-specifically once other (preferred) options have been exhausted. - Highlights: > We report data from 2005 to 2010 of British attitudes towards nuclear power and climate change. > Changes in attitudes over the time period were relatively modest. > British population remained relatively divided on nuclear power in 2010. > Concern about climate change was negatively related to evaluations of nuclear power. > Different framings of the issue alter the balance of support for nuclear power.

Nuclear power, climate change and energy security: Exploring British public attitudes

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Corner, Adam; Venables, Dan; Spence, Alexa; Poortinga, Wouter; Demski, Christina; Pidgeon, Nick

2011-01-01

Public attitudes towards nuclear power in the UK have historically been deeply divided, but as concern about climate change and energy security has exerted an increasing influence on British energy policy, nuclear power has been reframed as a low-carbon technology. Previous research has suggested that a significant proportion of people may 'reluctantly accept' nuclear power as a means of addressing the greater threat of climate change. Drawing on the results of a national British survey (n=1822), the current study found that attitudes towards nuclear remain divided, with only a minority expressing unconditional acceptance. In general, people who expressed greater concern about climate change and energy security and possessed higher environmental values were less likely to favour nuclear power. However, when nuclear power was given an explicit 'reluctant acceptance' framing - allowing people to express their dislike for nuclear power alongside their conditional support - concerns about climate change and energy security became positive predictors of support for nuclear power. These findings suggest that concern about climate change and energy security will only increase acceptance of nuclear power under limited circumstances-specifically once other (preferred) options have been exhausted. - Highlights: → We report data from 2005 to 2010 of British attitudes towards nuclear power and climate change. → Changes in attitudes over the time period were relatively modest. → British population remained relatively divided on nuclear power in 2010. → Concern about climate change was negatively related to evaluations of nuclear power. → Different framings of the issue alter the balance of support for nuclear power.

Comparing safety climate in naval aviation and hospitals: implications for improving patient safety.

Science.gov (United States)

Singer, Sara J; Rosen, Amy; Zhao, Shibei; Ciavarelli, Anthony P; Gaba, David M

2010-01-01

Evidence of variation in safety climate suggests the need for improvement among at least some hospitals. However, comparisons only among hospitals may underestimate the improvement required. Comparison of hospitals with analogous industries may provide a broader perspective on the safety status of our nation's hospitals. The purpose of this study was to compare safety climate among hospital workers with personnel from naval aviation, an organization that operates with high reliability despite intrinsically hazardous conditions. We surveyed a random sample of health care workers in 67 U.S. hospitals and, for generalizability, 30 veterans affairs hospitals using questions comparable with those posed at approximately the same time (2007) to a census of personnel from 35 squadrons of U.S. naval aviators. We received 13,841 (41%) completed surveys in U.S. hospitals, 5,511 (50%) in veterans affairs hospitals, and 14,854 (82%) among naval aviators. We examined differences in respondents' perceptions of safety climate at their institution overall and for 16 individual items. Safety climate was three times better on average among naval aviators than among hospital personnel. Naval aviators perceived a safer climate (up to seven times safer) than hospital personnel with respect to each of the 16 survey items. Compared with hospital managers, naval commanders perceived climate more like frontline personnel did. When contrasting naval aviators with hospital personnel working in comparably hazardous areas, safety climate discrepancies increased rather than decreased. One individual hospital performed as well as naval aviation on average, and at least one hospital outperformed the Navy benchmark for all but three individual survey items. Results suggest that hospitals have not sufficiently created a uniform priority of safety. However, if each hospital performed as well as the top-performing hospital in each area measured, hospitals could achieve safety climate levels comparable

Dimensions of Safety Climate among Iranian Nurses

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Z Naghavi Konjin

2015-10-01

Full Text Available Background: Workplace safety has been a concern of workers and managers for decades. Measuring safety climate is crucial in improving safety performance. It is also a method of benchmarking safety perception. Objective: To develop and validate a psychometrics scale for measuring nurses' safety climate. Methods: Literature review, subject matter experts and nurse's judgment were used in items developing. Content validity and reliability for new tool were tested by content validity index (CVI and test-retest analysis, respectively. Exploratory factor analysis (EFA with varimax rotation was used to improve the interpretation of latent factors. Results: A 40-item scale in 6 factors was developed, which could explain 55% of the observed variance. The 6 factors included employees' involvement in safety and management support, compliance with safety rules, safety training and accessibility to personal protective equipment, hindrance to safe work, safety communication and job pressure, and individual risk perception. Conclusion: The proposed scale can be used in identifying the needed areas to implement interventions in safety climate of nurses.

Measuring Safety Culture on Ships Using Safety Climate: A Study among Indian Officers

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yogendra Bhattacharya

2015-12-01

Full Text Available Workplace safety continues to be an area of concern in the maritime industry due to the international nature of the operations. The effectiveness of extensive legislation to manage shipboard safety remains in doubt. The focus must therefore shift towards the human element - seafarers and their perceptions of safety. The study aims to understand the alignment that exists between safety culture and safety climate on board ships as perceived by seafarers. The underlying factors of safety climate were identified using factor analysis which isolated seven factors - Support on Safety, Organizational Support, Resource Availability, Work Environment, Job Demands, ‘Just’ Culture, and Safety Compliance. The perception of safety level of seafarers was found to be low indicating the existence of misalignments between safety culture values and the actual safety climate. The study also reveals that the safety perceptions of officers employed directly by ship owners and those by managers do not differ significantly, nor do they differ between senior and junior officers. A shift in perspective towards how seafarers themselves feel towards safety might provide more effective solutions – instead of relying on regulations - and indeed aid in reducing incidents on board. This paper details practical suggestions on how to identify the factors that contribute towards a better safety climate on board ships.

Safety-Culture Exploration in Taiwan’s Metal Industries: Identifying the Workers’ Background Influence on Safety Climate

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Shu-Chiang Lin

2017-10-01

Full Text Available The present study aims to assess the safety-climate level in Taiwan’s metal industries, as well as to identify the influence of workers’ backgrounds on the safety climate. An earlier report showed that a poor safety culture was related to the cause of accidents in Taiwan’s traditional manufacturing industries. This study surveyed a total of 839 workers who voluntarily participated and completed the safety-culture questionnaires. These workers were from a Taiwanese metal company and its five satellite companies. Three safety-climate factors, namely safety perception, safety communication and safety-management systems, were assessed. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA was conducted by developing structural equation modeling to ensure the questionnaire’s validity. The influence of workers’ backgrounds on the safety climate was identified by using one-way ANOVA. The reliability result of the questionnaire was above the acceptable level. The overall safety-climate score was 4.22 out of a five-point scale for safety perception, 4.23 for safety-management systems and 3.97 for safety communication. The scores indicate a good level of safety climate, with room for improvement in safety communication. Additionally, the influence of workers’ backgrounds on the safety climate was confirmed. Based on the validity test, it was also found that the questionnaire could be improved by reconstructing its questions in its development process in order to increase the safety-climate model’s reliability and validity, as well as its model fit.

The role of perceptions and attitudes in the assessment of safety culture

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lee, Terence

1997-01-01

The purpose of this paper is to present the argument that the most conveniently measurable and valid elements of a safety culture are the employee's perceptions of and attitudes towards safety. These are oriented towards the whole range of hazards and corresponding safety practices and procedures within the organisation. The concept of safety culture is discussed and this is followed by a short review of research evidence on the main characteristics of low accident plants. There follow brief reviews of research in industry on the perception of risks and attitudes towards safety and finally, a detailed account of a large scale survey of safety attitudes in a nuclear reprocessing plant. The aim is to identify those elements of safety culture that can establish priorities and provide order and structure for those site regulators whose task is to assess their health. (author)

The role of perceptions and attitudes in the assessment of safety culture

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Lee, Terence [Environmental Psychology and Policy Research Unit, School, of Psychology, University of St Andrews (United Kingdom)

1997-07-01

The purpose of this paper is to present the argument that the most conveniently measurable and valid elements of a safety culture are the employee's perceptions of and attitudes towards safety. These are oriented towards the whole range of hazards and corresponding safety practices and procedures within the organisation. The concept of safety culture is discussed and this is followed by a short review of research evidence on the main characteristics of low accident plants. There follow brief reviews of research in industry on the perception of risks and attitudes towards safety and finally, a detailed account of a large scale survey of safety attitudes in a nuclear reprocessing plant. The aim is to identify those elements of safety culture that can establish priorities and provide order and structure for those site regulators whose task is to assess their health. (author)

The Impact of Transformational Leadership on Safety Climate and Individual Safety Behavior on Construction Sites

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yuzhong Shen

2017-01-01

Full Text Available Unsafe acts contribute dominantly to construction accidents, and increasing safety behavior is essential to reduce accidents. Previous research conceptualized safety behavior as an interaction between proximal individual differences (safety knowledge and safety motivation and distal contextual factors (leadership and safety climate. However, relatively little empirical research has examined this conceptualization in the construction sector. Given the cultural background of the sample, this study makes a slight modification to the conceptualization and views transformational leadership as an antecedent of safety climate. Accordingly, this study establishes a multiple mediator model showing the mechanisms through which transformational leadership translates into safety behavior. The multiple mediator model is estimated by the structural equation modeling (SEM technique, using individual questionnaire responses from a random sample of construction personnel based in Hong Kong. As hypothesized, transformational leadership has a significant impact on safety climate which is mediated by safety-specific leader–member exchange (LMX, and safety climate in turn impacts safety behavior through safety knowledge. The results suggest that future safety climate interventions should be more effective if supervisors exhibit transformational leadership, encourage construction personnel to voice safety concerns without fear of retaliation, and repeatedly remind them about safety on the job.

The Impact of Transformational Leadership on Safety Climate and Individual Safety Behavior on Construction Sites.

Science.gov (United States)

Shen, Yuzhong; Ju, Chuanjing; Koh, Tas Yong; Rowlinson, Steve; Bridge, Adrian J

2017-01-05

Unsafe acts contribute dominantly to construction accidents, and increasing safety behavior is essential to reduce accidents. Previous research conceptualized safety behavior as an interaction between proximal individual differences (safety knowledge and safety motivation) and distal contextual factors (leadership and safety climate). However, relatively little empirical research has examined this conceptualization in the construction sector. Given the cultural background of the sample, this study makes a slight modification to the conceptualization and views transformational leadership as an antecedent of safety climate. Accordingly, this study establishes a multiple mediator model showing the mechanisms through which transformational leadership translates into safety behavior. The multiple mediator model is estimated by the structural equation modeling (SEM) technique, using individual questionnaire responses from a random sample of construction personnel based in Hong Kong. As hypothesized, transformational leadership has a significant impact on safety climate which is mediated by safety-specific leader-member exchange (LMX), and safety climate in turn impacts safety behavior through safety knowledge. The results suggest that future safety climate interventions should be more effective if supervisors exhibit transformational leadership, encourage construction personnel to voice safety concerns without fear of retaliation, and repeatedly remind them about safety on the job.

The Impact of Transformational Leadership on Safety Climate and Individual Safety Behavior on Construction Sites

Science.gov (United States)

Shen, Yuzhong; Ju, Chuanjing; Koh, Tas Yong; Rowlinson, Steve; Bridge, Adrian J.

2017-01-01

Unsafe acts contribute dominantly to construction accidents, and increasing safety behavior is essential to reduce accidents. Previous research conceptualized safety behavior as an interaction between proximal individual differences (safety knowledge and safety motivation) and distal contextual factors (leadership and safety climate). However, relatively little empirical research has examined this conceptualization in the construction sector. Given the cultural background of the sample, this study makes a slight modification to the conceptualization and views transformational leadership as an antecedent of safety climate. Accordingly, this study establishes a multiple mediator model showing the mechanisms through which transformational leadership translates into safety behavior. The multiple mediator model is estimated by the structural equation modeling (SEM) technique, using individual questionnaire responses from a random sample of construction personnel based in Hong Kong. As hypothesized, transformational leadership has a significant impact on safety climate which is mediated by safety-specific leader–member exchange (LMX), and safety climate in turn impacts safety behavior through safety knowledge. The results suggest that future safety climate interventions should be more effective if supervisors exhibit transformational leadership, encourage construction personnel to voice safety concerns without fear of retaliation, and repeatedly remind them about safety on the job. PMID:28067775

Do nurse and patient injuries share common antecedents? An analysis of associations with safety climate and working conditions.

Science.gov (United States)

Taylor, Jennifer A; Dominici, Francesca; Agnew, Jacqueline; Gerwin, Daniel; Morlock, Laura; Miller, Marlene R

2012-02-01

Safety climate and nurses' working conditions may have an impact on both patient outcomes and nurse occupational health, but these outcomes have rarely been examined concurrently. To examine the association of unit-level safety climate and specific nurse working conditions with injury outcomes for both nurses and patients in a single hospital. A cross-sectional study was conducted using nursing-unit level and individual-level data at an urban, level-one trauma centre in the USA. Multilevel logistic regressions were used to examine associations among injury outcomes, safety climate and working conditions on 29 nursing units, including a total of 723 nurses and 28 876 discharges. Safety climate was measured in 2004 using the Safety Attitudes Questionnaire (SAQ). Working conditions included registered nursing hours per patient day (RNHPPD) and unit turnover. Patient injuries included 290 falls, 167 pulmonary embolism/deep vein thrombosis (PE/DVT), and 105 decubitus ulcers. Nurse injury was defined as a reported needle-stick, splash, slip, trip, or fall (n=78). Working conditions and outcomes were measured in 2005. The study found a negative association between two SAQ domains, Safety and Teamwork, with the odds of both decubitus ulcers and nurse injury. RNHPPD showed a negative association with patient falls and decubitus ulcers. Unit turnover was positively associated with nurse injury and PE/DVT, but negatively associated with falls and decubitus ulcers. Safety climate was associated with both patient and nurse injuries, suggesting that patient and nurse safety may actually be linked outcomes. The findings also indicate that increased unit turnover should be considered a risk factor for nurse and patient injuries.

Analysis of the survey results for the safety culture attitudes of HANARO management division staff

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Lee, M.; Hwang, S. Y.; Lim, I. C.; Kang, T. J.; Choi, H. Y

2003-12-01

This report provides the that analysis results of the surveys on the safety culture attitude and related topics for the HANARO Management Division staff. The survey form consisted of the questionnaire on the safety culture attitude, happiness and life style, drinking habit and traffic safety attitude. The key information drawn from the analysis are as follow; First, the level of safety culture attitude of the staff was confirmed and it was found that the attitude improved when the present analysis results were compared with them for the survey in 1998. Second, the degree of happiness that the staff feel is higher than the average Korean and they enjoy more leisure time than the average Korean. Third, the staff drink more alcohol than the average Korean. Thus, the drinking habit must be improved for the health of the staff. Fourth, the questionnaire of the happiness and the traffic safety attitude should be improved to verify the hypotheses on the relation between them and the safety culture attitude.

Analysis of the survey results for the safety culture attitudes of HANARO management division staff

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lee, M.; Hwang, S. Y.; Lim, I. C.; Kang, T. J.; Choi, H. Y.

2003-12-01

This report provides the that analysis results of the surveys on the safety culture attitude and related topics for the HANARO Management Division staff. The survey form consisted of the questionnaire on the safety culture attitude, happiness and life style, drinking habit and traffic safety attitude. The key information drawn from the analysis are as follow; First, the level of safety culture attitude of the staff was confirmed and it was found that the attitude improved when the present analysis results were compared with them for the survey in 1998. Second, the degree of happiness that the staff feel is higher than the average Korean and they enjoy more leisure time than the average Korean. Third, the staff drink more alcohol than the average Korean. Thus, the drinking habit must be improved for the health of the staff. Fourth, the questionnaire of the happiness and the traffic safety attitude should be improved to verify the hypotheses on the relation between them and the safety culture attitude

Leadership, safety climate, and continuous quality improvement: impact on process quality and patient safety.

Science.gov (United States)

McFadden, Kathleen L; Stock, Gregory N; Gowen, Charles R

2014-10-01

Successful amelioration of medical errors represents a significant problem in the health care industry. There is a need for greater understanding of the factors that lead to improved process quality and patient safety outcomes in hospitals. We present a research model that shows how transformational leadership, safety climate, and continuous quality improvement (CQI) initiatives are related to objective quality and patient safety outcome measures. The proposed framework is tested using structural equation modeling, based on data collected for 204 hospitals, and supplemented with objective outcome data from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. The results provide empirical evidence that a safety climate, which is connected to the chief executive officer's transformational leadership style, is related to CQI initiatives, which are linked to improved process quality. A unique finding of this study is that, although CQI initiatives are positively associated with improved process quality, they are also associated with higher hospital-acquired condition rates, a measure of patient safety. Likewise, safety climate is directly related to improved patient safety outcomes. The notion that patient safety climate and CQI initiatives are not interchangeable or universally beneficial is an important contribution to the literature. The results confirm the importance of using CQI to effectively enhance process quality in hospitals, and patient safety climate to improve patient safety outcomes. The overall pattern of findings suggests that simultaneous implementation of CQI initiatives and patient safety climate produces greater combined benefits.

Survey of Safety Climate in a Petrochemical Industry in Mahshahr

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Y. Shokoohi

2012-07-01

Results and Discussion: Average score of the industry's safety climate was obtained 5.9. Of 17 studied dimensions, 9 dimensions were weak (score less than 6. Lowest score were related to Event & Accident and Change management dimensions. Highest score were related to Individual priorities and need for safety (8.65. Generally relationship between individual variables (ages, work experience, education and safety climate were not significant (P>0.05. Conclusion: Generally one can conclude that individual variables such as age, education and experience have not significant effect on safety climate. It seems that top management forms the organizational climate and consequently safety climate. It reaffirms the basic principle of senior management commitment to safety and its role in preventing accidents. Thus safety climate can be used as a good method for assessing Occupational Health and Safety Management Performance.

Development and Psychometric Analysis of a Nurses' Attitudes and Skills Safety Scale: Initial Results.

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Armstrong, Gail E; Dietrich, Mary; Norman, Linda; Barnsteiner, Jane; Mion, Lorraine

Health care organizations have incorporated updated safety principles in the analysis of errors and in norms and standards. Yet no research exists that assesses bedside nurses' perceived skills or attitudes toward updated safety concepts. The aims of this study were to develop a scale assessing nurses' perceived skills and attitudes toward updated safety concepts, determine content validity, and examine internal consistency of the scale and subscales. Understanding nurses' perceived skills and attitudes about safety concepts can be used in targeting strategies to enhance their safety practices.

Climate Change Challenges for Extension Educators: Technical Capacity and Cultural Attitudes

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Becerra, Terrie A.; Middendorf, Gerad; Campbell, Amber; Tomlinson, Peter

2016-01-01

We surveyed Extension educators in the southern Great Plains about their attitudes and beliefs regarding climate change, their interactions with constituents surrounding climate change, and challenges they face in engaging constituents on the topic of climate change. Production-oriented and sociocultural challenges in meeting constituents'…

Development and Psychometric Analysis of a Nurses’ Attitudes and Skills Safety Scale: Initial Results

Science.gov (United States)

Armstrong, Gail E.; Dietrich, Mary; Norman, Linda; Barnsteiner, Jane; Mion, Lorraine

2016-01-01

Health care organizations have incorporated updated safety principles in the analysis of errors and in norms and standards. Yet no research exists that assesses bedside nurses’ perceived skills or attitudes toward updated safety concepts. The aims of this study were to develop a scale assessing nurses’ perceived skills and attitudes toward updated safety concepts, determine content validity, and examine internal consistency of the scale and subscales. Understanding nurses’ perceived skills and attitudes about safety concepts can be used in targeting strategies to enhance their safety practices. PMID:27479518

Individual employee's perceptions of " Group-level Safety Climate" (supervisor referenced) versus " Organization-level Safety Climate" (top management referenced): Associations with safety outcomes for lone workers.

Science.gov (United States)

Huang, Yueng-Hsiang; Lee, Jin; McFadden, Anna C; Rineer, Jennifer; Robertson, Michelle M

2017-01-01

Research has shown that safety climate is among the strongest predictors of safety behavior and safety outcomes in a variety of settings. Previous studies have established that safety climate is a multi-faceted construct referencing multiple levels of management within a company, most generally: the organization level (employee perceptions of top management's commitment to and prioritization of safety) and group level (employee perceptions of direct supervisor's commitment to and prioritization of safety). Yet, no research to date has examined the potential interaction between employees' organization-level safety climate (OSC) and group-level safety climate (GSC) perceptions. Furthermore, prior research has mainly focused on traditional work environments in which supervisors and workers interact in the same location throughout the day. Little research has been done to examine safety climate with regard to lone workers. The present study aims to address these gaps by examining the relationships between truck drivers' (as an example of lone workers) perceptions of OSC and GSC, both potential linear and non-linear relationships, and how these predict important safety outcomes. Participants were 8095 truck drivers from eight trucking companies in the United States with an average response rate of 44.8%. Results showed that employees' OSC and GSC perceptions are highly correlated (r= 0.78), but notable gaps between the two were observed for some truck drivers. Uniquely, both OSC and GSC scores were found to have curvilinear relationships with safe driving behavior, and both scores were equally predictive of safe driving behavior. Results also showed the two levels of climate significantly interacted with one another to predict safety behavior such that if either the OSC or GSC scores were low, the other's contribution to safety behavior became stronger. These findings suggest that OSC and GSC may function in a compensatory manner and promote safe driving behavior even

Changes in safety climate and teamwork in the operating room after implementation of a revised WHO checklist: a prospective interventional study.

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Erestam, Sofia; Haglind, Eva; Bock, David; Andersson, Annette Erichsen; Angenete, Eva

2017-01-01

Inter-professional teamwork in the operating room is important for patient safety. The World Health Organization (WHO) checklist was introduced to improve intraoperative teamwork. The aim of this study was to evaluate the safety climate in a Swedish operating room setting before and after an intervention, using a revised version of the WHO checklist to improve teamwork. This study is a single center prospective interventional study. Participants were personnel working in operating room teams including surgeons, anesthesiologists, scrub nurses, nurse anaesthetists and nurse assistants. The study started with pre-interventional observations of the WHO checklist use followed by education on safety climate, the WHO checklist, and non-technical skills in the operating room. Thereafter a revised version of the WHO checklist was introduced. Post-interventional observations regarding the performance of the WHO checklist were carried out. The Safety Attitude Questionnaire was used to assess safety climate at baseline and post-intervention. At baseline we discovered a need for improved teamwork and communication. The participants considered teamwork to be important for patient safety, but had different perceptions of good teamwork between professions. The intervention, a revised version of the WHO checklist, did not affect teamwork climate. Adherence to the revision of the checklist was insufficient, dominated by a lack of structure. There was no significant change in teamwork climate by use of the revised WHO checklist, which may be due to insufficient implementation, as a lack of adherence to the WHO checklist was detected. We found deficiencies in teamwork and communication. Further studies exploring how to improve safety climate are needed. NCT02329691.

Survey Result for the Safety Culture Attitude of HANARO in 2008

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wu, Jong Sup; An, Seok Hwa

2009-01-01

One of the important aims of a nuclear management system is to foster a strong safety culture. The safety culture activities for HANARO have been implemented and the importance of safety management in nuclear activities has also been emphasized since its first operation. HANARO developed its own safety culture indicators by referring to the IAEA's documents for the purpose of the evaluation of the safety culture attitude. In June 2008 a survey on the safety culture was conducted based on the new safety culture indicators. The result of the survey shows that the safety culture activities contribute positively to its safe operation. But it is necessary to encourage some activities like training, resources and organizational culture. The survey was helpful to understand the general trends of the safety attitudes and to set the safety culture activities necessary for the improvement of its safe operation

Organizational climate partially mediates the effect of culture on work attitudes and staff turnover in mental health services.

Science.gov (United States)

Aarons, Gregory A; Sawitzky, Angelina C

2006-05-01

Staff turnover in mental health service organizations is an ongoing problem with implications for staff morale, productivity, organizational effectiveness, and implementation of innovation. Recent studies in public sector services have examined the impact of organizational culture and climate on work attitudes (i.e., job satisfaction and organizational commitment) and, ultimately, staff turnover. However, mediational models of the impact of culture and climate on work attitudes have not been examined. The present study examined full and partial mediation models of the effects of culture and climate on work attitudes and the subsequent impact of work attitudes on staff turnover. Multilevel structural equation models supported a partial mediation model in which organizational culture had both direct influence on work attitudes and indirect influence through organizational climate. Work attitudes significantly predicted one-year staff turnover rates. These findings support the contention that both culture and climate impact work attitudes and subsequent staff turnover.

Contractors’ Attitude towards Enhancing Safety Performance: Case Study on Construction Firms in Penang

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Ulang N. Md

2014-01-01

Full Text Available A qualitative study was conducted to investigate the contractors’ attitude towards enhancing the safety performance in construction site. Despite the fact that there are many safety initiatives established by the government, the rates of accidents are still in a critically high condition. Thus the purpose of this research is to study the contractors’ attitude towards enhancing the implementation of safety management system in construction site in order to increase the safety awareness of construction practitioners in construction site and improve the safety condition of construction sites. This study is conducted through oral interviews with the construction practitioners, and visual inspection of construction sites. The attitudes of contractors are evaluated from 3 aspects: Contractors’ efforts in implement and enforce the safety rules, Contractors efforts in overcoming the rate of accidents, and Reasons given by the contractors for not implement safety law.

Towards culture change in the operating theatre: embedding a complex educational intervention to improve teamwork climate.

Science.gov (United States)

Bleakley, Alan; Allard, Jon; Hobbs, Adrian

2012-01-01

Changing teamwork climate in healthcare through a collective shift in attitudes and values may be a necessary precursor to establishing a positive teamwork culture, where innovations can be more readily embedded and sustained. A complex educational intervention was initiated across an entire UK Trust's surgical provision, and then sustained. Attitudes towards teamwork were measured longitudinally to examine if the intervention produced sustainable results. The research aimed to test whether sustaining a complex education intervention to improve teamwork would result in an incremental, longitudinal improvement in attitudes and values towards teamwork. The intervention's larger aim is to progress the historical default position of multi-professional work to authentic inter-professional teamwork, as a positive values climate translates in time into behavioural change defining a safety culture. Attitudes were measured at three points across all surgical team personnel over a period of 4 years, using a validated Safety Attitudes Questionnaire with a focus on the 'teamwork climate' domain. Pre- and post-intervention 'teamwork climate' scores were compared to give a longitudinal measure as a test of sustainability. Mean 'teamwork climate' scores improved incrementally and significantly following the series of educational interventions, showing that practitioners' valuing of teamwork activity can be improved and sustained. Longitudinal positive change in attitudes and values towards teamwork can be sustained, suggesting that a deliberate, designed complex intervention can shape a safety climate as a necessary prerequisite for the establishment of a sustainable safety culture.

Relationships among Safety Climate, Safety Behavior, and Safety Outcomes for Ethnic Minority Construction Workers

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Sainan Lyu

2018-03-01

Full Text Available In many countries, it is common practice to attract and employ ethnic minority (EM or migrant workers in the construction industry. This primarily occurs in order to alleviate the labor shortage caused by an aging workforce with a lack of new entrants. Statistics show that EM construction workers are more likely to have occupational fatal and nonfatal injuries than their local counterparts; however, the mechanism underlying accidents and injuries in this vulnerable population has been rarely examined. This study aims to investigate relationships among safety climate, safety behavior, and safety outcomes for EM construction workers. To this end, a theoretical research model was developed based on a comprehensive review of the current literature. In total, 289 valid questionnaires were collected face-to-face from 223 Nepalese construction workers and 56 Pakistani construction workers working on 15 construction sites in Hong Kong. Structural equation modelling was employed to validate the constructs and test the hypothesized model. Results show that there were significant positive relationships between safety climate and safety behaviors, and significant negative relationships between safety behaviors and safety outcomes for EM construction workers. This research contributes to the literature regarding EM workers by providing empirical evidence of the mechanisms by which safety climate affects safety behaviors and outcomes. It also provides insights in order to help the key stakeholders formulate safety strategies for EM workers in many areas where numerous EM workers are employed, such as in the U.S., the UK, Australia, Singapore, Malaysia, and the Middle East.

Relationships among Safety Climate, Safety Behavior, and Safety Outcomes for Ethnic Minority Construction Workers.

Science.gov (United States)

Lyu, Sainan; Hon, Carol K H; Chan, Albert P C; Wong, Francis K W; Javed, Arshad Ali

2018-03-09

In many countries, it is common practice to attract and employ ethnic minority (EM) or migrant workers in the construction industry. This primarily occurs in order to alleviate the labor shortage caused by an aging workforce with a lack of new entrants. Statistics show that EM construction workers are more likely to have occupational fatal and nonfatal injuries than their local counterparts; however, the mechanism underlying accidents and injuries in this vulnerable population has been rarely examined. This study aims to investigate relationships among safety climate, safety behavior, and safety outcomes for EM construction workers. To this end, a theoretical research model was developed based on a comprehensive review of the current literature. In total, 289 valid questionnaires were collected face-to-face from 223 Nepalese construction workers and 56 Pakistani construction workers working on 15 construction sites in Hong Kong. Structural equation modelling was employed to validate the constructs and test the hypothesized model. Results show that there were significant positive relationships between safety climate and safety behaviors, and significant negative relationships between safety behaviors and safety outcomes for EM construction workers. This research contributes to the literature regarding EM workers by providing empirical evidence of the mechanisms by which safety climate affects safety behaviors and outcomes. It also provides insights in order to help the key stakeholders formulate safety strategies for EM workers in many areas where numerous EM workers are employed, such as in the U.S., the UK, Australia, Singapore, Malaysia, and the Middle East.

Safety climate and the distracted driving experiences of truck drivers.

Science.gov (United States)

Swedler, David I; Pollack, Keshia M; Agnew, Jacqueline

2015-07-01

For truck drivers, distracted driving is a workplace behavior that increases occupational injury risk. We propose safety climate as an appropriate lens through which researchers can examine occupational distracted driving. Using a mixed methods study design, we surveyed truck drivers using the Safety Climate Questionnaire (SCQ) complemented by semi-structured interviews of experts on distracted driving and truck safety. Safety climate was assessed by using the entire SCQ as an overall climate score, followed by factor analysis that identified the following safety climate factors: Communications and Procedures; Management Commitment; and Work Pressure. In multivariate regression, the overall safety climate scale was associated with having ever experienced a crash and/or distraction-involved swerving. Interview participants described how these SCQ constructs could affect occupational distracted driving. To reduce distraction-related crashes in their organizations, management can adhere to safe policies and procedures, invest in engineering controls, and develop safer communication procedures. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Restrictive mechanism for safety behaviors and safety attitudes. An analysis focusing on confidence in skills and knowledge

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Fujita, Tomohiro

2017-01-01

This paper investigates the relationship between confidence in skills and knowledge, and safety behaviors and safety attitudes in industrial organizations. According to previous studies, the influence of individual factors such as confidence in skills and knowledge about safety behaviors and attitudes is not as large as that of organizational factors such as leadership and open communication. However, it is possible that having more skills and knowledge contributes to giving workers a better ability to identify perceived hidden risks leading to injuries and accidents in industrial organizations than among those who have fewer skills and less knowledge. Therefore, this study carried out surveys in 2015 and 2016 targeting workers in the energy industry, and reconsidered the relationship between them by adding unexplored factors such as age and work motivations to the existing model. Multivariate analysis revealed that confidence in skills and knowledge have a negative impact on safety behaviors and attitudes, and aging and work motivations have a positive impact on confidence in skills and knowledge. Then, these results suggest that confidence in skills and knowledge which increases along with aging has a restrictive mechanism for safety behaviors and attitudes. Future studies should cover multidimensional aspects of skills and knowledge and focus on the complex relationship between an organization and groups and individuals in the organization. (author)

Defining and Measuring Safety Climate: A Review of the Construction Industry Literature.

Science.gov (United States)

Schwatka, Natalie V; Hecker, Steven; Goldenhar, Linda M

2016-06-01

Safety climate measurements can be used to proactively assess an organization's effectiveness in identifying and remediating work-related hazards, thereby reducing or preventing work-related ill health and injury. This review article focuses on construction-specific articles that developed and/or measured safety climate, assessed safety climate's relationship with other safety and health performance indicators, and/or used safety climate measures to evaluate interventions targeting one or more indicators of safety climate. Fifty-six articles met our inclusion criteria, 80% of which were published after 2008. Our findings demonstrate that researchers commonly defined safety climate as perception based, but the object of those perceptions varies widely. Within the wide range of indicators used to measure safety climate, safety policies, procedures, and practices were the most common, followed by general management commitment to safety. The most frequently used indicators should and do reflect that the prevention of work-related ill health and injury depends on both organizational and employee actions. Safety climate scores were commonly compared between groups (e.g. management and workers, different trades), and often correlated with subjective measures of safety behavior rather than measures of ill health or objective safety and health outcomes. Despite the observed limitations of current research, safety climate has been promised as a useful feature of research and practice activities to prevent work-related ill health and injury. Safety climate survey data can reveal gaps between management and employee perceptions, or between espoused and enacted policies, and trigger communication and action to narrow those gaps. The validation of safety climate with safety and health performance data offers the potential for using safety climate measures as a leading indicator of performance. We discuss these findings in relation to the related concept of safety culture and

Cross-validation of an employee safety climate model in Malaysia.

