100 Years of Occupational Safe

Journal of Applied Psychology © 2017 American Psychological Association
2017, Vol. 102, No. 3, 375–388 0021-9010/17/$12.00 http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/apl0000114
100 Years of Occupational Safety Research: From Basic Protections and

Work Analysis to a Multilevel View of Workplace Safety and Risk
David A. Hofmann Michael J. Burke

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Tulane University
Dov Zohar
Technion–Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa, Israel
This article is intended solely for the personal use of the individual user and is not to be disseminated broadly.
Starting with initiatives dating back to the mid-1800s, we provide a high-level review of the key trends
This document is copyrighted by the American Psychological Association or one of its allied publishers.
and developments in the application of applied psychology to the field of occupational safety. Factory
laws, basic worker compensation, and research on accident proneness comprised much of the early work.
Thus, early research and practice very much focused on the individual worker, the design of their work,
and their basic protection. Gradually and over time, the focus began to navigate further into the
organizational context. One of the early efforts to broaden beyond the individual worker was a significant
focus on safety-related training during the middle of the 20th century. Toward the latter years of the 20th
century and continuing the move from the individual worker to the broader organizational context, there
was a significant increase in leadership and organizational climate (safety climate) research. Ultimately,
this resulted in the development of a multilevel model of safety culture/climate. After discussing these
trends, we identify key conclusions and opportunities for future research.
Keywords: safety, history, review, occupational health
The focus on occupational safety over the last 100 years has Clearly, the workplace has become safer. Technological im-
contributed significantly to saving thousands of lives. In the early provements, work design changes, the use of personal protective
1900s, workplace deaths and injuries were quite common. For equipment, and improvements in the broader safety culture of
example, one early survey of workplace accidents reported that in organizations have led to significant advances. That said, however,
Allegheny County Pennsylvania alone over 500 workers died per there are still too many incidents in the workplace. One recent
year with an additional estimated 1,500 serious nonfatal accidents report noted that in the United States approximately 150 workers
(Eastman, 1910). Other statistics gathered about this same time die every day from hazardous working conditions— combining
estimated that between 18,000 and 23,000 workers died each year statistics from workplace accidents with occupational diseases
from workplace injuries (National Safety Council, 1998; see Corn (AFL-CIO, 2015). And hazardous working conditions are a par-
& Corn, 1993). ticularly problematic issue in developing countries as evidenced by
Since that time, occupational safety has improved substantially. the 2013 Rana Plaza building collapse in Bangladesh killing 1,127
The National Safety Council reported that from 1933 to 1997 work garment workers and injuring 2,500. Thus, there is still significant
related deaths declined 90% from 37 per 100,000 workers to four. room for improvement on a worldwide basis.
This translates to a decline from 14,500 deaths to just over 5,000 At the outset, one must acknowledge that the field of occupa-
despite the fact that the workforce increased from 39 million to tional safety and health is quite broad spanning multiple disci-
130 million (National Safety Council, 1998). Even with these plines and fields of study including, but not limited to, law,
improvements, however, occupational safety is still a significant engineering, medicine, public health, business, and psychology.
concern. As recently as 2012, there were 4,930,000 workplace Given the breadth and depth of both legislation and research in
injuries requiring medical attention where these injuries had an occupational safety, we will not attempt full and complete cover-
estimated cost of over $198 billion dollars (National Safety Coun- age. Specifically, we have decided not to significantly address the
cil, 2014). accumulation of health risk over time, often referred to as occu-
pational disease. We also have opted not to spend significant time
reviewing research that has emerged from engineering psychology,
This article was published Online First January 26, 2017. human factors and person-technology interactions. Rather, we
David A. Hofmann, Kenan-Flagler Business School, University of North have targeted immediate safety behavior and the literature that
Carolina at Chapel Hill; Michael J. Burke, Freeman School of Business,
speaks to the social/psychological predictors of this behavior.
Tulane University; Dov Zohar, William Davidson Faculty of Industrial
Engineering and Management, Technion–Israel Institute of Technology,
Thus, our review focuses on the key trends and developments
Haifa, Israel. related to occupational safety in the domain of applied psychology,
Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to David A. human resource management and organizational behavior with just
Hofmann, Kenan-Flagler Business School, University of North Carolina at a passing mention of key developments in other areas. Within
Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC 27599-3490, E-mail: [email protected] these domains, we have focused on historical trends and develop-
375
376 HOFMANN, BURKE, AND ZOHAR
ments and conclude with key learnings and areas for future re- stability as an important factor in predicting susceptibility to
search. monotony. In many respects, monotony was viewed at the time as
a form of psychological exhaustion or burnout that could be
The Introduction of Factory Law to the Mid-1900s: A predicted by individual difference measures, and a potential con-
tributing factor to industrial fatigue.
Focus on Monotony, Industrial Fatigue,
Working from a personnel selection perspective, Münsterberg
and Accident Proneness (1913) conducted a novel work simulation-based study of accident
Legislation on worker health and safety in the United Kingdom and injury prevention. Using the first low-fidelity work simula-
originated as a political response to social problems resulting from tion—an apparatus consisting of moving cards designed to illicit
the Industrial Revolution and the associated poor working condi- the mental functioning of a motorman at the front of an electric
tions in factories. The Factory Acts of 1833 and 1844 addressed streetcar. From this research, Munsterberg established standards
specific working conditions for children (1833) and for women for successfully completing the simulation and, in effect, the first
(1844). These acts established several basic protections such as personnel selection standards for worker safety. Münsterberg
limits on the number of hours worked, the securement of some (1913) also described the development of a low-fidelity simulation
class of machinery, and basic record keeping and inspections. for use in selecting shipping company workers for jobs where
Additional improvements were included in the Factory Acts of accidents were rare, but potentially catastrophic. This work simu-
1867, 1891, and 1895 along with advances in inspections of lation was designed to study the actions of individuals in complex
workplaces, requirements for accident reporting, and provisions situations and the types of mistakes they were prone to make.
