Safety climate and decision making - Texas A&M University (TAMU) Scholar

This paper describes a pilot study examining the influence of individual difference characteristics and safety climate on safety-related decision making. Safety climate is defined as employee perceptions of the policies, practices, and procedures concerning safety at their organization. Safety climate can be understood by examining employee perceptions of the types of safety behaviors that are rewarded, supported, and expected. We conducted a survey-based experiment in which we manipulated the level of risk (high, uncertain, and low) for two factors: people and the organization, described in two hypothetical scenarios. Participants indicated how likely they would be to choose one of two responses to reflect how they would proceed if they were in this situation. They also responded to a series of questions designed to measure safety climate for their organization as well as individual propensities to take risks and/or be productive. This methodology can reveal the relative influence of individual differences and safety climate on safety-related decision making.

8th Process Plant Safety Symposium 2006, Held at the 2006 AIChE Spring National Meeting

Safety climate and decision making Conference Paper