Empirical Study on Relationship Between HR Practice and Safety Outcomes

This study examined the relationship between human resource practices (selection, training, evaluation and compensation) and employees' safety outcomes. 2 coalmining enterprises were included in the study, 8 managers and 79 workers were asked to complete a survey. Results show that human resource practices could influence workers' safety outcomes and managers' safety commitment. Performance system was the most obvious element, it could influence managers' safety commitment as well as workers' safety outcome, and it could increase hurts. Managers' safety commitment had notable effect on workers' safety outcomes, even more important than human resource practices. Trade-off between production and safety was a notable element influencing workers' safety outcomes. Thus adjusting safety-oriented performance system to balance safety and financial purpose is necessary to improve safety outcomes.