Perceptions of safety performance: Implications for program evaluations

The OSHA recordkeeping requirement establishes a validated procedure to relate injury and illness rates from various industries to days away from work and days of restricted work activities. Many researchers in the field of injury prevention view this metric as a lagging indicator of safety performance. Employee perceptions of program effectiveness were assessed using the OSHA form 33. The null hypothesis was there is no relationship between position in company and response to questionnaire statements. However, according to the data, significant differences existed at the .050 level of significance between some mean employee demographic results and employee responses to group/questionnaire statements. The ability to examine employee perceptions of program effectiveness has significant meaning to employers. Those perceptions, in turn, may influence employee decisions that relate to at-risk behaviors and decisions on the job.