Science.gov (United States)

Bahari, Siti Fatimah; Clarke, Sharon

2013-06-01

Whilst substantial research has investigated the nature of safety climate, and its importance as a leading indicator of organisational safety, much of this research has been conducted with Western industrial samples. The current study focuses on the cross-validation of a safety climate model in the non-Western industrial context of Malaysian manufacturing. The first-order factorial validity of Cheyne et al.'s (1998) [Cheyne, A., Cox, S., Oliver, A., Tomas, J.M., 1998. Modelling safety climate in the prediction of levels of safety activity. Work and Stress, 12(3), 255-271] model was tested, using confirmatory factor analysis, in a Malaysian sample. Results showed that the model fit indices were below accepted levels, indicating that the original Cheyne et al. (1998) safety climate model was not supported. An alternative three-factor model was developed using exploratory factor analysis. Although these findings are not consistent with previously reported cross-validation studies, we argue that previous studies have focused on validation across Western samples, and that the current study demonstrates the need to take account of cultural factors in the development of safety climate models intended for use in non-Western contexts. The results have important implications for the transferability of existing safety climate models across cultures (for example, in global organisations) and highlight the need for future research to examine cross-cultural issues in relation to safety climate. Copyright © 2013 National Safety Council and Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Positive organizational behavior and safety in the offshore oil industry: Exploring the determinants of positive safety climate.

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Hystad, Sigurd W; Bartone, Paul T; Eid, Jarle

2014-01-01

Much research has now documented the substantial influence of safety climate on a range of important outcomes in safety critical organizations, but there has been scant attention to the question of what factors might be responsible for positive or negative safety climate. The present paper draws from positive organizational behavior theory to test workplace and individual factors that may affect safety climate. Specifically, we explore the potential influence of authentic leadership style and psychological capital on safety climate and risk outcomes. Across two samples of offshore oil-workers and seafarers working on oil platform supply ships, structural equation modeling yielded results that support a model in which authentic leadership exerts a direct effect on safety climate, as well as an indirect effect via psychological capital. This study shows the importance of leadership qualities as well as psychological factors in shaping a positive work safety climate and lowering the risk of accidents.

The traffic climate in China: The mediating effect of traffic safety climate between personality and dangerous driving behavior.

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Qian; Ge, Yan; Qu, Weina; Zhang, Kan; Sun, Xianghong

2018-04-01

Traffic safety climate is defined as road users' attitudes and perceptions of traffic in a specific context at a given point in time. The current study aimed to validate the Chinese version of the Traffic Climate Scale (TCS) and to explore its relation to drivers' personality and dangerous driving behavior. A sample of 413 drivers completed the Big Five Inventory (BFI), the Chinese version of the TCS, the Dula Dangerous Driving Index (DDDI) and a demographic questionnaire. Exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory factor analysis were performed to confirm a three-factor (external affective demands, internal requirements and functionality) solution of the TCS. The reliability and validity of the Chinese version of TCS were verified. More importantly, the results showed that the effect of personality on dangerous driving behavior was mediated by traffic climate. Specifically, the functionality of the TCS mediated the effect of neuroticism on negative cognitive/emotional driving and drunk driving, while openness had an indirect impact on aggressive driving, risky driving and drunk driving based on the internal requirements of the TCS. Additionally, agreeableness had a negative direct impact on four factors of the DDDI, while neuroticism had a positive direct impact on negative cognitive/emotional driving, drunk driving and risky driving. In conclusion, the Chinese version of the TCS will be useful to evaluate drivers' attitudes towards and perceptions of the requirements of traffic environment in which they participate and will also be valuable for comparing traffic cultures and environments in different countries. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Labor unions and safety climate: perceived union safety values and retail employee safety outcomes.

Science.gov (United States)

Sinclair, Robert R; Martin, James E; Sears, Lindsay E

2010-09-01

Although trade unions have long been recognized as a critical advocate for employee safety and health, safety climate research has not paid much attention to the role unions play in workplace safety. We proposed a multiple constituency model of workplace safety which focused on three central safety stakeholders: top management, ones' immediate supervisor, and the labor union. Safety climate research focuses on management and supervisors as key stakeholders, but has not considered whether employee perceptions about the priority their union places on safety contributes contribute to safety outcomes. We addressed this gap in the literature by investigating unionized retail employee (N=535) perceptions about the extent to which their top management, immediate supervisors, and union valued safety. Confirmatory factor analyses demonstrated that perceived union safety values could be distinguished from measures of safety training, workplace hazards, top management safety values, and supervisor values. Structural equation analyses indicated that union safety values influenced safety outcomes through its association with higher safety motivation, showing a similar effect as that of supervisor safety values. These findings highlight the need for further attention to union-focused measures related to workplace safety as well as further study of retail employees in general. We discuss the practical implications of our findings and identify several directions for future safety research. 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

A longitudinal study of an intervention to improve road safety climate: climate as an organizational boundary spanner.

Science.gov (United States)

Naveh, Eitan; Katz-Navon, Tal

2015-01-01

This study presents and tests an intervention to enhance organizational climate and expands existing conceptualization of organizational climate to include its influence on employee behaviors outside the organization's physical boundaries. In addition, by integrating the literatures of climate and work-family interface, the study explored climate spillover and crossover from work to the home domain. Focusing on an applied practical problem within organizations, we investigated the example of road safety climate and employees' and their families' driving, using a longitudinal study design of road safety intervention versus control groups. Results demonstrated that the intervention increased road safety climate and decreased the number of traffic violation tickets and that road safety climate mediated the relationship between the intervention and the number of traffic violation tickets. Road safety climate spilled over to the family domain but did not cross over to influence family members' driving. (c) 2015 APA, all rights reserved.

Development and initial validation of an Aviation Safety Climate Scale.

Science.gov (United States)

Evans, Bronwyn; Glendon, A Ian; Creed, Peter A

2007-01-01

A need was identified for a consistent set of safety climate factors to provide a basis for aviation industry benchmarking. Six broad safety climate themes were identified from the literature and consultations with industry safety experts. Items representing each of the themes were prepared and administered to 940 Australian commercial pilots. Data from half of the sample (N=468) were used in an exploratory factor analysis that produced a 3-factor model of Management commitment and communication, Safety training and equipment, and Maintenance. A confirmatory factor analysis on the remaining half of the sample showed the 3-factor model to be an adequate fit to the data. The results of this study have produced a scale of safety climate for aviation that is both reliable and valid. This study developed a tool to assess the level of perceived safety climate, specifically of pilots, but may also, with minor modifications, be used to assess other groups' perceptions of safety climate.

Understanding safety climate in small automobile collision repair shops.

Science.gov (United States)

Parker, David L; Brosseau, Lisa M; Bejan, Anca; Skan, Maryellen; Xi, Min

2014-01-01

In the United States, approximately 236,000 people work in 37,600 auto collision-repair businesses. Workers in the collision-repair industry may be exposed to a wide range of physical and chemical hazards. This manuscript examines the relationship of safety climate as reported by collision repair shop workers and owners to: (1) an independent business safety assessment, and (2) employee self-reported work practices. The study was conducted in the Twin Cities metropolitan area. A total of 199 workers from 49 collision shops completed a survey of self-reported work practices and safety climate. Surveys were completed by an owner or manager in all but three shops. In general, self-reported work practices were poor. Workers' scores on safety climate were uniformly lower than those of owners. For workers, there was no correlation between how well the business scored on an independent audit of business safety practices and the safety climate measures they reported. For owners, however, there was a positive correlation between safety climate scores and the business safety assessment. For workers, safety rules and procedures were associated with improved work practices for those engaged in both painting-related and body technician-related activities. The enforcement of safety rules and procedures emerged as a strong factor positively affecting self-reported work practices. These findings identify a simple, cost effective path to reducing hazards in small workplaces. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Organizational Culture and Climate and Mental Health Provider Attitudes Toward Evidence-Based Practice

OpenAIRE

Aarons, Gregory A.; Sawitzky, Angelina C.

2006-01-01

Mental health provider attitudes toward adopting evidence-based practice (EBP) are associated with organizational context and provider individual differences. Organizational culture and climate are contextual factors that can affect staff acceptance of innovation. This study examined the association of organizational culture and climate with attitudes toward adopting EBP. Participants were 301 public sector mental health service providers from 49 programs providing mental health services for ...

Positive organizational behavior and safety in the offshore oil industry: Exploring the determinants of positive safety climate

Science.gov (United States)

Hystad, Sigurd W.; Bartone, Paul T.; Eid, Jarle

2013-01-01

Much research has now documented the substantial influence of safety climate on a range of important outcomes in safety critical organizations, but there has been scant attention to the question of what factors might be responsible for positive or negative safety climate. The present paper draws from positive organizational behavior theory to test workplace and individual factors that may affect safety climate. Specifically, we explore the potential influence of authentic leadership style and psychological capital on safety climate and risk outcomes. Across two samples of offshore oil-workers and seafarers working on oil platform supply ships, structural equation modeling yielded results that support a model in which authentic leadership exerts a direct effect on safety climate, as well as an indirect effect via psychological capital. This study shows the importance of leadership qualities as well as psychological factors in shaping a positive work safety climate and lowering the risk of accidents. PMID:24454524

Perceptions of and Attitudes Toward Climate Change in the Southeastern United States

Science.gov (United States)

David Himmelfarb; John Schelhas; Sarah Hitchner; Cassandra Johnson Gaither; KathErine Dunbar; J. Peter Brosius

2014-01-01

Despite a global scientific consensus on the anthropogenic nature of climate change, the issue remains highly contentious in the United States, stifling public debate and action on the issue. Local perceptions of and attitudes toward climate change-how different groups of people outside of the professional climate science community make sense of changes in climate in...

Hospital safety climate and safety behavior: A social exchange perspective.

Science.gov (United States)

Ancarani, Alessandro; Di Mauro, Carmela; Giammanco, Maria D

Safety climate is considered beneficial to the improvement of hospital safety outcomes. Nevertheless, the relations between two of its key constituents, namely those stemming from leader-subordinate relations and coworker support for safety, are still to be fully ascertained. This article uses the theoretical lens of Social Exchange Theory to study the joint impact of leader-member exchange in the safety sphere and coworker support for safety on safety-related behavior at the hospital ward level. Social exchange constructs are further related to the existence of a shame-/blame-free environment, seen as a potential antecedent of safety behavior. A cross-sectional study including 166 inpatients in hospital wards belonging to 10 public hospitals in Italy was undertaken to test the hypotheses developed. Hypothesized relations have been analyzed through a fully mediated multilevel structural equation model. This methodology allows studying behavior at the individual level, while keeping into account the heterogeneity among hospital specialties. Results suggest that the linkage between leader support for safety and individual safety behavior is mediated by coworker support on safety issues and by the creation of a shame-free environment. These findings call for the creation of a safety climate in which managerial efforts should be directed not only to the provision of new safety resources and the enforcement of safety rules but also to the encouragement of teamwork and freedom to report errors as ways to foster the capacity of the staff to communicate, share, and learn from each other.

Guide for understanding and evaluation of safety culture

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2008-01-01

This report was the guide of understanding and evaluation of safety culture. Operator's activities for enhancement of safety culture in nuclear installations became an object of safety regulation in the management system. Evaluation of operator's activities (including top management's involvement) to prevent degradation of safety culture and organization climate in daily works needed understanding of safety culture and diversity of operator's activities. This guide was prepared to check indications of degradation of safety culture and organization climate in operator's activities in daily works and encourage operator's activities to enhance safety culture improvement and good practice. Comprehensive evaluation of operator's activities to prevent degradation of safety culture and organization climate would be performed from the standpoints of 14 safety culture elements such as top management commitment, clear plan and implementation of upper manager, measures to avoid wrong decision making, questioning attitude, reporting culture, good communications, accountability and openness, compliance, learning system, activities to prevent accidents or incidents beforehand, self-assessment or third party evaluation, work management, change management and attitudes/motivation. Element-wise examples and targets for evaluation were attached with evaluation check tables. (T. Tanaka)

Exploring the Influence of Nurse Work Environment and Patient Safety Culture on Attitudes Toward Incident Reporting.

Science.gov (United States)

Yoo, Moon Sook; Kim, Kyoung Ja

2017-09-01

The aim of this study was to explore the influence of nurse work environments and patient safety culture on attitudes toward incident reporting. Patient safety culture had been known as a factor of incident reporting by nurses. Positive work environment could be an important influencing factor for the safety behavior of nurses. A cross-sectional survey design was used. The structured questionnaire was administered to 191 nurses working at a tertiary university hospital in South Korea. Nurses' perception of work environment and patient safety culture were positively correlated with attitudes toward incident reporting. A regression model with clinical career, work area and nurse work environment, and patient safety culture against attitudes toward incident reporting was statistically significant. The model explained approximately 50.7% of attitudes toward incident reporting. Improving nurses' attitudes toward incident reporting can be achieved with a broad approach that includes improvements in work environment and patient safety culture.

Knowledge, attitudes and practices of food handlers in food safety: An integrative review.

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Zanin, Laís Mariano; da Cunha, Diogo Thimoteo; de Rosso, Veridiana Vera; Capriles, Vanessa Dias; Stedefeldt, Elke

2017-10-01

This study presents an overview of the relationship between knowledge, attitudes and practices (KAP) of food handlers with training in food safety, in addition to proposing reflections on the training of food handlers, considering its responsibility for food safety and health of consumers. The review was based on the integrative method. The descriptors used were: (food handler), (knowledge, attitudes and practice) and (training). Six databases were searched, 253 articles were consulted and 36 original articles were included. Fifty per cent of the articles pointed that there was no proper translation of knowledge into attitudes/practices or attitudes into practices after training. Knowledge, attitudes and practices of food handlers are important for identifying how efficient training in food safety is allowing prioritize actions in planning training. The evaluation of KAP is the first step to understand the food handler's point of view. After this evaluation other diagnostic strategies become necessary to enhance this understanding. Copyright © 2017. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Assessing the Safety Attitudes Questionnaire (SAQ), German language version in Swiss university hospitals--a validation study.

Science.gov (United States)

Zimmermann, Natalie; Küng, Kaspar; Sereika, Susan M; Engberg, Sandra; Sexton, Bryan; Schwendimann, René

2013-09-10

Improving patient safety has become a major focus of clinical care and research over the past two decades. An institution's patient safety climate represents an essential component of ensuring a safe environment and thereby can be vital to the prevention of adverse events. Covering six patient safety related factors, the Safety Attitudes Questionnaire (SAQ) is a validated and widely used instrument to measure the patient safety climate in clinical areas. The objective of this study was to assess the psychometric properties of the German language version of the SAQ. A survey was carried out in two University Hospitals in Switzerland in autumn 2009 where the SAQ was distributed to a sample of 406 nurses and physicians in medical and surgical wards. Following the American Educational Research Association guidelines, we tested the questionnaire validity by levels of evidence: content validity, internal structure and relations to other variables. Confirmatory factor analysis was used to examine factor structure. Cronbach's alphas and inter-item correlations were calculated to examine internal consistency reliability. A total of 319 questionnaires were completed representing an overall response rate of 78.6%. For three items, the item content validity index was <0.75. Confirmatory factor analysis showed acceptable model fit (RMSEA = 0.045; CFI = 0.944) for the six-factor model. Additional exploratory factor analysis could not identify a better factor model. SAQ factor scores showed positive correlations with the Safety Organizing Scale (r = .56-.72). The SAQ German version showed moderate to strong internal consistency reliability indices (Cronbach alpha = .65-.83). The German language version of the SAQ demonstrated acceptable to good psychometric properties and therefore shows promise to be a sound instrument to measure patient safety climate in Swiss hospital wards. However, the low item content validity and large number of missing responses for several items suggest

The mediating role of integration of safety by activity versus operator between organizational culture and safety climate.

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Auzoult, Laurent; Gangloff, Bernard

2018-04-20

In this study, we analyse the impact of the organizational culture and introduce a new variable, the integration of safety, which relates to the modalities for the implementation and adoption of safety in the work process, either through the activity or by the operator. One hundred and eighty employees replied to a questionnaire measuring the organizational climate, the safety climate and the integration of safety. We expected that implementation centred on the activity or on the operator would mediate the relationship between the organizational culture and the safety climate. The results support our assumptions. A regression analysis highlights the positive impact on the safety climate of organizational values of the 'rule' and 'support' type, as well as of integration by the operator and activity. Moreover, integration mediates the relation between these variables. The results suggest to take into account organizational culture and to introduce different implementation modalities to improve the safety climate.

Patient safety climate profiles across time: Strength and level of safety climate associated with a quality improvement program in Switzerland—A cross-sectional survey study

Science.gov (United States)

Mascherek, Anna C.

2017-01-01

Safety Climate has been acknowledged as an unspecific factor influencing patient safety. However, studies rarely provide in-depth analysis of climate data. As a helpful approach, the concept of “climate strength” has been proposed. In the present study we tested the hypotheses that even if safety climate remains stable on mean-level across time, differences might be evident in strength or shape. The data of two hospitals participating in a large national quality improvement program were analysed for differences in climate profiles at two measurement occasions. We analysed differences on mean-level, differences in percent problematic response, agreement within groups, and frequency histograms in two large hospitals in Switzerland at two measurement occasions (2013 and 2015) applying the Safety Climate Survey. In total, survey responses of 1193 individuals were included in the analyses. Overall, small but significant differences on mean-level of safety climate emerged for some subgroups. Also, although agreement was strong at both time-points within groups, tendencies of divergence or consensus were present in both hospitals. Depending on subgroup and analyses chosen, differences were more or less pronounced. The present study illustrated that taking several measures into account and describing safety climate from different perspectives is necessary in order to fully understand differences and trends within groups and to develop interventions addressing the needs of different groups more precisely. PMID:28753633

Psychosocial influences on safety climate: evidence from community pharmacies.

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Phipps, Denham L; Ashcroft, Darren M

2011-12-01

To examine the relationship between psychosocial job characteristics and safety climate. Cross-sectional survey. Community pharmacies in Great Britain. Participants A random sample of community pharmacists registered in Great Britain (n = 860). Survey instruments Effort-reward imbalance (ERI) indicator and Job Content Questionnaire (JCQ). Main outcome measures Pharmacy Safety Climate Questionnaire (PSCQ). The profile of scores from the ERI indicated a relatively high risk of adverse psychological effects. The profile of scores from the JCQ indicated both high demand on pharmacists and a high level of psychological and social resources to meet these demands. Path analysis confirmed a model in which the ERI and JCQ measures, as well as the type of pharmacy and pharmacist role, predicted responses to the PSCQ (χ(2)(36) = 111.38, p demand) accounted for the effect of job characteristics on safety climate ratings; each had differential effects on the PSCQ scales. The safety climate in community pharmacies is influenced by perceptions of job characteristics, such as the level of job demands and the resources available to meet these demands. Hence, any efforts to improve safety should take into consideration the effect of the psychosocial work environment on safety climate. In addition, there is a need to address the presence of work-related stressors, which have the potential to cause direct or indirect harm to staff and service users. The findings of the current study provide a basis for future research to improve the safety climate and well-being, both in the pharmacy profession and in other healthcare settings.

The patient safety climate in healthcare organizations (PSCHO) survey: Short-form development.

Science.gov (United States)

Benzer, Justin K; Meterko, Mark; Singer, Sara J

2017-08-01

Measures of safety climate are increasingly used to guide safety improvement initiatives. However, cost and respondent burden may limit the use of safety climate surveys. The purpose of this study was to develop a 15- to 20-item safety climate survey based on the Patient Safety Climate in Healthcare Organizations survey, a well-validated 38-item measure of safety climate. The Patient Safety Climate in Healthcare Organizations was administered to all senior managers, all physicians, and a 10% random sample of all other hospital personnel in 69 private sector hospitals and 30 Veterans Health Administration hospitals. Both samples were randomly divided into a derivation sample to identify a short-form subset and a confirmation sample to assess the psychometric properties of the proposed short form. The short form consists of 15 items represented 3 overarching domains in the long-form scale-organization, work unit, and interpersonal. The proposed short form efficiently captures 3 important sources of variance in safety climate: organizational, work-unit, and interpersonal. The short-form development process was a practical method that can be applied to other safety climate surveys. This safety climate short form may increase response rates in studies that involve busy clinicians or repeated measures. Published 2017. This article is a U.S. Government work and is in the public domain in the USA.

Quality management and perceptions of teamwork and safety climate in European hospitals.

Science.gov (United States)

Kristensen, Solvejg; Hammer, Antje; Bartels, Paul; Suñol, Rosa; Groene, Oliver; Thompson, Caroline A; Arah, Onyebuchi A; Kutaj-Wasikowska, Halina; Michel, Philippe; Wagner, Cordula

2015-12-01

This study aimed to investigate the associations of quality management systems with teamwork and safety climate, and to describe and compare differences in perceptions of teamwork climate and safety climate among clinical leaders and frontline clinicians. We used a multi-method, cross-sectional approach to collect survey data of quality management systems and perceived teamwork and safety climate. Our data analyses included descriptive and multilevel regression methods. Data on implementation of quality management system from seven European countries were evaluated including patient safety culture surveys from 3622 clinical leaders and 4903 frontline clinicians. Perceived teamwork and safety climate. Teamwork climate was reported as positive by 67% of clinical leaders and 43% of frontline clinicians. Safety climate was perceived as positive by 54% of clinical leaders and 32% of frontline clinicians. We found positive associations between implementation of quality management systems and teamwork and safety climate. Our findings, which should be placed in a broader clinical quality improvement context, point to the importance of quality management systems as a supportive structural feature for promoting teamwork and safety climate. To gain a deeper understanding of this association, further qualitative and quantitative studies using longitudinally collected data are recommended. The study also confirms that more clinical leaders than frontline clinicians have a positive perception of teamwork and safety climate. Such differences should be accounted for in daily clinical practice and when tailoring initiatives to improve teamwork and safety climate. © The Author 2015. Published by Oxford University Press in association with the International Society for Quality in Health Care; all rights reserved.

Preparing suitable climate scenario data to assess impacts on local food safety

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Liu, C.; Hofstra, N.; Leemans, R.

2015-01-01

Quantification of climate change impacts on food safety requires food safety assessment with different past and future climate scenario data to compare current and future conditions. This study presents a tool to prepare climate and climate change data for local food safety scenario analysis and

[Exploration of the Association Between Workplace Bullying and Attitudes Toward Patient Safety in Female Nurses].

Science.gov (United States)

Lin, Yuh-Hsuan; Hsiao, Shu-Tai Sheen; Lin, Chiou-Fen; Yang, Chyn-Yng; Chung, Min-Huey

2018-02-01

Workplace bullying is known to have a significant and detrimental effect on the physical and psychological outcomes of its victims. The reactions of victims to bullying may decrease clinical care outcomes and patient safety. To explore the relationship between workplace bullying and the attitudes of female nurses toward the safety of their patients. This cross-sectional survey study used convenience sampling. Participants included female nurses from a regional teaching hospital. The research tool was a three-part, structured questionnaire that included a basic personal information datasheet, negative behavior scale, and patient safety attitude scale. The researcher distributed 420 questionnaires and collected 329 valid samples (valid return rate: 78.3%). Data were analyzed using SPSS software version 22.0. The analysis found that 29.8% of the participants had suffered from various degrees of workplace bullying. The mean score for patient safety attitudes was 3.58 (standard deviation = 0.55). Workplace bullying and patient safety attitudes were negatively correlated (p workplace bullying was identified as a significant predictor of attitudes toward patient safety. Based on the results, we suggest that supervisors should take the initiative to care for their nursing staffs and to provide them with training in conflict-oriented skills. Organization managers should set up relevant committee-notification mechanisms that construct the safe working environment necessary to reduce workplace bullying and to enhance the patient safety attitudes of nurses, which will indirectly improve the quality of patient care.

An investigation of safety climate in OHSAS 18001-certified and non-certified organizations.

Science.gov (United States)

Ghahramani, Abolfazl

2016-09-01

Many organizations worldwide have implemented Occupational Health and Safety Assessment Series (OHSAS) 18001 in their premises because of the assumed positive effects of this standard on safety. Few studies have analyzed the effect of the safety climate in OHSAS 18001-certified organizations. This case-control study used a new safety climate questionnaire to evaluate three OHSAS 18001-certified and three non-certified manufacturing companies in Iran. Hierarchical regression indicated that the safety climate was influenced by OHSAS implementation and by safety training. Employees who received safety training had better perceptions of the safety climate and its dimensions than other respondents within the certified companies. This study found that the implementation of OHSAS 18001 does not guarantee improvement of the safety climate. This study also emphasizes the need for high-quality safety training for employees of the certified companies to improve the safety climate.

Effect of STOP technique on safety climate in a construction company.

Science.gov (United States)

Darvishi, Ebrahim; Maleki, Afshin; Dehestaniathar, Saeed; Ebrahemzadih, Mehrzad

2015-01-01

Safety programs are a core part of safety management in workplaces that can reduce incidents and injuries. The aim of this study was to investigate the influence of Safety Training Observation Program (STOP) technique as a behavior modification program on safety climate in a construction company. This cross-sectional study was carried out on workers of the Petrochemical Construction Company, western Iran. In order to improve safety climate, an unsafe behavior modification program entitled STOP was launched among workers of project during 12 months from April 2013 and April 2014. The STOP technique effectiveness in creating a positive safety climate was evaluated using the Safety Climate Assessment Toolkit. 76.78% of total behaviors were unsafe. 54.76% of total unsafe acts/ at-risk behaviors were related to the fall hazard. The most cause of unsafe behaviors was associated with habit and unavailability of safety equipment. After 12 month of continuous implementation the STOP technique, 55.8% of unsafe behaviors reduced among workers. The average score of safety climate evaluated using of the Toolkit, before and after the implementation of the STOP technique was 5.77 and 7.24, respectively. The STOP technique can be considered as effective approach for eliminating at-risk behavior, reinforcing safe work practices, and creating a positive safety climate in order to reduction incidents/injuries.

The virgin land of quality management: a first measure of patient safety climate at the National Hospital of the Faroe Islands

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kristensen S

2016-04-01

Full Text Available Solvejg Kristensen,1,2 Naina Túgvustein,3 Hjørdis Zachariassen,3 Svend Sabroe,4 Paul Bartels,1,5 Jan Mainz5,6 1The Danish Clinical Registries, Aarhus, 2Department of Health Science and Technology, Aalborg University, Denmark; 3National Hospital of the Faroe Islands, Torshavn, Faroe Islands; 4Department of Public Health, Aarhus University, Aarhus, 5Department of Clinical Medicine, Aalborg University, Aalborg, 6Aalborg University Hospital, Psychiatry, Aalborg, Denmark Purpose: The Faroe Islands are formally part of the Kingdom of Denmark, but the islands enjoy extensive autonomy as home ruled. In Denmark, extensive quality management initiatives have been implemented throughout hospitals, this was not the case in the Faroese Islands in 2013. The purpose of this study is to investigate the patient safety culture in the National Hospital of the Faroe Islands prior to implementation of quality management initiatives. Methods: The Danish version of the Safety Attitudes Questionnaire (SAQ-DK was distributed electronically to 557 staff members from five medical centers of the hospital, and one administrative unit. SAQ-DK has six cultural dimensions. The proportion of respondents with positive attitudes and mean scale scores were described, and comparison between medical specialties, and between clinical leaders and frontline staff was made using analysis of variance and chi-square test, respectively. Results: The response rate was 65.8% (N=367. Job satisfaction was rated most favorable, and the perceived culture of the top management least favorable. Safety climate was the dimension with the greatest variability across the 28 units. The diagnostic center had the most favorable culture of all centers. More leaders than frontline staff had positive attitudes toward teamwork and safety climate, and working conditions, respectively. Also, the leaders perceived these dimensions more positive than the frontline staff, P<0.05. Among three management levels

Patient safety culture in out-of-hours primary care services in the Netherlands: a cross-sectional survey.

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Smits, M.; Keizer, E.; Giesen, P.; Deilkas, E.C.T.; Hofoss, D.; Bondevik, G.T

2018-01-01

Objective: To examine patient safety culture in Dutch out-of-hours primary care using the safety attitudes questionnaire (SAQ) which includes five factors: teamwork climate, safety climate, job satisfaction, perceptions of management and communication openness. Design: Cross-sectional observational

Attitudes to climate change, perceptions of disaster risk, and mitigation and adaptation behavior in Yunlin County, Taiwan.

Science.gov (United States)

Lee, Yung-Jaan; Tung, Chuan-Ming; Lin, Shih-Chien

2018-02-08

Issues that are associated with climate change have global importance. Most related studies take a national or regional perspective on the impact of climate change. Taiwan is constrained by its geographical conditions, which increase its vulnerability to climate change, especially in its western coastal areas. The county that is most affected by climate change is Yunlin. In 2013-2014, projects that were sponsored by Taiwan's government analyzed the relationship among synthesized vulnerability, ecological footprint (EF) and adaptation to climate change and proposed 15 categories of synthesized vulnerability and EF values. This study further examines the relationship between vulnerability and EF values and examines how residents of four townships-Linnei, Sihu, Mailiao, and Huwei-cope with the effects of climate change. This study investigates whether the residents of the four townships vary in their attitudes to climate change, their perceptions of disaster risk, and their behavioral intentions with respect to coping with climate change. The structural equation model (SEM) is used to examine the relationships among attitudes to climate change, perceptions of disaster risk, and the behavioral intentions of residents in townships with various vulnerabilities to climate change. The results that are obtained using the SEM reveal that climate change mitigation/adaptation behavior is affected by attitudes to climate change and perceptions of disaster risk. However, the effects of attitudes and perceptions on mitigation and adaptation that are mediated by place attachment are not statistically significant.

Evaluating the Effectiveness of an Educational Intervention to Improve the Patient Safety Attitudes of Intern Pharmacists.

Science.gov (United States)

Walpola, Ramesh L; Fois, Romano A; McLachlan, Andrew J; Chen, Timothy F

2017-02-25

Objective. To evaluate the effectiveness of a face-to-face educational intervention in improving the patient safety attitudes of intern pharmacists. Methods. A patient safety education program was delivered to intern pharmacists undertaking The University of Sydney Intern Training Program in 2014. Their patient safety attitudes were evaluated immediately prior to, immediately after, and three-months post-intervention. Underlying attitudinal factors were identified using exploratory factor analysis. Changes in factor scores were examined using analysis of variance. Results. Of the 120 interns enrolled, 95 (78.7%) completed all three surveys. Four underlying attitudinal factors were identified: attitudes towards addressing errors, questioning behaviors, blaming individuals, and reporting errors. Improvements in all attitudinal factors were evident immediately after the intervention. However, only improvements in attitudes towards blaming individuals involved in errors were sustained at three months post-intervention. Conclusion. The educational intervention was associated with short-term improvements in pharmacist interns' patient safety attitudes. However, other factors likely influenced their attitudes in the longer term.

Relationship of hospital organizational culture to patient safety climate in the Veterans Health Administration.

Science.gov (United States)

Hartmann, Christine W; Meterko, Mark; Rosen, Amy K; Shibei Zhao; Shokeen, Priti; Singer, Sara; Gaba, David M

2009-06-01

Improving safety climate could enhance patient safety, yet little evidence exists regarding the relationship between hospital characteristics and safety climate. This study assessed the relationship between hospitals' organizational culture and safety climate in Veterans Health Administration (VA) hospitals nationally. Data were collected from a sample of employees in a stratified random sample of 30 VA hospitals over a 6-month period (response rate = 50%; n = 4,625). The Patient Safety Climate in Healthcare Organizations (PSCHO) and the Zammuto and Krakower surveys were used to measure safety climate and organizational culture, respectively. Higher levels of safety climate were significantly associated with higher levels of group and entrepreneurial cultures, while lower levels of safety climate were associated with higher levels of hierarchical culture. Hospitals could use these results to design specific interventions aimed at improving safety climate.

The effects of patient education on patient safety: can we change patient perceptions and attitudes?: Lessons from the Armed Forces Capital Hospital in Korea.

