Safety climate surveys

Other key ideas within the cognitive theories that are often employed within social research are those of values, attitudes and beliefs (Baron et a/. 2006). These elements are often seen as the basic criteria of many social phenomena, including the highly complex concept of culture, although it is attitudes, the inherent disposition to respond favourably or unfavourably to an object/person/ event (Aronson et a/. 2007), that are most frequently used, due to their accessibility through tools such as questionnaires or observed behaviours (Ajzen 2005). In construction, safety management often draws on this way of thinking in the use of safety climate surveys. 

Safety climate surveys are well embedded as measures of safety culture in industry and have also been translated and applied in healthcare (Abdullah et al. 2009 Cox and Cheyne 2000 Cox and Cox 1991 Coyle et al. 1995 Flin et al. 2006 Helmreich arid Merritt 1998 Meams et al. 1998, 2003 Modak et al. 2007 Nieva and Sorra 2003 Smits et al. 2008 Sorra and Nieva 2004). Safety climate is regarded as the surface features of the underlying safety culture (Flin et al. 2000). Surveys typically assess workforce perceptions of procedures and behaviours in the work environment that indicate the priority given to safety. 

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). 

O Connor, R, Buttrey, S., O Dea, A. and Keimedy, Q. 2011. Identifying and addressing the limitations of safety climate surveys. Journal of Safety Research, 42, 259-65. 

Thomas et al. (2005) Executive Walk Rounds 12 weeks Inpatient clinical units inatertiary care teaching hospital Safety Climate Survey ... 

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. 

LeMaster, C.H. and Wears, R.L. 2012. Stepping back Why patient safety is in need of a broader view than the safety climate survey provides. Annals of Emergency Medicine, 60(5), 564-6. 

Before any practical steps could begin, certain diagnostic procedures were followed. These included the implementation of a safety climate survey, one-to-one interviews and an analysis of accident records. 

Heaith and Safety Climate Survey Tool (electronic publication) HSE Books 1998 ISBN 978 0 7176 1462 2... 

Health and Safety Executive, Health and Safety Climate Survey Tool (Diskette), HSE Books, Sudbury (1998)... 

Another way by which Airservices Australia is trying to proactively manage HF risks is by conducting an armual Safety Climate Survey of all (operational and non-operational) staff The premise underlying this assertion is that an individual s perceptions of safety affect his/her safety related behaviour (Dobbie, 2003 Health and Safety Executive 2001). 

A crucial question is, however, whether the establishment of safe behaviour is best achieved by focusing on attitudes as measured by safety-climate surveys. We must consider the other possibility, i.e. that it is more efficient to focus on behaviour directly, e.g. by use of the type of measures described in Section 18.2. When behaviour changes, attitude change will follow. 

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