While it has been well established that safety climate is a leading indicator of accidents and injuries, the antecedents of safety climate are rarely examined in the safety literature. Structural factors of an organization, like company size, haul type, and geographic location, may contribute to the perception workers have of their organization’s safety climate. Especially in the trucking industry, in which drivers work alone for long periods of time with little social interaction among coworkers and supervisors, it is important to understand different factors that will influence safety climate. Some understanding of which organizational characteristics impact safety climate may help organizations to focus on specific areas to counter the effects of structure in order to improve safety. (Author/publisher)
Abstract