for fire escape (see Eves, 2014). Munsterberg’s work ushered in research on the identification of
Research efforts focused on the behavioral aspects of workplace accident-prone individuals where this wave of research spanned
safety also have their roots in the late 19th-century United King- industries and continents (i.e., Europe & North America; Burn-
dom. During the late 1800s, a number of European researchers— ham, 2009). Following Munsterberg’s lead, both general cognitive
including those in England, Belgium, France, and Italy—sought to ability (e.g., Chambers, 1939) and more specific cognitive abilities
understand the relation between “industrial fatigue” (i.e., over- (e.g., memory span, reaction time (RT); Forster, 1928; Moss &
strain or physical exhaustion resulting from excessive work) and Allen, 1925) were incorporated into research aimed at identifying
worker efficiency including costs associated with accidents (Gold- those who might be susceptible to accident involvement. Gradu-
mark, 1912). One notable experiment on working hours by Wil- ally, the psychological tests and work simulations—such as Viteles
liam Mather at Salford Ironworks in Manchester, England during Motormen Selection Test— gained in terms of fidelity with the
1893 to 1894 demonstrated that a 48-hr work week resulted in actual work (see Viteles, 1932). In addition, by studying accident
increased productivity in relation to the standard 53- or 54-hr work records of thousands of workers with respect to work conditions
week (McIvor, 1987). Mather attributed the primary cause of the and the control of personal factors (e.g., sickness), Greenwood and
increased productivity to a reduction in worker fatigue. A subse- Woods (1919) concluded that the “genesis of multiple accidents
quent study in Germany by Ernst Abbe, the owner of Zeiss Optical . . . is an affair of personality . . .” (p. 10). Their research and that
Works who introduced the 8-hr workday, confirmed Mather’s of the Industrial Fatigue Research Board in the United Kingdom
hypothesis that productivity increased as excessive working hours foreshadowed decades of research on personality predictors of
were reduced. Later research carried out in the United Kingdom by accidents.
the Health of Munitions Workers Committee (from 1915 to 1917) As research on accident proneness progressed, a number of
and its post-World War I successor, the Industrial Fatigue Re- additional individual difference variables (e.g., vision, Stump,
search Board (1918-1947), further advanced our understanding of 1945) and situational variables (e.g., visual hazards, Guilbert,
the relationship between worker fatigue and the occurrence of 1938) were examined. Among the individual difference variables,
accidents. there was a growing interest and recognition in the emotional
During this broad time frame, management practices focused on states of workers at the time of accidents and, more broadly, their
simplifying and compartmentalizing work in a number of indus- general emotional maturity. Particularly, Hersey’s (1932) detailed
tries (Taylor, 1911). An outcome of these management practices ethnographic research on workers involved in accidents was influ-
was that work became highly repetitive, which led to research ential in identifying the role emotional states played in a worker’s
investigating workplace monotony (and boredom)— often exam- loss of situational awareness and resulting accident involvement.
ined in using both productivity- and safety-related consequences Tiffin (1947) summarized the psychological research to date on
(Mayo, 1924). accident proneness and provided practical recommendations for its
reduction. Later, summaries this line of research would be made by
Shaw and Sichel (1971) and Visser, Pijl, Stolk, Neeleman, and
Emerging Research in the United States and Europe
Rosmalen (2007).
Beginning with Hugo Münsterberg (1913) in the United States, Although the research of applied psychologists in the early to
a considerable amount of research was devoted to studying mo- mid-1900s attended to the role of individual differences, research
notony curves (i.e., daily production curves for repetitive work), and practice in other developing fields focused on how work
individual susceptibility to monotony, drops in productivity, and conditions contributed to the occurrence of accidents, injuries,
increases in accidents. During the 1920s, both American and illness, and death. At the forefront of these efforts was the field
German psychologists noted the negative relation between general research of Crystal Eastman (Eastman, 1910). Her research exam-
mental ability and monotony (Kornhauser, 1922). In addition, ined several industries and numerous individual cases of accident,
Thompson’s (1929) research pointed to the role of emotional injury and death, including detailed descriptions of the circum-
OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY RESEARCH 377
stances surrounding such incidents. It was the Pittsburg Survey programs was provided in Faist and Newkirk’s (1944) Job Safety
that served as a model for the analysis of work conditions in Training Manual (see Rothe, 1947, for a review), where emphasis
relation to worker safety and health, and inspired thousands of was placed on the role of job analysis in the design of safety
related investigations over the next several decades. The Pittsburg training.
Survey along with public awareness of poor work conditions,
resulting from the accounts of Upton Sinclair (1906), led to one of The Mid- to Late-1900s: Emphasis on Work Analysis
the first workers compensation protection laws in the United States
and Worker Selection, Motivation,
(i.e., the 1910 New York State law), but that act was shortly
and Safety Training
overturned in 1911.
The day after the New York Court of Appeals overturned the During World War II, emphasis continued on evaluating indi-
1910 law, 146 workers were killed in the 1911 Triangle Shirtwaist viduals in a more holistic sense and, in addition, within simulated
Factory fire in New York City—most trapped behind locked doors. contexts for safety critical work. This point is evidenced by the
This event, coupled with the work of Eastman and Sinclair, led to development of the first assessment center in the U.S. devoted to
the passage of worker compensation and protection laws in several personnel selection (Office of Strategic Services Assessment Staff,
states and the improvement in work conditions as well as the 1948). The Office of Strategic Services, the predecessor to the
implementation of safeguards to promote worker safety (see Stein, Central Intelligence Agency, used elaborate behavioral simula-
1962). The first successful act was The Wisconsin Workers Com- tions, stress interviews, and tests to select intelligence agents. The
pensation Act of 1911 that assured victims of workplace accidents use of assessment centers in the post-World War II era for selec-
or occupational illnesses just compensation regardless of fault. tion purposes associated with safety-critical work and especially in
Although laws had been well-established in Germany since the late regard to public safety (e.g., policing and firefighting to name just
1800s that provided assistance to workers who experienced acci- a few types of work) would be extensive.
dental injury, it would not be until 1947 that all U.S. states would Although several authors in the post-World War II era suggested
have comparable worker compensation protections for workplace or advocated for training individuals in simulations that incorpo-
injuries. rated the dangers of work (e.g., Heinrich, 1950), it was not until
Efforts aimed at improving workplace safety also were spurred 1973 that the first experimental evaluation of accident simulation
by the pioneering work of Alice Hamilton, known as the Illinois as a training method would be reported in the applied psychology
Survey, from 1910 to 1911. The Illinois Survey was the first literature (Rubinsky & Smith, 1973). In a series of experiments,
comprehensive documentation of how workplace hazardous expo- Rubinsky and Smith found that training via an accident simulation
sures led to occupational diseases (Hamilton, 1943). Hamilton’s for bench grinder work, in comparison to training by the use of
work provided the foundation for the fields of industrial hygiene, written instructions and demonstrations, resulted in significantly
occupational medicine, and toxicology in the United States. fewer unsafe acts.
Another outgrowth of applied psychological research during
A More Holistic View of the Worker and Their World War II was the development of the work analysis procedure
now known as the critical incident technique (Flanagan, 1954).