Science.gov (United States)

An, JinOk; Kim, Seung Ju; Park, Sohee; Moon, Ki Tae; Park, Eun-Cheol

2017-06-01

Strategies to promote patient involvement in medical error prevention have been implemented, but little is known about the effects of education on changes in perceptions and attitudes about patients' own safety. We administered a survey to military personnel admitted to the Armed Forces Capital Hospital. Responses were classified according to perception and attitude. Single military hospital in Korea. A total of 483 completed surveys were included in our study; 252 of the respondents received safety education at admission. We provided educational program material to one-half of the patients at admission (intervention group). The other one-half of patients received no safety education (non-intervention group). We then performed two rounds of a self-administered survey, based on whether the patient received patient safety education. Cronbach's alpha was calculated to determine scale score reliability. Regression analysis was used to evaluate associations between education and change in scores. Scores for perception and attitude were greater in the intervention group. The results of the regression analysis revealed that compared with the non-intervention respondents, the respondents who received education had higher perception (estimate: 7.809, P patient education was associated with higher scores in both perception and attitudes about safety. To improve patient engagement in this area, efficient methods that encourage patient empowerment should be developed. Specialized health care providers who provide patient level education are needed to achieve a satisfactory patient safety climate. © The Author 2017. Published by Oxford University Press in association with the International Society for Quality in Health Care. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com

Organizational safety climate and supervisor safety enforcement: Multilevel explorations of the causes of accident underreporting.

Science.gov (United States)

Probst, Tahira M

2015-11-01

According to national surveillance statistics, over 3 million employees are injured each year; yet, research indicates that these may be substantial underestimates of the true prevalence. The purpose of the current project was to empirically test the hypothesis that organizational safety climate and transactional supervisor safety leadership would predict the extent to which accidents go unreported by employees. Using hierarchical linear modeling and survey data collected from 1,238 employees in 33 organizations, employee-level supervisor safety enforcement behaviors (and to a less consistent extent, organizational-level safety climate) predicted employee accident underreporting. There was also a significant cross-level interaction, such that the effect of supervisor enforcement on underreporting was attenuated in organizations with a positive safety climate. These results may benefit human resources and safety professionals by pinpointing methods of increasing the accuracy of accident reporting, reducing actual safety incidents, and reducing the costs to individuals and organizations that result from underreporting. (c) 2015 APA, all rights reserved).

Workplace injuries, safety climate and behaviors: application of an artificial neural network.

Science.gov (United States)

Abubakar, A Mohammed; Karadal, Himmet; Bayighomog, Steven W; Merdan, Ethem

2018-05-09

This article proposes and tests a model for the interaction effect of the organizational safety climate and behaviors on workplace injuries. Using artificial neural network and survey data from 306 metal casting industry employees in central Anatolia, we found that an organizational safety climate mitigates workplace injuries, and safety behaviors enforce the strength of the negative impact of the safety climate on workplace injuries. The results suggest a complex relationship between the organizational safety climate, safety behavior and workplace injuries. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed in light of decreasing workplace injuries in the Anatolian metal casting industry.

Multilevel Safety Climate and Safety Performance in the Construction Industry: Development and Validation of a Top-Down Mechanism

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ran Gao

2016-11-01

Full Text Available The character of construction projects exposes front-line workers to dangers and accidents. Safety climate has been confirmed to be a predictor of safety performance in the construction industry. This study aims to explore the underlying mechanisms of the relationship between multilevel safety climate and safety performance. An integrated model was developed to study how particular safety climate factors of one level affect those of other levels, and then affect safety performance from the top down. A questionnaire survey was administered on six construction sites in Vietnam. A total of 1030 valid questionnaires were collected from this survey. Approximately half of the data were used to conduct exploratory factor analysis (EFA and the remaining data were submitted to structural equation modeling (SEM. Top management commitment (TMC and supervisors’ expectation (SE were identified as factors to represent organizational safety climate (OSC and supervisor safety climate (SSC, respectively, and coworkers’ caring and communication (CCC and coworkers’ role models (CRM were identified as factors to denote coworker safety climate (CSC. SEM results show that OSC factor is positively related to SSC factor and CSC factors significantly. SSC factor could partially mediate the relationship between OSC factor and CSC factors, as well as the relationship between OSC factor and safety performance. CSC factors partially mediate the relationship between OSC factor and safety performance, and the relationship between SSC factor and safety performance. The findings imply that a positive safety culture should be established both at the organizational level and the group level. Efforts from all top management, supervisors, and coworkers should be provided to improve safety performance in the construction industry.

Multilevel Safety Climate and Safety Performance in the Construction Industry: Development and Validation of a Top-Down Mechanism.

Science.gov (United States)

Gao, Ran; Chan, Albert P C; Utama, Wahyudi P; Zahoor, Hafiz

2016-11-08

The character of construction projects exposes front-line workers to dangers and accidents. Safety climate has been confirmed to be a predictor of safety performance in the construction industry. This study aims to explore the underlying mechanisms of the relationship between multilevel safety climate and safety performance. An integrated model was developed to study how particular safety climate factors of one level affect those of other levels, and then affect safety performance from the top down. A questionnaire survey was administered on six construction sites in Vietnam. A total of 1030 valid questionnaires were collected from this survey. Approximately half of the data were used to conduct exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and the remaining data were submitted to structural equation modeling (SEM). Top management commitment (TMC) and supervisors' expectation (SE) were identified as factors to represent organizational safety climate (OSC) and supervisor safety climate (SSC), respectively, and coworkers' caring and communication (CCC) and coworkers' role models (CRM) were identified as factors to denote coworker safety climate (CSC). SEM results show that OSC factor is positively related to SSC factor and CSC factors significantly. SSC factor could partially mediate the relationship between OSC factor and CSC factors, as well as the relationship between OSC factor and safety performance. CSC factors partially mediate the relationship between OSC factor and safety performance, and the relationship between SSC factor and safety performance. The findings imply that a positive safety culture should be established both at the organizational level and the group level. Efforts from all top management, supervisors, and coworkers should be provided to improve safety performance in the construction industry.

An exploration of workplace social capital as an antecedent of occupational safety and health climate and outcomes in the Chinese education sector.

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Tang, Jessica Janice; Leka, Stavroula; Hunt, Nigel; MacLennan, Sara

2014-07-01

It is widely acknowledged that teachers are at greater risk of work-related health problems. At the same time, employee perceptions of different dimensions of organizational climate can influence their attitudes, performance, and well-being at work. This study applied and extended a safety climate model in the context of the education sector in Hong Kong. Apart from safety considerations alone, the study included occupational health considerations and social capital and tested their relationships with occupational safety and health (OSH) outcomes. Seven hundred and four Hong Kong teachers completed a range of questionnaires exploring social capital, OSH climate, OSH knowledge, OSH performance (compliance and participation), general health, and self-rated health complaints and injuries. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to analyze the relationships between predictive and outcome variables. SEM analysis revealed a high level of goodness of fit, and the hypothesized model including social capital yielded a better fit than the original model. Social capital, OSH climate, and OSH performance were determinants of both positive and negative outcome variables. In addition, social capital not only significantly predicted general health directly, but also had a predictive effect on the OSH climate-behavior-outcome relationship. This study makes a contribution to the workplace social capital and OSH climate literature by empirically assessing their relationship in the Chinese education sector.

Understanding Climate Change Perceptions, Attitudes, and Needs of Forest Service Resource Managers

Science.gov (United States)

Carlos Rodriguez-Franco; Tara J. Haan

2015-01-01

Surveys were collected to assess Forest Service (FS) resource managers' perceptions, attitudes, and informational needs related to climate change and its potential impacts on forests and grasslands. Resource managers with three background types were surveyed. All participants generally considered themselves to be well-informed on climate change issues, although...

Safety climate in OHSAS 18001-certified organisations: antecedents and consequences of safety behaviour.

Science.gov (United States)

Fernández-Muñiz, Beatriz; Montes-Peón, José Manuel; Vázquez-Ordás, Camilo José

2012-03-01

The occupational health and safety standard OHSAS 18001 has gained considerable acceptance worldwide, and firms from diverse sectors and of varying sizes have implemented it. Despite this, very few studies have analysed safety management or the safety climate in OHSAS 18001-certified organisations. The current work aims to analyse the safety climate in these organisations, identify its dimensions, and propose and test a structural equation model that will help determine the antecedents and consequences of employees' safety behaviour. For this purpose, the authors carry out an empirical study using a sample of 131 OHSAS 18001-certified organisations located in Spain. The results show that management's commitment, and particularly communication, have an effect on safety behaviour and on safety performance, employee satisfaction, and firm competitiveness. These findings are particularly important for management since they provide evidence about the factors that should be encouraged to reduce risks and improve performance in this type of organisation. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Servant leadership, procedural justice climate, service climate, employee attitudes, and organizational citizenship behavior: a cross-level investigation.

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Walumbwa, Fred O; Hartnell, Chad A; Oke, Adegoke

2010-05-01

This study tests the influence of servant leadership on 2 group climates, employee attitudes, and organizational citizenship behavior. Results from a sample of 815 employees and 123 immediate supervisors revealed that commitment to the supervisor, self-efficacy, procedural justice climate, and service climate partially mediated the relationship between servant leadership and organizational citizenship behavior. Cross-level interaction results revealed that procedural justice climate and positive service climate amplified the influence of commitment to the supervisor on organizational citizenship behavior. Implications of these results for theory and practice and directions for future research are discussed. PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved.

Behaving safely under pressure: The effects of job demands, resources, and safety climate on employee physical and psychosocial safety behavior.

Science.gov (United States)

Bronkhorst, Babette

2015-12-01

Previous research has shown that employees who experience high job demands are more inclined to show unsafe behaviors in the workplace. In this paper, we examine why some employees behave safely when faced with these demands while others do not. We add to the literature by incorporating both physical and psychosocial safety climate in the job demands and resources (JD-R) model and extending it to include physical and psychosocial variants of safety behavior. Using a sample of 6230 health care employees nested within 52 organizations, we examined the relationship between job demands and (a) resources, (b) safety climate, and (c) safety behavior. We conducted multilevel analyses to test our hypotheses. Job demands (i.e., work pressure), job resources (i.e., job autonomy, supervisor support, and co-worker support) and safety climate (both physical and psychosocial safety climate) are directly associated with, respectively, lower and higher physical and psychosocial safety behavior. We also found some evidence that safety climate buffers the negative impact of job demands (i.e., work-family conflict and job insecurity) on safety behavior and strengthens the positive impact of job resources (i.e., co-worker support) on safety behavior. Regardless of whether the focus is physical or psychological safety, our results show that strengthening the safety climate within an organization can increase employees' safety behavior. Practical implication: An organization's safety climate is an optimal target of intervention to prevent and ameliorate negative physical and psychological health and safety outcomes, especially in times of uncertainty and change. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd and National Safety Council. All rights reserved.

Characteristics of the safety climate in teams with world-class safety ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

interact to deliver a project successfully in terms of cost .... small-scale accidents occurring at high frequency and from diverse ... the team dynamics of role players in a construction project and .... modified safety pyramid to measure the impact of the safety climate ...... Methodological Centre for Vocational Education and.

[Perception of safety climate in outpatient pediatric care].

Science.gov (United States)

Baldegger, Claudia; Zeller, Adelheid

2013-02-01

In ambulant pediatric care, patients situations are becoming increasingly complex, because the lenght of hospital stay is reduced since the introduction of Diagnosis Related Groups (DRG). Consequently, the patients' safety is constantly becoming more important. The patients' safety is closely associated with the nurses' awareness of risks and the safety climate within the institution. This study is investigating how nurses of a pediatric outpatient service estimate the patients' safety and how that can be optimized, if necessary. As part of a cross-sectional study, a total of 106 nurses of the pediatric outpatient service were interviewed with a modified German version of the "Patient Safety Climate Inventory (Patientensicherheitsklima-Inventar, PaSKI)". Data was analysed by a descriptive statistical method. The return rate was 80.2 percent. The results show a very high awareness of patients' safety issues as well as a high level of satisfaction concerning team collaboration. Both results have a positive influence on the safety-climate. Problems are associated mainly with the incident reporting system, e.g. with reporting critical incidents and communicating after reporting. This indicates the importance of a useable incident reporting system, which--in combination with staff training--may be an important step towards a structured risk management. Furthermore, it clarifies the importance of transparent communication after a reported incident, as also described in the literature.

Assessing the safety attitudes questionnaire (SAQ), German language version in Swiss university hospitals - a validation study

Science.gov (United States)

2013-01-01

Background Improving patient safety has become a major focus of clinical care and research over the past two decades. An institution’s patient safety climate represents an essential component of ensuring a safe environment and thereby can be vital to the prevention of adverse events. Covering six patient safety related factors, the Safety Attitudes Questionnaire (SAQ) is a validated and widely used instrument to measure the patient safety climate in clinical areas. The objective of this study was to assess the psychometric properties of the German language version of the SAQ. Methods A survey was carried out in two University Hospitals in Switzerland in autumn 2009 where the SAQ was distributed to a sample of 406 nurses and physicians in medical and surgical wards. Following the American Educational Research Association guidelines, we tested the questionnaire validity by levels of evidence: content validity, internal structure and relations to other variables. Confirmatory factor analysis was used to examine factor structure. Cronbach’s alphas and inter-item correlations were calculated to examine internal consistency reliability. Results A total of 319 questionnaires were completed representing an overall response rate of 78.6%. For three items, the item content validity index was <0.75. Confirmatory factor analysis showed acceptable model fit (RMSEA = 0.045; CFI = 0.944) for the six-factor model. Additional exploratory factor analysis could not identify a better factor model. SAQ factor scores showed positive correlations with the Safety Organizing Scale (r = .56 - .72). The SAQ German version showed moderate to strong internal consistency reliability indices (Cronbach alpha = .65 - .83). Conclusions The German language version of the SAQ demonstrated acceptable to good psychometric properties and therefore shows promise to be a sound instrument to measure patient safety climate in Swiss hospital wards. However, the low item content validity and large number

The knowledge, attitude and behavior on the radiation safety management for dental hygiene major students

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jeon, Yeo Reong; Cho, Pyong Kon; Kim, Yong Min; Han, Eun Ok; Jang, Hyon Chul; Ko, Jong Kyung

2015-01-01

This study tries to find the educational basis based on the radiation safety knowledge, attitudes and behaviors to check the level of radiation safety behavior in domestic students who study dental hygiene. The students of 3rd and 4th grades in 83 universities which have registered on the Korean University Education Council were involved, and they were given a questionnaire for this study. The questionnaire was provided via visit with 20 copies to each university (total 1660 copies), mail by post and e-mail. Among them, we analyzed only 723 copies that we can trust. The data were analyzed with frequency, percentage, mean, standard deviation and Pearson’s correlation using the SPSS/WIN 15.0. As a result, there are correlations in the students’ knowledge, attitudes and behaviors regarding the radiation safety management. It means that the education which can improve the knowledge and attitudes should be applied to increase the action level of the radiation safety. In addition, the physical environment is the most closely correlated with the individual behavior, so it will be limited to improve the behavioral levels of the radiation safety if the physical environment is not prepared. Therefore, the physical environment should be supported to enhance the level of the radiation safety activity, and to increase the individual attitude level of radiation safety. The knowledge level of the radiation safety management is relatively lower than the attitudes level, and the behavior level is the lowest. Therefore, the education policy of the safety behavior must be enhanced. For domestic students, the educational intervention is necessary to improve their behavioral level of radiation safety management because they will be able to reduce the amount of radiation exposure of their patients in dental care after getting a job

The knowledge, attitude and behavior on the radiation safety management for dental hygiene major students

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Jeon, Yeo Reong; Cho, Pyong Kon; Kim, Yong Min [Dept. of Radiological Science, Daegu Catholic University, Daegu (Korea, Republic of); Han, Eun Ok [Korea Academy of Nuclear Safety, Seoul (Korea, Republic of); Jang, Hyon Chul [Dept. of Radiological Technology, Suseong College, Daegu (Korea, Republic of); Ko, Jong Kyung [Radiation Safety Management Commission, Daegu Health College, (Korea, Republic of)

2015-12-15

This study tries to find the educational basis based on the radiation safety knowledge, attitudes and behaviors to check the level of radiation safety behavior in domestic students who study dental hygiene. The students of 3rd and 4th grades in 83 universities which have registered on the Korean University Education Council were involved, and they were given a questionnaire for this study. The questionnaire was provided via visit with 20 copies to each university (total 1660 copies), mail by post and e-mail. Among them, we analyzed only 723 copies that we can trust. The data were analyzed with frequency, percentage, mean, standard deviation and Pearson’s correlation using the SPSS/WIN 15.0. As a result, there are correlations in the students’ knowledge, attitudes and behaviors regarding the radiation safety management. It means that the education which can improve the knowledge and attitudes should be applied to increase the action level of the radiation safety. In addition, the physical environment is the most closely correlated with the individual behavior, so it will be limited to improve the behavioral levels of the radiation safety if the physical environment is not prepared. Therefore, the physical environment should be supported to enhance the level of the radiation safety activity, and to increase the individual attitude level of radiation safety. The knowledge level of the radiation safety management is relatively lower than the attitudes level, and the behavior level is the lowest. Therefore, the education policy of the safety behavior must be enhanced. For domestic students, the educational intervention is necessary to improve their behavioral level of radiation safety management because they will be able to reduce the amount of radiation exposure of their patients in dental care after getting a job.

Safety climate in university and college laboratories: impact of organizational and individual factors.

Science.gov (United States)

Wu, Tsung-Chih; Liu, Chi-Wei; Lu, Mu-Chen

2007-01-01

Universities and colleges serve to be institutions of education excellence; however, problems in the areas of occupational safety may undermine such goals. Occupational safety must be the concern of every employee in the organization, regardless of job position. Safety climate surveys have been suggested as important tools for measuring the effectiveness and improvement direction of safety programs. Thus, this study aims to investigate the influence of organizational and individual factors on safety climate in university and college laboratories. Employees at 100 universities and colleges in Taiwan were mailed a self-administered questionnaire survey; the response rate was 78%. Multivariate analysis of variance revealed that organizational category of ownership, the presence of a safety manager and safety committee, gender, age, title, accident experience, and safety training significantly affected the climate. Among them, accident experience and safety training affected the climate with practical significance. The authors recommend that managers should address important factors affecting safety issues and then create a positive climate by enforcing continuous improvements.

Receptive Audiences for Climate Change Education: Understanding Attitudes and Barriers

Science.gov (United States)

Kelly, L. D.; Luebke, J. F.; Clayton, S.; Saunders, C. D.; Matiasek, J.; Grajal, A.

2012-12-01

Much effort has been devoted to finding ways to explain climate change to uninterested audiences and encourage mitigation behaviors among dismissive audiences. Most approaches have focused on conveying information about climate change processes or threats. Here we report the results of a national survey designed to characterize the readiness of zoo and aquarium visitors to engage with the issue of climate change. Two survey forms, one focused primarily on attitudes (N=3,594) and another on behaviors (N=3,588), were administered concurrently in summer 2011 at 15 Association of Zoos and Aquariums accredited institutions. The attitudes survey used Global Warming's Six Americas segmentation protocols (climatechangecommunication.org) to compare climate change attitudes of zoo and aquarium visitors with the American public (Leiserowitz et al., 2011). Our results reveal that visitors are receptive audiences for climate change education and want to do more to address climate change. Even these favorable audiences, however, perceive barriers to engaging in the issue, signifying the importance of meeting the learning needs of those who acknowledge anthropogenic climate change, and not only of climate change 'deniers.' While 39% of the general public is 'concerned' or 'alarmed' about global warming, 64% of zoo and aquarium visitors fall into these two "Six Americas" segments. Visitors also differ from the national sample in key attitudinal characteristics related to global warming. For example, nearly two-thirds believe human actions are related to global warming, versus less than one-half of the general public; and approximately 60% think global warming will harm them personally, moderately or a great deal, versus less than 30% of the general public. Moreover, 69% of visitors would like to do more to address climate change. Despite zoo and aquarium visitors' awareness of climate change and motivation to address it, survey results indicate they experience barriers to

Development of a measure of safety climate

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

N. R. Barnes

1990-06-01

Full Text Available A measure of safety climate was developed to aid management in identifying safety problems and responding proactively to safety issues; to assess the general mood of the workforce to safety; and as a standard for comparison with other organizations. The measure of safety climate was based on items extracted from the Chamber of Mines "Loss Control" audit manual. Reliability analysis performed on the scale indicated consistently high reliability coefficients across three ethnic groups. Factor analysis gave support for the construct validity of the scale. Opsomming 'n Meting vir veiligheidsklimaat is ontwikkel ten einde bestuur in staat te stel om veiligheidsprobleme te identifiseer en om pro-aktiefop te tree; om die algemene gevoel van die werkskragte rakende veiligheid te bepaal en om 'n maatstaf vir vergelyking met ander organisasies daar te stel. 'n Betroubaarheidssanalise wat op die skaal uitgevoer is het daarop gedui dat daar konsekwent hoe betroubaarheidskoefisiënte vir drie etniese groepe verkry word. 'n Faktoranalise het die konstrukgeldigheid van die skaal bevestig. The author acknowledges the financial assistance provided by the Human Sciences Research Council for this research.

Adolescents' Attitudes towards E-cigarette Ingredients, Safety, Addictive Properties, Social Norms, and Regulation

OpenAIRE

Gorukanti, Anuradha; Delucchi, Kevin; Ling, Pamela; Fisher-Travis, Raymond; Halpern-Felsher, Bonnie

2016-01-01

E-cigarette use has dramatically increased. While studies have examined adolescents’ attitudes towards smoking, few have extended this research to adolescents’ attitudes towards e-cigarettes. The goal of this study was to examine adolescents' attitudes regarding e-cigarette ingredients, safety, addictive properties, social norms, accessibility, price, and regulation; and determine whether attitudes differ by past cigarette/e-cigarette use. Participants were 786 9th and 12th graders from Calif...

Ethnic Disparities of Perceived Safety Climate Among Construction Workers in Georgia, 2015.

Science.gov (United States)

Welton, Michael; DeJoy, David; Castellanos, Maria Eugenia; Ebell, Mark; Shen, Ye; Robb, Sara

2017-06-22

Safety climate involves worker perception about the relative importance where they work and safety climate and has been shown to be a reliable predictor of safety-related outcomes. The primary objective of this study is to investigate ethnic differences in perceived safety climate among construction workers. Surveys (n = 179) that included a 10-item safety climate scale were administered in Athens, Georgia (GA), at local construction sites and home improvement stores during June-August, 2015. The majority of respondents were carpenters or roofers (39%), followed by laborers (22%), painters and dry wall workers (14%), other skilled trades (14%), and supervisors (11%); 32% were Hispanic. Hispanic ethnicity (p construction workers than non-Hispanics construction workers.

The effect of injection safety training on knowledge and attitude of ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Background: Studies have shown poor injection safety practices among health workers in Nigeria and this was adduced to lack of adequate training on injection safety practices. Objective: The study assessed the effect of the training intervention on the knowledge and attitude of primary healthcare workers on injection ...

Relationship between organizational justice and organizational safety climate: do fairness perceptions influence employee safety behaviour?

Science.gov (United States)

Gyekye, Seth Ayim; Haybatollahi, Mohammad

2014-01-01

This study investigated the relationships between organizational justice, organizational safety climate, job satisfaction, safety compliance and accident frequency. Ghanaian industrial workers participated in the study (N = 320). Safety climate and justice perceptions were assessed with Hayes, Parender, Smecko, et al.'s (1998) and Blader and Tyler's (2003) scales respectively. A median split was performed to dichotomize participants into 2 categories: workers with positive and workers with negative justice perceptions. Confirmatory factors analysis confirmed the 5-factor structure of the safety scale. Regression analyses and t tests indicated that workers with positive fairness perceptions had constructive perspectives regarding workplace safety, expressed greater job satisfaction, were more compliant with safety policies and registered lower accident rates. These findings provide evidence that the perceived level of fairness in an organization is closely associated with workplace safety perception and other organizational factors which are important for safety. The implications for safety research are discussed.

Climate Change Awareness and Attitudes Among Adolescents in the Czech Republic

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jan Skalík

2015-12-01

Full Text Available The distribution of climate change awareness of Czech adolescent students and their climate change related attitudes are analysed in this study. Even though the influence of accessed information on actual behaviour is usually described as rather small by most experimental studies, we argue that the effect of knowledge on specific behaviour becomes significant in a long time perspective. The main focus of the study is thus to offer a segmentation of youth in the issue of climate change related to information sources they trust and also related to the type of information on climate change – such as documents, processes, terms or numeral data. A sample of students from Masaryk University and several grammar schools from Czech Republic participated in the quantitative study focusing on their knowledge of climate change, information sources they use and proenvironmental attitudes. The survey highlighted the extremely low level of students’ knowledge. A strong tie between the amount of accessed information and evaluation of the seriousness of climate change was found. Trust in scientific evidence and effort not to rely only on one source of information does correlate with respondent awareness. Students, who understand climate change well, are often post-materialists. On the other hand, informed students do not feel greater concern and are not more globally focused than others. Although there is no clear relation between awareness and levels of consumerism, the more were the students informed, the more they feel their personal responsibility for climate change. Females are not on average better informed then males, but their feeling of personal responsibility is much higher. The study thus confirmed general expectations about unspecific awareness of climate change in the specific context and presented segmentations of the public for further social-marketing purposes.      

Improving staff perception of a safety climate with crew resource management training.

Science.gov (United States)

Kuy, SreyRam; Romero, Ramon A L

2017-06-01

Communication failure is one of the top root causes in patient safety adverse events. Crew resource management (CRM) is a team building communication process intended to improve patient safety by improving team dynamics. First, to describe implementation of CRM in a Veterans Affair (VA) surgical service. Second, to assess whether staff CRM training is related to improvement in staff perception of a safety climate. Mandatory CRM training was implemented for all surgical service staff at a VA Hospital at 0 and 12 mo. Safety climate questionnaires were completed by operating room staff at a baseline, 6 and 12 mo after the initial CRM training. Participants reported improvement on all 27 points on the safety climate questionnaire at 6 mo compared with the baseline. At 12 mo, there was sustained improvement in 23 of the 27 areas. This is the first published report about the effect of CRM training on staff perception of a safety climate in a VA surgical service. We demonstrate that CRM training can be successfully implemented widespread in a surgical program. Overall, there was improvement in 100% of areas assessed on the safety climate questionnaire at 6 mo after CRM training. By 1 y, this improvement was sustained in 23 of 27 areas, with the areas of greatest improvement being the performance of briefings, collaboration between nurses and doctors, valuing nursing input, knowledge about patient safety, and institutional promotion of a patient safety climate. Published by Elsevier Inc.

Measuring organisational-level Aboriginal cultural climate to tailor cultural safety strategies.

Science.gov (United States)

Gladman, Justin; Ryder, Courtney; Walters, Lucie K

2015-01-01

Australian medical schools have taken on a social accountability mandate to provide culturally safe contexts in order to encourage Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to engage in medical education and to ensure that present and future clinicians provide health services that contribute to improving the health outcomes of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. Many programs have sought to improve cultural safety through training at an individual level; however, it is well recognised that learners tend to internalise the patterns of behaviour to which they are commonly exposed. This project aimed to measure and reflect on the cultural climate of an Australian rural clinical school (RCS) as a whole and the collective attitudes of three different professional groups: clinicians, clinical academics and professional staff. The project then drew on Mezirow's Transformative Learning theory to design strategies to build on the cultural safety of the organisation. Clinicians, academic and professional staff at an Australian RCS were invited to participate in an online survey expressing their views on Aboriginal health using part of a previously validated tool. Survey response rate was 63%. All three groups saw Aboriginal health as a social priority. All groups recognised the fundamental role of community control in Aboriginal health; however, clinical academics were considerably more likely to disagree that the Western medical model suited the health needs of Aboriginal people. Clinicians were more likely to perceive that they treated Aboriginal patients the same as other patients. There was only weak evidence of future commitments to Aboriginal health. Importantly, clinicians, academics and professional staff demonstrated differences in their cultural safety profile which indicated the need for a tailored approach to cultural safety learning in the future. Through tailored approaches to cross-cultural training opportunities we are likely to ensure

Quality management and perceptions of teamwork and safety climate in European hospitals

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Kristensen, S.; Hammer, A.; Bartels, P.; Sunol, R.; Groene, O.; Thompson, C.A.; Arah, O.A.; Kutaj-Wasikowska, H.; Michel, P.; Wagner, C.

2015-01-01

Objective: This study aimed to investigate the associations of quality management systems with teamwork and safety climate, and to describe and compare differences in perceptions of teamwork climate and safety climate among clinical leaders and frontline clinicians. Method: We used a multi-method,

Transport company safety climate - the impact on truck driver behaviour and crash involvement

OpenAIRE

Sullman, Mark J. M.; Stephens A. N.; Pajo K.

2017-01-01

Objective: The present study investigated the relationships between safety climate and driving behavior and crash involvement. Methods: A total of 339 company-employed truck drivers completed a questionnaire that measured their perceptions of safety climate, crash record, speed choice, and aberrant driving behaviors (errors, lapses, and violations). Results: Although there was no direct relationship between the drivers' perceptions of safety climate and crash involvement, safety clima...

The Impact of Market Orientation on Patient Safety Climate Among Hospital Nurses.

Science.gov (United States)

Weng, Rhay-Hung; Chen, Jung-Chien; Pong, Li-Jung; Chen, Li-Mei; Lin, Tzu-Chi

2016-03-01

Improving market orientation and patient safety have become the key concerns of nursing management. For nurses, establishing a patient safety climate is the key to enhancing nursing quality. This study explores how market orientation affects the climate of patient safety among hospital nurses. We proposed adopting a cross-sectional research design and using questionnaires to collect responses from nurses working in two Taiwanese hospitals. Three-hundred and forty-three valid samples were obtained. Multiple regression and path analyses were conducted to test the study. Market orientation was defined as the combination of customer orientation, competitor orientation, and interfunctional coordination. Customer orientation directly affects the climate of patient safety. Although the findings only supported Hypothesis 1, competitor orientation and interfunctional coordination positively affected the patient safety climate through the mediating effects of hospital support for staff. Health care managers could encourage nurses to adopt customer-oriented perspectives to enhance their nursing care. In addition, to enhance competitor orientation, interfunctional coordination, and the patient safety climate, hospital managers could strengthen their support for staff members. © The Author(s) 2014.

Study on attitudes of students of Islamic Azad University Tehran Medical Branch toward food safety, 2016.

Science.gov (United States)

Miri, Ali; Poursadeghiyan, Mohsen; Baneshi, Mohammad Mehdi; Biglari, Hamed; Yari, Ahmad Reza; Khammar, Alireza

2017-05-01

Given the importance of high-quality healthy food for humans, contamination control is the most important concern for healthy staff. To determine the attitudes of students at Islamic Azad University (Tehran Medical Branch) toward food safety. This cross-sectional and analytic-descriptive study was conducted on 326 students of Azad University of Medical Sciences in 2016. A self-made questionnaire consisting of 40 questions was used. The reliability of the questionnaire was confirmed using internal consistency method (Cronbach's alpha coefficient of 0.80). After collecting data, we use descriptive statistical indexes (mean and standard deviation) among demographic variables and the level of knowledge to describe and analyze the data. The participants' attitudes and operation are measured by Spearman tests, and the analytical results are given using SPSS version 20. According to the findings, 55.3, 30 and 14.7 percent of students had high, moderate and low attitude scores toward food safety, respectively. In addition, male and female students had equal attitudes toward food safety, and no significant relationship between sex and attitude was observed a significant difference (p>0.05), but between educational levels (p=0.008) and ages (p=0.001) of students significance was a positive correlation. Due to the low attitudes score of about half of the students of Islamic Azad University Tehran Medical Branch toward food safety, it can be claimed, food safety training in this community is required.

The Power of Edutainment: Alliance for Climate Education's Assembly Presentation: Impact on Student Knowledge, Attitude and Behavior

Science.gov (United States)

Lappe, M. D.

2011-12-01

The Alliance for Climate Education (ACE) is a national nonprofit that delivers an in-school multi-media assembly presentation to high school students about climate science and solutions. In two years of operation, ACE has reached 870,000 students in over 1400 schools. Throughout spring 2011 and fall 2012, the Alliance for Climate Education (ACE) will survey approximately 2000 high school students in 100 classrooms at 20 schools before and after its assembly to assess impact on knowledge, attitude and behavior related to global warming and climate science. The survey instrument has been designed in partnership with experts at the Yale School of the Environment and Stanford University's Precourt Energy Center. The knowledge section of the survey queries students' factual understanding of basic climate science. The behavior section asks students about basic climate-related habits related to waste, transportation and energy consumption. The attitude section is comprised of a 15-question subset of the national survey reported in Global Warming's Six Americas. Preliminary results from approximately 200 pre and post-presentation surveys suggest that after viewing the ACE Assembly, climate friendly behaviors increase slightly; correct answers to climate knowledge questions increase by 8%; and attitudes shift away from "Disengaged, Doubtful and Dismissive" toward "Alarmed, Concerned and Cautious."

