Development and test of a safety climate and occupational injury model

Safety climate and occupational injury relationships have not generally been assessed using a population-based survey. This study developed and tested a safety climate and occupational injury model using data from the 2002 General Social Survey and NIOSH Quality of Worklife module. The target population for the GSS was non-institutionalized, English-speaking adults (18+) in the continental US. The sample in this study was restricted to employed adults that worked 20 or more hours per week and were not self-employed. The final sample included 1525 workers. Structural equation modeling was used to assess the overall fit of the model and to assess the hypothesized paths in the model. Latent constructs within the model included: supervisor support, resource adequacy, organizational effectiveness, employee-management relations and safety climate. An occupational injury outcome variable was included in the model. The present study is one of the first studies to assess the safety climate and occupational injury relationship in a diverse sample of occupational and industry groups, thus indicating that the safety climate and injury relationship may be broadly generalizable to a wide variety of work settings and workers as safety climate had a significant negative effect on occupational injury in this study. Further, the study identified organizational factors that were associated with a positive management-employee relationship and positive safety climate. This study illustrates the direct and indirect effects of social support, resource adequacy and organizational effectiveness on management-employee relations and safety climate. Additionally, the results provide guidance for targeting interventions and programs to curtail occupational injury.