Immediate Environment
Although initially used within personnel selection to develop se-
As the 20th century continued to unfold, the field of occupa- lection tests for individual difference characteristics considered
tional safety witnessed a movement beyond the measurement of important for success in different types of work, it also was
specific individual differences and modification of particular as- extensively used in the development of selection and training
pects of the worker’s environment (e.g., hours of work, rest pauses, programs for safety-critical work. It continues to be used for
exposures to workplace hazards) to an emphasis on studying the accident analysis investigations such as those of the U.S.’s Na-
worker and the worker’s environment as a whole. For instance, a tional Transportation Safety Board and the Health and Safety
number of U.S. companies established clinics that followed the Executive (HSE) in the United Kingdom.
“clinical method” for treating maladjusted workers (i.e., workers
involved in multiple accidents). The clinical method was an indi- A Move Toward Engineering Psychology and
vidual case analysis of a worker’s abilities, emotional character-
Human Factors
istics, and work conditions (Shellow, 1930). These case analyses
led to efforts to change aspects of the worker or the work envi- As the post-World War II era progressed, other work analysis
ronment in order to improve the worker’s safety. procedures were developed that included factors expected to im-
Notably, this more holistic focus on the worker and work pact worker safety (e.g., the pacing and scheduling of work,
environment also included consideration of the role of the work- possibility of injury from exposure to hazards; see Wilson, Ben-
group and immediate supervisor in accident prevention (see nett, Gibson, & Alliger, 2012). In addition, considerable research
Hersey, 1936). Because the immediate supervisor often had pri- from the 1950s on was devoted to the role of human factors in
mary responsibility for worker preparation in regard to safety, automated systems and designing equipment focused on both
supervisors in many industries were increasingly required to attend efficiency and the reduction of accidents and injuries (see Chapa-
periodic safety conferences or classes focused on accident preven- nis, 1965). This focus was, in large part, due to the growth in the
tion. As Tiffin (1942) discussed, these conferences occurred along- number and complexity of machines in the 1950s and 1960s.
side the establishment of training departments as branches of The study of individuals and groups in relation to such equip-
management within numerous industries in the late 1930s and ment became known as engineering psychology or ergonomics
early 1940s. Guidance for leaders or directors of safety training (Singleton, 1967)— both viewed as subfields of human factors.
Focusing on equipment design to achieve better fit with operator to improve worker safety in two food manufacturing plants. Sub-
capabilities and limitations, this approach was used to increase stantial improvements in worker safety performance were ob-
human reliability and reduce system failure modes (Swain, 1964). served along with a decline in the company’s injury rate (see
Ergonomic research in Britain expanded its scope from accident related work by Chhokar & Wallin, 1984; Komaki, Collins, &
prevention to operator health and occupational stress reduction Penn, 1982; Komaki, Heinzmann, & Lawson, 1980). Work using
(Singleton, 1967). In the late 1960s, systems theory was adopted in positive feedback would eventually become recognized as
Europe and called man-machine systems and system ergonomics Behavior-Based Safety, with applications of reinforcement theo-
(Singleton, 1974). ries found to be primarily effective in modifying more routine, task
One of the first human factors psychologists, Ross McFarland, behaviors across different types of safety-related work at the
showed how individual differences interacted with equipment de- individual and workgroup levels (see Geller, 2001; Sulzer-Azaroff
sign to affect driver responses and truck crashes (McFarland & & Austin, 2000).
Moore, 1957). McFarland’s research along with that of Ralph
Nader (a lawyer), John Gordon (an epidemiologist), and William
Establishment of Government Agencies
Haddon (an engineer and public health physician) would become

influential in developing accident analysis and injury research as Another important development in the late 1900s in many
an interdisciplinary science (see Waller, 1994). A related devel- countries was the enactment of occupational safety legislation such
opment in Europe in the mid-1900s was research on the epidemi- as the Health and Safety at Work Act of 1974 in the United
ological triangle model (see Swuste, van Gulijk, Zwaard, & Oos- Kingdom and the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970 in
tendorp, 2014). The goal of this model was attempting to control the United States. These acts would be instrumental in the creation
and reduce the intensity of unplanned energy transfer (accidents). of agencies responsible for setting and enforcing workplace health
Another application of this model was suggested by a Dutch and safety standards as well as conducting research—for example,
scientist who argued that accidents result from a coincidence in the U.K.’s HSE, and in the United States, the Occupational Safety
time and place of many factors rather than simple causal chains and Health Administration (OSHA) and the National Institute for
(Winsemius, 1965). According to this view, accidents arise due to Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH).
production process disturbances such that reducing such disrup- The establishment of OSHA and the training standards it pro-
tions should increase process safety. Other developments in the mulgated are landmarks in requiring employers to train employees
United States and beyond during this time period focused on in the safety and health aspects of their work. Notably, OSHA
system reliability and analytic techniques for identifying sources developed voluntary training guidelines that called for evaluating
of disturbances in process flows (e.g., see Haynes, 1999; Kletz, training program effectiveness as a critical component of the
1999). Examples emerging out of Europe included Hazard and overall training process. As such, OSHA greatly expanded safety
Operability Analysis (Kletz, 1999), and Quantitative Risk Assess- and health training program evaluation research, including a dra-
ment that the HSE in the United Kingdom had turned into gov- matic increase in safety training evaluation studies being reported
ernment safety regulation (Haynes, 1999). in academic journals across subdisciplines in medicine, public
A more recent and important contribution from an engineering health, psychology, and business, and for all types of safety-related
or ergonomics perspective is the work of Melamed and on the work.