Climate Considerations in Long-Term Safety Assessments for Nuclear Waste Repositories

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Naeslund, Jens-Ove; Brandefelt, Jenny; Claesson Liljedahl, Lillemor [Svensk Kaernbraenslehantering AB, Stockholm (Sweden)], E-mail: jens-ove.naslund@skb.se

2013-05-15

For a deep geological repository for spent nuclear fuel planned in Sweden, the safety assessment covers up to 1 million years. Climate scenarios range from high-end global warming for the coming 100 000 years, through deep permafrost, to large ice sheets during glacial conditions. In contrast, in an existing repository for short-lived waste the activity decays to low levels within a few tens of thousands of years. The shorter assessment period, 100 000 years, requires more focus on climate development over the coming tens of thousands of years, including the earliest possibility for permafrost growth and freezing of the engineered system. The handling of climate and climate change in safety assessments must be tailor-made for each repository concept and waste type. However, due to the uncertain future climate development on these vast time scales, all safety assessments for nuclear waste repositories require a range of possible climate scenarios.

The Safety Attitudes of Senior Managers in the Chinese Coal Industry

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jiangshi Zhang

2016-11-01

Full Text Available Introduction: Senior managers’ attitudes towards safety are very important regarding the safety practices in an organization. The study is to describe the current situation of senior managers′ attitudes towards safety in the Chinese coal industry. Method: We evaluated the changing trends as well as the reasons for these changes in the Chinese coal industry in 2009 and in 2014 with 168 senior manager samples from large Chinese state-owned coal enterprises. Evaluations of 15 safety concepts were performed by means of a questionnaire. Results and Conclusions: Results indicate that, in 2014, three concepts were at a very high level (mean > 4.5, and six were at a relatively high level (4.5 > mean > 4.0. Analyses of changing trends revealed that nine concepts improved significantly, while four greatly declined in 2014 compared to those in 2009. The data reported here suggest that the reasons for the significant improvement with respect to the nine concepts include the improvement in social and legal environments, the improvement of the culture of social safety, workers′ safety demands being met, and scientific and technical advances in the coal industry. The decline of the four concepts seemed to be caused by a poor awareness of managers in the coal industry that safety creates economic benefits, insufficient information on safety, inadequate attention to the development of a safety culture and safety management methods, and safety organizations and workers′ unions not playing their role effectively. Practical Applications: We therefore recommend strengthening the evidence that safety creates economic benefits, providing incentives for employees to encourage their participation in safety management, and paying more attention to the prevention of accidents in coal mines via safety organizations and unions. These results can provide guidelines for workers, industrialists, and government regarding occupational safety in the whole coal industry.

The Safety Attitudes of Senior Managers in the Chinese Coal Industry.

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Jiangshi; Chen, Na; Fu, Gui; Yan, Mingwei; Kim, Young-Chan

2016-11-17

Introduction: Senior managers' attitudes towards safety are very important regarding the safety practices in an organization. The study is to describe the current situation of senior managers' attitudes towards safety in the Chinese coal industry. Method : We evaluated the changing trends as well as the reasons for these changes in the Chinese coal industry in 2009 and in 2014 with 168 senior manager samples from large Chinese state-owned coal enterprises. Evaluations of 15 safety concepts were performed by means of a questionnaire. Results and Conclusions : Results indicate that, in 2014, three concepts were at a very high level (mean > 4.5), and six were at a relatively high level (4.5 > mean > 4.0). Analyses of changing trends revealed that nine concepts improved significantly, while four greatly declined in 2014 compared to those in 2009. The data reported here suggest that the reasons for the significant improvement with respect to the nine concepts include the improvement in social and legal environments, the improvement of the culture of social safety, workers' safety demands being met, and scientific and technical advances in the coal industry. The decline of the four concepts seemed to be caused by a poor awareness of managers in the coal industry that safety creates economic benefits, insufficient information on safety, inadequate attention to the development of a safety culture and safety management methods, and safety organizations and workers' unions not playing their role effectively. Practical Applications : We therefore recommend strengthening the evidence that safety creates economic benefits, providing incentives for employees to encourage their participation in safety management, and paying more attention to the prevention of accidents in coal mines via safety organizations and unions. These results can provide guidelines for workers, industrialists, and government regarding occupational safety in the whole coal industry.

The Safety Attitudes of Senior Managers in the Chinese Coal Industry

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Jiangshi; Chen, Na; Fu, Gui; Yan, Mingwei; Kim, Young-Chan

2016-01-01

Introduction: Senior managers’ attitudes towards safety are very important regarding the safety practices in an organization. The study is to describe the current situation of senior managers′ attitudes towards safety in the Chinese coal industry. Method: We evaluated the changing trends as well as the reasons for these changes in the Chinese coal industry in 2009 and in 2014 with 168 senior manager samples from large Chinese state-owned coal enterprises. Evaluations of 15 safety concepts were performed by means of a questionnaire. Results and Conclusions: Results indicate that, in 2014, three concepts were at a very high level (mean > 4.5), and six were at a relatively high level (4.5 > mean > 4.0). Analyses of changing trends revealed that nine concepts improved significantly, while four greatly declined in 2014 compared to those in 2009. The data reported here suggest that the reasons for the significant improvement with respect to the nine concepts include the improvement in social and legal environments, the improvement of the culture of social safety, workers′ safety demands being met, and scientific and technical advances in the coal industry. The decline of the four concepts seemed to be caused by a poor awareness of managers in the coal industry that safety creates economic benefits, insufficient information on safety, inadequate attention to the development of a safety culture and safety management methods, and safety organizations and workers′ unions not playing their role effectively. Practical Applications: We therefore recommend strengthening the evidence that safety creates economic benefits, providing incentives for employees to encourage their participation in safety management, and paying more attention to the prevention of accidents in coal mines via safety organizations and unions. These results can provide guidelines for workers, industrialists, and government regarding occupational safety in the whole coal industry. PMID:27869654

Public attitudes to climate change and carbon mitigation—Implications for energy-associated behaviours

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Borgstede, Chris von; Andersson, Maria; Johnsson, Filip

2013-01-01

This work explores public opinions regarding climate change and mitigation options and examines how psychological factors, such as attitudes, norms, and willingness to pay, determine self-reported energy-efficient behaviour. The aim is to create knowledge for the design and implementation of policy measures. The results of an opinion poll conducted in 2005 and 2010 are compared. The number of respondents favouring new technologies as a way to reduce emissions was substantially lower in 2010 than in 2005, whereas there was an increase in the number of people who acknowledged that lifestyle changes are necessary to counteract climate changes. This indicates an increased awareness among the public of the need for lifestyle changes, which could facilitate implementation of policies promoting environmental behaviour. Renewable energy and energy saving measures were ranked as the top two measures for mitigating climate change in both polls. In determining which energy behaviours of the public are determined by psychological factors, an analysis of the 2010 survey revealed that respondents with pro-environmental attitudes towards global warming favour significantly increased use of renewable energy technologies and greater engagement in energy-efficient behaviours. - Highlights: ► Public opinion place priority to environmental issues and beliefs to change current lifestyle. ► A decline in favoring new technologies as a way to reduce emissions in 2010 compare to 2005 poll. ► Environmental attitudes relate to favor of renewable energy technologies. ► Environmental attitudes relate to households energy efficient behaviour

Changing Minds about the Changing Climate: a Longitudinal Study of the Impacts of a Climate Change Curriculum on Undergraduate Student Knowledge and Attitudes.

Science.gov (United States)

Burkholder, K. C.; Mooney, S.

2016-12-01

In the fall of 2013, 24 sophomore students enrolled in a three-course Learning Community entitled "The Ethics and Science of Climate Change." This learning community was comprised of two disciplinary courses in environmental ethics and environmental science as well as a seminar course in which the students designed and delivered climate change education events in the community beyond campus. Students were surveyed prior to and upon completion of the semester using a variant of the Yale Climate Literacy Survey in order to assess their knowledge of and attitudes towards climate change. An analysis of those survey results demonstrated that the non-traditional curriculum resulted in significant improvements that extended beyond disciplinary knowledge of climate change: the student attitudes about climate change and our cultural response to the issues associated with climate change shifted as well. Finally, a third administration of the survey (n=17) plus follow up interviews with 10 of those original students conducted during the students' senior year in 2016 suggest that the changes that the students underwent as sophomores were largely retained.

A structural equation modelling approach examining the pathways between safety climate, behaviour performance and workplace slipping

Science.gov (United States)

Swedler, David I; Verma, Santosh K; Huang, Yueng-Hsiang; Lombardi, David A; Chang, Wen-Ruey; Brennan, Melayne; Courtney, Theodore K

2015-01-01

Objective Safety climate has previously been associated with increasing safe workplace behaviours and decreasing occupational injuries. This study seeks to understand the structural relationship between employees’ perceptions of safety climate, performing a safety behaviour (ie, wearing slip-resistant shoes) and risk of slipping in the setting of limited-service restaurants. Methods At baseline, we surveyed 349 employees at 30 restaurants for their perceptions of their safety training and management commitment to safety as well as demographic data. Safety performance was identified as wearing slip-resistant shoes, as measured by direct observation by the study team. We then prospectively collected participants’ hours worked and number of slips weekly for the next 12 weeks. Using a confirmatory factor analysis, we modelled safety climate as a higher order factor composed of previously identified training and management commitment factors. Results The 349 study participants experienced 1075 slips during the 12-week follow-up. Confirmatory factor analysis supported modelling safety climate as a higher order factor composed of safety training and management commitment. In a structural equation model, safety climate indirectly affected prospective risk of slipping through safety performance, but no direct relationship between safety climate and slips was evident. Conclusions Results suggest that safety climate can reduce workplace slips through performance of a safety behaviour as well as suggesting a potential causal mechanism through which safety climate can reduce workplace injuries. Safety climate can be modelled as a higher order factor composed of safety training and management commitment. PMID:25710968

Climate considerations in long-term safety assessments for nuclear waste repositories.

Science.gov (United States)

Näslund, Jens-Ove; Brandefelt, Jenny; Liljedahl, Lillemor Claesson

2013-05-01

For a deep geological repository for spent nuclear fuel planned in Sweden, the safety assessment covers up to 1 million years. Climate scenarios range from high-end global warming for the coming 100 000 years, through deep permafrost, to large ice sheets during glacial conditions. In contrast, in an existing repository for short-lived waste the activity decays to low levels within a few tens of thousands of years. The shorter assessment period, 100 000 years, requires more focus on climate development over the coming tens of thousands of years, including the earliest possibility for permafrost growth and freezing of the engineered system. The handling of climate and climate change in safety assessments must be tailor-made for each repository concept and waste type. However, due to the uncertain future climate development on these vast time scales, all safety assessments for nuclear waste repositories require a range of possible climate scenarios.

Development and validation of a new safety climate scale for petrochemical industries.

Science.gov (United States)

Jafari, Mohammad Javad; Eskandari, Davood; Valipour, Firouz; Mehrabi, Yadollah; Charkhand, Hossein; Mirghotbi, Mostafa

2017-01-01

While a considerable body of research has studied safety climate and its role as a leading indicator of organizational safety, much of this work has been conducted with Western manufacturing samples. The current study puts emphasis on the cross-validation of a safety climate model in the non-Western industrial context of Iranian petrochemical industries. The current study was performed in one petrochemical company in Iran. The scale was developed through conducting a literature review followed by a qualitative study with expert participation. After performing a screening process, the initial number of items on the scale was reduced to 68. Ten dimensions (including management commitment, workers' empowerment, communication, blame culture, safety training, job satisfaction, interpersonal relationship, supervision, continuous improvement, and reward system) together with 37 items were extracted from the exploratory factor analysis (EFA) to measure safety climate. Acceptable ranges of internal consistency statistics for the sub-scales were observed. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) confirmed the construct validity of the developed safety climate scale for the petrochemical industry workers. The results of reliability showed that the Cronbach's alpha coefficient for the designed scale was 0.94. The ICC was obtained 0.92. This study created a valid and reliable scale for measuring safety climate in petrochemical industries.

Making workplaces safer: The influence of organisational climate and individual differences on safety behaviour

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Michelle Ann Toppazzini

2017-06-01

Full Text Available Current work health and safety practices focus predominately on fostering a safety climate to promote safety behaviours and reduce workplace accidents. Despite the importance of safety climates in accident prevention, recent research has demonstrated that individual factors can also predict work safety behaviour. This study considered the importance of organisational climate together with individual characteristics including differences in personality, impulsiveness, and perceptions of safety within the workplace on safety behaviour. 203 participants consisting of 67 males and 136 females aged 18 to 71 years, completed an online questionnaire. Results revealed that safety behaviour was directly related to safety climate, and conscientiousness. In contrast, neuroticism, and impulsiveness were not significantly related to safety behaviour. The present study findings support previous findings in the literature regarding the importance of safety climate as well as the personality trait of conscientiousness in applying safety behaviours. However, the present study findings did not support previous research in relation to the personality trait of high neuroticism resulting in decreased safety behaviour, nor did not confirm an inverse relationship between high impulsivity and low safety behaviour as theoretical models would suggest. This new finding may warrant further research into the precursors for safety behaviour. Keywords: Psychology, Sociology, Industry

Work Safety Climate, Musculoskeletal Discomfort, Working While Injured, and Depression Among Migrant Farmworkers in North Carolina

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O’Hara, Heather; Grzywacz, Joseph G.; Isom, Scott; Chen, Haiying; Quandt, Sara A.

2012-01-01

Objectives. This analysis described Latino migrant farmworkers’ work safety climate and its association with musculoskeletal discomfort, working while injured or ill, and depressive symptoms. Methods. Data were from a cross-sectional survey of 300 farmworkers conducted in North Carolina in 2009. Generalized estimating equations models were used to investigate the association of work safety climate with health and safety outcomes. Results. Farmworkers perceived their work safety climate to be poor. About 40% had elevated musculoskeletal discomfort, 5.0% had worked at least 1 day while injured or ill, and 27.9% had elevated depressive symptoms. The odds of elevated musculoskeletal discomfort were 12% lower and the odds of working while injured or ill were 15% lower with each 1-unit increase in the work safety climate. Work safety climate was not associated with depressive symptoms. Conclusions. Work safety climate was important for agricultural workers. Poor work safety climate was associated with health outcomes (musculoskeletal discomfort) and safety (working while injured or ill). Interventions to improve work safety climate in agriculture are needed, with these interventions being directed to employers and workers. PMID:22401520

Effect of national cultural values on safety climate, and safety management system

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ali, T.H.; Memon, N.A.

2008-01-01

This paper investigates the critical role played by the national culture in influencing how workers safely or otherwise behave (mainly in risky situations) on construction sites, and how site managers implement safety management processes and practices. The paper presents the findings of an empirical research study based on a questionnaire survey, administered in Pakistan, targeting construction site managers and workers to gauge the effect national culture has on managers preferences for and perceptions of safety management systems (policies and practices) and than linking this effect to predict workers attitudes and intentional behaviors. (author)

A systematic review of the safety climate intervention literature: Past trends and future directions.

Science.gov (United States)

Lee, Jin; Huang, Yueng-Hsiang; Cheung, Janelle H; Chen, Zhuo; Shaw, William S

2018-04-26

Safety climate represents the meaningfulness of safety and how safety is valued in an organization. The contributions of safety climate to organizational safety have been well documented. There is a dearth of empirical research, however, on specific safety climate interventions and their effectiveness. The present study aims at examining the trend of safety climate interventions and offering compiled information for designing and implementing evidence-based safety climate interventions. Our literature search yielded 384 titles that were inspected by three examiners. Using a stepwise process that allowed for assessment of interobserver agreement, 19 full articles were selected and reviewed. Results showed that 10 out of the 19 articles (52.6%) were based on a quasi-experimental pre- and postintervention design, whereas 42.1% (n = 8) studies were based on a mixed-design approach (including both between- and within-subject design). All interventions in these 19 studies involved either safety-/health-related communication or education/training. Improvement of safety leadership was also a common component of safety climate interventions. According to the socio-technical systems classification of intervention strategies, all studies were categorized as interventions focusing on improving organizational and managerial structure as well as the personnel subsystem; four of them also aimed at improving technological aspects of work, and five of them aimed at improving the physical work subsystem. In general, a vast majority of the studies (89.5%, n = 17) showed a statistically significant improvement in safety climate across their organizations postintervention. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved).

Family climate for road safety: a new concept and measure.

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Taubman-Ben-Ari, Orit; Katz-Ben-Ami, Liat

2013-05-01

This research adapted the workplace concept of safety climate to the domain of safe driving, defining a new construct of "family climate for road safety". Four studies were conducted in Israel with the aim of developing and validating a multidimensional instrument to assess this construct among young drivers. Study 1 (n=632) focused on developing the Family Climate for Road Safety Scale (FCRSS), a self-report scale assessing the family climate by means of seven aspects of the parent-child relationship: Modeling, Feedback, Communication, Monitoring, Noncommitment, Messages, and Limits. Significant differences were found between young men and women on all factors. In addition, significant associations were found between the FCRSS factors on the one hand, and the reported frequency of risky driving and personal commitment to safety on the other. Studies 2-4 confirmed the factorial structure of the FCRSS and the reliability of its factors, adding to its criterion and convergent validity. Study 2 (n=178) yielded significant associations between the scale and young drivers' perception of their parents as involved, encouraging autonomy, and providing warmth; Study 3 (n=117) revealed significant associations between the scale and youngsters' reported proneness to take risks while driving, as well as significant associations between the factors and various dimensions of family functioning; and Study 4 (n=156) found associations between the FCRSS factors and both driving styles (risky, angry, anxious, careful) and family cohesion and adaptability. The discussion deals with the validity and utility of the concept of family climate for road safety and its measurement, addressing the practical implications for road safety. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Patient safety climate strength: a concept that requires more attention

Science.gov (United States)

Ginsburg, Liane; Gilin Oore, Debra

2016-01-01

Background When patient safety climate (PSC) surveys are used in healthcare, reporting typically focuses on PSC level (mean or per cent positive scores). This paper explores how an additional focus on PSC strength can enhance the utility of PSC survey data. Setting and participants 442 care providers from 24 emergency departments (EDs) across Canada. Methods We use anonymised data from the Can-PSCS PSC instrument collected in 2011 as part of the Qmentum accreditation programme. We examine differences in climate strength across EDs using the Rwg(j) and intraclass correlation coefficients measures of inter-rater agreement. Results Across the six survey dimensions, median Rwg(j) was sufficiently high to support shared climate perceptions (0.64–0.83), but varied widely across the 24 ED units. We provide an illustrative example showing vastly different climate strength (Rwg(j) range=0.17–0.86) for units with an equivalent level of PSC (eg, climate mean score=3). Conclusions Most PSC survey results focus solely on climate level. To facilitate improvement in PSC, we advocate a simple, holistic safety climate profile including three metrics: climate level (using mean or per cent positive climate scores), climate strength (using the Rwg(j), or SD as a proxy) and the shape of the distribution (using histograms to see the distribution of scores within units). In PSC research, we advocate paying attention to climate strength as an important variable in its own right. Focusing on PSC level and strength can further understanding of the extent to which PSC is a key variable in the domain of patient safety. PMID:26453636

A structural equation modelling approach examining the pathways between safety climate, behaviour performance and workplace slipping.

Science.gov (United States)

Swedler, David I; Verma, Santosh K; Huang, Yueng-Hsiang; Lombardi, David A; Chang, Wen-Ruey; Brennan, Melayne; Courtney, Theodore K

2015-07-01

Safety climate has previously been associated with increasing safe workplace behaviours and decreasing occupational injuries. This study seeks to understand the structural relationship between employees' perceptions of safety climate, performing a safety behaviour (ie, wearing slip-resistant shoes) and risk of slipping in the setting of limited-service restaurants. At baseline, we surveyed 349 employees at 30 restaurants for their perceptions of their safety training and management commitment to safety as well as demographic data. Safety performance was identified as wearing slip-resistant shoes, as measured by direct observation by the study team. We then prospectively collected participants' hours worked and number of slips weekly for the next 12 weeks. Using a confirmatory factor analysis, we modelled safety climate as a higher order factor composed of previously identified training and management commitment factors. The 349 study participants experienced 1075 slips during the 12-week follow-up. Confirmatory factor analysis supported modelling safety climate as a higher order factor composed of safety training and management commitment. In a structural equation model, safety climate indirectly affected prospective risk of slipping through safety performance, but no direct relationship between safety climate and slips was evident. Results suggest that safety climate can reduce workplace slips through performance of a safety behaviour as well as suggesting a potential causal mechanism through which safety climate can reduce workplace injuries. Safety climate can be modelled as a higher order factor composed of safety training and management commitment. Published by the BMJ Publishing Group Limited. For permission to use (where not already granted under a licence) please go to http://group.bmj.com/group/rights-licensing/permissions.

Impact of individual resilience and safety climate on safety performance and psychological stress of construction workers: A case study of the Ontario construction industry.

Science.gov (United States)

Chen, Yuting; McCabe, Brenda; Hyatt, Douglas

2017-06-01

The construction industry has hit a plateau in terms of safety performance. Safety climate is regarded as a leading indicator of safety performance; however, relatively little safety climate research has been done in the Canadian construction industry. Safety climate may be geographically sensitive, thus it is necessary to examine how the construct of safety climate is defined and used to improve safety performance in different regions. On the other hand, more and more attention has been paid to job related stress in the construction industry. Previous research proposed that individual resilience may be associated with a better safety performance and may help employees manage stress. Unfortunately, few empirical research studies have examined this hypothesis. This paper aims to examine the role of safety climate and individual resilience in safety performance and job stress in the Canadian construction industry. The research was based on 837 surveys collected in Ontario between June 2015 and June 2016. Structural equation modeling (SEM) techniques were used to explore the impact of individual resilience and safety climate on physical safety outcomes and on psychological stress among construction workers. The results show that safety climate not only affected construction workers' safety performance but also indirectly affected their psychological stress. In addition, it was found that individual resilience had a direct negative impact on psychological stress but had no impact on physical safety outcomes. These findings highlight the roles of both organizational and individual factors in individual safety performance and in psychological well-being. Construction organizations need to not only monitor employees' safety performance, but also to assess their employees' psychological well-being. Promoting a positive safety climate together with developing training programs focusing on improving employees' psychological health - especially post-trauma psychological

Improving safety climate and behavior through a multifaceted intervention : Results from a field experiment

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Bronkhorst, B.A.C.; Tummers, L.G.|info:eu-repo/dai/nl/341028274; Steijn, B.

Interventions aimed at increasing priority for employee safety could lead to better safety climate and safety behavior of employees. However, current studies reporting on safety climate interventions lack diversity in contexts and settings, they focus mainly on supervisors and do not take into

Improving safety climate and behavior through a multifaceted intervention: Results from a field experiment

NARCIS (Netherlands)

B.A.C. Bronkhorst (Babette); L.G. Tummers (Lars); A.J. Steijn (Bram)

2017-01-01

textabstractInterventions aimed at increasing priority for employee safety could lead to better safety climate and safety behavior of employees. However, current studies reporting on safety climate interventions lack diversity in contexts and settings, they focus mainly on supervisors and do not

[Attitudes towards patient safety culture in a hospital setting and related variables].

Science.gov (United States)

Mir-Abellán, Ramon; Falcó-Pegueroles, Anna; de la Puente-Martorell, María Luisa

To describe attitudes towards patient safety culture among workers in a hospital setting and determine the influence of socio-demographic and professional variables. The Hospital Survey on Patient Safety Culture was distributed among a sample of professionals and nursing assistants. A dimension was considered a strength if positive responses exceeded 75% and an opportunity for improvement if more than 50% of responses were negative. 59% (n=123) of respondents rated safety between 7 and 8. 53% (n=103) stated that they had not used the notification system to report any incidents in the previous twelve months. The strength identified was "teamwork in the unit/service" and the opportunity for improvement was "staffing". A more positive attitude was observed in outpatient services and among nursing professionals and part-time staff. This study has allowed us to determine the rating of the hospital in patient safety culture. This is vital for developing improvement strategies. Copyright © 2016 SESPAS. Publicado por Elsevier España, S.L.U. All rights reserved.

Organizational climate configurations: relationships to collective attitudes, customer satisfaction, and financial performance.

Science.gov (United States)

Schulte, Mathis; Ostroff, Cheri; Shmulyian, Svetlana; Kinicki, Angelo

2009-05-01

Research on organizational climate has tended to focus on independent dimensions of climate rather than studying the total social context as configurations of multiple climate dimensions. The authors examined relationships between configurations of unit-level climate dimensions and organizational outcomes. Three profile characteristics represented climate configurations: (1) elevation, or the mean score across climate dimensions; (2) variability, or the extent to which scores across dimensions vary; and (3) shape, or the pattern of the dimensions. Across 2 studies (1,120 employees in 120 bank branches and 4,317 employees in 86 food distribution stores), results indicated that elevation was related to collective employee attitudes and service perceptions, while shape was related to customer satisfaction and financial performance. With respect to profile variability, results were mixed. The discussion focuses on future directions for taking a configural approach to organizational climate. (c) 2009 APA, all rights reserved.

Attitudes of teenagers towards workplace safety training.

Science.gov (United States)

Zierold, Kristina M; Welsh, Erin C; McGeeney, Teresa J

2012-12-01

More than 70 % of teenagers are employed before graduating high school. Every 10 min, in the United States, a young worker is injured on the job. Safety training has been suggested as a way to prevent injuries, yet little is known about the methods of safety training and the effectiveness of training that teens receive at work. This study is the first to assess the attitudes teens hold towards safety training and what they believe would help them stay safe on the job. In 2010, focus groups and interviews were conducted with 42 teens from public high schools in Jefferson County, Kentucky. Participating teens were aged 15-19 years old, 43 % male, 69 % African-American, and 56 % worked either in the restaurant/food industry or in retail jobs. Most teens reported receiving safety training. Although the majority believed that safety training was important, many felt that they personally did not need safety training; that it was "common sense." However, 52 % of teens reported workplace injuries. Many viewed injury lightly and as part of the job, even those that sustained severe injuries. Most teens were trained by methods that seem at best "boring" and at worst, ineffective. Little interaction, action, or repetition is used. Training is not geared towards teens' developmental levels or interest, as in most cases all workers received the same type of training. Safety training may be a powerful way to reduce injury rates among working teenagers, but it is essential that training methods which are geared towards teens are utilized.

Adaption and validation of the Safety Attitudes Questionnaire for the Danish hospital setting

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kristensen S

2015-02-01

Full Text Available Solvejg Kristensen,1–3 Svend Sabroe,4 Paul Bartels,1,5 Jan Mainz,3,5 Karl Bang Christensen6 1The Danish Clinical Registries, Aarhus, Denmark; 2Department of Health Science and Technology, Aalborg University, Aalborg, Denmark; 3Aalborg University Hospital, Psychiatry, Aalborg, Denmark; 4Department of Public Health, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark; 5Department of Clinical Medicine, Aalborg University, Aalborg, Denmark; 6Department of Biostatistics, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark Purpose: Measuring and developing a safe culture in health care is a focus point in creating highly reliable organizations being successful in avoiding patient safety incidents where these could normally be expected. Questionnaires can be used to capture a snapshot of an employee's perceptions of patient safety culture. A commonly used instrument to measure safety climate is the Safety Attitudes Questionnaire (SAQ. The purpose of this study was to adapt the SAQ for use in Danish hospitals, assess its construct validity and reliability, and present benchmark data.Materials and methods: The SAQ was translated and adapted for the Danish setting (SAQ-DK. The SAQ-DK was distributed to 1,263 staff members from 31 in- and outpatient units (clinical areas across five somatic and one psychiatric hospitals through meeting administration, hand delivery, and mailing. Construct validity and reliability were tested in a cross-sectional study. Goodness-of-fit indices from confirmatory factor analysis were reported along with inter-item correlations, Cronbach's alpha (α, and item and subscale scores.Results: Participation was 73.2% (N=925 of invited health care workers. Goodness-of-fit indices from the confirmatory factor analysis showed: c2=1496.76, P<0.001, CFI 0.901, RMSEA (90%CI 0.053 (0.050-0056, Probability RMSEA (p close=0.057. Inter-scale correlations between the factors showed moderate-to-high correlations. The scale stress recognition had significant

Job characteristics and safety climate: the role of effort-reward and demand-control-support models.

Science.gov (United States)

Phipps, Denham L; Malley, Christine; Ashcroft, Darren M

2012-07-01

While safety climate is widely recognized as a key influence on organizational safety, there remain questions about the nature of its antecedents. One potential influence on safety climate is job characteristics (that is, psychosocial features of the work environment). This study investigated the relationship between two job characteristics models--demand-control-support (Karasek & Theorell, 1990) and effort-reward imbalance (Siegrist, 1996)--and safety climate. A survey was conducted with a random sample of 860 British retail pharmacists, using the job contents questionnaire (JCQ), effort-reward imbalance indicator (ERI) and a measure of safety climate in pharmacies. Multivariate data analyses found that: (a) both models contributed to the prediction of safety climate ratings, with the demand-control-support model making the largest contribution; (b) there were some interactions between demand, control and support from the JCQ in the prediction of safety climate scores. The latter finding suggests the presence of "active learning" with respect to safety improvement in high demand, high control settings. The findings provide further insight into the ways in which job characteristics relate to safety, both individually and at an aggregated level.

Knowledge, attitude and practice of aspects of laboratory safety in ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Result: Gross deficiencies were found in the knowledge, attitudes and practice of laboratory safety by laboratory staff in areas of use of personal protective equipment, specimen collection and processing, centrifuge – related hazards, infective hazards waste disposal and provision and use of First Aid Kits. Conclusion: ...

Crash risk and aberrant driving behaviors among bus drivers: the role of personality and attitudes towards traffic safety.

Science.gov (United States)

Mallia, Luca; Lazuras, Lambros; Violani, Cristiano; Lucidi, Fabio

2015-06-01

Several studies have shown that personality traits and attitudes toward traffic safety predict aberrant driving behaviors and crash involvement. However, this process has not been adequately investigated in professional drivers, such as bus drivers. The present study used a personality-attitudes model to assess whether personality traits predicted aberrant self-reported driving behaviors (driving violations, lapses, and errors) both directly and indirectly, through the effects of attitudes towards traffic safety in a large sample of bus drivers. Additionally, the relationship between aberrant self-reported driving behaviors and crash risk was also assessed. Three hundred and one bus drivers (mean age=39.1, SD=10.7 years) completed a structured and anonymous questionnaire measuring personality traits, attitudes toward traffic safety, self-reported aberrant driving behaviors (i.e., errors, lapses, and traffic violations), and accident risk in the last 12 months. Structural equation modeling analysis revealed that personality traits were associated to aberrant driving behaviors both directly and indirectly. In particular altruism, excitement seeking, and normlessness directly predicted bus drivers' attitudes toward traffic safety which, in turn, were negatively associated with the three types of self-reported aberrant driving behaviors. Personality traits relevant to emotionality directly predicted bus drivers' aberrant driving behaviors, without any mediation of attitudes. Finally, only self-reported violations were related to bus drivers' accident risk. The present findings suggest that the hypothesized personality-attitudes model accounts for aberrant driving behaviors in bus drivers, and provide the empirical basis for evidence-based road safety interventions in the context of public transport. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Systematic impact of institutional pressures on safety climate in the construction industry.

Science.gov (United States)

He, Qinghua; Dong, Shuang; Rose, Timothy; Li, Heng; Yin, Qin; Cao, Dongping

2016-08-01

This paper explores how three types of institutional pressure (i.e., coercive, mimetic and normative pressures) systematically impact on the safety climate of construction projects. These impacts are empirically tested by survey data collected from 186 questionnaires of construction companies operating in Shanghai, China. The results, obtained by partial least squares analysis, show that organizational management commitment to safety and employee involvement is positively related to all three institutional pressures, while the perception of responsibility for safety and health is significantly influenced by coercive and mimetic pressure. However, coercive and normative pressures have no significant effect on the applicability of safety rules and work practices, revealing the importance of external organizational pressures in improving project safety climate from a systematic view. The findings also provide insights into the use of institutional forces to facilitate the improvement of safety climate in the construction industry. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Using the Job Demands-Resources model to investigate risk perception, safety climate and job satisfaction in safety critical organizations.

