Safety participation in the workplace: A multidimensional assessment tool (PROSAFE)

The importance of the concept of the workforce participation in safety management has been underlined by different studies in the Human Factors literature of the last twenty years. All these contributions have stressed the importance of considering the positive contribution of individuals and teams in achieving the desired level of safety. Within this framework, the construct of proactive safety orientation toward safety emerged as a general and broad set of psychological orientations by individuals in managing safety issues, preventing injuries, improving workplace safety conditions and sustainability of organizational contexts, beyond the mere avoidance of negative events for individuals, teams and organizations. In the light of these conceptual bases, the aim of the present research is to define an original assessment tool of "proactive safety orientation" to assess the psychological factors leading individuals toward a more proactive and participative approach to safety management and risk prevention in the workplace. The model tool was developed as a multidimensional questionnaire on existing conceptual dimensions of organizational proactivity adapted to safety issues in the workplace. In order to achieve this aim, three main research phases were planned: 1) Exploratory semi-structured interviews on conceptual issues, involving safety experts 2) Generation of a new set of assessment measures with content items interview with experts 3) Quantitative pilot study on the psychometric properties of reliability of the new evaluation instruments involving a new set of safety experts. In summary, our research allowed us to generate an assessment tool inclusive of six psychological dimensions supportive of a general proactive orientation by individuals toward the management of safety and the prevention of accidents in the workplace: i) participative self-efficacy; ii) influence perception; iii) psychological ownership; iv) felt responsibility; v) anticipation orientation; vi) improvement orientation.

Online recruitment: The role of trust in technology

In recent years, online recruitment has become a prevalent human resource management practice worldwide. Although studies emphasized the importance of candidates' perceptions related to the recruiting web site attributes, there is no research focused on the effects of trust toward the IT technology during the online application process. Given the importance of trust dynamics in personnel recruitment, the aim of this study is to investigate the role of trust towards the web platforms supporting online recruitment. Results, from a sample of university students including 330 participants, showed that trust toward the web site affects both directly and indirectly - via company attractiveness - the intention to apply for a job

A diagnostic tool to evaluate the proactivity levels of risk-Reporting activities by the workforce

Prevention of occupational injuries is an important task of Human Resource Management. Empiric research showed that risk perception, safety communication and worker's participation in safety programs may have a relevant role in reducing accident and injury occurrence - see for example (Conchie, 2013). These considerations lead us to this study to propose a new methodology which consists in an index aimed to assess the proactivity of worker participation in safety management systems. The innovation consists in defining a diagnostic measurement model to assess the degree of workforce proactivity, considering a specific kind of participatory contribute by workers for safety promotion in the workplace, like the spontaneous risk-reporting initiatives. The measurement tool has been defined and tested by an interdisciplinary team composed of four university researchers (human factor experts) and two site safety managers of a chemical site which is chosen with the purpose to apply for the first time the new tool. Preliminary results show that different levels of proactivity were adopted and that the highest levels of proactivity are relatively less frequent. The tool offers relevant diagnostic information for the industrial organizations which aim to achieve higher level of proactivity in risk management, offering practical indications for managerial interventions focused on stimulating and improving appropriate participation by the workforce. © Copyright 2014, AIDIC Servizi S.r.l

Psychological ownership in organization: A contribution to the Italian validation of pierce and colleagues scale

We present a contribution to the Italian validation of the scale of Pierce Van Dyne e Cummings (1992) concerning the organizational ownership. This construct even internationally widely adopted is mostly absent in the scientific Italian debate. Using data from a sample of 598 Italian employees, was studied both the internal and external validity of the version with seven items that of the one with four. The results showed better psychometric properties of the shorter version and good evidence with regard to internal and external validity

Proactivity Toward Workplace Safety Improvement: An Investigation of Its Motivational Drivers and Organizational Outcomes

Initiating a safety oriented change - or safety initiative - is conceptually distinct from other forms of safety participation and safety citizenship behaviour, yet little attention has been given to its performance outcomes or its motivational antecedents. An initial study with a sample composed of middle managers (N = 86) showed that safety initiative predicted objective improvement actions six months later, whereas, showing differential validity, safety compliance predicted the implementation of monitoring actions. Two subsequent studies focused on motivational antecedents. First, using a sample of team leaders (N = 295), we tested a higher-order structure of proactive motivation that incorporates three domains: “can do”, “reason to” and future orientation. Second, in a longitudinal study of chemical work operators (N = 188), after checking for the influence of potential confounds (past behaviours; accidents experience; perceived risk), we showed that safety initiative was predicted only by proactive motivation. Instead, safety compliance was found to be associated with affective commitment and scrupulousness, whereas safety helping was found to be associated with affective commitment. Self-reported behaviours were validated against rater assessments. This study supports the importance of distinguishing safety initiative from other safety behaviours, indicating how to create an organizational context supporting a proactive management of workplace safety