development of a comprehensive measure to assess adverse work A comprehensive quantitative investigation of 95 quasi-
and environmental conditions. Known as the Ergonomic Stress experimental safety training studies, conducted from the passage
Inventory, it has been shown to predict occupational injuries over of the Occupational Safety and Health Act to 2003, indicated that
a 2-year period across thousands of workers in 21 factories and six as the training method required more active participation on behalf
industries (Melamed, Yekutieli, Froom, Krital-Boneh, & Ribak, of the trainee, workers demonstrated greater knowledge acquisi-
1999). Although an engineering approach has been dominant in the tion, and experienced fewer accidents, illnesses, and injuries
study of workers and work contexts in relation to the behavioral (Burke et al., 2006; although see Robson et al., 2010). More
requirements of safe work, a notable and integrated behavioral recently, a meta-analysis of 113 safety training studies published
approach to the study of safe work is the Safety Diagnosis Ques- between 1971 and 2008 found support for an expected interaction
tionnaire, a standardized measure for assessing work context and between the level of worker involvement in safety training and
work tasks, developed during the 1980s in Germany (see Hoyos & hazardous event/exposure severity in the acquisition of safety
Ruppert, 1995). knowledge and promotion of safe work behavior (Burke et al.,
2011). Burke et al. (2011) found that high trainee involvement
A Continued Focus on Training and Introduction of (e.g., through hands on or simulation training) was more effective
than less trainee involvement (e.g., in lecture- or computer-based
“Behavior-Based Safety”
instruction) when hazardous event/exposure severity was high,
During the 1960s, Brethower and Rummler (1966) reported on whereas higher and lesser modes of trainee involvement had
an original study on safety training for supervisors that emphasized comparable levels of effectiveness when hazardous event/exposure
“positive reinforcement of correct lifting behavior.” In comparison severity was low. This research clarified where and why greater
to just training supervisors, training coupled with supervisors’ trainee involvement in the learning process was beneficial and
positive reinforcement of workers’ correct lifting behavior was pointed to the motivational implications of developing a sense of
found to significantly reduce workers’ back injuries. Subsequently, “dread” for trainees in high hazardous event/event severity situa-
Komaki, Barwick, and Scott (1978) presented a more systematic tions. In addition, other cumulative assessments of the efficacy of
investigation and application of the “behavior analysis approach” training focused on specific levels of analysis or other occupations/
industries (e.g., Crew Resource Management Training, see Salas, The Late 1900s to Early 21st Century: Broadening the
Burke, Bowers, & Wilson, 2001; Tompa et al., 2009) have re- Focus on Teams, Multilevel Issues,
ported similar findings. and Cultural Influences
A considerable amount of research and practice continued
throughout the 20th century and into the 21st century on not only Although research published in this journal continued to focus
proximal, knowledge, and motivational determinants of safe work on individual determinants of safety performance, work injuries,
behavior, but also on more distal individual difference determi- and accidents to some extent (e.g., Barling, Kelloway, & Iverson,
nants such as biodata, personality, cognitive abilities, perceptions 2003; Barrett & Thornton, 1968; Barrett, Thornton, & Cabe, 1969;
of work and the work environment, and both physical abilities and Davids & Mahoney, 1957; Frone, 1998; Hansen, 1989; Kahneman,
physiological characteristics (for narrative reviews, see Burke & Ben-Ishai, & Lotan, 1973; Parker, 1953), the final stages of the
Signal, 2010; Lawton & Parker, 1998). In particular, Beus, Dha- 20th century (1980s and 1990s) saw a continued expansion fo-
nani, and McCord (2015) found that among broad personality cused on the surrounding team, leaders and broader organization.
traits, agreeableness and conscientiousness had the strongest rela- These efforts ushered in a more multilevel and systems view of
tionships with safety-related behavior. At the facet-specific level, safety where the broader dynamics of behavior occurring “in” the
Beus et al. found that sensation seeking, impulsiveness, altruism, organization became a more salient aspect of the research and
and anger were meaningfully associated with safety-related behav- thinking. This change was evident in both the research of applied
ior, with only sensation seeking having a stronger relationship than psychology as well as workplace safety models developed and
its parent trait (extraversion). used by various federal agencies such as OSHA and NIOSH (e.g.,
From a practice perspective, the most notable application was see Colligan & Cohen, 2004). An early and significant recognition
the selection system for airport security screeners at the Transpor- of the broader organizational context was the introduction of safety
tation Security Administration in the aftermath of 9 –11 (Kolm- climate research.
stetter, 2003).
As the 20th century and the Cold War came to an end, the
Introduction of Safety Climate
primary mission of the U.S. Department of Energy changed from
plutonium production for nuclear weaponry to nuclear waste Safety climate originated with the publication of Zohar’s (1980)
cleanup. Beginning in the early 1990s, this change called for the original paper where he defined the concept, offered a measure-
training of tens of thousands of workers across a wide range of ment scale, and empirically tested its predictive validity. Building
occupations in hazardous waste cleanup. An early product of this on the distinction between generic and specific (“climate for
effort was confirmation of a general four-factor model of worker something”) organizational climates (Schneider, 1975), Zohar’s
safety performance and a measure (the General Safety- work on safety climate was one of the first applications of a
Performance Scale [GSS]) for use in evaluating worker safety facet-specific climate (Reichers & Schneider, 1990). A few years
training and job performance across jobs and occupational fields after the emergence of safety climate, the 1986 Chernobyl inves-
(Burke, Sarpy, Tesluk, & Smith-Crowe, 2002). The factors of the tigation report cited “poor safety culture” as the primary cause
GSS are using personal protective equipment, engaging in work underlying the disaster. Since these two “defining moments” in the
practices to reduce risk, communicating safety and health infor- mid-1980s, safety climate research has grown exponentially
mation, and exercising employee rights and responsibilities. In (Huang, Chen, & Grosch, 2010) and a recent literature review
comparison to measures of the general concepts of safety compli- found that safety climate accounted for the largest number of
ance and safety participation that were originally introduced under facet-specific organizational climate publications (Kuenzi &
the labels of “carefulness” and “initiatives” by Andriessen (1978), Schminke, 2009).
the GSS has been used somewhat less frequently in the field of Zohar (1980) described safety climate as “shared employee
applied psychology. Yet, the safety performance model underlying perceptions about the relative importance of safe conduct in their
the GSS is widely applied in the fields of public health and occupational behavior” (Zohar, 1980, p. 96). Key terms in this
occupational medicine, and the measure has served as the basis of definition emphasize that it is a shared, agreed upon cognition
evaluation efforts within a number of regional and national safety regarding the relative importance or priority of acting safely versus
and health initiatives (e.g., Sarpy, Rabito, & Burke, 2015). meeting other competing demands such productivity or cost cut-
Over the first 100 years or so of research on occupational safety, ting. These safety climate perceptions emerge through ongoing
a few conclusions can be rendered. First, we now have a better social interaction in which employees share personal experiences
understanding of what and to what degree broad and facet-specific informing the extent to which management cares and invests in
personality characteristics predict safe work behavior. Second, we their protection (as opposed to cost cutting or productivity).
now have more conclusive evidence on where, why, and how to Examples of these social interactions would be the many
foster the development of worker knowledge and skill to promote “micro-decisions” that are made every day in safety sensitive
safety work behavior, especially where hazardous event/exposure environments such as deciding to use the correct personal protec-
severity is high. Third, work analysis procedures and safety per- tive equipment or how new employees are socialized with respect
formance measures have been developed, which provide sound to safety. These microdecisions often occur when competing goals
bases for the development and evaluation of human resource butt-up against one other and supervisors, team leaders, and/or
programs across all types of safety-related work. Finally, we know more experienced employees make decisions about which strategic
where and how to apply feedback/reinforcement principles to priority takes precedence (e.g., use a make-shift replacement part
promote safe work behavior. or wait two days for the correct part to arrive).
