The association between safety climate and noncombat injury events among United States Air Force workers

Introduction: Work-related injuries are a common lagging safety indicator whereas safety climate assessments can help identify constructs serving as leading indicators. The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) partnered with the U.S. Department of the Air Force (DAF) Safety...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of safety research 2024-02, Vol.88, p.16-23
Main Authors: Socias-Morales, Christina M., Haas, Emily J., Gwilliam, Melody, Yorio, Patrick L., Delaney, Nancy B., Falcon, Rachael G., Stallings, Heidi A., Burnham, Bruce R., Stuever, David M., Stouder, Stephen M., Ewing, Geoffrey L., Collins, James W., Chaumont Menendez, Cammie K.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Humans
Leading/lagging indicators
Military populations
Occupational injuries
Occupational Injuries - epidemiology
Occupations
Organizational Culture
Safety climate
Self Report
Surveys and Questionnaires
United States - epidemiology
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Summary:Introduction: Work-related injuries are a common lagging safety indicator whereas safety climate assessments can help identify constructs serving as leading indicators. The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) partnered with the U.S. Department of the Air Force (DAF) Safety Center to examine the association between perceptions of safety climate survey constructs and the number of injury events within the DAF workforce. Methods: The DAF administers voluntary, anonymous, occupation-specific safety climate surveys to DAF workers using the internal Air Force Combined Mishap Reduction System (AFCMRS). Survey responses from 2014 to 2018 provided by DAF workers and injury events in maintenance, support, and operations occupations were shared with NIOSH. Exploratory Factor Analysis revealed five constructs: Leadership and Communication; Organizational Safety Priority; Error Management; Resource Adequacy; and Deployment/Official Travel Impact. Squadron-level analysis included bivariate correlations and estimated Rate Ratios (RRs). Results: 1,547 squadrons administered the survey, averaging 144 workers and 15.8 reportable injuries per squadron. Higher (more favorable) squadron-level construct scores were consistently correlated with fewer reported injuries (p 
ISSN:0022-4375
1879-1247
1879-1247
DOI:10.1016/j.jsr.2023.10.004