Prosocial and proactive "safety citizenship behaviour" (SCB): The mediation role of affective commitment and psychological ownership

© 2017 Elsevier Ltd Safety citizenship behaviour (SCB) is an important participation factor in work-groups. Our study aims to study the influence of some antecedents of this safety-specific dimension of organizational citizenship. In the light of the current research stream that distinguishes between prosocial vs. proactive forms of organizational citizenship, we will investigate the effects of the following variables: organizational support for safety participation; team safety climate; psychological ownership toward the management of safety; affective commitment toward the organization. The research was conducted in a multinational chemical industry (N = 314). Prosocial oriented forms of SCB (safety stewardship) were mainly related to the influence of affective dimensions of organizational belongingness (affective commitment). On the other hand, proactive oriented forms of SCB (safety voice) showed higher linkages with the internalization of safety promotion instances (psychological ownership). The conclusions of the article include conceptual implications for academic research and managerial practice. The aim of this is to support a broader safety citizenship orientation by the workforce in the management of safety related instances in the workplace

The role of prosocial and proactive safety behaviors in predicting safety performance

© 2015 Elsevier Ltd. Employees' engagement in safety is assumed to be a significant contributor to safety performance within the chemical industry. The current study tested this assumption by examining the role of prosocial safety behaviors (e.g., helping others) and proactive safety behaviors (e.g., seeking change) in predicting four safety performance outcomes: micro-accidents, property damage (accidents without injury), near-miss events, and lost-time injuries. Two-wave data collected from 511 employees located in 2 Italian chemical plants revealed that prosocial safety behaviors predicted micro-accidents and property damage, and proactive safety behaviors predicted near-miss events and lost-time injuries. These results suggest that benefits can be gained from distinguishing between prosocial and proactive safety behaviors when seeking to improve safety performance. Organizations may reduce the rate of minor injuries and property damage by increasing helping among employees. However, this approach will be less effective in reducing more serious accidents or increasing near-miss event reporting. More effective in these cases is creating environments in which employees feel able to raise their suggestions and concerns about safety

Multilevel Safety Climate in The UK Rail Industry: A Cross Validation of the Zohar and Luria MSC Scale

Despite a downward trend in injury rates in UK workplaces, accident occurrence remains an on-going issue for the rail workforce. Results from the RSSB annual survey reveal that there were 164 major injuries in 2016/17. Safety climate is defined as “shared perceptions with regard to safety policies, procedures and practices.” Many studies have examined the positive effects of safety climate on safety performances by individuals, teams, organizations. Despite widespread attempts to measure safety climate, the validity of measurement tools has not been systematically tested in the rail industry. The primary goal of our research was to validate Zohar and Luria’s (2005) Multilevel Safety Climate Scale in a sample of rail infrastructure workers (N = 528). A cross-validation strategy was adopted. Half of the data were used to conduct exploratory factor analysis (EFA), with the remaining data submitted to confirmative factor analysis (CFA). The statistical results reveal a three-factor structure with organizational safety climate (OSC), supervisor safety communication (SSC), supervisor safety monitoring (SSM). A nomological analysis showed that SSC and SSM presented distinct correlation patterns with other measures of relevance for safety, risk and health management. SSM was found more strongly related with variables such as: safety priorities; safety systems; reporting attitudes; safety compliance. On the other hand, SSC was mainly related with measures refereed to distinct forms of organizational support: supervisor support; peer support; support to change. Overall, our findings showed the validity of a multidimensional approach on the study of safety climate and safety supervision in the rail industry

Agent-Based Modeling of Employee Protection-Oriented Safety Proactivity Behaviors at Small Scale Enterprises

Although the safety production level at small scale enterprises is important for business success, critical safety interactions among the enterprises, its employees, the public, and the government have not been explained well in the literature. To address this gap, a bottom-up method of agent-based modeling is applied here that includes these key stakeholders. The study illustrates how employee protection-oriented safety proactivity behaviors, including whistleblowing and public exposure, can impact the safety production level at small scale enterprises, which are also watched by the public and regulated by the government. The results confirm that protection-oriented safety proactivity behaviors have a significant impact on the safety production levels at small enterprises through the interactions among multiple agents. The model results are validated using an employee questionnaire. The recommendation is for employees to encourage protection-oriented safety proactivity behaviors to improve safety production levels and for the public and the government to provide additional safety support