A test of direct and indirect pathways linking safety climate, psychological health, and unsafe behaviours

Abstract

This study examined the relationship between workplace safety climate factors, individual psychological health factors, and self-reported errors and violation behaviours. The aim was to test hypotheses about different causal pathways for errors and procedural violations. A total of 308 aviation maintenance engineers completed a self-report questionnaire developed for this study. A structural model depicting workplace violations and psychological health acting as mediators between safety climate and errors was tested using structural equation modelling. The model fitted the data with safety climate accounting for 63% of the variance in violations and 52% of the variance in psychological health. Violations and psychological health combined to predict 58% of the variance in errors. The study demonstrates the importance of including both organizational and individual level variables to assess the safety status of an organization through the use of expanded safety climate surveys.