Over time, these microdecisions and other actions or nonactions (Hofmann & Stetzer, 1996, 1998; Hofmann, Morgeson, & Gerras,
by management with respect to safety will lead employees to 2003).
develop gestalt perceptions regarding the relative priority of safety Other studies have tested the relationship between organizational-
(Zohar & Hofmann, 2012). Obviously, one key component of a level foundational climates (e.g., climates for organizational sup-
strong safety climate is local management support as these indi- port) and group-level safety climate (Wallace, Popp, & Mondore,
viduals often hold the decision rights for many of the microdeci- 2006). The results suggested that broader foundational (general)
sions discussed above. In fact, a recent meta-analysis comparing climate dimensions are related to more specific safety climate
the effect size of different safety climate dimensions indicated that dimensions (see also Hofmann & Morgeson, 1999). In addition, a
perceived management commitment offered the strongest predic- number of studies have documented the moderating effect of
tion of work injuries (Beus, Payne, Bergman, & Arthur, 2010). organizational or business unit-level safety climate on relation-
More broadly, a series of meta-analyses of more than 200 safety ships between individual difference variables as well as relation-
climate studies have consistently found it to be a robust predictor ships between group-level variables (e.g., Jiang, Yu, Li, & Li,
of safety performance across industries and countries (Beus et al., 2010; Smith-Crowe, Burke, & Landis, 2003). These studies indi-
2010; Christian, Bradley, Wallace, & Burke, 2009; Clarke, 2010; cate that a positive safety climate enhances the effect of interven-
Nahrgang, Morgeson, & Hofmann, 2011). Although difficult to tions designed to promote safe work behavior and reduce accidents
draw firm conclusions given the observational nature of most of and injuries at multiple levels. Related, Neal and Griffin (2006)
the studies, one meta-analysis found the effect size of safety investigated safety climate, individual-level safety motivation,
climate exceeded that of unprotected risks and hazards, the hall- safety behavior, and workplace injuries. Once again, the results
mark of engineering-based safety management (Nahrgang et al., supported the multilevel perspective of safety climate suggesting
2011). This suggests that shared social cognitions may play a that this view of safety climate is robust to different companies,
greater role in safety performance than traditional safety manage- industries, individual research paradigms, and geographic regions
ment approaches and has led to the adoption of safety climate and of the world where the research occurs. In addition to these studies,
culture as the “third age of safety” (Hale & Hovden, 1998). it also should be mentioned that some very recent work has
investigated within person variation in safety behaviors and activ-
ity over time opening up yet another level of analysis (e.g., Dai,
Multilevel View of Safety Climate
Milkman, Hofmann, & Staats, 2015).
Although originally conceived at the organizational-level, the
introduction of the multilevel paradigm in organizational behavior
Leaders and Safety
research has led to concordant changes in the conceptualization of
safety climate (Kozlowski & Klein, 2000). When viewed through As noted above, investigations in the safety climate domain
this lens, employees perceive their work environment from a have offered much support for Kurt Lewin’s proposition that
multilevel perspective such that they are simultaneously members “leaders create climate” (Lewin, Lippitt, & White, 1939). The
of a work group/subunit and a larger organizational entity (e.g., connection between leaders and climate has been explained using
division, region, or company). both group- and organizational-level mechanisms. First, at the
A multilevel climate model was tested in a study involving 36 group level, there often is a social learning process that occurs
companies and 401 work groups (Zohar & Luria, 2005). Consis- whereby group members repeatedly observe the kinds of behavior
tent with the model, the measurement of safety climate referenced likely to be recognized or rewarded by their supervisor (Dragoni,
both organizational and group-level subscales. The results demon- 2005). Second, there is a gate-keeping and sense-making process
strated global alignment between organizational and subunit safety in which leaders communicate and interpret organizational prior-
climate and that the relationship between organizational-level cli- ities to group members. This communicative and interpretative
mate and individual safety outcomes was fully mediated by sub- process has been called informing behavior (Gonzalez-Roma,
unit climate. More interestingly, however, the results also revealed Peiro, & Tordera, 2002), or mediation behavior (Kozlowski &
considerable group-level variance within the different organiza- Doherty, 1989), and the fact that it is being offered by the local
tions resulting from local managerial discretion. The amount of leader promotes socially shared climate perceptions among group
variability observed was predicted by variables that put a limit on members (i.e., group-level climate).
subunit leader discretion such as the strength of organizational- Another group-level mechanism that has received significant
level climate and the degree of formalization within the organiza- research support is the leadership qualities of frontline supervisors.
tion. As these organizational variables increased, thereby limiting In fact, general attributes for local leaders—for example, high
managerial discretion, the variance in between-groups climate quality leader–member exchanges and transformational leader-
variance decreased as did within group variability. ship— have been shown to predict increased safety performance
Although not investigating a full multilevel model using multi- when working in high risk environments. This relationship holds
ple organizations and multiple work groups within each organiza- both for climate level (Barling, Loughlin, & Kelloway, 2002;
tion, other research has adopted a multilevel perspective such that Gonzalez-Roma et al., 2002; Hofmann & Morgeson, 1999; Hof-
climate antecedents, moderators, mediators, or outcome variables mann et al., 2003; Zohar & Luria, 2004), as well as climate
were measured at different levels of analysis than climate itself. strength referring to the extent of agreement or consensus between
For example, in several studies Hofmann and colleagues linked members’ climate perceptions (Gonzalez-Roma, Peiro, & Tordera,
subunit climate with both group-level and individual variables to 2002; Zohar & Tenne-Gazit, 2008).
predict individual outcomes such as unsafe behavior, accidents, At the organizational-level, structural attributes of the work
safety role definitions, and safety-related citizenship behavior environment can help to inform workers about the relative prior-
itization of certain role behaviors. For example, Kozlowski and authors to use the two constructs interchangeably. We believe this
Hults (1987) investigated the relationship between standardization, situation is unfortunate and would like to suggest that any study of
centralization, specialization, and reward procedures and the cli- safety culture should be integrated with and connected to the
mate for technical updating among R&D engineers. Given that broader, more general organizational culture as well as the models
such structural attributes are determined by senior management, and research within this domain such as Schein’s (2004) organi-
they offer an organization-level explanation for the leadership– zational culture model and the competing values framework to
climate relationship. A second way in which climate can be im- organizational culture (see Quinn & McGrath, 1985; Schneider,
pacted by organizational-level processes is through the managerial Ehrhart, & Macey, 2013).
