Safety climate survey results

Numerous studies have shown that safety climate survey results predict safety-related outcomes (Yule et al. 2007), for example, accidents and injuries (Huang et al. 2006), safety performance (Nahrgang et al. 2011 Shaimon and Norman 2009) and workers safety behaviour (Griffin and Neal 2000). Previous studies on the relationship between positive safety climate and lower accident rates demonstrated that employees with a positive safety attitude were less likely to be involved in accidents (Barling et al. 2002 Hofmann and Stetzer 1996 and Lee 1998). 

Six months after the patient safety climate survey was conducted, a written survey on action, taken in response to the results, was conducted among quality officers and senior management in the hospital s various specialist units and institutes. This revealed an uneven picture. In 22 specialist units and institutes survey results were found to corroborate the need to target known areas of action and ongoing projects and were used as a basis for discussion and reflectiom... 

Other specialist units and institutes had put off any discussion of the results for organisational reasons or else showed no willingness to make any changes. In 23 out of 37 specialist units the patient safety climate survey led to a decision to set up an incident reporting system. In addition, targeted projects led to the establishment of safety standards for electronic prescriptions and standards for safe surgery. 

Likert invented a way to measure climate with a forced choice questionnaire that he administered to employees to find out their perception of how good the company is in the ten areas. He later took the perception survey results and ran correlation studies with things like profitability, return on investment, growth, and other bottom-line figures, invariably coming up with extremely high positive correlation. Apparently, climate determines results [3,4]. We will discuss employee safety perception and how it will affect the operation in more detail in Chapter 17. 

A safety climate questionnaire was circulated throughout the factory to gain views on a variety of aspects associated with safety culture and the working environment. The survey produced a 70 per cent response rate and the results helped to guide and structure the implementation of this initiative. 

In Chapter 5, we introduced the concept of SHE culture. It deals with shared values and beliefs of the members of an industrial organisation that determine their commitment to the organisation s SHE management systems and achievements. We will here use the term safety climate to denote such aspects of an organisation that are possible to measure by use of a questionnaire-based survey and where the results meet statistical criteria for aggregation to the organisational level (Cox and Elin, 1998). Results of such attitude surveys are used as performance indicators at the organisational level. 

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