Development and initial validation of an Aviation Safety Climate Scale

Area of Science:

• Aviation Safety
• Occupational Health Psychology

Background:

• Aviation industry requires consistent safety climate factors for benchmarking.
• Existing measures lack standardization for aviation safety climate assessment.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a reliable and valid safety climate scale for the aviation industry.
• To establish a basis for benchmarking safety perceptions among aviation personnel.

Main Methods:

• Literature review and expert consultations identified six safety climate themes.
• A 940-pilot Australian sample completed a safety climate questionnaire.
• Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses validated a 3-factor model.

Main Results:

• Exploratory factor analysis yielded a 3-factor model: Management commitment and communication, Safety training and equipment, and Maintenance.
• Confirmatory factor analysis confirmed the adequate fit of the 3-factor model.
• The developed scale demonstrated reliability and validity.

Conclusions:

• A robust and validated safety climate scale for aviation has been produced.
• The scale can be used to assess pilots' safety perceptions and potentially other aviation groups.
• This tool facilitates standardized safety climate benchmarking within the aviation sector.