practices and decisions that are perceived by employees to reside When considering the more general integration of culture and
outside the control of lower-level managerial authority. Pertinent climate, one such model suggested by Zohar and Hofmann (2012)
examples include investment in costly monitoring equipment, im- proposes that organizational climate acts as a social– cognitive
mediacy of correcting physical hazards (even if costly), or adjust- mechanism for resolving or coping with such complexity. As noted
ing production schedules due to absenteeism (Zohar & Luria, above, climate perceptions are targeted at surface-level artifacts
2005). The final organizational-level process focuses on the ob- (policies, procedures, and practices) indicative of the kinds of
served consistency across situations and among subunits. A strong behavior likely to be recognized and rewarded. Such perceptions
degree of consistency is indicative of reduced leniency in policy help employees make sense of their environment by using ex-
implementation, which, in turn, informs employees about senior pected (social, financial) rewards for different types of role behav-
management priorities and their commitment to these priorities ior (e.g., safety, productivity, or cost reduction) as the pertinent
throughout the organization. In sum, all of these mechanisms— metric. For example, if safety behavior is expected to result in
both at the group- and organizational-level— help to provide em- fewer or smaller rewards than on-time delivery or cost-cutting
ployees a gestalt perception regarding the kinds of behavior that is behaviors, a poor safety climate will emerge. Over time the per-
expected, valued, rewarded and supported. ception that schedule or cost consistently takes priority over safety
helps to inform employees that the company’s core values prior-
itize profitability over the formally espoused value of employee
Teams and Safety
safety.
Reviews of the work team literature have identified a number of According to this model, the various facet-specific climates
foundational group-level process and characteristics that positively enacted on the frontlines of organizations constitute a key mech-
predict performance (Salas et al., 2008; Stewart, 2006). Although anism allowing employees to interpret deep and surface-level
these reviews and meta-analyses support the effect of team pro- layers of culture. In other words, even though it is difficult to
cesses on generic performance outcomes, similar results have been identify deep-level cultural elements from any specific surface-
reported for safety outcomes in a more recent meta-analysis level feature, this model proposes that observing the interaction
(Clarke, 2010). Additional support for these conclusions comes and prioritization of multiple surface-level features over time can
from two studies testing the relationship between high- help employees gain a gestalt perception regarding what is truly
performance work systems and safety outcomes (Zacharatos, valued, expected, supported, and rewarded (enacted values). For
Barling, & Iverson, 2005). High-performance work systems are an example, if employees consistently see production, schedule, and
organization-level construct describing a cluster of human re- cost prioritized over safety, then the interaction among these
source management practices emphasizing, among other things, climate dimensions, and the relative prioritization emerging out of
group cohesion, members’ sense of belongingness, and informa- these interactions, can enable climate to serve as a bottom-up lens
tion sharing. This bundle of practices has been shown to account through which to understand the deeper-level elements of organi-
for 33% of the variance in injury rates across organizations. In zational culture.
addition, a recent literature review of the teamwork-safety rela- There is virtually no research specifically linking broader orga-
tionship led to similar conclusions suggesting that member- nizational cultural dimensions to more specific safety culture di-
member and member-supervisor cooperation and communication, mensions and safety outcomes. Although general attributes of the
as well as team cohesion is consistently related to safety perfor- work group (e.g., leader–member exchange) and the organization
mance in high risk environments (Turner & Parker, 2003). (Perceived Organizational Support) have between linked to safety
outcomes (Hofmann & Morgeson, 1999; Hofmann et al., 2003),
there has not to our knowledge been research linking validated
Culture and Safety
measures of organizational culture with safety outcomes. That
Given the conceptual overlap—and often ambiguity— between notwithstanding, however, it could be argued that the deep-level
organizational culture and climate, a number of integrative models elements of a clan culture (i.e., a culture characterized by collab-
have been proposed although none have been empirically validated oration, trust, and open communication) may promote higher
to date (Ostroff, Kinicki, & Muhammad, 2012; Schneider, Ehrhart, safety climate and safety performance than a market culture (i.e.,
& Macey, 2011; Zohar & Hofmann, 2012). In the context of safety characterized by competition and meritocracy). Similar arguments
research, there potentially is even greater conceptual ambiguity could be made with regard to having superior safety climate and
given the lack of a clear and agreed upon definition of safety performance under a hierarchy culture, stemming largely from
culture, and where the definitions that have been put forth do not safety compliance. These and other similar questions have yet to
make reference to broader, more general aspects of organizational be answered, and we encourage others to take up the task.
culture. In addition, many measures of safety culture use items and Related, even though safety researchers have argued for a sin-
scales which resemble safety climate measures. This has led many gle, higher-order factor as underlying workers’ safety climate
perceptions (see Griffin & Neal, 2000; Neal & Griffin, 2004), the political economy of nations and states that, in turn, would be
broader work climate literature would suggest that multiple higher- expected to influence workplace safety and the efficacy of orga-
order factors likely underlie employees’ safety climate perceptions nizational safety interventions (see Burke & Signal, 2010). The
(Ostroff & Shulte, 2014). That is, to the extent that organization- few studies that have been conducted have largely examined
ally espoused values reflect concern for the well-being of multiple bivariate associations, at the country level of analysis, between
stakeholders and organizational practices reinforce these values, national cultural characteristics, aggregated safety climate percep-
then employees would be expected to cognitively appraise aspects tions, and accident and injury rates (e.g., see Håvold, 2007; Infor-
of their work environment (in a hierarchical manner) with respect tunio, 2006; Gyekye & Salminen, 2005). An exception, from a
to the impact of work environment characteristics on personal person–situation interaction perspective, is the work of Burke,
well-being as well as with respect to the well-being of other Chan-Serafin, Salvador, Smith, and Sarpy (2008). Using data from
relevant stakeholder groups. A multiple stakeholder conceptual- 68 organizations embedded within 14 nations, they found support
ization of safety climate holds promise for guiding a broader for the hypothesized moderating effect of uncertainty avoidance on
measurement of safety climate relative to the constituent groups the transfer of safety training with regard to reducing accidents and
and may enhance our understanding of the effects of safety-related injuries. As a whole, improvements could be made in research
work contexts on safety outcomes. This point is important as safety directed at understanding the processes by which national cultural
contexts, perhaps more so than any other type of work environ- characteristics affect workplace safety, and within a more com-
ment, have the potential to affect well-being, in the broadest plete multilevel perspective.
psychological and physical sense, of employees, their families,
customers/clients, suppliers, and the public.
