What is Safety Climate in Organizations?

 Safety Climate describes a situation in which both employees and managers are in agreement regarding the importance of workplace safe behavior. 

This is especially true when there are requirements that may contradict the need for safe conduct, for example, when meeting tight schedules and deadlines, reducing costs and so on. If there is a high level of safety climate in the organization, the employees will tend to perform their work in the safest way, which in turn, will reduce the incidence of workplace accidents or near-accidents. 

In contrast, when employees agree that meeting deadlines is more important than complying with safety regulations, as this will lead to more positive feedback from management, they will create a lower safety climate, which will make them cut corners and compromise on safety. 

We, at Safety On, will be happy to assist any company and organization to raise their level of safety, through safety consultancy and guidance. We are able to help you improve the safety climate in your organization, thus preventing workplace accidents and providing a more pleasant and safer work environment. 

Organization Safety Climate – What Should You Know 

First of all, it is noteworthy that today, there are many studies, which deal with safety climate in the organization. These studies examined the link between the level of safety climate and the number of work accidents. The findings indicate that thanks to the safe conduct of managers and employees, the number of workplace accidents can be significantly reduced. It turns out that one of the most influential factors on safety climate, is the personal experience of the employee, which offers him information about the importance of safe conduct in cases of conflicting demands. 

Situations of work pressure or having to meet deadlines are test cases for the management's formal statements and how it regards the importance of safety.   

What is important to know about safety climate in organizations? 

It is important to understand that in study cases where it is necessary, for example, to decide between safe conduct and meeting deadlines, employees examine whether the behavior of the management is consistent with its official positions. 

If safety is not the management's top priority, the employees conclude that safety is not important enough, and therefore, choose not to invest too much effort in it. 

On the other hand, if managers regularly address the issue of safety during the daily routine, the level of safety climate will be higher, and the risk of work accidents will be significantly reduced. Moreover, safety climate is also affected by the leadership style, so the stronger the relation between the manager and the employees, the greater the mutual trust between them. If the work involves physical risk, the manager will assign the issue of safety greater importance, and this, in turn, will create a higher level of safety climate. 

We, at Safety On, provide everyone with the ability to raise the level of the Safety Climate in their organization. We provide safety consultants, who will help promote and increase the level of safety and its importance among employees. For advice and more information, please contact us.