Twenty-second International Conference on Knowledge, Culture, and Change in Organizations

Abstract

The Safety Culture Assessment Survey (SCAS) was administered to a large regional railroad organization at two separate times. Combining data from two time periods significant differences in observed safe and unsafe behavior for those who scored high versus low on the SCAS scales. Acceptable psychometric properties of reliability and validity were obtained. Criterion validity was observed in that that scores on the SCAS successfully differentiated those who had performed safe versus unsafe behavior as noted by supervisors. Moreover, subscales of the safety SCAS were significantly related to safety performance outcome measures, such as reported injuries, accidents, and near misses. Statistically significant odds ratios of reporting a near miss were obtained when safety culture measures from SCAS subscales were low, which indicated weak safety culture in the areas of senior and front-line management’s commitment to safety, a culture that prioritized productivity over safety, and a culture that underutilized safety practices such as job briefings. Similarly, the odds of reporting an accident were nearly five times greater if a respondent perceived the organizational culture as prioritizing productivity over safety. Overall, this study furthered the development and validation of a measure of corporate safety culture for the transportation industry. Recommendations for activities, based on these measures that can lead to the development of a strong safety culture are discussed.