Science.gov (United States)

Nielsen, Morten Birkeland; Mearns, Kathryn; Matthiesen, Stig Berge; Eid, Jarle

2011-10-01

Using the Job Demands-Resources model (JD-R) as a theoretical framework, this study investigated the relationship between risk perception as a job demand and psychological safety climate as a job resource with regard to job satisfaction in safety critical organizations. In line with the JD-R model, it was hypothesized that high levels of risk perception is related to low job satisfaction and that a positive perception of safety climate is related to high job satisfaction. In addition, it was hypothesized that safety climate moderates the relationship between risk perception and job satisfaction. Using a sample of Norwegian offshore workers (N = 986), all three hypotheses were supported. In summary, workers who perceived high levels of risk reported lower levels of job satisfaction, whereas this effect diminished when workers perceived their safety climate as positive. Follow-up analyses revealed that this interaction was dependent on the type of risks in question. The results of this study supports the JD-R model, and provides further evidence for relationships between safety-related concepts and work-related outcomes indicating that organizations should not only develop and implement sound safety procedures to reduce the effects of risks and hazards on workers, but can also enhance other areas of organizational life through a focus on safety. © 2011 The Authors. Scandinavian Journal of Psychology © 2011 The Scandinavian Psychological Associations.

The effects of Crew Resource Management (CRM) training on flight attendants' safety attitudes.

Science.gov (United States)

Ford, Jane; Henderson, Robert; O'Hare, David

2014-02-01

A number of well-known incidents and accidents had led the aviation industry to introduce Crew Resource Management (CRM) training designed specifically for flight attendants, and joint (pilot and flight attendant) CRM training as a way to improve teamwork and communication. The development of these new CRM training programs during the 1990s highlighted the growing need for programs to be evaluated using research tools that had been validated for the flight attendant population. The FSAQ (Flight Safety Attitudes Questionnaire-Flight Attendants) was designed specifically to obtain safety attitude data from flight attendants working for an Asia-Pacific airline. Flight attendants volunteered to participate in a study before receiving CRM training (N=563) and again (N=526) after CRM training. Almost half (13) of the items from the 36-item FSAQ showed highly significant changes following CRM training. Years of experience, crew position, seniority, leadership roles, flight attendant crew size, and length of route flown were all predictive of safety attitudes. CRM training for flight attendants is a valuable tool for increasing positive teamwork behaviors between the flight attendant and pilot sub-groups. Joint training sessions, where flight attendants and pilots work together to find solutions to in-flight emergency scenarios, provide a particularly useful strategy in breaking down communication barriers between the two sub-groups. Copyright © 2013 National Safety Council and Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Organizational injury rate underreporting: the moderating effect of organizational safety climate.

Science.gov (United States)

Probst, Tahira M; Brubaker, Ty L; Barsotti, Anthony

2008-09-01

The goals of this study were (a) to assess the extent to which construction industry workplace injuries and illness are underreported, and (b) to determine whether safety climate predicts the extent of such underreporting. Data from 1,390 employees of 38 companies contracted to work at a large construction site in the northwestern United States were collected to assess the safety climate of the companies. Data from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) logs kept by the contractors allowed for calculation of each company's OSHA recordable injury rate (i.e., the reported injury rate), whereas medical claims data from an Owner-Controlled Insurance Program provided the actual experienced rate of injuries for those same companies. While the annual injury rate reported to OSHA was 3.11 injuries per 100 workers, the rate of eligible injuries that were not reported to OSHA was 10.90 injuries per 100 employees. Further, organizations with a poor safety climate had significantly higher rates of underreporting (81% of eligible injuries unreported) compared with organizations with a positive safety climate (47% of eligible injuries unreported). Implications for organizations and the accuracy of the Bureau of Labor Statistics's national occupational injury and illness surveillance system are discussed.

Perceived safety climate, job demands, and coworker support among union and nonunion injured construction workers.

Science.gov (United States)

Gillen, Marion; Baltz, Davis; Gassel, Margy; Kirsch, Luz; Vaccaro, Diane

2002-01-01

This study evaluated injured construction workers' perceptions of workplace safety climate, psychological job demands, decision latitude, and coworker support, and the relationship of these variables to the injury severity sustained by the workers. Injury severity was assessed using the Health Assessment Questionnaire (HAQ), which evaluates functional limitations. Worker perceptions of workplace variables were determined by two instruments: (a) the Safety Climate Measure for Construction Sites and (b) the Job Content Questionnaire (JCQ). The overall model explained 23% of the variance in injury severity, with unique contributions provided by union status, the Safety Climate Score, and Psychological Job Demands. A positive significant correlation was found between injury severity and the Safety Climate Scores (r = .183, P = .003), and between the Safety Climate Scores and union status (r = .225, P safety climate on 5 of the 10 safety climate items. Union workers were more likely than nonunion workers to: (a) perceive their supervisors as caring about their safety; (b) be made aware of dangerous work practices; (c) have received safety instructions when hired; (d) have regular job safety meetings; and (e) perceive that taking risks was not a part of their job. However, with regard to the 49-item JCQ, which includes Coworker Support, the responses between union and nonunion workers were very similar, indicating an overall high degree of job satisfaction. However, workers who experienced their workplace as more safe also perceived the level of management (r = -.55, P demands, need to be identified.

Examining the temporal relationship between psychological climate, work attitude, and staff turnover

Science.gov (United States)

Garner, Bryan R.; Hunter, Brooke D.

2012-01-01

Relative to the broader industrial-organizational (I-O) psychology field, research on the turnover of substance use disorder (SUD) treatment staff is in its infancy. Despite its long and rich history, recent reviews of the turnover literature within I-O psychology have noted there remains considerable room for improvement. In particular, recommendations have been made for research that considers time in the turnover process and explores more distal causes of staff turnover. Addressing these gaps, this paper examined the temporal relationship between latent measures of psychological climate, work attitude, and staff turnover. Using data from 95 SUD treatment staff clustered within 29 treatment organizations, multilevel discrete-time survival analyses revealed that a latent measure of work attitude (e.g., job satisfaction, pay satisfaction, turnover intentions) fully mediated the temporal relationship between latent measures of psychological climate (e.g., supervisor support, coworker support, role conflict) and subsequent staff turnover. PMID:22658290

Gender effects in young road users on road safety attitudes, behaviours and risk perception

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Pierluigi Cordellieri

2016-09-01

Full Text Available In the present study, we investigated gender-related effects on road safety attitudesin 2,681 young drivers (1,458 males, 54.4%; aged 18-22 who filled out several scales assessing attitudes towards road safety issues, driving behaviour in specific hypothetical situations, accident risk perception, and concerns about such a risk. We focused only on young drivers to better understand the role of gender in road safety attitudes in a period of life in which risky behaviours are widespread for males and females. Indeed, there is still no agreement as to the nature of these gender differences. According to some authors, the effects of gender on being involved in a crash due to driving skills are either non-existent or largely explained by differences in alcohol consumption. In our study, we found gender differences in road safety attitudes (i.e., negative attitude toward traffic rules and risky driving; negative attitude towards drugs and alcohol and tolerance toward speeding and in driver behaviour (i.e., errors in inattentive driving and driving violations. This result is consistent in all drivers coming from nine different European countries. Our analyses yielded an important finding concerning risk perception. The results indicate that the level of risk perception during driving is the same for males and females. However, these two groups differ in the level of concern about this risk, with males being less concerned about the risk of a road accident. This suggests that the main difference between these two groups is not strictly related to judgment of the perceived risk probability but rather to the level of concern experienced about the consequences of the risk. This difference between risk perception and worry could explain differences in the frequency of car accidents in the two groups. The present findings may provide new insights for the development of gender-based prevention programs.

Physician attitudes towards pharmacological cognitive enhancement: safety concerns are paramount.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Opeyemi C Banjo

2010-12-01

Full Text Available The ethical dimensions of pharmacological cognitive enhancement have been widely discussed in academic circles and the popular media, but missing from the conversation have been the perspectives of physicians - key decision makers in the adoption of new technologies into medical practice. We queried primary care physicians in major urban centers in Canada and the United States with the aim of understanding their attitudes towards cognitive enhancement. Our primary hypothesis was that physicians would be more comfortable prescribing cognitive enhancers to older patients than to young adults. Physicians were presented with a hypothetical pharmaceutical cognitive enhancer that had been approved by the regulatory authorities for use in healthy adults, and was characterized as being safe, effective, and without significant adverse side effects. Respondents overwhelmingly reported increasing comfort with prescribing cognitive enhancers as the patient age increased from 25 to 65. When asked about their comfort with prescribing extant drugs that might be considered enhancements (sildenafil, modafinil, and methylphenidate or our hypothetical cognitive enhancer to a normal, healthy 40 year old, physicians were more comfortable prescribing sildenafil than any of the other three agents. When queried as to the reasons they answered as they did, the most prominent concerns physicians expressed were issues of safety that were not offset by the benefit afforded the individual, even in the face of explicit safety claims. Moreover, many physicians indicated that they viewed safety claims with considerable skepticism. It has become routine for safety to be raised and summarily dismissed as an issue in the debate over pharmacological cognitive enhancement; the observation that physicians were so skeptical in the face of explicit safety claims suggests that such a conclusion may be premature. Thus, physician attitudes suggest that greater weight be placed upon the

FACOTRS TO DETERMINE RISK PERCEPTION OF CLIMATE CHANGE, AND ATTITUDE TOWARD ADAPTATION POLICY OF THE PUBLIC

Science.gov (United States)

Baba, Kenshi; Sugimoto, Takuya; Kubota, Hiromi; Hijioka, Yasuaki; Tanaka, Mitsuru

This study clarifies the factors to determine risk perception of climate change and attitudes toward adaptation policy by analyzing the data collecting from Internet survey to the general public. The results indicate the followings: 1) more than 70% people perceive some sort of risk of climate change, and most people are awaken to wind and flood damage. 2) most people recognize that mitigation policy is much more important than adaptation policy, whereas most people assume to accept adaptation policy as self-reponsibility, 3) the significant factors to determinane risk perception of climate chage and attitude towerd adaptation policy are cognition of benefits on the policy and procedural justice in the policy process in addion to demographics such as gender, experience of disaster, intension of inhabitant.

Consensus achievement of leadership, organisational and individual factors that influence safety climate: Implications for nursing management.

Science.gov (United States)

Fischer, Shelly A; Jones, Jacqueline; Verran, Joyce A

2018-01-01

To validate a framework of factors that influence the relationship of transformational leadership and safety climate, and to enable testing of safety chain factors by generating hypotheses regarding their mediating and moderating effects. Understanding the patient safety chain and mechanisms by which leaders affect a strong climate of safety is essential to transformational leadership practice, education, and research. A systematic review of leadership and safety literature was used to develop an organising framework of factors proposed to influence the climate of safety. A panel of 25 international experts in leadership and safety engaged a three-round modified Delphi study with Likert-scored surveys. Eighty per cent of participating experts from six countries were retained to the final survey round. Consensus (>66% agreement) was achieved on 40 factors believed to influence safety climate in the acute care setting. Consensus regarding specific factors that play important roles in an organisation's climate of safety can be reached. Generally, the demonstration of leadership commitment to safety is key to cultivating a culture of patient safety. Transformational nurse leaders should consider and employ all three categories of factors in daily leadership activities and decision-making to drive a strong climate of patient safety. © 2017 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Does safety climate moderate the influence of staffing adequacy and work conditions on nurse injuries?

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Mark, Barbara A; Hughes, Linda C; Belyea, Michael; Chang, Yunkyung; Hofmann, David; Jones, Cheryl B; Bacon, Cynthia T

2007-01-01

Hospital nurses have one of the highest work-related injury rates in the United States. Yet, approaches to improving employee safety have generally focused on attempts to modify individual behavior through enforced compliance with safety rules and mandatory participation in safety training. We examined a theoretical model that investigated the impact on nurse injuries (back injuries and needlesticks) of critical structural variables (staffing adequacy, work engagement, and work conditions) and further tested whether safety climate moderated these effects. A longitudinal, non-experimental, organizational study, conducted in 281 medical-surgical units in 143 general acute care hospitals in the United States. Work engagement and work conditions were positively related to safety climate, but not directly to nurse back injuries or needlesticks. Safety climate moderated the relationship between work engagement and needlesticks, while safety climate moderated the effect of work conditions on both needlesticks and back injuries, although in unexpected ways. DISCUSSION AND IMPACT ON INDUSTRY: Our findings suggest that positive work engagement and work conditions contribute to enhanced safety climate and can reduce nurse injuries.

A cross-sectional study to assess the patient safety culture in the Palestinian hospitals: a baseline assessment for quality improvement.

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Elsous, Aymen; Akbari Sari, Ali; Rashidian, Arash; Aljeesh, Yousef; Radwan, Mahmoud; AbuZaydeh, Hatem

2016-12-01

To measure and establish a baseline assessment of the patient safety culture in the Palestinian hospitals. A cross-sectional descriptive study using the Arabic version of the Safety Attitude Questionnaire (Short Form 2006). A total of 339 nurses and physicians returned the questionnaire out of 370 achieving a response rate of 91.6%. Four public general hospitals in the Gaza Strip, Palestine. Nurses and physicians were randomly selected using a proportionate random sampling. Data analysis performed using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences software version 20, and p value less than 0.05 was statistically significant. Current status of patient safety culture among healthcare providers and percentage of positive attitudes. Male to female ratio was 2.16:1, and mean age was 36.5 ± 9.4 years. The mean score of Arabic Safety Attitude Questionnaire across the six dimensions on 100-point scale ranged between 68.5 for Job Satisfaction and 48.5 for Working Condition. The percentage of respondents holding a positive attitude was 34.5% for Teamwork Climate, 28.4% for Safety Climate, 40.7% for Stress Recognition, 48.8% for Job Satisfaction, 11.3% for Working Conditions and 42.8% for Perception of Management. Healthcare workers holding positive attitudes had better collaboration with co-workers than those without positive attitudes. Findings are useful to formulate a policy on patient safety culture and targeted a specific safety culture dimension to improve the safety of patients and improve the clinical outcomes within healthcare organisations.

Enhancing the Safety Climate and Reducing Violence Against Staff in Closed Hospital Wards.

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Isaak, Valerie; Vashdi, Dana; Bar-Noy, Dor; Kostisky, Hava; Hirschmann, Shmuel; Grinshpoon, Alexander

2017-09-01

This study examined the effectiveness of an intervention program to enhance unit safety climate and minimize employee risk of injury from patient violence. The intervention program, including a 3-day workshop, was offered to personnel on maximum security units of an Israeli psychiatric hospital. Safety climate was examined before and after the implementation of the intervention, and incidents of patient violence were investigated. Six months after the intervention, a significant improvement in employees' perceptions of management's commitment to safety as well as a marginally significant improvement in communication about safety issues were found. This study demonstrated that an intervention program to enhance safety climate was associated with a decrease in the number of aggressive incidents. The researchers concluded that this intervention program is likely to return a sense of safety to workers and reduce workplace violence.

Factors Influencing Arab Nursing Students' Attitudes toward Climate Change and Environmental Sustainability and their Inclusion in Nursing Curricula.

Science.gov (United States)

Cruz, Jonas Preposi; Felicilda-Reynaldo, Rhea Faye D; Alshammari, Farhan; Alquwez, Nahed; Alicante, Jerico G; Obaid, Khamees B; Rady, Hanan Ebrahim Abd El Aziz; Qtait, Mohammad; Silang, John Paul Ben T

2018-05-17

To assess the factors influencing the attitudes of Bachelor of Science in Nursing students toward climate change and environmental sustainability and the inclusion of these concepts in the nursing curricula of four Arab countries. A convenience sample of 1,059 students from four Arab countries was surveyed using the Environmental Sustainability Attitudes in Nursing Survey-2 (SANS-2) questionnaire in this descriptive-comparative study. The majority of the respondents exhibited positive attitudes toward the five items of SANS-2, with "Environmental sustainability is an important issue for nursing" receiving the lowest mean score and "Issues about climate change should be included in the nursing curriculum" receiving the highest mean score. Saudi students had more positive attitudes toward environmental sustainability in health care compared with students from Iraq, Egypt, and the Palestinian Territories. Country of residence, type of community, and knowledge about environmental issues and their impact on health in any nursing course were significant factors that influenced attitudes toward environmental sustainability. The inclusion of climate change and environmental sustainability in nursing curricula in the Arab region was emphasized by the findings. Including environmental sustainability practices in nursing education will help student nurses develop critical thinking and skills in the adaptive delivery of health care, especially when resources are scarce. © 2018 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Development and validation of safety climate scales for mobile remote workers using utility/electrical workers as exemplar.

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Huang, Yueng-Hsiang; Zohar, Dov; Robertson, Michelle M; Garabet, Angela; Murphy, Lauren A; Lee, Jin

2013-10-01

The objective of this study was to develop and test the reliability and validity of a new scale designed for measuring safety climate among mobile remote workers, using utility/electrical workers as exemplar. The new scale employs perceived safety priority as the metric of safety climate and a multi-level framework, separating the measurement of organization- and group-level safety climate items into two sub-scales. The question of the emergence of shared perceptions among remote workers was also examined. For the initial survey development, several items were adopted from a generic safety climate scale and new industry-specific items were generated based on an extensive literature review, expert judgment, 15-day field observations, and 38 in-depth individual interviews with subject matter experts (i.e., utility industry electrical workers, trainers and supervisors of electrical workers). The items were revised after 45 cognitive interviews and a pre-test with 139 additional utility/electrical workers. The revised scale was subsequently implemented with a total of 2421 workers at two large US electric utility companies (1560 participants for the pilot company and 861 for the second company). Both exploratory (EFA) and confirmatory factor analyses (CFA) were adopted to finalize the items and to ensure construct validity. Reliability of the scale was tested based on Cronbach's α. Homogeneity tests examined whether utility/electrical workers' safety climate perceptions were shared within the same supervisor group. This was followed by an analysis of the criterion-related validity, which linked the safety climate scores to self-reports of safety behavior and injury outcomes (i.e., recordable incidents, missing days due to work-related injuries, vehicle accidents, and near misses). Six dimensions (Safety pro-activity, General training, Trucks and equipment, Field orientation, Financial Investment, and Schedule flexibility) with 29 items were extracted from the EFA to

Safety in the c-suite: How chief executive officers influence organizational safety climate and employee injuries.

Science.gov (United States)

Tucker, Sean; Ogunfowora, Babatunde; Ehr, Dayle

2016-09-01

According to social learning theory, powerful and high status individuals can significantly influence the behaviors of others. In this paper, we propose that chief executive officers (CEOs) indirectly impact frontline injuries through the collective social learning experiences and effort of different groups of organizational actors-including members of the top management team (TMT), organizational supervisors, and frontline employees. We found support for our collective social learning model using data from 2,714 frontline employees, 1,398 supervisors, and 229 members of TMTs in 54 organizations. TMT members' experiences within a CEO-driven TMT safety climate was positively related to organizational supervisors' reports of the broader organizational safety climate and their subsequent collective support for safety (reported by frontline employees). In turn, supervisory support for safety was associated with fewer employee injuries at the individual level. We discuss the theoretical and practical implications of these findings for workplace safety research and practice. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved).

Ninth Graders and Climate Change: Attitudes towards Consequences, Views on Mitigation, and Predictors of Willingness to Act

Science.gov (United States)

Hermans, Mikaela; Korhonen, Johan

2017-01-01

The aim of this study is to examine Finnish ninth graders' attitudes towards the consequences of climate change, their views on climate change mitigation and the impact of a set of selected predictors on their willingness to act in climate change mitigation. Students (N = 549) from 11 secondary schools participated in the questionnaire-based…

The effect of family climate on risky driving of young novices: the moderating role of attitude and locus of control.

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Carpentier, Aline; Brijs, Kris; Declercq, Katrien; Brijs, Tom; Daniels, Stijn; Wets, Geert

2014-12-01

The aim of the study was to examine the relative importance of young novice drivers' family climate on their driving behavior. A sample of young novice drivers (N=171) between the age of 17 and 24, who held their permanent (or temporary) driver's license for no longer than one year, participated. The questionnaire included items related to the participants' family climate, 3 socio-cognitive determinants (i.e., attitude, locus of control and social norm), and risky driving behaviors. We expected both family climate and the socio-cognitive determinants to exert a direct effect on risky driving. Furthermore we hypothesized that the socio-cognitive determinants would moderate the impact of family climate on risky driving. The results showed that the effect of family climate on risky driving only originated from one single factor (i.e., noncommitment). Besides that, the results confirmed the importance of the three socio-cognitive determinants to the degree that attitude, locus of control, and social norm significantly predicted the self-reported risky driving. In line of what we hypothesized, attitude moderated the relationship between noncommitment and risky driving. Lastly, we found an unexpected three-way interaction which indicated that locus of control moderated the relation between noncommitment and risky driving only when young drivers' attitude was risk-supportive. We recommend scholars and practitioners to take into account the interaction between external sources of influence (such as an individual's family climate) and more personally oriented dispositions (such as an individual's attitude, social norm and locus of control) when trying to explain and change young novices' risky driving. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Psychosocial safety climate moderates the job demand-resource interaction in predicting workgroup distress.

Science.gov (United States)

Dollard, Maureen F; Tuckey, Michelle R; Dormann, Christian

2012-03-01

Psychosocial safety climate (PSC) arises from workplace policies, practices, and procedures for the protection of worker psychological health and safety that are largely driven by management. Many work stress theories are based on the fundamental interaction hypothesis - that a high level of job demands (D) will lead to psychological distress and that this relationship will be offset when there are high job resources (R). However we proposed that this interaction really depends on the organizational context; in particular high levels of psychosocial safety climate will enable the safe utilization of resources to reduce demands. The study sample consisted of police constables from 23 police units (stations) with longitudinal survey responses at two time points separated by 14 months (Time 1, N=319, Time 2, N=139). We used hierarchical linear modeling to assess the effect of the proposed three-way interaction term (PSC×D×R) on change in workgroup distress variance over time. Specifically we confirmed the interaction between emotional demands and emotional resources (assessed at the individual level), in the context of unit psychosocial safety climate (aggregated individual data). As predicted, high emotional resources moderated the positive relationship between emotional demands and change in workgroup distress but only when there were high levels of unit psychosocial safety climate. Results were confirmed using a split-sample analysis. Results support psychosocial safety climate as a property of the organization and a target for higher order controls for reducing work stress. The 'right' climate enables resources to do their job. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Relationship between knowledge, attitude, behavior, and self-efficacy on the radiation safety on dental hygienist

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Han, Eun Ok; Jun, Sung Hee

2008-01-01

The objective of this study is to draw an educational plant for reducing the probability of troubles caused by radiation for dental hygienists who are the major applicants of radiation equipments used in dental offices. This study investigated the knowledge and self-efficacy, which is the major variable that affects the attitude and behavior, on the radiation safety that is an educational approach. Also, this study obtained following results from a survey for 25 days from June 15, 2008 that was applied for 225 dental hygienists worked at dental offices and clinics in the area of Youngnam in order to verify the relationship between such variables. The average scores for the knowledge, attitude, and behavior were 54.28±16.33, 87.93±9.75, and 59.85±14.76, respectively. Also, the average score of the self-efficacy was 72.88±8.60. In the knowledge level for the radiation safety, ‘a case that prepares personal dosimeters’, ‘a case that establishes protection facilities’, ‘a case that presents 6⁓10 dental hygienists’, ‘a case that presents radiological technologists’, and ‘a case that is a general hospital’ represented high values. In the attitude level for the radiation safety, ‘a case who is a married person’, ‘a case that prepares personal dosimeters’, and ‘a case that is a general hospital’ showed high values. In the behavior level for the radiation safety, ‘a case that shows a career in dental hygienist or radiographic for 6⁓10 years’, ‘a case that attends radiation safety education’, ‘a case that establishes protection facilities’ showed high values. Also, in the self-efficacy level, ‘a case that who has a high education level more than graduate school education’ and ‘a case that establishes protection facilities’ represented high values. In the relationship between the knowledge, attitude, behavior, and self-efficacy for the radiation safety, it showed statistically significant differences in this

Relationship between knowledge, attitude, behavior, and self-efficacy on the radiation safety on dental hygienist

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Han, Eun Ok; Jun, Sung Hee [Daegu Health College, Daegu (Korea, Republic of)

2008-11-15

The objective of this study is to draw an educational plant for reducing the probability of troubles caused by radiation for dental hygienists who are the major applicants of radiation equipments used in dental offices. This study investigated the knowledge and self-efficacy, which is the major variable that affects the attitude and behavior, on the radiation safety that is an educational approach. Also, this study obtained following results from a survey for 25 days from June 15, 2008 that was applied for 225 dental hygienists worked at dental offices and clinics in the area of Youngnam in order to verify the relationship between such variables. The average scores for the knowledge, attitude, and behavior were 54.28±16.33, 87.93±9.75, and 59.85±14.76, respectively. Also, the average score of the self-efficacy was 72.88±8.60. In the knowledge level for the radiation safety, ‘a case that prepares personal dosimeters’, ‘a case that establishes protection facilities’, ‘a case that presents 6⁓10 dental hygienists’, ‘a case that presents radiological technologists’, and ‘a case that is a general hospital’ represented high values. In the attitude level for the radiation safety, ‘a case who is a married person’, ‘a case that prepares personal dosimeters’, and ‘a case that is a general hospital’ showed high values. In the behavior level for the radiation safety, ‘a case that shows a career in dental hygienist or radiographic for 6⁓10 years’, ‘a case that attends radiation safety education’, ‘a case that establishes protection facilities’ showed high values. Also, in the self-efficacy level, ‘a case that who has a high education level more than graduate school education’ and ‘a case that establishes protection facilities’ represented high values. In the relationship between the knowledge, attitude, behavior, and self-efficacy for the radiation safety, it showed statistically significant differences in this

Applying importance-performance analysis to patient safety culture.

Science.gov (United States)

Lee, Yii-Ching; Wu, Hsin-Hung; Hsieh, Wan-Lin; Weng, Shao-Jen; Hsieh, Liang-Po; Huang, Chih-Hsuan

2015-01-01

The Sexton et al.'s (2006) safety attitudes questionnaire (SAQ) has been widely used to assess staff's attitudes towards patient safety in healthcare organizations. However, to date there have been few studies that discuss the perceptions of patient safety both from hospital staff and upper management. The purpose of this paper is to improve and to develop better strategies regarding patient safety in healthcare organizations. The Chinese version of SAQ based on the Taiwan Joint Commission on Hospital Accreditation is used to evaluate the perceptions of hospital staff. The current study then lies in applying importance-performance analysis technique to identify the major strengths and weaknesses of the safety culture. The results show that teamwork climate, safety climate, job satisfaction, stress recognition and working conditions are major strengths and should be maintained in order to provide a better patient safety culture. On the contrary, perceptions of management and hospital handoffs and transitions are important weaknesses and should be improved immediately. Research limitations/implications - The research is restricted in generalizability. The assessment of hospital staff in patient safety culture is physicians and registered nurses. It would be interesting to further evaluate other staff's (e.g. technicians, pharmacists and others) opinions regarding patient safety culture in the hospital. Few studies have clearly evaluated the perceptions of healthcare organization management regarding patient safety culture. Healthcare managers enable to take more effective actions to improve the level of patient safety by investigating key characteristics (either strengths or weaknesses) that healthcare organizations should focus on.

Exploring the relationship between quality of management and safety climate in a large scale Danish cross‐sectional study

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Sønderstrup-Andersen, Hans H. K.; Carlsen, Kathrine; Kines, Pete

2011-01-01

. In addition, we consider the impact of age, gender, education, job type and seniority as well as company size and industrial sector on the rating of safety climate. Predictors of safety climate ratings are analysed by use of multiple regression analysis. Our results show that the leadership style measured...... and transformational leadership and safety climate, and to explore how safety climate is affected by a number of socio-demographic factors and within different industries and company sizes. The analyses are based on data from a recent Danish work environment cross-sectional study including 3681 employees from a wide...... range of industries and who report that safety climate is relevant for their job. We use two safety climate items, (one regarding management safety empowerment; one regarding co-workers’ safety priority), one question about transactional leadership and two scales concerning transformational leadership...

Worker health and safety and climate change in the Americas: issues and research needs

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Max Kiefer

Full Text Available SYNOPSIS This report summarizes and discusses current knowledge on the impact that climate change can have on occupational safety and health (OSH, with a particular focus on the Americas. Worker safety and health issues are presented on topics related to specific stressors (e.g., temperature extremes, climate associated impacts (e.g., ice melt in the Arctic, and a health condition associated with climate change (chronic kidney disease of non-traditional etiology. The article discusses research needs, including hazards, surveillance, and risk assessment activities to better characterize and understand how OSH may be associated with climate change events. Also discussed are the actions that OSH professionals can take to ensure worker health and safety in the face of climate change.

Worksite health and safety climate: scale development and effects of a health promotion intervention.

Science.gov (United States)

Basen-Engquist, K; Hudmon, K S; Tripp, M; Chamberlain, R

1998-01-01

Environmental influences on health and health behavior have an important place in research on worksite health promotion. We tested the validity and internal consistency of a new measure of organizational health and safety climate that was used in a large randomized trial of a worksite cancer prevention program (the Working Well Trial). The resulting scales then were applied to assess intervention effects. This study uses data from a subset of 40 worksites in the Working Well Trial. Employees at 20 natural gas pipeline worksite and 20 rural electrical cooperatives completed a cross-sectional questionnaire at baseline and 3-year follow-up. A factor analysis of this self-report instrument produced a two-factor solution. The resulting health and safety climate scales had good internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha = 0.74 and 0.82, respectively) and concurrent validity. The health climate scale was correlated more highly with organizational measures that were indicative of a supportive health climate than those indicating supportive safety climate, while the reverse was true of the safety climate scale. Changes in health climate were associated with the number of smoking and smokeless tobacco programs offered at the worksites at the time of the 3-year follow-up (r = 0.46 and 0.42, respectively). The scales were not correlated with most employee health behaviors. The health climate scores increased at intervention worksites, compared with scores at control worksites (F[1,36] = 7.57, P = 0.009). The health and safety climate scales developed for this study provide useful instruments for measuring organizational change related to worksite health promotion activities. The Working Well Intervention resulted in a significant improvement in worksite health climate.

The relationships between safety climate, teamwork, and intent to stay at work among Jordanian hospital nurses.

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Abualrub, Raeda F; Gharaibeh, Huda F; Bashayreh, Alaa Eddin I

2012-01-01

The purpose of the present study is to examine the relationships among safety climate, teamwork, and intent to stay at work as perceived by Jordanian hospital nurses. A descriptive correlational design was used to investigate these relationships among a convenience sample of 381 hospital nurses. Data were collected through a self-administered questionnaire that included the Safety Climate and Teamwork Scale and the McCain's Intent to Stay Scale. Descriptive statistics, Pearson correlation, analysis of variance, and hierarchical regression analysis were used to analyze the data. The findings showed (a) a strong positive correlation between safety climate and teamwork; and (b) moderate positive correlations between safety climate and intent to stay at work, and between teamwork and intent to stay at work. Moreover, the overall model of hierarchical regression showed that 45% of the variation in the level of intent to stay at work was explained by background variables, leadership styles, decision-making styles, and safety climate. The findings emphasized the positive effect of safety climate and teamwork on the level of nurses' intent to stay. Nurse administrators should design and implement strategies that create a culture of safety climate and teamwork in their organizations. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Food safety knowledge, attitude and practices of meat handler in abattoir and retail meat shops of Jigjiga Town, Ethiopia.

Science.gov (United States)

Tegegne, H A; Phyo, H W W

2017-12-01

A cross-sectional survey was carried out among 91 meat handlers by using structured questionnaire to determine the food safety knowledge, attitude and practices in abattoir and retail meat shops of Jigjiga Town. The result shows that majority of the meat handlers were illiterate (30.8%) and primary school leaver (52.7%), and no one went through any food safety training except one meat inspector. The food-handlers' knowledge and safety practices were below acceptable level with the mean score of 13.12 ± 2.33 and 7.7 ± 2.1 respectively. Only few respondents knew about Staphylococcus aureus (3.3% correct answer), hepatitis A virus (19.8% correct answer), and E. coli (5.5% correct answer) as food borne pathogens. About 64% of meat handlers have good attitude about safety of food with mean of total score 14.4 ± 2. All respondents answer correctly questions about proper meat handling and hand washing but they did not translate into strict food hygiene practices. Chi2 analysis testing for the association between knowledge, attitude and practices did not show any significant association. It may be due to meat handlers' below acceptable level safety practices regardless of sociodemographic characteristics, knowledge and attitude. However, there was strong association between level of education and knowledge, and knowledge and hand washing (p practices through better understanding and positive attitude.

Beyond safety outcomes: An investigation of the impact of safety climate on job satisfaction, employee engagement and turnover using social exchange theory as the theoretical framework.

