Predictors of Safety Climate Outcomes in Firefighting
(2023) In International Fire Service Journal of Leadership and Management 17.- Abstract
- Safety climate refers to the perceived value an organization places on safety at a specific point in time. To determine key predictors of safety climate in the fire service, we distributed a questionnaire to 105 career firefighters in a Swedish city of approximately 110,000 and analyzed their responses. We used
these data to investigate the role of individual, work-group, and organizational factors (independent variables) on three safety climate outcomes (dependent variables): (a) compliance with safety regulations, (b) frequency of unsafe behaviors, and (c) frequency of errors and mistakes in line-of-duty
firefighting. Factors at the individual level included personal risk taking, identity as a firefighter, emotional exhaustion,... (More) - Safety climate refers to the perceived value an organization places on safety at a specific point in time. To determine key predictors of safety climate in the fire service, we distributed a questionnaire to 105 career firefighters in a Swedish city of approximately 110,000 and analyzed their responses. We used
these data to investigate the role of individual, work-group, and organizational factors (independent variables) on three safety climate outcomes (dependent variables): (a) compliance with safety regulations, (b) frequency of unsafe behaviors, and (c) frequency of errors and mistakes in line-of-duty
firefighting. Factors at the individual level included personal risk taking, identity as a firefighter, emotional exhaustion, and work pressures. Hierarchical regression analyses show that these factors explained most of the variance in our three safety climate outcomes, making individual-level variables the
most important predictors. Compliance with safety regulations was predicted by identity as a firefighter (an individual-level variable) and two work-group factors: supervisory support and group cohesion. The importance of these work-group, interpersonal variables highlights the need for supportive and caring leaders who work to increase group cohesion among firefighters. The frequency of generally unsafe behaviors was predicted by the two individual-level factors, personal risk taking and work pressure. This finding suggests more effort should be put into understanding how the work situation as a firefighter impacts risk taking. Finally, the frequency of errors and mistakes was predicted by emotional exhaustion (an individual-level variable). This finding supports previous findings by Smith et al. (2018) and emphasizes the need for additional research on chronic stressors among firefighters and on the impact of those stressors on risk behaviors in line-of-duty firefighting (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/86e302b1-2ffd-41b6-9bc1-67b912b8e5b6
- author
- Lindén, Magnus LU ; Jeppsson, Mariette and Bengtsson, Lars-Göran
- organization
- publishing date
- 2023-11-01
- type
- Contribution to journal
- publication status
- published
- subject
- keywords
- risk, firefighter, safety, prevention
- in
- International Fire Service Journal of Leadership and Management
- volume
- 17
- ISSN
- 1554-3439
- project
- Riskbedömningar och riskprevention inom Räddningstjänst
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- id
- 86e302b1-2ffd-41b6-9bc1-67b912b8e5b6
- date added to LUP
- 2022-08-07 10:40:38
- date last changed
- 2024-01-30 10:02:05
@article{86e302b1-2ffd-41b6-9bc1-67b912b8e5b6,
abstract = {{Safety climate refers to the perceived value an organization places on safety at a specific point in time. To determine key predictors of safety climate in the fire service, we distributed a questionnaire to 105 career firefighters in a Swedish city of approximately 110,000 and analyzed their responses. We used <br/>these data to investigate the role of individual, work-group, and organizational factors (independent variables) on three safety climate outcomes (dependent variables): (a) compliance with safety regulations, (b) frequency of unsafe behaviors, and (c) frequency of errors and mistakes in line-of-duty <br/>firefighting. Factors at the individual level included personal risk taking, identity as a firefighter, emotional exhaustion, and work pressures. Hierarchical regression analyses show that these factors explained most of the variance in our three safety climate outcomes, making individual-level variables the <br/>most important predictors. Compliance with safety regulations was predicted by identity as a firefighter (an individual-level variable) and two work-group factors: supervisory support and group cohesion. The importance of these work-group, interpersonal variables highlights the need for supportive and caring leaders who work to increase group cohesion among firefighters. The frequency of generally unsafe behaviors was predicted by the two individual-level factors, personal risk taking and work pressure. This finding suggests more effort should be put into understanding how the work situation as a firefighter impacts risk taking. Finally, the frequency of errors and mistakes was predicted by emotional exhaustion (an individual-level variable). This finding supports previous findings by Smith et al. (2018) and emphasizes the need for additional research on chronic stressors among firefighters and on the impact of those stressors on risk behaviors in line-of-duty firefighting}},
author = {{Lindén, Magnus and Jeppsson, Mariette and Bengtsson, Lars-Göran}},
issn = {{1554-3439}},
keywords = {{risk; firefighter; safety; prevention}},
language = {{eng}},
month = {{11}},
series = {{International Fire Service Journal of Leadership and Management}},
title = {{Predictors of Safety Climate Outcomes in Firefighting}},
volume = {{17}},
year = {{2023}},
}