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Multilevel Models in the Explanation of the Relationship between Safety Climate and Safe Behavior

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 July 2013

Alistair Cheyne ,
José M. Tomás  and
Amparo Oliver
Alistair Cheyne*
Affiliation:
Loughborough University (UK)
José M. Tomás
Affiliation:
Universitat de València (Spain)
Amparo Oliver
Affiliation:
Universitat de València (Spain)
*
*Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Alistair Cheyne. School of Business and Economics, Loughborough University, Loughborough, LE11 3TU, (UK). Phone: +44-1509222162. Fax: +44-1509223961. E-mail: a.j.t.cheyne@lboro.ac.uk
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Abstract

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.

Keywords

safety climatesafe behaviormultilevel analysis
Type
Research Article
Information
The Spanish Journal of Psychology , Volume 16 , 2013 , E54
Copyright
Copyright © Universidad Complutense de Madrid and Colegio Oficial de Psicólogos de Madrid 2013 

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Footnotes

The research in this paper is partially funded by a grant from the Gobierno de España (project PSI2010-21334).

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