Science.gov (United States)

Huang, Yueng-Hsiang; Lee, Jin; McFadden, Anna C; Murphy, Lauren A; Robertson, Michelle M; Cheung, Janelle H; Zohar, Dov

2016-07-01

Safety climate, a measure of the degree to which safety is perceived by employees to be a priority in their company, is often implicated as a key factor in the promotion of injury-reducing behavior and safe work environments. Using social exchange theory as a theoretical basis, this study hypothesized that safety climate would be related to employees' job satisfaction, engagement, and turnover rate, highlighting the beneficial effects of safety climate beyond typical safety outcomes. Survey data were collected from 6207 truck drivers from two U.S. trucking companies. The objective turnover rate was collected one year after the survey data collection. Results showed that employees' safety climate perceptions were linked to employees' level of job satisfaction, engagement, and objective turnover rate, thus supporting the application of social exchange theory. Job satisfaction was also a significant mediator between safety climate and the two human resource outcomes (i.e., employee engagement and turnover rate). This study is among the first to assess the impact of safety climate beyond safety outcomes among lone workers (using truck drivers as an exemplar). Copyright © 2016 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

North American Engineering, Procurement, Fabrication and Construction Worker Safety Climate Perception Affected by Job Position

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Clint Pinion

2018-04-01

Full Text Available Understanding and implementing the results of Safety Climate surveys can assist in decreasing occupational injuries and illnesses. The following article presents findings of a cross-sectional study that assessed the relationship between safety climate perceptions and job position among engineering, procurement, fabrication and construction (EPFC employees using a 15-item survey. Descriptive statistics (means and frequencies and an ANACOVA (analysis of covariance were performed on a saturated model. The study had a 62% response rate. Results indicate a statistically significant in mean safety climate scores between job position among EPFC employees when controlling for years in industry and location type (i.e., construction versus fabrication [F (9, 603 = 5.28, p < 0.0001, adjusted R-square = 0.07]. Employee perception of safety climate differed based on the employee’s job position (i.e., laborer, foreman, etc.. Project management reported the highest safety climate scores (0.91, followed by supervisors (0.86, technical support employees and foremen (0.84 and laborers (0.81.

Examination of the relationship between management and clinician perception of patient safety climate and patient satisfaction.

Science.gov (United States)

Mazurenko, Olena; Richter, Jason; Kazley, Abby Swanson; Ford, Eric

2017-04-25

The aim of this study was to explore the relationship between managers and clinicians' agreement on deeming the patient safety climate as high or low and the patients' satisfaction with those organizations. We used two secondary data sets: the Hospital Survey on Patient Safety Culture (2012) and the Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (2012). We used ordinary least squares regressions to analyze the relationship between the extent of agreement between managers and clinicians' perceptions of safety climate in relationship to patient satisfaction. The dependent variables were four Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems patient satisfaction scores: communication with nurses, communication with doctors, communication about medicines, and discharge information. The main independent variables were four groups that were formed based on the extent of managers and clinicians' agreement on four patient safety climate domains: communication openness, feedback and communication about errors, teamwork within units, and teamwork across units. After controlling for hospital and market-level characteristics, we found that patient satisfaction was significantly higher if managers and clinicians reported that patient safety climate is high or if only clinicians perceived the climate as high. Specifically, manager and clinician agreement on high levels of communication openness (β = 2.25, p = .01; β = 2.46, p = .05), feedback and communication about errors (β = 3.0, p = .001; β = 2.89, p = .01), and teamwork across units (β = 2.91, p = .001; β = 3.34, p = .01) was positively and significantly associated with patient satisfaction with discharge information and communication about medication. In addition, more favorable perceptions about patient safety climate by clinicians only yielded similar findings. Organizations should measure and examine patient safety climate from multiple perspectives and be aware that individuals

Climate change and changing attitudes. Effect of negative emotion on information processing

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Meijnders, A.L.

1998-12-17

Chapter 2 describes our first study of the relations between negative emotion, information processing, and attitudes within the field of environmental communication. This study examined how the level of fear with regard to climate change influenced the processing of information about energy-efficient lighting. The consequences for the relations between attitudes, intentions, and behaviour were also assessed. A moderate fear level merely seemed to have an effect on attitudes by stimulating systematic information processing. Provided that strong arguments were presented this resulted in more favourable attitudes. Although there were indications that a high fear level also increased systematic information processing, this effect seemed to be dominated by a direct positive effect on attitudes. Though the relation between attitudes and behavioural intentions was fairly strong regardless of fear level, actual behaviour could only be reliably predicted from behavioural intentions when the level of fear was high. Chapter 3 describes a study aimed at replicating the findings of the first study. In addition this study took into account the effect of pre-existing differences in concern about climate change. The consequences for attitude stability were also examined. Again some indications were found that a moderate fear level increased systematic processing. Regarding the effect of level of pre-existing concern, we mainly found a direct positive effect on attitudes. No evidence was found that the level of fear or concern through stimulating systematic processing resulted in more persistent attitudes. Chapter 4 describes a study examining the effects of induced fear level and the level of pre-existing concern on the processing of information about the implementation of a European energy tax. No evidence was found that the induced fear level influenced,the elaboration of this information. However, the level of pre-existing concern did appear to have an impact: Elaboration was

Thrill and adventure seeking in risky driving at work: The moderating role of safety climate.

Science.gov (United States)

Wishart, Darren; Somoray, Klaire; Evenhuis, Amanda

2017-12-01

Introduction Within many industrialized countries, the leading cause of worker fatalities and serious injuries can be attributed to road trauma. In non-occupational research, high levels of sensation seeking personality, and specifically thrill and adventure seeking, have been associated with risky driving behaviors. In work driving literature, high organizational safety climate has been associated with reduced risky driving in work drivers. However, the extent that factors such as safety climate and thrill seeking interact in regard to work driving safety remains unclear, and the current research examined this interaction. Methods A total of 1,011 work drivers from four organizations participated in the research. Surveys were distributed online and hardcopies were sent via mail. The survey included measures of thrill and adventure seeking, safety climate and work-related driving behaviors, as well as questions relating to participant demographics and information about their work driving. Results The results demonstrated that safety climate significantly moderated the effect of thrill and adventure seeking trait on driving errors, driving violations, and driving while fatigued. Conclusion These results suggest that the development of a strong safety climate has the potential to improve work driving safety outcomes by reducing the impact of particular personality traits such as thrill seeking within an organizational context. Practical application To improve work driving safety, organizations and management need to develop strategies to encourage and foster positive work driving safety climate, particularly within work settings that may attract thrill and adventure seeking employees. Copyright © 2017. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Poor safety climate, long work hours, and musculoskeletal discomfort among Latino horse farm workers.

Science.gov (United States)

Swanberg, Jennifer; Clouser, Jessica Miller; Gan, Wenqi; Flunker, John C; Westneat, Susan; Browning, Steven R

2017-09-03

This study investigated the prevalence of self-reported musculoskeletal discomfort (MSD) and work-related factors associated with elevated MSD among Latino thoroughbred farm workers. Participants (N = 225) were recruited using a community-based purposive sampling approach to participate in in-person interviews. Of these workers, 85% experienced MSD. MSD was divided into tertiles; the upper tertile was defined as elevated. Multivariable Poisson regression revealed associations between any elevated MSD and longer tenure on horse farms, longer work hours, and poor safety climate. Elevated neck/back MSD was associated with longer tenure, longer work hours, and poor safety climate. Elevated upper extremity MSD was associated with age and poor safety climate. Elevated lower extremity MSD was associated with longer tenure, longer work hours, and being female. Musculoskeletal discomfort is common among these workers. Improving safety climate and minimizing long work hours is recommended.

Smallholder farmers’ attitudes and determinants of adaptation to climate risks in East Africa

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Shikuku, Kelvin M.; Winowiecki, Leigh; Twyman, Jennifer; Eitzinger, Anton; Perez, Juan G.; Mwongera, Caroline; Läderach, Peter

2017-01-01

Adapting to climate risks is central to the goal of increasing food security and enhancing resilience of farming systems in East Africa. We examined farmers’ attitudes and assessed determinants of adaptation using data from a random sample of 500 households in Borana, Ethiopia; Nyando, Kenya;

School Climate: An Essential Component of a Comprehensive School Safety Plan

Science.gov (United States)

Stark, Heidi

2017-01-01

The intentional assessment and management of school climate is an essential component of a comprehensive school safety plan. The value of this preventive aspect of school safety is often diminished as schools invest resources in physical security measures as a narrowly focused effort to increase school safety (Addington, 2009). This dissertation…

Measurement of worker perceptions of trust and safety climate in managers and supervisors at commercial grain elevators.

Science.gov (United States)

Mosher, G A; Keren, N; Freeman, S A; Hurburgh, C R

2013-04-01

The safety climate of an agricultural workplace may be affected by several things, including the level of trust that workers have in their work group supervisor and organizational management. Safety climate has been used by previous safety researchers as a measure of worker perceptions of the relative importance of safety as compared with other operational goals. Trust has been linked to several positive safety outcomes, particularly in hazardous work environments, but has not been examined relative to safety climate in the perennially hazardous work environment of a commercial grain elevator. In this study, 177 workers at three Midwest grain elevator companies completed online surveys measuring their perceptions of trust and safety at two administrative levels: organizational management and work group supervisors. Positive and significant relationships were noted between trust and safety climate perceptions for organizational managers and for work group supervisors. Results from this research suggest that worker trust in organizational management and work group supervisors has a positive influence on the employees' perceptions of safety climate at the organizational and work group levels in an agricultural workplace.

THE INFLUENCE OF MEDIA EXPOSURE, SAFETY AND HEALTH CONCERNS, AND SELF-EFFICACY ON ENVIRONMENTAL ATTITUDES TOWARDS ELECTRONIC GREEN PRODUCTS

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Iman Khalid A. Qader

2011-07-01

Full Text Available As the high-tech industry evolves at a rapid pace, vast amounts of hazardous materials are used in fuelling its global expansion. These rapid changes in production processes are significantly depleting natural resources. With the surge of popular interest and awareness pertaining to environmental issues, organisations may be in peril if consumers' attitudes towards their products are ignored. This study intends to understand consumers' environmental attitudes towards electronic green products and to identify the effect of three factors, namely, media exposure, safety and health concerns, and self- efficacy, on this attitude. Data were collected via a self-administered questionnaire among 170 respondents in a public university. The results of the study indicated that safety and health concerns as well as self-efficacy had significant positive impacts on consumers' environmental attitudes. Surprisingly, however, media exposure did not exhibit any significant influence on consumers' environmental attitude. It is recommended that campaign and awareness projects focus on safety and health issues. Additionally, media should play a more active role in increasing environmental awareness among consumers.

Climate change and safety at work with ionizing radiations.

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Contessa, Gian Marco; Grandi, Carlo; Scognamiglio, Mario; Genovese, Elisabetta; Sandri, Sandro

2016-01-01

The accident at Tokyo Electric Power Company's (TEPCO's) Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant (NPP) has been one of the dominant topic in nuclear safety and it has brought new attention on the matter of accidents in NPPs due to external events related to natural causes. Climate change has risen new risks and the growing probability of extreme external events has increased exposure and vulnerability of workers in the nuclear sector. However extreme natural events are a threat not only to NPPs but to all facilities dealing with radioactive material and in an emergency scenario they can affect the effectiveness and implementation of safety devices and procedures and also prevent communications, causing delays in the readiness of response. It is clear that adaptation strategies are necessary to cope with emerging changes in climate and a new nuclear safety culture is growing, that addresses accidents initiated not only by internal but also by external events.

The association between EMS workplace safety culture and safety outcomes.

Science.gov (United States)

Weaver, Matthew D; Wang, Henry E; Fairbanks, Rollin J; Patterson, Daniel

2012-01-01

Prior studies have highlighted wide variation in emergency medical services (EMS) workplace safety culture across agencies. To determine the association between EMS workplace safety culture scores and patient or provider safety outcomes. We administered a cross-sectional survey to EMS workers affiliated with a convenience sample of agencies. We recruited these agencies from a national EMS management organization. We used the EMS Safety Attitudes Questionnaire (EMS-SAQ) to measure workplace safety culture and the EMS Safety Inventory (EMS-SI), a tool developed to capture self-reported safety outcomes from EMS workers. The EMS-SAQ provides reliable and valid measures of six domains: safety climate, teamwork climate, perceptions of management, working conditions, stress recognition, and job satisfaction. A panel of medical directors, emergency medical technicians and paramedics, and occupational epidemiologists developed the EMS-SI to measure self-reported injury, medical errors and adverse events, and safety-compromising behaviors. We used hierarchical linear models to evaluate the association between EMS-SAQ scores and EMS-SI safety outcome measures. Sixteen percent of all respondents reported experiencing an injury in the past three months, four of every 10 respondents reported an error or adverse event (AE), and 89% reported safety-compromising behaviors. Respondents reporting injury scored lower on five of the six domains of safety culture. Respondents reporting an error or AE scored lower for four of the six domains, while respondents reporting safety-compromising behavior had lower safety culture scores for five of the six domains. Individual EMS worker perceptions of workplace safety culture are associated with composite measures of patient and provider safety outcomes. This study is preliminary evidence of the association between safety culture and patient or provider safety outcomes.

Practical applications of safety culture concepts in human performance advances on Russian nuclear industry

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Abramova, V.N.; Volkov, E.V.; Gordienko, O.V.; Melnitskaya, T.B.; Volkova, I.V.; Alexeev, G.A.

2002-01-01

Sometimes, many from negative external factors can be compensated by human psychological readiness of worker. However there would be main worse to come: some cases of personnel activity and organisational factors, some person's peculiarities (attitudes, responsibility, etc.) add considerable number of the events at NPPs. A lot of aspects of Human Factor Reliability are united in Safety Culture concept. This paper presents some results of our recently research in that area. In 'proactive approach': Unique methods for measuring maturity and satisfaction of personnel motivation: comparative analysis of the labour and safety culture motivation from attitude; organization of the socio-psychological climate and safety attitude examining monitoring at all of Russia's NPPs; working-out recommendations for managers on improving human performance are presented. Besides, ergonomic research concerning work conditions at the NPP is displayed. In 'reactive approach': Analysis of the incorrect activity cases, which led to the breaches of work of the Russian NPPs, is shown. The special method to work-up is used. It was issue, that events caused by a human error, depends not only on the worker's professional competence, but on the attitude and motivation, some professionally important psychological and psycho-physiological quality data, the functional state, the group's socio-psychological climate, etc. (author)

Relationship between knowledge, attitude, behavior, and self-efficacy on the radiation safety management of radiation workers in medical institutions

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Han, Eun Ok

2007-01-01

Radiation safety managements in medical institutions are needed to protect certain radiation damages as a part of National Coalition. This study investigates the characteristics of self-efficacy that become the major factor on the knowledge, attitude, and behavior on the radiation safety management of radiation workers as an approach of educational aspects and analyzes the relationship between such factors to provide basic materials for improving the activity level of radiation safety managements. In order to implement the goal of this study, a survey was performed for 1,200 workers who were engaged in radiation treatments in medical centers, such as general hospital, university hospital, private hospital, and public health center for 42 days from July 23, 2006. Then, the results of the analysis can be summarized as follows: 1. Average scores on knowledge, attitude, and behavior in the radiation safety management were presented as 75.76±11.20, 90.55±8.59, 80.58±11.70, respectively. Also, the average score of self-efficacy was recorded as 73.55±9.82. 2. Knowledge levels in the radiation safety management showed significant differences according to the sex, age, marriage, education, and experience. Also, males of married, older, highly educated, and largely experienced represented high knowledge levels. Attitude levels in the radiation safety management showed certain significant differences according to the type of medical centers in which private hospitals showed a relatively low level compared to that of high levels in university hospitals. Behavior levels in the radiation safety management also represented significant differences according to the age, marriage, education, experience, and types of medical centers. Factors in married, general hospital, older, highly educated, and largely experienced showed high behavior levels. In addition, the self-efficacy showed certain differences according to the marriage and types of medical centers. Factors in married

Relationship between knowledge, attitude, behavior, and self-efficacy on the radiation safety management of radiation workers in medical institutions

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Han, Eun Ok [Daegu Health College, Daegu (Korea, Republic of)

2007-06-15

Radiation safety managements in medical institutions are needed to protect certain radiation damages as a part of National Coalition. This study investigates the characteristics of self-efficacy that become the major factor on the knowledge, attitude, and behavior on the radiation safety management of radiation workers as an approach of educational aspects and analyzes the relationship between such factors to provide basic materials for improving the activity level of radiation safety managements. In order to implement the goal of this study, a survey was performed for 1,200 workers who were engaged in radiation treatments in medical centers, such as general hospital, university hospital, private hospital, and public health center for 42 days from July 23, 2006. Then, the results of the analysis can be summarized as follows: 1. Average scores on knowledge, attitude, and behavior in the radiation safety management were presented as 75.76{+-}11.20, 90.55{+-}8.59, 80.58{+-}11.70, respectively. Also, the average score of self-efficacy was recorded as 73.55{+-}9.82. 2. Knowledge levels in the radiation safety management showed significant differences according to the sex, age, marriage, education, and experience. Also, males of married, older, highly educated, and largely experienced represented high knowledge levels. Attitude levels in the radiation safety management showed certain significant differences according to the type of medical centers in which private hospitals showed a relatively low level compared to that of high levels in university hospitals. Behavior levels in the radiation safety management also represented significant differences according to the age, marriage, education, experience, and types of medical centers. Factors in married, general hospital, older, highly educated, and largely experienced showed high behavior levels. In addition, the self-efficacy showed certain differences according to the marriage and types of medical centers. Factors in

Consumer attitudes and the governance of food safety.

Science.gov (United States)

Todt, Oliver; Muñoz, Emilio; González, Marta; Ponce, Gloria; Estévez, Betty

2009-01-01

This paper reports the analysis of a recent study of public perception of food safety governance in Spain, using genetically modified (GM) foods as an indicator. The data make clear that Spanish food consumers are aware of their rights and role in the marketplace. They are critical of current regulatory decision making, which they perceive to be unduly influenced by certain social actors, such as industry. In contrast, consumers demand decisions to be based primarily on scientific opinion, as well as consumer preferences. They want authorities to facilitate informed purchasing decisions, and favor labeling of GM foods mostly on the grounds of their right to know. However, consumers' actual level of knowledge with respect to food technology and food safety remains low. There are several ambivalences as to the real impact of these attitudes on actual consumer behavior (specifically when it comes to organizing themselves or searching out background information).

Measurement equivalence of patient safety climate in Chinese hospitals: can we compare across physicians and nurses?

Science.gov (United States)

Zhu, Junya

2018-06-11

Self-report instruments have been widely used to better understand variations in patient safety climate between physicians and nurses. Research is needed to determine whether differences in patient safety climate reflect true differences in the underlying concepts. This is known as measurement equivalence, which is a prerequisite for meaningful group comparisons. This study aims to examine the degree of measurement equivalence of the responses to a patient safety climate survey of Chinese hospitals and to demonstrate how the measurement equivalence method can be applied to self-report climate surveys for patient safety research. Using data from the Chinese Hospital Survey of Patient Safety Climate from six Chinese hospitals in 2011, we constructed two groups: physicians and nurses (346 per group). We used multiple-group confirmatory factor analyses to examine progressively more stringent restrictions for measurement equivalence. We identified weak factorial equivalence across the two groups. Strong factorial equivalence was found for Organizational Learning, Unit Management Support for Safety, Adequacy of Safety Arrangements, Institutional Commitment to Safety, Error Reporting and Teamwork. Strong factorial equivalence, however, was not found for Safety System, Communication and Peer Support and Staffing. Nevertheless, further analyses suggested that nonequivalence did not meaningfully affect the conclusions regarding physician-nurse differences in patient safety climate. Our results provide evidence of at least partial equivalence of the survey responses between nurses and physicians, supporting mean comparisons of its constructs between the two groups. The measurement equivalence approach is essential to ensure that conclusions about group differences are valid.

Social identity, safety climate and self-reported accidents among construction workers

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Andersen, Lars Peter; Nørdam, Line; Jønsson, Thomas Faurholt

2018-01-01

The construction industry has one of the highest frequencies of work-related accidents. We examined whether construction workers predominantly identify themselves in terms of their workgroup or in terms of the construction site. In addition, we examined the associations between social identity...... themselves primarily with their workgroup, and to a lesser degree with the construction site. Social identity and safety climate were related both at the workgroup and construction site levels, meaning that social identity may be an antecedent for safety climate. The association between social identity...

Psychometric properties of the Norwegian version of the Safety Attitudes Questionnaire (SAQ, Generic version (Short Form 2006

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Hofoss Dag

2008-09-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background How to protect patients from harm is a question of universal interest. Measuring and improving safety culture in care giving units is an important strategy for promoting a safe environment for patients. The Safety Attitudes Questionnaire (SAQ is the only instrument that measures safety culture in a way which correlates with patient outcome. We have translated the SAQ to Norwegian and validated the translated version. The psychometric properties of the translated questionnaire are presented in this article. Methods The questionnaire was translated with the back translation technique and tested in 47 clinical units in a Norwegian university hospital. SAQ's (the Generic version (Short Form 2006 the version with the two sets of questions on perceptions of management: on unit management and on hospital management were distributed to 1911 frontline staff. 762 were distributed during unit meetings and 1149 through the postal system. Cronbach alphas, item-to-own correlations, and test-retest correlations were calculated, and response distribution analysis and confirmatory factor analysis were performed, as well as early validity tests. Results 1306 staff members completed and returned the questionnaire: a response rate of 68%. Questionnaire acceptability was good. The reliability measures were acceptable. The factor structure of the responses was tested by confirmatory factor analysis. 36 items were ascribed to seven underlying factors: Teamwork Climate, Safety Climate, Stress Recognition, Perceptions of Hospital Management, Perceptions of Unit Management, Working conditions, and Job satisfaction. Goodness-of-Fit Indices showed reasonable, but not indisputable, model fit. External validity indicators – recognizability of results, correlations with "trigger tool"-identified adverse events, with patient satisfaction with hospitalization, patient reports of possible maltreatment, and patient evaluation of organization of hospital work

Exercise, Weather, Safety, and Public Attitudes

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Elaine Mullan

2013-07-01

Full Text Available Levels of cycling for transport (CFT in Ireland are very low—about 2% nationally—and the government has set a target of 10% of all trips to work by bicycle by 2020. The purpose of this study was to explore the complexities of leisure/sport cyclists’ views about CFT. Sixteen leisure/sport cyclists (four women and 12 men; about half cycled for transport were interviewed about the factors that influenced their decision to cycle somewhere instead of driving and the role of the weather in that decision, whether they considered CFT to be real “exercise,” and the meaning of “safety.” The findings were that the decision to cycle for transport was dominated by practical concerns, and weather concerns added to this organizational burden. For city-dwellers, the key deciding factor was cycling’s efficiency and reliability. Safety concerns centered around negative interactions with drivers and there was a common belief that the general public had very negative attitudes to cycling and cyclists. Finally, most thought that CFT was not “proper” exercise as it would be of insufficient intensity or duration and would take from the time available to do this. These findings show that to promote CFT among leisure/sport cyclists, government and local authorities must improve and highlight the efficiency, safety, and legitimacy of cycling as a transport option. Without this, promotional activities that just focus on the exercise, health, and enjoyment potential of CFT will have little effect.

Knowledge and attitude towards health and food safety among students of Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran

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Parvin Dehghan

2017-06-01

Full Text Available Introduction: Health and food safety is one of the most important issues of nutrition science. The present study aims to examine the knowledge and attitude towards health and food safety among students of Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran. Methods: This study was conducted through cross-sectional approach on 300 students of Tabriz University of Medical Sciences who were selected through stratified random sampling method, using a validated and reliable researcher-made questionnaire. Data were analyzed by SPSS.Results: More than 50% of students had high attitude and knowledge towards health and food safety and washing hands before cooking. Further, more than 60% of students had low attitude on other related items such as unimportance of food additives in food safety. Besides, more than 50% of students had low knowledge about best temperature to store cooked food which is between 5 to 65 °C and the most appropriate plastic containers to keep food healthy. About 87.3% of students had good knowledge about diseases that could be transmitted through food. That there was a significant relationship between students' attitude and taking courses related to health and food safety (P = 0.010. There was also a significant relationship between students' knowledge and their college (P = 0.001 and major (P = 0.020. Conclusion: Results obtained revealed that students from some colleges and some majors had low knowledge of health and food safety. It is therefore necessary to hold training programs through workshops or to include courses in the curriculum of majors that lack such credits.

You can't improve what you don't measure: Safety climate measures available in the German-speaking countries to support safety culture development in healthcare.

Science.gov (United States)

Manser, Tanja; Brösterhaus, Mareen; Hammer, Antje

2016-01-01

Safety climate measurement is a key input into safety culture development. The aim of this review is to provide an overview of the safety climate measures that have been evaluated for their psychometric properties in a German-speaking country and to make recommendations on how to use them in quality and patient safety improvement. A systematic search strategy was implemented to obtain relevant articles. PubMed and Web of Science databases were searched, and 128 abstracts were identified. After application of limits, 33 full texts were retrieved for subsequent evaluation. Studies were included on the basis of predetermined inclusion criteria and independent assessment by two reviewers. Publications were reviewed concerning healthcare setting, target group, safety culture dimensions covered and results of their psychometric evaluation. This review identified 11 instruments for safety climate assessment in different healthcare settings (i. e. hospitals, nursing homes, primary care, dental care and community pharmacy) for which acceptable to good internal consistency was reported. We observed wide variability concerning the number of dimensions (1 to 14; in some cases including outcome dimensions) and items (9 to 128) that the instruments were comprised of. Nevertheless, consistency with regard to the thematic areas covered was rather high. While there is clear evidence that we can assess safety climate in healthcare, the application of safety climate measures by quality and patient safety practitioners has so far been rather limited. This review bridges this gap between research and improvement practice by highlighting the central role of safety climate assessment in a mixed methods approach to inform safety culture development. Copyright © 2016. Published by Elsevier GmbH.

Freedom and Safety of an Individual in the Attitude of Liberalism and Christian Social S

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Valdas Pruskus

2011-02-01

Full Text Available The article deals with the freedom and safety of an individual under market conditions and ethical limits of market expression in the attitude of liberalism and Christian social science.Liberalism and Christian social teaching admits that market and its mechanism gives an individual and society an opportunity to fulfil their needs better, but differently estimates ethical limits of market expression. It is shown that in the attitude of Christian social teaching the goal of economic action is not only to create welfare for society and the individual but also to secure its safety. In its turn, creation of safety is associated with the necessity to overcome the single-acting dominance of economic values in the market society: ethic values by which economic action of the individual and society should be measured have to penetrate into economic space. 

Patient Safety Culture in Slovenian out-of-hours Primary Care Clinics.

Science.gov (United States)

Klemenc-Ketiš, Zalika; Deilkås, Ellen Tveter; Hofoss, Dag; Bondevik, Gunnar Tschudi

2017-10-01

Patient safety culture is a concept which describes how leader and staff interaction, attitudes, routines and practices protect patients from adverse events in healthcare. We aimed to investigate patient safety culture in Slovenian out-of-hours health care (OOHC) clinics, and determine the possible factors that might be associated with it. This was a cross-sectional study, which took place in Slovenian OOHC, as part of the international study entitled Patient Safety Culture in European Out-of-Hours Services (SAFE-EUR-OOH). All the OOHC clinics in Slovenia (N=60) were invited to participate, and 37 agreed to do so; 438 employees from these clinics were invited to participate. We used the Slovenian version of the Safety Attitudes Questionnaire - an ambulatory version (SAQAV) to measure the climate of safety. Out of 438 invited participants, 250 answered the questionnaire (57.1% response rate). The mean overall score ± standard deviation of the SAQ was 56.6±16.0 points, of Perceptions of Management 53.6±19.6 points, of Job Satisfaction 48.5±18.3 points, of Safety Climate 59.1±22.1 points, of Teamwork Climate 72.7±16.6, and of Communication 51.5±23.4 points. Employees working in the Ravne na Koroškem region, employees with variable work shifts, and those with full-time jobs scored significantly higher on the SAQ-AV. The safety culture in Slovenian OOHC clinics needs improvement. The variations in the safety culture factor scores in Slovenian OOHC clinics point to the need to eliminate variations and improve working conditions in Slovenian OOHC clinics.

Advancing the framework for considering the effects of climate change on worker safety and health.

Science.gov (United States)

Schulte, P A; Bhattacharya, A; Butler, C R; Chun, H K; Jacklitsch, B; Jacobs, T; Kiefer, M; Lincoln, J; Pendergrass, S; Shire, J; Watson, J; Wagner, G R

2016-11-01

In 2009, a preliminary framework for how climate change could affect worker safety and health was described. That framework was based on a literature search from 1988-2008 that supported seven categories of climate-related occupational hazards: (1) increased ambient temperature; (2) air pollution; (3) ultraviolet radiation exposure; (4) extreme weather; (5) vector-borne diseases and expanded habitats; (6) industrial transitions and emerging industries; and (7) changes in the built environment. This article reviews the published literature from 2008-2014 in each of the seven categories. Additionally, three new topics related to occupational safety and health are considered: mental health effects, economic burden, and potential worker safety and health impacts associated with the nascent field of climate intervention (geoengineering). Beyond updating the literature, this article also identifies key priorities for action to better characterize and understand how occupational safety and health may be associated with climate change events and ensure that worker health and safety issues are anticipated, recognized, evaluated, and mitigated. These key priorities include research, surveillance, risk assessment, risk management, and policy development. Strong evidence indicates that climate change will continue to present occupational safety and health hazards, and this framework may be a useful tool for preventing adverse effects to workers.

Attitudes and Attitude Change.

Science.gov (United States)

Albarracin, Dolores; Shavitt, Sharon

2018-01-04

This review covers research on attitudes and attitude change published between 2010 and 2017. We characterize this period as one of significant progress toward an understanding of how attitudes form and change in three critical contexts. The first context is the person, as attitudes change in connection to values, general goals, language, emotions, and human development. The second context is social relationships, which link attitude change to the communicator of persuasive messages, social media, and culture. The third context is sociohistorical and highlights the influence of unique events, including sociopolitical, economic, and climatic occurrences. In conclusion, many important recent findings reflect the fact that holism, with a focus on situating attitudes within their personal, social, and historical contexts, has become the zeitgeist of attitude research during this period.

Consumer Food Safety Risk Attitudes and Perceptions Over Time: The Case of BSE Crisis

OpenAIRE

Kalogeras, Nikos; Pennings, Joost M.E.; van Ittersum, Koert

2008-01-01

Recent research has shown that by decoupling the risk response behaviour of consumers into the separate components of risk perception and risk attitude, a more robust conceptualization and prediction of consumers’ reactions to food safety issues is possible. Furthermore, it has been argued that the influence of risk attitudes and risk perceptions on consumer risk behaviour for contaminated food products can be used to formulate effective agricultural policies and strategies in case of a food ...

Workforce perceptions of hospital safety culture: development and validation of the patient safety climate in healthcare organizations survey.

Science.gov (United States)

Singer, Sara; Meterko, Mark; Baker, Laurence; Gaba, David; Falwell, Alyson; Rosen, Amy

2007-10-01

To describe the development of an instrument for assessing workforce perceptions of hospital safety culture and to assess its reliability and validity. Primary data collected between March 2004 and May 2005. Personnel from 105 U.S. hospitals completed a 38-item paper and pencil survey. We received 21,496 completed questionnaires, representing a 51 percent response rate. Based on review of existing safety climate surveys, we developed a list of key topics pertinent to maintaining a culture of safety in high-reliability organizations. We developed a draft questionnaire to address these topics and pilot tested it in four preliminary studies of hospital personnel. We modified the questionnaire based on experience and respondent feedback, and distributed the revised version to 42,249 hospital workers. We randomly divided respondents into derivation and validation samples. We applied exploratory factor analysis to responses in the derivation sample. We used those results to create scales in the validation sample, which we subjected to multitrait analysis (MTA). We identified nine constructs, three organizational factors, two unit factors, three individual factors, and one additional factor. Constructs demonstrated substantial convergent and discriminant validity in the MTA. Cronbach's alpha coefficients ranged from 0.50 to 0.89. It is possible to measure key salient features of hospital safety climate using a valid and reliable 38-item survey and appropriate hospital sample sizes. This instrument may be used in further studies to better understand the impact of safety climate on patient safety outcomes.

Family communication patterns and teen drivers' attitudes toward driving safety.

