Safety Performance in the Workplace: A Proposed Model for Understanding the Influencing Factors on Safety Climate

The purpose of this paper is to review previous research about safety climate and safety performance and to propose a model for the influencing factors that might impact safety climate and safety performance. The paper asks: What is the effect of influencing factors on safety climate? Does safety climate influence safety performance? We develop a model based on a review of previous research on safety-specific transformational leadership (SSTL), perceived colleagues' safety knowledge or behaviour (PCSK/B) and conscientiousness on safety climate and performance at the workplace. The model can be used to systematically evaluate safety climate and performance in manufacturing organizations. This research stream has important implications as it may assist top managers, human resource managers, employees as a whole, as well as policy makers in identifying areas that require attention for improving levels of safety performance in the workplace.