Safety climate, strain and safety outcomes

The purpose of this study is to employ Koeske and Koeske’s stressor-strain-outcome model of stress to examine the extent to which strain, a central component of occupational stress, mediates the relationship between safety climate and safety-related outcomes. The relationship between safety climate, strain and safety outcomes has been relatively under tested where strain is a mediating variable. This study makes a contribution to the literature by examining the dynamics of these relationships. Questionnaires were sent to 1,800 employees of an electricity provider, with a 41.4% response rate. The hypothesized model was tested using structural equation modeling. Analysis of the hypothesized model indicated that, while safety climate had a significant direct relationship with safety-related behaviors, the model was also partially mediated by the experience of strain. Understanding the relationship between safety climate, strain and safety outcomes is important. Support for the model verifies that safety climate is mediated by strain in terms of safety outcomes. Practical implications include the need to manage safety climate through management attitudes to safety, maintaining high safety standards and communication to reduce ambiguity on safety norms.