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Yang, Jingzhen; Campo, Shelly; Ramirez, Marizen; Krapfl, Julia Richards; Cheng, Gang; Peek-Asa, Corinne

2013-01-01

Family communication patterns (FCPs) play an important role in reducing the risk-taking behaviors of teens, such as substance use and safer sex. However, little is known about the relationship between family communication and teen driving safety. We analyzed the baseline data from a randomized trial that included 163 parent-teen dyads, with teens who would be receiving their intermediate driver's license within 3 months. FCPs were divided into four types-pluralistic, protective, consensual, and laissez-faire-and were correlated with the frequency of parent-teen discussions and teens' driving safety attitudes. The ratings on four types of FCPs were distributed quite evenly among teens and parents. Parents and teens agreed on their FCP ratings (p = .64). In families with communication patterns that were laissez-faire, protective, and pluralistic, parents talked to their teens less about safe driving than did parents in families with a consensual communication pattern (p < .01). Moreover, the frequency of parent-teen communication about safe driving was positively associated with teen attitudes toward safe driving (adjusted β = 0.35, p = .03). Health care providers need to encourage parents, particularly those with non-consensual FCPs, to increase frequency of parent-teen interactions. Copyright © 2013 National Association of Pediatric Nurse Practitioners. Published by Mosby, Inc. All rights reserved.

Risk Perception, Knowledge and Safety Attitude and Hearing Protector Use in Petrochemical Industry Workers

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Mahdi Jahangiri

2008-06-01

Full Text Available Background and Aim: Hearing protectors (HP are widely employed as the only measure against noise exposure. However, it is well known that unless do workers wear HP continuously, its efficacy will be very low. The purpose of this study was to determine the influence of risk perception, knowledge and safety attitude on hearing protection use in petrochemical industry's workers.Materials and Methods: In this cross-sectional study a structural questionnaire was administrated to 236 randomly selected workers in Iranian petrochemical industry who had been to 85 dBA noise and some influencing factors including risk perception, knowledge and general attitude to safety on using of HP had been investigated.Results: This study showed that only 20.3% of employees claimed to wear hearing protection all the time when they exposed to noise. There was a significant relationship between use of hearing protector and worker's risk perception (p=0.048 and also their knowledge about hearing protection(p=0.009. Also, the relationship between general attitude of workers to safety and risk perception was statistically significant (p=0.046. Conclusion: The results of the study showed that for promoting the use of hearing protectors, two main strategy should be followed. First, removing the barriers to make hearing protectors compliant, and second enhancing the workers’ risk perception about hearing loss and proper use of ear protectors.

Variations in patient safety climate and perceived quality of collaboration between professions in out-of-hours care

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Klemenc-Ketis Z

2017-11-01

Full Text Available Zalika Klemenc-Ketis,1–3 Ellen Tveter Deilkås,4 Dag Hofoss,5 Gunnar Tschudi Bondevik6,7 1Department of Family Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Maribor, Maribor, 2Department of Family Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Ljubljana, Ljubljana, 3Community Health Centre Ljubljana, Ljubljana, Slovenia; 4Health Services Research Unit, Akershus University Hospital, Lørenskog, 5Institute of Health and Society, University of Oslo, Oslo, 6Department of Global Public Health and Primary Care, University of Bergen, Bergen, 7National Centre for Emergency Primary Health Care, Uni Research Health, Bergen, Norway Purpose: To get an overview of health care workers perceptions of patient safety climates and the quality of collaboration in Slovenian out-of-hours health care (OOHC between professional groups.Materials and methods: This was a cross-sectional study carried out in all (60 Slovenian OOHC clinics; 37 (61.7% agreed to participate with 438 employees. The questionnaire consisted of the Slovenian version of the Safety Attitudes Questionnaire – Ambulatory Version (SAQ-AV. Results: The study sample consisted of 175 (70.0% physicians, nurse practitioners, and practice nurses. Practice nurses reported the highest patient safety climate scores in all dimensions. Total mean (standard deviation SAQ-AV score was 60.9±15.2. Scores for quality of collaboration between different professional groups were high. The highest mean scores were reported by nurse practitioners on collaboration with practice nurses (4.4±0.6. The lowest mean scores were reported by practice nurses on collaboration with nurse practitioners (3.8±0.9.Conclusion: Due to large variations in Slovenian OOHC clinics with regard to how health care workers from different professional backgrounds perceive safety culture, more attention should be devoted to improving the team collaboration in OOHC. A clearer description of professional team roles should be provided. Keywords

Impact of climate change on microbial safety of leafy green vegetables

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Liu, C.

2015-01-01

Summary

Climate change is generally recognized as a major threat to humans and the environment. With respect to food production, climate change does not only affect crop production or food security, but possibly also effects on food safety by affecting the prevalence and levels of

Differences in Hospital Managers’, Unit Managers’, and Health Care Workers’ Perceptions of the Safety Climate for Respiratory Protection

Science.gov (United States)

Peterson, Kristina; Rogers, Bonnie M. E.; Brosseau, Lisa M.; Payne, Julianne; Cooney, Jennifer; Joe, Lauren; Novak, Debra

2017-01-01

This article compares hospital managers’ (HM), unit managers’ (UM), and health care workers’ (HCW) perceptions of respiratory protection safety climate in acute care hospitals. The article is based on survey responses from 215 HMs, 245 UMs, and 1,105 HCWs employed by 98 acute care hospitals in six states. Ten survey questions assessed five of the key dimensions of safety climate commonly identified in the literature: managerial commitment to safety, management feedback on safety procedures, coworkers’ safety norms, worker involvement, and worker safety training. Clinically and statistically significant differences were found across the three respondent types. HCWs had less positive perceptions of management commitment, worker involvement, and safety training aspects of safety climate than HMs and UMs. UMs had more positive perceptions of management’s supervision of HCWs’ respiratory protection practices. Implications for practice improvements indicate the need for frontline HCWs’ inclusion in efforts to reduce safety climate barriers and better support effective respiratory protection programs and daily health protection practices. PMID:27056750

Differences in Hospital Managers', Unit Managers', and Health Care Workers' Perceptions of the Safety Climate for Respiratory Protection.

Science.gov (United States)

Peterson, Kristina; Rogers, Bonnie M E; Brosseau, Lisa M; Payne, Julianne; Cooney, Jennifer; Joe, Lauren; Novak, Debra

2016-07-01

This article compares hospital managers' (HM), unit managers' (UM), and health care workers' (HCW) perceptions of respiratory protection safety climate in acute care hospitals. The article is based on survey responses from 215 HMs, 245 UMs, and 1,105 HCWs employed by 98 acute care hospitals in six states. Ten survey questions assessed five of the key dimensions of safety climate commonly identified in the literature: managerial commitment to safety, management feedback on safety procedures, coworkers' safety norms, worker involvement, and worker safety training. Clinically and statistically significant differences were found across the three respondent types. HCWs had less positive perceptions of management commitment, worker involvement, and safety training aspects of safety climate than HMs and UMs. UMs had more positive perceptions of management's supervision of HCWs' respiratory protection practices. Implications for practice improvements indicate the need for frontline HCWs' inclusion in efforts to reduce safety climate barriers and better support effective respiratory protection programs and daily health protection practices. © 2016 The Author(s).

Would You Let Your Child Play Football? Attitudes Toward Football Safety.

Science.gov (United States)

Fedor, Andrew; Gunstad, John

2016-01-01

An estimated 1.6 million to 3.8 million sports-related concussions occur each year in the United States, and many are related to football. This has generated much discussion in the media on the perceived safety of the sport. In the current study, researchers asked 230 individuals various questions about attitudes toward safety in football. Approximately 92.6% of participants indicated they would allow their child to play football; these participants were more likely to be female (χ(2) = 5.23, p > .05), were slightly younger (t= -2.52, p football, and future studies are needed to clarify factors that inform this opinion.

A Comparison of the mechanical engineering and safety engineering student’s ICT attitudes at the Obuda University

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Kiss Gabor

2016-01-01

Full Text Available Communication and technology are critical to education. However, using technology in education is not an easy task as communication barriers emerge. The aim of this research is to analyze the ICT attitudes from different faculties at the Obuda University that is between the mechanical engineering students and safety engineering students from the Donát Bánki Mechanical Safety Engineer Faculty. The students from these two groups will use different ICT tool at work after their graduation; the mechanical engineering students will work mostly with designer ICT tools, the safety engineering students will use security systems. It would be important to know whether instructors, when using ICT, have to follow different teaching methods and approaches in these two different groups or not. We measured the ICT attitude with a tool consisting of 23 items (Likert scaled. We worked with 361 students. The data analysis was performed with SPSS software using descriptive statistics and Mann-Whitney test. The results show both groups having the same positive ICT attitude however with one difference.

A Spanish-language patient safety questionnaire to measure medical and nursing students' attitudes and knowledge

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

José J. Mira

2015-08-01

Full Text Available OBJECTIVE: To design and validate a questionnaire for assessing attitudes and knowledge about patient safety using a sample of medical and nursing students undergoing clinical training in Spain and four countries in Latin America. METHODS: In this cross-sectional study, a literature review was carried out and total of 786 medical and nursing students were surveyed at eight universities from five countries (Chile, Colombia, El Salvador, Guatemala, and Spain to develop and refine a Spanish-language questionnaire on knowledge and attitudes about patient safety. The scope of the questionnaire was based on five dimensions (factors presented in studies related to patient safety culture found in PubMed and Scopus. Based on the five factors, 25 reactive items were developed. Composite reliability indexes and Cronbach's alpha statistics were estimatedfor each factor, and confirmatory factor analysis was conducted to assess validity. After a pilot test, the questionnaire was refined using confirmatory models, maximum-likelihood estimation, and the variance-covariance matrix (as input. Multiple linear regression models were used to confirm external validity, considering variables related to patient safety culture as dependent variables and the five factors as independent variables. RESULTS: The final instrument was a structured five-point Likert self-administered survey (the "Latino Student Patient Safety Questionnaire" consisting of 21 items grouped into five factors. Compound reliability indexes (Cronbach's alpha statistic calculated for the five factors were about 0.7 or higher. The results of the multiple linear regression analyses indicated good model fit (goodness-of-fit index: 0.9. Item-total correlations were higher than 0.3 in all cases. The convergent-discriminant validity was adequate. CONCLUSIONS: The questionnaire designed and validated in this study assesses nursing and medical students' attitudes and knowledge about patient safety. This

A Spanish-language patient safety questionnaire to measure medical and nursing students' attitudes and knowledge.

Science.gov (United States)

Mira, José J; Navarro, Isabel M; Guilabert, Mercedes; Poblete, Rodrigo; Franco, Astolfo L; Jiménez, Pilar; Aquino, Margarita; Fernández-Trujillo, Francisco J; Lorenzo, Susana; Vitaller, Julián; de Valle, Yohana Díaz; Aibar, Carlos; Aranaz, Jesús M; De Pedro, José A

2015-08-01

To design and validate a questionnaire for assessing attitudes and knowledge about patient safety using a sample of medical and nursing students undergoing clinical training in Spain and four countries in Latin America. In this cross-sectional study, a literature review was carried out and total of 786 medical and nursing students were surveyed at eight universities from five countries (Chile, Colombia, El Salvador, Guatemala, and Spain) to develop and refine a Spanish-language questionnaire on knowledge and attitudes about patient safety. The scope of the questionnaire was based on five dimensions (factors) presented in studies related to patient safety culture found in PubMed and Scopus. Based on the five factors, 25 reactive items were developed. Composite reliability indexes and Cronbach's alpha statistics were estimated for each factor, and confirmatory factor analysis was conducted to assess validity. After a pilot test, the questionnaire was refined using confirmatory models, maximum-likelihood estimation, and the variance-covariance matrix (as input). Multiple linear regression models were used to confirm external validity, considering variables related to patient safety culture as dependent variables and the five factors as independent variables. The final instrument was a structured five-point Likert self-administered survey (the "Latino Student Patient Safety Questionnaire") consisting of 21 items grouped into five factors. Compound reliability indexes (Cronbach's alpha statistic) calculated for the five factors were about 0.7 or higher. The results of the multiple linear regression analyses indicated good model fit (goodness-of-fit index: 0.9). Item-total correlations were higher than 0.3 in all cases. The convergent-discriminant validity was adequate. The questionnaire designed and validated in this study assesses nursing and medical students' attitudes and knowledge about patient safety. This instrument could be used to indirectly evaluate whether or

A structural equation modelling approach examining the pathways between safety climate, behaviour performance and workplace slipping

OpenAIRE

Swedler, David I; Verma, Santosh K; Huang, Yueng-Hsiang; Lombardi, David A; Chang, Wen-Ruey; Brennan, Melayne; Courtney, Theodore K

2015-01-01

Objective: Safety climate has previously been associated with increasing safe workplace behaviours and decreasing occupational injuries. This study seeks to understand the structural relationship between employees’ perceptions of safety climate, performing a safety behaviour (ie, wearing slip-resistant shoes) and risk of slipping in the setting of limited-service restaurants. Methods: At baseline, we surveyed 349 employees at 30 restaurants for their perceptions of their safety training and m...

Psychosocial safety climate, emotional exhaustion, and work injuries in healthcare workplaces.

Science.gov (United States)

Zadow, Amy Jane; Dollard, Maureen Frances; Mclinton, Sarven Savia; Lawrence, Peter; Tuckey, Michelle Rae

2017-12-01

Preventing work injuries requires a clear understanding of how they occur, how they are recorded, and the accuracy of injury surveillance. Our innovation was to examine how psychosocial safety climate (PSC) influences the development of reported and unreported physical and psychological workplace injuries beyond (physical) safety climate, via the erosion of psychological health (emotional exhaustion). Self-report data (T2, 2013) from 214 hospital employees (18 teams) were linked at the team level to the hospital workplace injury register (T1, 2012; T2, 2013; and T3, 2014). Concordance between survey-reported and registered injury rates was low (36%), indicating that many injuries go unreported. Safety climate was the strongest predictor of T2 registered injury rates (controlling for T1); PSC and emotional exhaustion also played a role. Emotional exhaustion was the strongest predictor of survey-reported total injuries and underreporting. Multilevel analysis showed that low PSC, emanating from senior managers and transmitted through teams, was the origin of psychological health erosion (i.e., low emotional exhaustion), which culminated in greater self-reported work injuries and injury underreporting (both physical and psychological). These results underscore the need to consider, in theory and practice, a dual physical-psychosocial safety explanation of injury events and a psychosocial explanation of injury underreporting. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Evaluation of a survey tool to measure safety climate in Australian hospital pharmacy staff.

Science.gov (United States)

Walpola, Ramesh L; Chen, Timothy F; Fois, Romano A; Ashcroft, Darren M; Lalor, Daniel J

Safety climate evaluation is increasingly used by hospitals as part of quality improvement initiatives. Consequently, it is necessary to have validated tools to measure changes. To evaluate the construct validity and internal consistency of a survey tool to measure Australian hospital pharmacy patient safety climate. A 42 item cross-sectional survey was used to evaluate the patient safety climate of 607 Australian hospital pharmacy staff. Survey responses were initially mapped to the factor structure previously identified in European community pharmacy. However, as the data did not adequately fit the community pharmacy model, participants were randomly split into two groups with exploratory factor analysis performed on the first group (n = 302) and confirmatory factor analyses performed on the second group (n = 305). Following exploratory factor analysis (59.3% variance explained) and confirmatory factor analysis, a 6-factor model containing 28 items was obtained with satisfactory model fit (χ 2 (335) = 664.61 p  0.643) and model nesting between the groups (Δχ 2 (22) = 30.87, p = 0.10). Three factors (blame culture, organisational learning and working conditions) were similar to those identified in European community pharmacy and labelled identically. Three additional factors (preoccupation with improvement; comfort to question authority; and safety issues being swept under the carpet) highlight hierarchical issues present in hospital settings. This study has demonstrated the validity of a survey to evaluate patient safety climate of Australian hospital pharmacy staff. Importantly, this validated factor structure may be used to evaluate changes in safety climate over time. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Defining safety culture and the nexus between safety goals and safety culture. 1. An Investigation Study on Practical Points of Safety Management

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hasegawa, Naoko; Takano, Kenichi; Hirose, Ayako

2001-01-01

among those of existing questionnaires about safety culture, organizational climate, and individual safety consciousness. From the results of investigations, it was supposed that the establishment of a safety management system to which the whole organization is committed and that has top-down and bottom-up cycles is necessary to enhance organization safety. For example, it was clarified that employee safety consciousness is relevant to 'the action of safety management section' and to two kinds of organization climate, i.e., 'good human relationship' and 'frequent discussion on safety'. As for worker motivation for safety, it was clarified that commitment to safety activities was directly influenced by 'safety activities adhering to actual work sites', 'advance check', and 'frequent discussion on safety' as a result of correlation analysis among traits of safety activity, attitude during daily work, and organizational climate (Fig. 1). In addition, it was also supposed that the commitment was influenced by 'good human relationship', 'pride in work', and 'communication between head office and work sites' indirectly according to the result of the same analysis. Thus, it is supposed that ideas to make safety activities adhere to actual work sites and good human relationships are necessary for organization safety as well as for the establishment of the safety management system. The state of the organization and work sites before the safety system and activities are enforced must also be assessed. According to the results, the construction, chemical, and manufacturing industries differed in types of safety systems and activities conducted because the system types and activities to be conducted depended on the type of work or work site. Hence, to diagnose an organization and to provide an appropriate safety system and activities that reflect the diagnosis are important to enforce safety culture from the viewpoint of usability and interface of the safety management system

Speaking up behaviors and safety climate in an Austrian university hospital.

Science.gov (United States)

Schwappach, David; Sendlhofer, Gerald; Häsler, Lynn; Gombotz, Veronika; Leitgeb, Karina; Hoffmann, Magdalena; Jantscher, Lydia; Brunner, Gernot

2018-04-26

To analyze speaking up behavior and safety climate with a validated questionnaire for the first time in an Austrian university hospital. Survey amongst healthcare workers (HCW). Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, Cronbach's alpha was calculated as a measure of internal consistencies of scales. Analysis of variance and t-tests were used. The survey was conducted in 2017. About 2.149 HCW from three departments were asked to participate. To measure speaking up behavior and safety climate. To explore psychological safety, encouraging environment and resignation towards speaking up. About 859 evaluable questionnaires were returned (response rate: 40%). More than 50% of responders perceived specific concerns about patient safety within the last 4 weeks and observed a potential error or noticed rule violations. For the different items, between 16% and 42% of HCW reported that they remained silent though concerns for safety. In contrast, between 96% and 98% answered that they did speak up in certain situations. The psychological safety for speaking up was lower for HCW with a managerial function (P speak up (P speaking up behaviors for the first time in an Austrian university hospital. Only moderately frequent concerns were in conflict with frequent speaking up behaviors. These results clearly show that a paradigm shift is needed to increase speaking up culture.

Validation of a pre-existing safety climate scale for the Turkish furniture manufacturing industry.

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Akyuz, Kadri Cemil; Yildirim, Ibrahim; Gungor, Celal

2018-03-22

Understanding the safety climate level is essential to implement a proactive safety program. The objective of this study is to explore the possibility of having a safety climate scale for the Turkish furniture manufacturing industry since there has not been any scale available. The questionnaire recruited 783 subjects. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) tested a pre-existing safety scale's fit to the industry. The CFA indicated that the structures of the model present a non-satisfactory fit with the data (χ 2  = 2033.4, df = 314, p ≤ 0.001; root mean square error of approximation = 0.08, normed fit index = 0.65, Tucker-Lewis index = 0.65, comparative fit index = 0.69, parsimony goodness-of-fit index = 0.68). The results suggest that a new scale should be developed and validated to measure the safety climate level in the Turkish furniture manufacturing industry. Due to the hierarchical structure of organizations, future studies should consider a multilevel approach in their exploratory factor analyses while developing a new scale.

The impact of situation-background-assessment-recommendation (SBAR on safety attitudes in the obstetrics department

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Wan-Hua Ting

2017-04-01

Conclusion: The SBAR technique, which uses a novel structured handover list, is a feasible tool for nurse–obstetrician communication, and it may improve most dimensions of safety attitudes in the obstetrics department.

Perceptions of safety culture vary across the intensive care units of a single institution.

Science.gov (United States)

Huang, David T; Clermont, Gilles; Sexton, J Bryan; Karlo, Crystal A; Miller, Rachel G; Weissfeld, Lisa A; Rowan, Kathy M; Angus, Derek C

2007-01-01

To determine whether safety culture factors varied across the intensive care units (ICUs) of a single hospital, between nurses and physicians, and to explore ICU nursing directors' perceptions of their personnel's attitudes. Cross-sectional surveys using the Safety Attitudes Questionnaire-ICU version, a validated, aviation industry-based safety culture survey instrument. It assesses culture across six factors: teamwork climate, perceptions of management, safety climate, stress recognition, job satisfaction, and work environment. Four ICUs in one tertiary care hospital. All ICU personnel. We conducted the survey from January 1 to April 1, 2003, and achieved a 70.2% response rate (318 of 453). We calculated safety culture factor mean and percent-positive scores (percentage of respondents with a mean score of > or =75 on a 0-100 scale for which 100 is best) for each ICU. We compared mean ICU scores by ANOVA and percent-positive scores by chi-square. Mean and percent-positive scores by job category were modeled using a generalized estimating equations approach and compared using Wald statistics. We asked ICU nursing directors to estimate their personnel's mean scores and generated ratios of their estimates to the actual scores.Overall, factor scores were low to moderate across all factors (range across ICUs: 43.4-74.9 mean scores, 8.6-69.4 percent positive). Mean and percent-positive scores differed significantly (p safety culture variation exists across ICUs of a single hospital. ICU nursing directors tend to overestimate their personnel's attitudes, particularly for teamwork. Culture assessments based on institutional level analysis or director opinion may be flawed.

Parents' perceptions of the family climate for road safety.

Science.gov (United States)

Taubman-Ben-Ari, Orit

2015-01-01

The current study examined the applicability of the Family Climate for Road Safety Scale (FCRSS; Taubman-Ben-Ari and Katz-Ben-Ami, 2013) to the parents of young drivers. The sample consisted of 549 parents and 234 of their children, all of whom completed the FCRSS. In addition, the parents completed the multidimensional driving style inventory (MDSI; Taubman-Ben-Ari et al., 2004) and provided background data (e.g., age, gender). Confirmatory factor analysis supported a slightly modified structure of the scale for parents. Examination of the correlations revealed significant weak to strong associations between parents' scores on the various FCRSS dimensions on the one hand, and their self-reported driving styles and offspring's perceptions of the family climate for safety on the other. The findings indicate that the FCRSS is suitable for use with the parents of young drivers, and that perceptions of the family climate are shared by the two generations. Furthermore, they show that family climate is related to parents' customary driving behavior, with the careful driving style positively related to the positive dimensions of the FCRSS. The discussion stresses the importance of the parents' influence on the manner in which their children drive, and the multifaceted nature of this influence. Moreover, it indicates the potential value of the FCRSS, both for research and for designing interventions and measuring their effectiveness. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Attitudes on climate change and energy consumption behavior among Iranian and German youth

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Schroeder, Sabine; Schmithals, Jenny; Ulbrich, Hannah

2013-10-01

Attempts to change people's lifestyles in order to adapt to and mitigate the consequences of climate change are not reasonable without considering the question whether climate change matters to people or not and which aspects of the topic are crucial to them and why. The study is based on two quantitative surveys among 188 Iranian students from three different high schools in Tehran and 188 German students from two educational institutions in Berlin and Bonn conducted in 2009 and 2010. The aim of the surveys was to find out about the attitudes on environmental protection and awareness and knowledge on climate change and its consequences among students and to analyse existing consumption behaviour regarding mobility and energy consumption and energy saving within their families. The study analyses and compares the results from German and Iranian students.

Safety Climate and Occupational Stress According to Occupational Accidents Experience and Employment Type in Shipbuilding Industry of Korea.

Science.gov (United States)

Kim, Kyung Woo; Park, Sung Jin; Lim, Hae Sun; Cho, Hm Hak

2017-09-01

Safety climate and occupational stress are related with occupational accident. The present study tried to identify the differences in safety climate and occupational stress according to occupational accidents experience and employment type (e.g., direct workers and subcontract workers). In this study, we conducted a survey using safety climate scale and Korean Occupational Stress Scale and classified the participants into four groups: direct workers working for accident-free departments, direct workers working for accident departments, subcontract workers working for accident-free departments, and subcontract workers working for accident departments for 2 years within the same workplace in the shipbuilding industry. The direct workers and subcontract workers showed diverse results in subscales of safety climate and occupational stress. This result is supported by existing studies; however, further study is necessary for more supporting evidence and elaborative methodological approach. The necessity of management for safety climate and psychosocial factor such as occupational stress for both direct workers and subcontract workers as a whole is suggested by this study.

Should Psychosocial Safety Climate Theory Be Extended to Include Climate Strength?

Science.gov (United States)

Afsharian, Ali; Zadow, Amy; Dollard, Maureen F; Dormann, Christian; Ziaian, Tahereh

2017-08-31

Psychosocial safety climate (PSC; climate for psychological health) is an organizational antecedent to work conditions articulated in the job demands-resources model. We responded to calls for broader consideration of organizational climate in terms of both climate level and strength. We tested PSC level and strength as main and interactive predictors of work conditions, psychological health, and engagement. Using multilevel analysis and cross-sectional data, the effects of unit-level PSC constructs were investigated in 21 hospital work units (n = 249 employees) in Australia. The correlation between PSC levels (measured at the unit mean) and PSC strength (measured as unit -1 × SD) was moderate and positive, suggesting that ceiling effects of PSC scores were not problematic. PSC level was a better predictor than PSC strength or their interactions for job demands (psychological and emotional demands), job resources (e.g., skill discretion and organizational support), and health (emotional exhaustion). For engagement, the interaction was significant-improving engagement, therefore, benefits from high levels of PSC and PSC strength within the work units. So, in answer to the research question regarding PSC theory extension, "it depends on the outcome." Research limitations are acknowledged, and the potential of the PSC model to guide the reduction of workplace psychosocial risk factors and the negative consequences is discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2017 APA, all rights reserved).

A test of safety, violence prevention, and civility climate domain-specific relationships with relevant workplace hazards.

Science.gov (United States)

Gazica, Michele W; Spector, Paul E

2016-01-01

Safety climate, violence prevention climate, and civility climate were independently developed and linked to domain-specific workplace hazards, although all three were designed to promote the physical and psychological safety of workers. To test domain specificity between conceptually related workplace climates and relevant workplace hazards. Data were collected from 368 persons employed in various industries and descriptive statistics were calculated for all study variables. Correlational and relative weights analyses were used to test for domain specificity. The three climate domains were similarly predictive of most workplace hazards, regardless of domain specificity. This study suggests that the three climate domains share a common higher order construct that may predict relevant workplace hazards better than any of the scales alone.

Consumer Food Safety Risk Attitudes and Perceptions Over Time: The Case of BSE Crisis

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Kalogeras, N.; Pennings, J.M.E.; Ittersum, van K.

2009-01-01

Recent research has shown that by decoupling the risk response behaviour of consumers into the separate components of risk perception and risk attitude, a more robust conceptualization and prediction of consumers’ reactions to food safety issues is possible. Furthermore, it has been argued that the

[The role of safety climate and the relationship with job satisfaction: an exploratory study across three different occupational contexts.

Science.gov (United States)

Emanuel, Federica; Colombo, Lara; Cortese, Claudio G; Ghislieri, Chiara

2017-12-01

This study examined the role of the "safety climate", or the organization's attention to health and safety of workers, and of job demand and resources in relation with job satisfaction. Wellbeing at work is a topic of growing interest, in line with the legislation and the programs on health and safety of workers and management and the evaluation of psychosocial risks. Several studies show that organizational actions concerning health and safety can be an indicator of the attention to employees' wellbeing, even if studies about the relationship between safety climate and some psychosocial outcomes are scant. The study analysed the relationship between job demand, job resources, safety climate and job satisfaction in three different occupational contexts (public authority, N = 224; social care organization, N = 115; pharmaceutical company, N = 127); workers were divided into groups based on the risk level appeared in the objective assessment of work-related stress, in order to identify differences. The self-report questionnaire gathered information about: job satisfaction, work efforts, supervisors' support, colleagues support, safety climate (α between .72 and .93). Data analysis provided: Cronbach α, analysis of variance, correlations, stepwise multiple regressions. The results showed that job satisfaction (R2 between .23 and .88) had a negative relationship with efforts and a positive relationship with job resources and safety climate. It emerges the importance of safety climate: to support and promote wellbeing at work, organizations could endorse training and information programs on health and safety for all workers and management, not only for professional groups with high-risk level. Future studies could explore the relation between safety climate and other outcomes, such as emotional exhaustion or objective indicators of organizational health (e.g. absenteeism, accidents, etc.). Copyright© by Aracne Editrice, Roma, Italy.

The role of autonomy and social support in the relation between psychosocial safety climate and stress in health care workers.

Science.gov (United States)

Havermans, Bo M; Boot, Cécile R L; Houtman, Irene L D; Brouwers, Evelien P M; Anema, Johannes R; van der Beek, Allard J

2017-06-08

Health care workers are exposed to psychosocial work factors. Autonomy and social support are psychosocial work factors that are related to stress, and are argued to largely result from the psychosocial safety climate within organisations. This study aimed to assess to what extent the relation between psychosocial safety climate and stress in health care workers can be explained by autonomy and social support. In a cross-sectional study, psychosocial safety climate, stress, autonomy, co-worker support, and supervisor support were assessed using questionnaires, in a sample of health care workers (N = 277). Linear mixed models analyses were performed to assess to what extent social support and autonomy explained the relation between psychosocial safety climate and stress. A lower psychosocial safety climate score was associated with significantly higher stress (B = -0.21, 95% CI = -0.27 - -0.14). Neither co-worker support, supervisor support, nor autonomy explained the relation between psychosocial safety climate and stress. Taken together, autonomy and both social support measures diminished the relation between psychosocial safety climate and stress by 12% (full model: B = -0.18, 95% CI = -0.25 - -0.11). Autonomy and social support together seemed to bring about a small decrease in the relation between psychosocial safety climate and stress in health care workers. Future research should discern whether other psychosocial work factors explain a larger portion of this relation. This study was registered in the Netherlands National Trial Register, trial code: NTR5527 .

Integrating psychosocial safety climate in the JD-R model: a study amongst Malaysian workers

OpenAIRE

Idris, Mohd A.; Dollard, Maureen F.; Winefield, Anthony H.

2011-01-01

Orientation: Job characteristics are well accepted as sources of burnout and engagement amongst employees; psychosocial safety climate may precede work conditions. Research purpose: We expanded the Job Demands and Resources (JD-R) model by proposing psychosocial safety climate (PSC) as a precursor to job demands and job resources. As PSC theoretically influences the working environment, the study hypothesized that PSC has an impact on performance via both health erosion (i.e. burnout) and ...

Measuring school climate in high schools: a focus on safety, engagement, and the environment.

Science.gov (United States)

Bradshaw, Catherine P; Waasdorp, Tracy E; Debnam, Katrina J; Johnson, Sarah Lindstrom

2014-09-01

School climate has been linked to multiple student behavioral, academic, health, and social-emotional outcomes. The US Department of Education (USDOE) developed a 3-factor model of school climate comprised of safety, engagement, and environment. This article examines the factor structure and measurement invariance of the USDOE model. Drawing upon 2 consecutive waves of data from over 25,000 high school students (46% minority), a series of exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses examined the fit of the Maryland Safe and Supportive Schools Climate Survey with the USDOE model. The results indicated adequate model fit with the theorized 3-factor model of school climate, which included 13 subdomains: safety (perceived safety, bullying and aggression, and drug use); engagement (connection to teachers, student connectedness, academic engagement, school connectedness, equity, and parent engagement); environment (rules and consequences, physical comfort, and support, disorder). We also found consistent measurement invariance with regard to student sex, grade level, and ethnicity. School-level interclass correlation coefficients ranged from 0.04 to .10 for the scales. Findings supported the USDOE 3-factor model of school climate and suggest measurement invariance and high internal consistency of the 3 scales and 13 subdomains. These results suggest the 56-item measure may be a potentially efficient, yet comprehensive measure of school climate. © 2014, American School Health Association.

Perceptions of clinical safety climate of the multicultural nursing workforce in Saudi Arabia: a cross-sectional survey.

Science.gov (United States)

Almutairi, Adel F; Gardner, Glenn; McCarthy, Alexandra

2013-01-01

The purpose of this study is to explore the safety climate perceptions of the multicultural nursing workforce, and to investigate the influence of diversity of the multicultural nursing workforce on clinical safety in a large tertiary hospital in Saudi Arabia. Working in a multicultural environment is challenging. Each culture has its own unique characteristics and dimensions that shape the language, lifestyle, beliefs, values, customs, traditions, and patterns of behaviour, which expatriate nurses must come to terms with. However, cultural diversity in the health care environment can potentially affect the quality of care and patient safety. A mixed-method case study (survey, interview and document analysis) was employed. A primary study phase entailed the administration of the Safety Climate Survey (SCS). A population sampling strategy was used and 319 nurses participated, yielding a 76.8% response rate. Descriptive and inferential statistics (Kruskal-Wallis test) were used to analyse survey data. The data revealed the nurses' perceptions of the clinical safety climate in this multicultural environment was unsafe, with a mean score of 3.9 out of 5. No significant difference was found between the age groups, years of nursing experience and their perceptions of the safety climate in this context. A significant difference was observed between the national background categories of nurses and perceptions of safety climate. Cultural diversity within the nursing workforce could have a significant influence on perceptions of clinical safety. These findings have the potential to inform policy and practice related to cultural diversity in Saudi Arabia.