Lessons Learned and Areas for Additional Research
Another shortcoming in the literature is the relative lack of
research in regard to national cultural taxonomies and character- After 100 years of research into occupational safety, we believe
istics (see Hofstede, 2001; House, Hanges, Javidan, Dorfman, & that several conclusions can be drawn and these are summarized in
Gupta, 2004), such as uncertainty avoidance and power distance. Table 1. Clearly, as we suggest in Table 1, much progress has been
These characteristics would be expected to underlie aspects of the made and the workplace has become significantly safer. We also
Table 1
Key Learnings From Occupational Safety Research
Conclusion Summary
1. Strong trend of Tracing from the earliest research on occupational safety to the present day, the workplace has become
improvement over time increasingly safe. Early work on work design and individual behavior helped form the foundation for
engineering psychology (human factors) and behavioral safety both of which continue to make significant
contributions to safe work today. The formation of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and
Health, other government initiatives, safety training, and the relatively recent focus on safety culture have
helped to improve safety at work.
2. Individual differences do Although initial efforts at identifying an “accident prone” personality were inconsistent and inconclusive
predict safety at work (e.g., Visser, Pijl, Stolk, Neeleman, & Rosmalen, 2007), recent research has found consistent relationships
between personality and safety-related behavior. Notably, Beus, Dhanani, and McCord (2015) found that
agreeableness and conscientiousness were negatively associated with unsafe behavior (see also Clarke &
Robertson, 2005), and that sensation seeking is positively and more strongly related to unsafe behavior
than its parent trait (i.e., extraversion). Although recent research has demonstrated consistent relationships,
this research also indicates that safety climate perceptions are often a more important predictor of safety-
related behavior than personality.
3. Importance of frontline Starting with the early safety research (Hersey, 1936), to training research (Brethower & Rummler, 1966;
supervisors Faist & Newkirk, 1944), to more recent work on leadership and safety climate (Hofmann et al., 2003;
Zohar, 2002a, 2002b), the role of the immediate supervisor has been identified to be a key influence on
safety outcomes. It is in the “micro-decisions” made by these frontline managers and the degree to which
day-in and day-out they reinforce and signal the importance of safety where the “rubber meets the road”
so to speak with respect to safety.
4. Safety training works There is substantial research documenting the efficacy of safety training. Reviews have found that individual
training efforts improve safety behaviors and reduce accidents (Burke et al., 2006). Supervisor training also
positively impacts the safety outcomes of individual workers (e.g., Zohar, 2002a). As the job context
becomes more complex with more severe hazardous event/exposure, worker involvement in the training
becomes more critical (Burke et al., 2011). Thus, for those jobs where safety is particularly critical,
workers should receive highly engaging training that simulates the situations they will face on the job. At
the same time, their supervisors should receive training on how to reinforce positive safety behaviors and
establish a positive safety culture on their unit (Zohar, 2002a).
5. Safety climate and culture Since the introduction of the concept (Zohar, 1980), research has demonstrated the critical role the social
are critically important context plays in safety-related outcomes. Recent research has found support for a multilevel model of
safety climate (Zohar & Luria, 2005) as well as the critical role that leaders and fellow team members play
in enacting a strong safety climate (Beus et al., 2010; Turner & Parker, 2003). Interventions also have
been shown to positively impact safety climate as well as related safety behaviors (Zohar, 2002b; Zohar &
Polachek, 2014).
know that some individual differences are consistently and signif- to use (Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, 2015). Al-
icantly related to safety at work, but that the social context (e.g., though not specifying specific measurement items, a number of
climate) is often a more powerful predictor of safety behavior and different industry and/or government agencies have developed
related outcomes such as accidents and injuries. Substantial evi- policy statements on the various dimensions comprising safety
dence has accumulated documenting the effectiveness of safety climate/culture (e.g., Institute of Nuclear Power Operations and
training and investigating several moderators of this effectiveness. Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement). Again, there is
Over the last 25 years, the importance of safety climate has been a fair bit of agreement on the various dimensions, but there has not
well established concluding with support for a multilevel model. been a standard set of dimensions or measurement items identified
Within both the training and safety climate literature, the impor- (National Research Council, 2015, Chapter 6).
tance of frontline leaders and fellow team members’ behavior on The measurement notwithstanding, safety climate research has
individual worker safety behavior also has been well documented. clearly established a strong and consistent relationship between
Integrating literatures beyond the scope of our review suggests a employee perceptions of the emphasis on safety and safety out-
systems view is (perhaps obviously) necessary. Appropriate work comes (Beus et al., 2010; Christian et al., 2009; Nahrgang et al.,
design, the availability of resources such as relevant equipment, 2011). But there are several other conclusions that can be drawn
providing training, and building a strongly reinforcing social cli- from this research. One such conclusion is that there is significant
mate are all required to effectively manage safety at work. variability on the frontlines and across frontline supervisors. For
Beyond the conclusions in Table 1, several other areas of example, a number of safety climate studies have been conducted
convergence should be noted. One has to do with the measurement in industries and with companies where safety is a core value and
of safety outcomes. Burke et al. (2002), for example, developed a heavily emphasized. Yet, even with this emphasis, when frontline
four-factor model of safety outcomes which has been widely used teams are surveyed, there is still significant variability in both
in public health and other applied fields to evaluate interventions. safety climate perceptions and safety outcomes. Even though Zo-
Another widely used outcome distinction is between safety com- har’s multilevel model of safety climate has demonstrated that top
pliance and safety participation, labels proposed by Griffin and management support for safety can reduce this frontline discretion,
Neal (2000). They defined safety compliance as behaviors associ- there often seems to be significant frontline variability. Relatedly,
ated with safe work practices (e.g., using safe procedures for we believe that although safety climate has been shown to signif-
handling hazardous materials), whereas safety participation fo- icantly predict many safety-related outcomes, much of this re-
cused on behaviors supporting the overall safety of the organiza- search involves relationships occurring concurrently or in rather
tion (e.g., volunteering for safety-related tasks). short proximity. What is less known, in our opinion, is how to
On the predictor side of the equation, worker safety training is create a sustained, ongoing, year-over-year focus on safety such
one of the most researched areas in occupational safety with that it becomes embedded in the DNA of the organization. More
hundreds of studies reported in the literature. Although safety work should be done on how organizations build this type of safety
training is recognized as having meaningful behavioral, health, and culture, one where it is truly embedded in the core operating
economic impacts; a number of unanswered questions remain assumptions and does not fade or drift in the background over
about the efficacy of these interventions at the individual, work- time, where time here is operationalized in years or decades.
