Multilevel safety culture affecting organization safety performance: a system dynamic approach

Purpose

Previous research studies have testified that safety culture positively affects safety performance. However, the progression by which safety culture affects safety performance has not yet been examined. Also, how safety culture affects the overall safety performance at different levels of the organization is yet to be explored. In order to address this issue, the purpose of this paper is to study the effect of multilevel safety culture upon safety performance over time.

Design/methodology/approach

A conceptual causal-loop diagram is constructed using the group model building approach to establish the relationship between safety culture components (e.g. psychological, behavioral and situational) and the factors associated with safety performance (e.g. risk level, safety behavior, unsafe conditions, unsafe acts and incident rate). Considering the dynamic nature and intricacy of the safety management system, the system dynamics approach has been employed to develop the model.

Findings

The results indicate that the safety culture at the tactical level (middle management) and operational level is much more effective than strategic level (top management) in ameliorating the safety performance of the organization.

Research limitations/implications

The scope of this study is limited to the effect of multilevel safety culture on safety performance. The focus is on the dynamics of personal, behavioral and situational factors of top management, middle management and workers to reinforce the safety performance of the organization. Future research can be protracted to build other models of safety.

Practical implications

First and foremost, the findings summarized in this paper can be implemented by organizations to achieve the total safety culture to upgrade safety performance.

Originality/value

This paper presents the holistic view of multilevel safety culture in an organization’s hierarchy. It shows how multilevel level safety culture in an organization interacts with the safety management system to enhance the safety performance of the organization.