Jones, C (2014) Assessing safety culture and safety performance in a high hazard industry. PhD thesis, University of Nottingham, UK.
Abstract
In the UK 27 million working days are lost due to work-related illness or injury; at an estimate of £13.4 billion to the economy. Over the last 30 years researchers have examined safety culture and its relationship to poor safety performance. An organisation in the high hazard construction industry wanted to understand the factors that shaped and influenced safety performance and safety culture. This thesis details a research project which addresses that aim. A multi-method, triangulated approach was adopted combining both qualitative (focus groups and interviews) and quantitative (safety climate questionnaire) methods. The results of the qualitative studies informed the development of the safety climate questionnaire that included a measure of self-reported accidents and near misses. The qualitative studies identified 6 main themes; Communication, Leadership, Employee Engagement & Involvement, Safety Prioritisation, Job Demands and Culture. Quantitative study results show, Upward Communication, Perceived Organisational Support (POS), Employee Engagement. Leader Member Exchange (LMX) and Organisational Commitment demonstrate a significant relationship with Safety Climate. Safety Climate, POS had a Significant, positive, predictive relationship with both accidents and near misses reported. Upward communication had a significant negative, predictive relationship with accidents and near misses. LMX and Organisational Commitment show a Significant, negative, predictive relationship with accidents reported only. Results can be explained in the context of social exchange relationships. Reporting behaviour is being measured, this can be conceptualised as organisational safety citizenship behaviour. The probability of increasing or reducing reporting behaviours is shaped by social exchanges such as; a) the degree that employees feel supported by the organisation, b) and their manager, c) the safety climate, d) their commitment levels e) and opportunities to raise safety concerns. Interventions should aim to develop leaders and organisational practices to be more supportive, to increase reporting behaviour and to create a more accurate picture of safety performance.
| Item Type: | Thesis (Doctoral) |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | communication; employee engagement; focus group; hazards; injury; interview; leadership; probability; safety culture; UK |
| Index terms: | job demand, construction industry, estimate, illness, qualitative study, organizational commitment, safety culture, safety performance, questionnaire, employee engagement, commitment, focus group, injury, safety climate, interview, manager |
| Subjects: | financial and cost management, data collection methods, research design and methodology, industry analysis, occupational health and safety management, health conditions and diseases, sociology, management, psychology, practitioner, health safety and environment |
| Topics: | Roles and Professions, Cost Management, Research Practice, Organizational Design, Human Resources, Health and Safety |
| Descriptive scope: | 5 PCTEA |
N.B. Descriptive scope is a count of how many of the five facets of empirical research are indicated by the words used in title, abstract and keywords. It is not intended as a judgement on the research; merely a count of the kind of word we would expect to indicate Phenomenon, Concepts, Theoretical framing, Empirical techniques, Analytical techniques. If all five are present, then a code of “5 PCTEA” will indicate this. If you feel the coding for this record is questionable, we welcome discussion around the terms we matched or the way we categorized them. The facet you would expect may not be coded, or a facet may be coded inappropriately. This can also bear on a larger question, of which facets should be treated as defining in construction management research. Please get in touch, and we will look at it. More details here