group, and business unit levels of analysis. Among several areas Another conclusion is that the research on safety climate has
where future research would be informative are investigations of evolved rather naturally to include a more “organization,” or
the applicability and efficacy of immersive virtual reality training systems view of safety. It has transitioned from safety climate
for individuals and “in situ” simulation training for workgroups, being perceived as primarily an organizational-level construct to it
studies on how training interventions might contribute to the being imbedded in a full multilevel, more systems focused model
reduction of racial/ethnic disparities in safety and health outcomes, (Zohar & Luria, 2005). Yet, even though the safety literature
and examinations concerning the role of language and literacy within applied psychology has been moving in the direction of a
considerations in the conduct, transfer, and evaluation of training broader, more organizational perspective, this research has largely
(Burke & Sockbeson, 2015). focused on unsafe behavior, accidents, injuries and other similar
As noted above, safety climate/culture also has received a great outcomes. Thus, there still remains a significant gap in viewing the
deal of attention. That said, however, both across the research safety space in its totality from a systems perspective. This gap, in
literature and practitioner organizations, no consistent measure of particular, was emphasized over a decade ago in the Institute of
safety climate has emerged. After a comprehensive review of the Medicine (1999) report, which emphasized that medical errors are
literature, Beus et al. (2010) concluded that the most frequently caused by faulty systems and processes that lead people to make
occurring dimension was management commitment to safety. Be- mistakes or fail to prevent them. Importantly, this gap comprises
yond that, other measures that seemed to reoccur with some the difference between what we would term “personal” safety
frequency that aligned well with the conceptual definition of safety versus operational or process safety. Traditional safety research,
climate where the priority of safety, perceptions of safety policies, like that published over the years in this journal and reviewed here,
practices, and procedures; safety training, safety communication, has focused primarily on personal safety (unsafe behavior, injuries,
and employee involvement in safety activities (see Beus et al., accidents and so forth).
2010). Over the last 20 years, however, there has been an increasing
Similarly, different industry groups have developed their own recognition and discussion concerning process or operational safe-
measures of safety climate (sometimes called safety culture). The ty—particularly in comparison to personal safety. The Baker Com-
Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality has developed a mission’s (U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board,
standard instrument that is available for health care organizations 2007) investigation of British Petroleum’s Texas City accident
clearly emphasized the distinction between process and personal Conclusions

safety and concluded that indicators of personal safety do not
necessarily provide evidence of process safety. The Baker Com- Looking across 100⫹ years of research on occupational safety
mission report continued that Process Safety Management applies suggests great progress has been made. The workplace has become
“management principles and analytical tools to prevent major dramatically safer with respect to personal safety seeing a signif-
accidents rather than focusing on worker occupational health and icant reduction in accidents, injuries, and fatalities over time. As
safety issues, such as fall protection and personal protective equip- work continues to become more complex, however, there is a need
ment” (p. 19; see also CCPS, 1992). Hopkins (2007) made a to develop a more comprehensive and integrated model integrating
similar distinction when he noted that process safety hazards arise personal safety, process safety and total worker health (National
from the processing activities and involve the escape of toxic Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, 2015). We believe
substances, fires, explosions, or the like. Personal safety hazards, that better tying together these areas of research is a needed future
on the other hand, impact individuals and might involve falls, trips, direction. It is not until this more integrated picture is formed that
pinching of hands and fingers, electrocutions, vehicle accidents, both academics and practitioners will be able to understand and
and similar individual accidents and injuries (Hopkins, 2007). build a comprehensive safety and health culture within organiza-
Even though the indicators of process and personal safety are tions. Another avenue for future research is exploring the extent to
distinct, we believe that the findings in the two literatures do which findings in occupational safety can be extrapolated to other
have the potential to inform one another more than they have to industries where there is a combination of local compliance and
date. Of course, this is not very difficult goal to achieve, given broader process/risk management issues involved. We have seen
the literatures are virtually independent of each other. To illus- these models navigate into health care (e.g., Vogus et al., 2010)
trate the lack of integration of these two bodies of research, and there are discussions occurring within the financial services
neither Reason’s (1990) work on organizational accidents, the industry that seem to parallel much of the safety research that has
Baker Report investigating Texas City (U.S. Chemical Safety been done.
and Hazard Investigation Board, 2007), Weick and Suttcliffe’s Although much progress has been made, there are still too many
book on managing he unexpected (Weick & Suttcliffe, 2001), or workplace injuries, fatalities, and occurrences of occupational dis-
the edited volume on the Columbia Disaster (Starbuck & Far- ease. So even within the domain of occupational safety there is
joun, 2005) mention much if any of the existing research on much work to be done. It is important to continue this work—
safety climate. This is despite the fact that one of main issues particularly when one looks beyond the statistics to consider the
identified in the Columbia Accident Investigation Board report people impacted by occupational incidents and disease. Even
(Columbia Accident Investigation Board, 2003) was the ongo- though it is easy to view aggregate statistics and each additional
ing safety culture of the organization. Furthermore, interven- data point as one more observation in a database, we should not
tions subsequent to the accident used an organizational and lose sight of what each of these individual data points represent—
safety survey that at least in part directly focused on safety particularly those representing serious disabling injuries and death.
climate (BST Solutions, 2005). Similarly, it is rare that the We ask that you not lose sight of this fact as you read this review
research on safety climate and culture significantly draws on and conclude, like we have, there is still much work to do on this
work more focused on process safety (e.g., high reliability front.
organizations; Weick & Sutcliffe, 2001; Weick et al., 1999;
resilience engineering; Hollnagel, Woods, & Leveson, 2006). References
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Journal of Applied Psychology © 2017 American Psychological Association

2017, Vol. 102, No. 3, 375–388 0021-9010/17/$12.00 http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/apl0000114

100 Years of Occupational Safety Research: From Basic Protections and

David A. Hofmann Michael J. Burke

Keywords: safety, history, review, occupational health

Haddon (an engineer and public health physician) would become

clearly emphasized the distinction between process and personal Conclusions

training effectiveness. European Journal of Work and Organizational 303–306. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/h0047608

Academy of Management Perspectives, 24, 60 –77.

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