A Social Identity Analysis of Climate Change and Environmental Attitudes and Behaviors: Insights and Opportunities.

Science.gov (United States)

Fielding, Kelly S; Hornsey, Matthew J

2016-01-01

Environmental challenges are often marked by an intergroup dimension. Political conservatives and progressives are divided on their beliefs about climate change, farmers come into conflict with scientists and environmentalists over water allocation or species protection, and communities oppose big business and mining companies that threaten their local environment. These intergroup tensions are reminders of the powerful influence social contexts and group memberships can have on attitudes, beliefs, and actions relating to climate change and the environment more broadly. In this paper, we use social identity theory to help describe and explain these processes. We review literature showing, how conceiving of oneself in terms of a particular social identity influences our environmental attitudes and behaviors, how relations between groups can impact on environmental outcomes, and how the content of social identities can direct group members to act in more or less pro-environmental ways. We discuss the similarities and differences between the social identity approach to these phenomena and related theories, such as cultural cognition theory, the theory of planned behavior, and value-belief-norm theory. Importantly, we also advance social-identity based strategies to foster more sustainable environmental attitudes and behaviors. Although this theoretical approach can provide important insights and potential solutions, more research is needed to build the empirical base, especially in relation to testing social identity solutions.

A Social Identity Analysis of Climate Change and Environmental Attitudes and Behaviors: Insights and Opportunities

Science.gov (United States)

Fielding, Kelly S.; Hornsey, Matthew J.

2016-01-01

Environmental challenges are often marked by an intergroup dimension. Political conservatives and progressives are divided on their beliefs about climate change, farmers come into conflict with scientists and environmentalists over water allocation or species protection, and communities oppose big business and mining companies that threaten their local environment. These intergroup tensions are reminders of the powerful influence social contexts and group memberships can have on attitudes, beliefs, and actions relating to climate change and the environment more broadly. In this paper, we use social identity theory to help describe and explain these processes. We review literature showing, how conceiving of oneself in terms of a particular social identity influences our environmental attitudes and behaviors, how relations between groups can impact on environmental outcomes, and how the content of social identities can direct group members to act in more or less pro-environmental ways. We discuss the similarities and differences between the social identity approach to these phenomena and related theories, such as cultural cognition theory, the theory of planned behavior, and value-belief-norm theory. Importantly, we also advance social-identity based strategies to foster more sustainable environmental attitudes and behaviors. Although this theoretical approach can provide important insights and potential solutions, more research is needed to build the empirical base, especially in relation to testing social identity solutions. PMID:26903924

A social identity analysis of climate change and environmental attitudes and behaviors: Insights and opportunities

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kelly Shanene Fielding

2016-02-01

Full Text Available Environmental challenges are often marked by an intergroup dimension. Political conservatives and progressives are divided on their beliefs about climate change, farmers come into conflict with scientists and environmentalists over water allocation or species protection, and communities oppose big business and mining companies that threaten their local environment. These intergroup tensions are reminders of the powerful influence social contexts and group memberships can have on attitudes, beliefs, and actions relating to climate change and the environment more broadly. In this paper we use social identity theory to help describe and explain these processes. We review literature showing how conceiving of oneself in terms of a particular social identity influences our environmental attitudes and behaviors, how relations between groups can impact on environmental outcomes, and how the content of social identities can direct group members to act in more or less pro-environmental ways. We discuss the similarities and differences between the social identity approach to these phenomena and related theories such as cultural cognition theory, the theory of planned behavior and value-belief-norm theory. Importantly, we also advance social-identity based strategies to foster more sustainable environmental attitudes and behaviors. Although this theoretical approach can provide important insights and potential solutions, more research is needed to build the empirical base, especially in relation to testing social identity solutions.

Attitude of Medical Students towards Occupational Safety and Health: A Multi-National Study

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

M Bhardwaj

2015-01-01

Full Text Available Background: Work-related diseases contribute immensely to the global burden of diseases. Better understanding of attitudes of health care workers towards occupational safety and health (OSH is important for planning. Objective: To assess the attitude of medical students towards OSH around the globe. Methods: A questionnaire assessing the attitude towards OSH was administered to medical and paramedical students of 21 Medical Universities across the globe. In the current study 1895 students, aged 18–36 years, from 17 countries were included. After having performed a principal components analysis, the associations of interest between the identified components and other socio demographic characteristics were assessed by multivariate linear regression. Results: Principal component analysis revealed 3 components. Students from lower and lower-middle-income countries had a more positive attitude towards OSH, but the importance of OSH was still rated higher by students from upper-income countries. Although students from Asian and African continents showed high interest for OSH, European and South-Central American students comparatively rated importance of OSH to be higher. Paramedical students had more positive attitude towards OSH than medical students. Conclusion: The attitude of students from lower-income and lower-middle-income countries towards importance of OSH is negative. This attitude could be changed by recommending modifications to OSH courses that reflect the importance of OSH. Since paramedical students showed more interest in OSH than medical students, modifications in existing health care system with major role of paramedics in OSH service delivery is recommended.

The role of autonomy and social support in the relation between psychosocial safety climate and stress in health care workers

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Bo M. Havermans

2017-06-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Health care workers are exposed to psychosocial work factors. Autonomy and social support are psychosocial work factors that are related to stress, and are argued to largely result from the psychosocial safety climate within organisations. This study aimed to assess to what extent the relation between psychosocial safety climate and stress in health care workers can be explained by autonomy and social support. Methods In a cross-sectional study, psychosocial safety climate, stress, autonomy, co-worker support, and supervisor support were assessed using questionnaires, in a sample of health care workers (N = 277. Linear mixed models analyses were performed to assess to what extent social support and autonomy explained the relation between psychosocial safety climate and stress. Results A lower psychosocial safety climate score was associated with significantly higher stress (B = −0.21, 95% CI = −0.27 – -0.14. Neither co-worker support, supervisor support, nor autonomy explained the relation between psychosocial safety climate and stress. Taken together, autonomy and both social support measures diminished the relation between psychosocial safety climate and stress by 12% (full model: B = −0.18, 95% CI = −0.25 – -0.11. Conclusions Autonomy and social support together seemed to bring about a small decrease in the relation between psychosocial safety climate and stress in health care workers. Future research should discern whether other psychosocial work factors explain a larger portion of this relation. Trial registration This study was registered in the Netherlands National Trial Register, trial code: NTR5527 .

The associations between work-life balance behaviours, teamwork climate and safety climate: cross-sectional survey introducing the work-life climate scale, psychometric properties, benchmarking data and future directions.

Science.gov (United States)

Sexton, J Bryan; Schwartz, Stephanie P; Chadwick, Whitney A; Rehder, Kyle J; Bae, Jonathan; Bokovoy, Joanna; Doram, Keith; Sotile, Wayne; Adair, Kathryn C; Profit, Jochen

2017-08-01

Improving the resiliency of healthcare workers is a national imperative, driven in part by healthcare workers having minimal exposure to the skills and culture to achieve work-life balance (WLB). Regardless of current policies, healthcare workers feel compelled to work more and take less time to recover from work. Satisfaction with WLB has been measured, as has work-life conflict, but how frequently healthcare workers engage in specific WLB behaviours is rarely assessed. Measurement of behaviours may have advantages over measurement of perceptions; behaviours more accurately reflect WLB and can be targeted by leaders for improvement. 1. To describe a novel survey scale for evaluating work-life climate based on specific behavioural frequencies in healthcare workers.2. To evaluate the scale's psychometric properties and provide benchmarking data from a large healthcare system.3. To investigate associations between work-life climate, teamwork climate and safety climate. Cross-sectional survey study of US healthcare workers within a large healthcare system. 7923 of 9199 eligible healthcare workers across 325 work settings within 16 hospitals completed the survey in 2009 (86% response rate). The overall work-life climate scale internal consistency was Cronbach α=0.790. t-Tests of top versus bottom quartile work settings revealed that positive work-life climate was associated with better teamwork climate, safety climate and increased participation in safety leadership WalkRounds with feedback (pwork setting. The work-life climate scale exhibits strong psychometric properties, elicits results that vary widely by work setting, discriminates between positive and negative workplace norms, and aligns well with other culture constructs that have been found to correlate with clinical outcomes. Published by the BMJ Publishing Group Limited. For permission to use (where not already granted under a licence) please go to http://www.bmj.com/company/products-services/rights-and-licensing/.

Consideration of environmental change in the safety evaluation: Long-term climate scenarios in the Iberian Peninsula

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Recreo Jimenez, F.; Ruiz Rivas, C.

1997-01-01

The main objective of this report is twofold. On the one hand, to define the most likely sequences of climate states in the Iberian Peninsula for a period of 125 Ka into the future, to the next interglacial stage, 125 Ka AP; on the other hand, to establish potential climate scenarios during such a period of time determining also the variability ranges of primary climate and climate-related variables of interest to the post-closure performance assessment and underground repository safety evaluations. The report reviews the potential effects of environmental changes on the performance of underground radioactive waste repositories, emphasizing the consideration given to long-term climatic changes in radioactive waste disposal system safety evaluations. (Author)

Patient safety culture in out-of-hours primary care services in the Netherlands: a cross-sectional survey.

Science.gov (United States)

Smits, Marleen; Keizer, Ellen; Giesen, Paul; Deilkås, Ellen Catharina Tveter; Hofoss, Dag; Bondevik, Gunnar Tschudi

2018-03-01

To examine patient safety culture in Dutch out-of-hours primary care using the safety attitudes questionnaire (SAQ) which includes five factors: teamwork climate, safety climate, job satisfaction, perceptions of management and communication openness. Cross-sectional observational study using an anonymous web-survey. Setting Sixteen out-of-hours general practitioner (GP) cooperatives and two call centers in the Netherlands. Subjects Primary healthcare providers in out-of-hours services. Main outcome measures Mean scores on patient safety culture factors; association between patient safety culture and profession, gender, age, and working experience. Overall response rate was 43%. A total of 784 respondents were included; mainly GPs (N = 470) and triage nurses (N = 189). The healthcare providers were most positive about teamwork climate and job satisfaction, and less about communication openness and safety climate. The largest variation between clinics was found on safety climate; the lowest on teamwork climate. Triage nurses scored significantly higher than GPs on each of the five patient safety factors. Older healthcare providers scored significantly higher than younger on safety climate and perceptions of management. More working experience was positively related to higher teamwork climate and communication openness. Gender was not associated with any of the patient safety factors. Our study showed that healthcare providers perceive patient safety culture in Dutch GP cooperatives positively, but there are differences related to the respondents' profession, age and working experience. Recommendations for future studies are to examine reasons for these differences, to examine the effects of interventions to improve safety culture and to make international comparisons of safety culture. Key Points Creating a positive patient safety culture is assumed to be a prerequisite for quality and safety. We found that: • healthcare providers in Dutch GP cooperatives

A qualitative exploration of patients' attitudes towards the 'Participate Inform Notice Know' (PINK) patient safety video.

Science.gov (United States)

Pinto, Anna; Vincent, Charles; Darzi, Ara; Davis, Rachel

2013-02-01

To explore patients' attitudes towards the PINK video, a patient education video aimed at encouraging hospital patients' involvement in safety-relevant behaviours. Qualitative semi-structured interviews. Detailed field notes were taken during the interviews which were analysed using content analysis. One National Health System (NHS) teaching hospital based in London, UK. Thirty-six in-patients aged between 20 and 79 years, 18 of them males. The PINK video is a short animated educational video aimed at encouraging patients to be involved in the safety of their care during hospitalization. Patients' perceptions of how informative, relevant and acceptable the video is; attitudes towards participating in the recommended safety-related behaviours and; potential negative side effects of watching the video. Overall the video was received favourably among the interviewees. Commonly cited benefits included raising awareness and facilitating patients to be involved in their care during their hospital stay. More variability was found in participants' views with regard to the video's role as a patient safety enhancement tool. A number of suggestions for improvement of the video were provided relating to tailoring its content and design to meet the needs of individual patients and their circumstances. Educational videos such as PINK have significant potential to empower patients in the safety and quality of their care. However, efforts to implement patient safety educational videos in practice need to consider different patient groups' needs and characteristics instead of trying to adopt 'a one size fits all' approach.

Attitude change in youths after being exposed to different road safety interventions in two Mexican cities.

Science.gov (United States)

Híjar, Martha; Pérez-Núñez, Ricardo; Santoyo-Castillo, Dzoara; Lunnen, Jeffrey C; Chandran, Aruna; Celis, Alfredo; Carmona-Lozano, Socorro

2013-12-01

To assess the reach of three different types of road safety interventions (social marketing, education and law enforcement) implemented as part of the Iniciativa Mexicana de Seguridad Vial y Prevención de Lesiones en el Tránsito (Mexican Initiative for Road Safety and the Prevention of Road Traffic Injuries) among youth in two Mexican cities (Guadalajara-Zapopan, Jalisco and León, Guanajuato), and to examine students' self-reported attitude change after being exposed to these interventions. A cross-sectional design was utilized to evaluate the reach of the city-wide interventions among a random sample of public and private high school and college students from October to December 2011. A total of 5,114 students completed a self-administered questionnaire. In both cities, students reported a greater exposure to social marketing (73% in Guadalajara-Zapopan and 64% in León) as compared to educational interventions (29.3% in León and 21.6% in Guadalajara-Zapopan) and law enforcement activities (~12% in both). Among respondents, self-reported attitude change was higher after being exposed to educational interventions than law enforcement. Social marketing yielded the lowest prevalence of self-reported attitude change. Our results show a potential moderate impact, measured as self-reported attitude change, resulting from the three intervention approaches under study. Future studies should address the intensity of exposure as well as the translation of attitude change into safer behaviors. Information generated by this study could be useful for local authorities in the intervention areas to inform their activities. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Effects of climate change on food safety hazards in the dairy production chain

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Spiegel, van der M.; Fels-Klerx, van der H.J.; Marvin, H.J.P.

2012-01-01

The aim of this study is to analyse the effect of climate change on emerging food safety hazards in the dairy production chain. For this purpose, a holistic approach was used to select critical factors from inside and outside the production chain that are affected by climatic factors. An expert

The Effect of Stress, Attitudes, and Behavior on Safety during Animal Handling in Swedish Dairy Farming.

Science.gov (United States)

Lindahl, Cecilia; Pinzke, Stefan; Keeling, Linda J; Lundqvist, Peter

2015-01-01

Working with livestock is a hazardous activity, and animals have been found to be the most frequent injury source on dairy farms. Understanding the risk factors for injury and the causal relationships related to injuries and animal handling is important for developing prevention strategies and effective safety interventions. This study examined stress and handler attitude as possible risk factors for animal handling injuries in dairy farming, in particular when moving cows. Twelve dairy farms were visited on two occasions representing different stress levels: when cows were being moved to milking (low stress) and to hoof trimming (high stress). Behavioral observations of handlers and cows were performed, and questionnaires were completed on attitudes (risk acceptance, safety locus of control, and attitudes toward cows) and stress (perceived stress/energy level and job strain). The injury risks were found to be higher when moving cows to hoof trimming compared with moving cows to milking and gentle, moderately forceful, and forceful interactions were more frequently used. When moving cows to milking, observed risk situations were related only to the perceived energy level of the handler. When moving cows to hoof trimming, injury risks were correlated to job strain and time spent in the risk zone (defined as the area where the handler could be hit by the cow's head or hind legs). The time spent in the risk zone was positively correlated with job strain, age, and experience. Attitudes were not found to have significant impact on safety but were to some extent indirectly involved. These results suggest that the main focus in injury reduction work should be on reducing the time the handler spends in close proximity to animals during aversive procedures and on minimizing cow fear and stress by proper handling techniques and appropriate design of handling facilities.

Speaking up about traditional and professionalism-related patient safety threats: a national survey of interns and residents.

Science.gov (United States)

Martinez, William; Lehmann, Lisa Soleymani; Thomas, Eric J; Etchegaray, Jason M; Shelburne, Julia T; Hickson, Gerald B; Brady, Donald W; Schleyer, Anneliese M; Best, Jennifer A; May, Natalie B; Bell, Sigall K

2017-11-01

Open communication between healthcare professionals about care concerns, also known as 'speaking up', is essential to patient safety. Compare interns' and residents' experiences, attitudes and factors associated with speaking up about traditional versus professionalism-related safety threats. Anonymous, cross-sectional survey. Six US academic medical centres, 2013-2014. 1800 medical and surgical interns and residents (47% responded). Attitudes about, barriers and facilitators for, and self-reported experience with speaking up. Likelihood of speaking up and the potential for patient harm in two vignettes. Safety Attitude Questionnaire (SAQ) teamwork and safety scales; and Speaking Up Climate for Patient Safety (SUC-Safe) and Speaking Up Climate for Professionalism (SUC-Prof) scales. Respondents more commonly observed unprofessional behaviour (75%, 628/837) than traditional safety threats (49%, 410/837); pbarrier to speaking up about unprofessional behaviour compared with traditional safety threats (58%, 482/837 vs 42%, 348/837; psafety vignette, even when they perceived high potential patient harm (20%, 49/251 vs 71%, 179/251; psafety vignette (OR 1.90, 99% CI 1.36 to 2.66 and 1.46, 1.02 to 2.09, respectively), while only a positive perception of SUC-Prof was associated with speaking up in the professionalism vignette (1.76, 1.23 to 2.50). Interns and residents commonly observed unprofessional behaviour yet were less likely to speak up about it compared with traditional safety threats even when they perceived high potential patient harm. Measuring SUC-Safe, and particularly SUC-Prof, may fill an existing gap in safety culture assessment. Published by the BMJ Publishing Group Limited. For permission to use (where not already granted under a licence) please go to http://www.bmj.com/company/products-services/rights-and-licensing/.

Attitude and awareness of general dental practitioners toward radiation hazards and safety.

Science.gov (United States)

Aravind, B S; Joy, E Tatu; Kiran, M Shashi; Sherubin, J Eugenia; Sajesh, S; Manchil, P Redwin Dhas

2016-10-01

The aim and objective is to evaluate the level of awareness and attitude about radiation hazards and safety practices among general dental practitioners in Trivandrum District, Kerala, India. A questionnaire-based cross-sectional study was conducted among 300 general dental practitioners in Trivandrum District, Kerala, India. Postanswering the questions, a handout regarding radiation safety and related preventive measures was distributed to encourage radiation understanding and protection. Statistical analysis were done by assessing the results using Chi-square statistical test, t -test, and other software (Microsoft excel + SPSS 20.0 trail version). Among 300 general practitioners (247 females and 53 males), 80.3% of the practitioners were found to have a separate section for radiographic examination in their clinics. Intraoral radiographic machines were found to be the most commonly (63.3%) used radiographic equipment while osteoprotegerin was the least (2%). Regarding the practitioner's safety measures, only 11.7% of them were following all the necessary steps while 6.7% clinicians were not using any safety measure in their clinic, and with respect to patient safety, only 9.7% of practitioners were following the protocol. The level of awareness of practitioners regarding radiation hazards and safety was found to be acceptable. However, implementation of their knowledge with respect to patient and personnel safety was found wanting. Insisting that they follow the protocols and take necessary safety measures by means of continuing medical education programs, pamphlets, articles, and workshops is strongly recommended.

An item-response theory approach to safety climate measurement: The Liberty Mutual Safety Climate Short Scales.

Science.gov (United States)

Huang, Yueng-Hsiang; Lee, Jin; Chen, Zhuo; Perry, MacKenna; Cheung, Janelle H; Wang, Mo

2017-06-01

Zohar and Luria's (2005) safety climate (SC) scale, measuring organization- and group- level SC each with 16 items, is widely used in research and practice. To improve the utility of the SC scale, we shortened the original full-length SC scales. Item response theory (IRT) analysis was conducted using a sample of 29,179 frontline workers from various industries. Based on graded response models, we shortened the original scales in two ways: (1) selecting items with above-average discriminating ability (i.e. offering more than 6.25% of the original total scale information), resulting in 8-item organization-level and 11-item group-level SC scales; and (2) selecting the most informative items that together retain at least 30% of original scale information, resulting in 4-item organization-level and 4-item group-level SC scales. All four shortened scales had acceptable reliability (≥0.89) and high correlations (≥0.95) with the original scale scores. The shortened scales will be valuable for academic research and practical survey implementation in improving occupational safety. Copyright © 2017 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

The Effects of Different Motivational Climates on Students' Achievement Goals, Motivational Strategies and Attitudes toward Physical Education

Science.gov (United States)

Ilker, Gokce Erturan; Demirhan, Giyasettin

2013-01-01

The aim of this study was to analyse whether conducting physical education lessons according to different motivational climates leads to a significant difference between students' achievement goals, motivational strategies and attitudes towards physical education. Participants (81-ninth grade students) were allocated to one of three experimental…

The role of autonomy and social support in the relation between psychosocial safety climate and stress in health care workers

OpenAIRE

Havermans, B.M.; Boot, C.R.L.; Houtman, I.L.D.; Brouwers, E.P.M.; Anema, J.R.; van der Beek, A.J.

2017-01-01

Abstract Background Health care workers are exposed to psychosocial work factors. Autonomy and social support are psychosocial work factors that are related to stress, and are argued to largely result from the psychosocial safety climate within organisations. This study aimed to assess to what extent the relation between psychosocial safety climate and stress in health care workers can be explained by autonomy and social support. Methods In a cross-sectional study, psychosocial safety climate...

Knowledge and Attitudes of Produce and Seafood Processors and Food Safety Educators Regarding Nonthermal Processes

Science.gov (United States)

Pivarnik, Lori F.; Richard, Nicole L.; Gable, Robert K.; Worobo, Randy W.

2016-01-01

A needs assessment survey was designed and administered to measure knowledge of and attitudes toward food safety impacts of nonthermal processing technologies of shellfish and produce industry personnel and extension educators. An online survey was sent via e-mail notification with the survey link through professional listserves. The survey…

[Relationship between perceptions of safety climate at workplace and depressive disorders in manufacturing workers].

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Xu-hua; Xiao, Ya-ni; Huang, Zhi-xiong; Huang, Shao-bin; Cao, Xiao-ou; Guan, Dong-bo; Chen, Wei-qing

2013-04-01

To investigate the risk factors for depressive disorders in manufacturing workers and to provide a basis for developing health promotion measures at workplace. A questionnaire survey was performed in 8085 front-line production workers from 33 manufacturing enterprises in Nanhai District of Foshan, Guangdong Province, China. The questionnaire contained a survey of demographic characteristics, the Safety Climate Scale, the Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale, etc. The multilevel logistic regression analysis was applied to investigate the risk factors for depressive disorders in workers. A total of 6260 workers completed the survey; their mean age was 31.1 ± 8.6 years, and 53.2% of them were males. The multilevel logistic regression analysis showed that after adjustment for sociodemographic factors such as age, sex, and martial status, more depressive disorders were reported in the enterprises with higher score of "production safety training" than in those with lower score (OR = 1.46, 95%CI = 1.07 ∼ 1.97); fewer depressive disorders were reported in the enterprises with higher score of "colleagues concerned about production safety" than in those with lower score (OR = 0.08, 95%CI = 0.03 ∼ 0.26); the relationships of "safety warnings and precautions" and "managers concerned about production safety" with workers' depressive disorders were not statistically significant (OR = 0.78, 95%CI = 0.48 ∼ 1.28; OR = 1.08, 95%CI = 0.68 ∼ 1.72). Depressive disorders in manufacturing workers are related to the safety climate at workplace, which indicates that a good safety climate at workplace should be created to prevent and control depressive disorders in workers.

Adolescents' attitudes towards e-cigarette ingredients, safety, addictive properties, social norms, and regulation.

Science.gov (United States)

Gorukanti, Anuradha; Delucchi, Kevin; Ling, Pamela; Fisher-Travis, Raymond; Halpern-Felsher, Bonnie

2017-01-01

E-cigarette use has dramatically increased. While studies have examined adolescents' attitudes towards smoking, few have extended this research to adolescents' attitudes towards e-cigarettes. The goal of this study was to examine adolescents' attitudes regarding e-cigarette ingredients, safety, addictive properties, social norms, accessibility, price, and regulation; and determine whether attitudes differ by past cigarette/e-cigarette use. Participants were 786 9th and 12th graders from California (63.21% females; mean age=16.10years [SD=1.6]; 26.61% White, 21.98% Asian/Pacific Islander, 29.82% Hispanic, and 21.59% other). Results indicated that 19.05% of participants believed smoke from e-cigarettes is water; 23.03% believed e-cigarettes aren't a tobacco product; 40.36% considered e-cigarettes to be for cessation, and 43.13% felt they were safer than cigarettes. Participants felt it was more acceptable to use e-cigarettes indoors and outdoors compared to cigarettes (pe-cigarette taxes is a bad idea, 63.95% thought e-cigarettes were easier to get than cigarettes, 54.42% felt e-cigarettes cost too much, 64.33% felt the age for buying e-cigarettes should be raised, and 64.37% favored e-cigarette regulation. Adolescents who used e-cigarettes and/or cigarettes had significantly more favorable e-cigarette attitudes than non-users. This study indicates that adolescents are aware of some of the risks of e-cigarettes, although many harbor misperceptions and hold more favorable attitudes towards e-cigarettes than cigarettes. Of concern is the relationship between favorable e-cigarette attitudes and use. Findings suggest the need to provide adolescents with correct information about e-cigarette ingredients, risks, and the insufficient evidence of their role in cigarette cessation. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Implementing the Comprehensive Unit-Based Safety Program (CUSP) to Improve Patient Safety in an Academic Primary Care Practice.

Science.gov (United States)

Pitts, Samantha I; Maruthur, Nisa M; Luu, Ngoc-Phuong; Curreri, Kimberly; Grimes, Renee; Nigrin, Candace; Sateia, Heather F; Sawyer, Melinda D; Pronovost, Peter J; Clark, Jeanne M; Peairs, Kimberly S

2017-11-01

While there is growing awareness of the risk of harm in ambulatory health care, most patient safety efforts have focused on the inpatient setting. The Comprehensive Unit-based Safety Program (CUSP) has been an integral part of highly successful safety efforts in inpatient settings. In 2014 CUSP was implemented in an academic primary care practice. As part of CUSP implementation, staff and clinicians underwent training on the science of safety and completed a two-question safety assessment survey to identify safety concerns in the practice. The concerns identified by team members were used to select two initial safety priorities. The impact of CUSP on safety climate and teamwork was assessed through a pre-post comparison of results on the validated Safety Attitudes Questionnaire. Ninety-six percent of staff completed science of safety training as part of CUSP implementation, and 100% of staff completed the two-question safety assessment. The most frequently identified safety concerns were related to medications (n = 11, 28.2), diagnostic testing (n = 9, 25), and communication (n = 5, 14). The CUSP team initially prioritized communication and infection control, which led to standardization of work flows within the practice. Six months following CUSP implementation, large but nonstatistically significant increases were found for the percentage of survey respondents who reported knowledge of the proper channels for questions about patient safety, felt encouraged to report safety concerns, and believed that the work setting made it easy to learn from the errors of others. CUSP is a promising tool to improve safety climate and to identify and address safety concerns within ambulatory health care. Copyright © 2017 The Joint Commission. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Evaluation of the Pharmacy Safety Climate Questionnaire in European community pharmacies.

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Phipps, D.L.; Bie, J. de; Herborg, H.; Guerreiro, M.; Eickhoff, C.; Fernandes-Llimos, F.; Bouvy, M.L.; Rossing, C.; Mueller, U.; Ashcroft, D.M.

2012-01-01

Objective: To evaluate the internal reliability, factor structure and construct validity of the Pharmacy Safety Climate Questionnaire (PSCQ) when applied to a pan-European sample of community pharmacies. Design: A cross-sectional survey design was used. Setting: Community pharmacies in Denmark,

Development of a patient safety climate survey for Chinese hospitals: cross-national adaptation and psychometric evaluation.

Science.gov (United States)

Zhu, Junya; Li, Liping; Zhao, Hailei; Han, Guangshu; Wu, Albert W; Weingart, Saul N

2014-10-01

Existing patient safety climate instruments, most of which have been developed in the USA, may not accurately reflect the conditions in the healthcare systems of other countries. To develop and evaluate a patient safety climate instrument for healthcare workers in Chinese hospitals. Based on a review of existing instruments, expert panel review, focus groups and cognitive interviews, we developed items relevant to patient safety climate in Chinese hospitals. The draft instrument was distributed to 1700 hospital workers from 54 units in six hospitals in five Chinese cities between July and October 2011, and 1464 completed surveys were received. We performed exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses and estimated internal consistency reliability, within-unit agreement, between-unit variation, unit-mean reliability, correlation between multi-item composites, and association between the composites and two single items of perceived safety. The final instrument included 34 items organised into nine composites: institutional commitment to safety, unit management support for safety, organisational learning, safety system, adequacy of safety arrangements, error reporting, communication and peer support, teamwork and staffing. All composites had acceptable unit-mean reliabilities (≥0.74) and within-unit agreement (Rwg ≥0.71), and exhibited significant between-unit variation with intraclass correlation coefficients ranging from 9% to 21%. Internal consistency reliabilities ranged from 0.59 to 0.88 and were ≥0.70 for eight of the nine composites. Correlations between composites ranged from 0.27 to 0.73. All composites were positively and significantly associated with the two perceived safety items. The Chinese Hospital Survey on Patient Safety Climate demonstrates adequate dimensionality, reliability and validity. The integration of qualitative and quantitative methods is essential to produce an instrument that is culturally appropriate for Chinese hospitals

Reaping the benefits of task conflict in teams: the critical role of team psychological safety climate.

Science.gov (United States)

Bradley, Bret H; Postlethwaite, Bennett E; Klotz, Anthony C; Hamdani, Maria R; Brown, Kenneth G

2012-01-01

Past research suggests that task conflict may improve team performance under certain conditions; however, we know little about these specific conditions. On the basis of prior theory and research on conflict in teams, we argue that a climate of psychological safety is one specific context under which task conflict will improve team performance. Using evidence from 117 project teams, the present research found that psychological safety climate moderates the relationship between task conflict and performance. Specifically, task conflict and team performance were positively associated under conditions of high psychological safety. The results support the conclusion that psychological safety facilitates the performance benefits of task conflict in teams. Theoretical implications and suggestions for future research are discussed.

When truth is personally inconvenient, attitudes change: the impact of extreme weather on implicit support for green politicians and explicit climate-change beliefs.

Science.gov (United States)

Rudman, Laurie A; McLean, Meghan C; Bunzl, Martin

2013-11-01

A naturalistic investigation of New Jersey residents, both before and after they experienced Hurricanes Irene and Sandy, examined support for politicians committed or opposed to policies designed to combat climate change. At Time 1, before both hurricanes, participants showed negative implicit attitudes toward a green politician, but at Time 2, after the hurricanes, participants drawn from the same cohort showed a reversed automatic preference. Moreover, those who were significantly affected by Hurricane Sandy were especially likely to implicitly prefer the green politician, and implicit attitudes were the best predictor of voting after the storms, whereas explicit climate-change beliefs was the best predictor before the storms. In concert, the results suggest that direct experience with extreme weather can increase pro-environmentalism, and further support conceptualizing affective experiences as a source of implicit attitudes.

Fatigue in seafarers working in the offshore oil and gas re-supply industry: effects of safety climate, psychosocial work environment and shift arrangement.

Science.gov (United States)

Hystad, Sigurd W; Saus, Evelyn-Rose; Sætrevik, Bjørn; Eid, Jarle

2013-01-01

This study examined the influence of safety climate and psychosocial work environment on the reported fatigue of seafarers working in the offshore oil and gas re-supply industry (n = 402). We found that seafarers who reported high psychological demands and perceived the organisational-level safety climate negatively,reported significantly more mental fatigue, physical fatigue, and lack of energy. In addition, seafarers who reported having high levels of job control reported being significantly less mentally fatigued. We also found some combined effects of safety climate and shift arrangement. Organisational-level safety climate did not influence the levels of physical fatigue in seafarers working on the night shift. On the contrary, seafarers working during the days reported to be more physically fatigued when they perceived the organisational-level climate to be negative compared with the positive. The opposite effect was found for group-level safety climate: seafarers working during the nights reported to be more physically fatigued when they perceived the group-level climate to be negative compared with the positive. The results from this study point to the importance of taking into consideration aspects of the psychosocial work environment and safety climate,and their potential impact on fatigue and safety in the maritime organisations.