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Associations between safety climate and safety management practices in the construction industry
Author(s) -
Marín Luz S.,
Lipscomb Hester,
Cifuentes Manuel,
Punnett Laura
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
american journal of industrial medicine
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.7
H-Index - 104
eISSN - 1097-0274
pISSN - 0271-3586
DOI - 10.1002/ajim.22723
Subject(s) - occupational safety and health , safety climate , occupational injury , medicine , safety culture , injury prevention , sample (material) , poison control , effective safety training , environmental health , public health , occupational health nursing , nursing , health policy , management , chemistry , pathology , chromatography , economics
Background 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. Methods 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. Results 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. Conclusions Safety management practices may be more important than workers’ perceptions of safety climate as direct predictors of injury rates.