Safety leadership, risk management and safety performance in Spanish firms

•This work shows the importance of the human factor in improving safety outcomes.•Safety behaviour is formed by safety compliance and safety participation.•Both dimensions of safety behaviour are conditioned by proactive risk management.•These dimensions are also conditioned by transformational lead...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Safety science 2014-12, Vol.70, p.295-307
Main Authors: Fernández-Muñiz, Beatriz, Montes-Peón, José Manuel, Vázquez-Ordás, Camilo José
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Biological and medical sciences
Leadership
Management
Mathematical analysis
Mathematical models
Medical sciences
Occupational medicine
Proactive risk management
Public health. Hygiene-occupational medicine
Risk management
Safety
Safety management
Safety performance
Structural equation modelling
Transactional leadership
Transformational leadership
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Summary:•This work shows the importance of the human factor in improving safety outcomes.•Safety behaviour is formed by safety compliance and safety participation.•Both dimensions of safety behaviour are conditioned by proactive risk management.•These dimensions are also conditioned by transformational leadership.•Transformational leadership is more effective than transactional leadership. This paper aims to study the role of the safety leadership and of the proactive risk management in the improvement of occupational safety performance. To this end, the authors develop and test a model on a sample of 188 organisations located in Spain using the structural equation modelling technique. The results show the importance of employees’ safety behaviour in the improvement of safety outcomes, as well as the importance of the proactive risk management and transformational leadership in promoting safety behaviour. These findings are particularly important for management since they provide evidence about the factors that firms should encourage to reduce risks and improve safety performance.
ISSN:0925-7535
1879-1042
DOI:10.1016/j.ssci.2014.07.010