The utility of a safety climate scale among workers with a work-related permanent impairment who have returned to work

Article type: Research Article

Authors: Huang, Yueng-Hsiang^{a; *} | Sears, Jeanne M.^{b; c; d; e} | He, Yimin^{a; f} | Courtney, Theodore K.^{g; h} | Rega, Elisa^a | Kelly, Anna^a

Affiliations: [a] Oregon Institute of Occupational Health Sciences, Oregon Health and Science University, Portland, OR, USA | [b] Department of Health Systems and Population Health, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA | [c] Department of Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA | [d] Harborview Injury Prevention and Research Center, Seattle, WA, USA | [e] Institute for Work and Health, Toronto, ON, Canada | [f] Department of Psychology, University of Nebraska at Omaha, Omaha, NE, USA | [g] TKC Consulting LLC, Charlton, MA, USA | [h] Environmental and Occupational Medicine and Epidemiology Program, Department of Environmental Health, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA

Correspondence: [*] Address for correspondence: Yueng-Hsiang Huang, Oregon Institute of Occupational Health Sciences, Oregon Health and Science University. 3181 SW Sam Jackson Park Road, Portland, OR, 97239, USA. Tel.: +1 503 494 1250; Fax: +1 503 494 4278; E-mail: Huangyu@ohsu.edu.

Abstract: BACKGROUND:Safety climate (SC) is a robust leading indicator of occupational safety outcomes. There is, however, limited research on SC among workers who have returned to work with a work-related permanent impairment. OBJECTIVE:This study examined three propositions: (1) a two-level model of SC (group-level and organization-level SC) will provide the best fit to the data; (2) antecedent factors such as safety training, job demands, supervisor support, coworker support, and decision latitude will predict SC; and (3) previously reported associations between SC and outcomes such as reinjury, work-family conflict, job performance, and job security will be observed. METHOD:A representative cross-sectional survey gathered information about experiences during the first year of work reintegration. About one year after claim closure, 599 interviews with workers were conducted (53.8% response rate). Confirmatory factor analyses were conducted to test the factor structure of the SC construct. Further, researchers used correlation analyses to examine the criterion-related validity. RESULTS:Consistent with general worker populations, our findings suggest the following: (1) the two-factor structure of SC outperformed the single-factor structure in our population of workers with a permanent impairment; (2) correlations demonstrate that workplace safety training, decision latitude, supervisor support, coworker support, and job demands could predict SC; and (3) SC may positively impact reinjury risk, work-family conflict, and may increase job performance and job security. CONCLUSIONS:Our study validated a two-factor SC scale among workers with a history of disabling workplace injury or permanent impairment who have returned to work. Practical applications of this scale will equip organizations with the necessary data to improve working conditions for this population.

Keywords: Safety climate, injured workers with permanent impairment, return-to-work

DOI: 10.3233/WOR-205285

Journal: Work, vol. 73, no. 3, pp. 927-936, 2022