Safety performance: the mediating role of safety control

Area of Science:

• Occupational Health Psychology
• Organizational Behavior
• Workplace Safety Research

Background:

• Occupational stress models emphasize understanding, predicting, and controlling stressful events to mitigate their impact.
• The stress antidote theory posits that perceived control over stressors is crucial for well-being.
• Limited research has applied these models specifically to the workplace safety environment.

Purpose of the Study:

• To examine the applicability of the stress antidote theory within a safety context.
• To develop and validate measures of safety understanding, prediction, and control.
• To investigate the relationship between these safety constructs, supervisor safety support, and employee safety performance.

Main Methods:

• A quantitative study involving 424 employees from a university's Facilities department.
• Development of new survey measures based on literature review and focus groups.
• Structural equation modeling was used to analyze the proposed relationships.

Main Results:

• Safety understanding, prediction, and control were found to be distinct yet related variables.
• Safety understanding influenced safety performance indirectly through enhanced safety control.
• Supervisor safety support directly and indirectly impacted safety performance via safety control.

Conclusions:

• While a lack of safety understanding or prediction may contribute to unsafe behaviors, they are not sufficient explanations.
• Perceived control over safety in the work environment appears to be a more direct influencer of employee safety behaviors.
• Enhancing employees' sense of control over safety is critical for improving workplace safety outcomes.