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Developing a Safety Climate: Shared Assumptions and Interventions
RS2008-IG18
Final Report Date: February 2011
| Principal Applicant: | Michael Leiter, Acadia University |
For more information about this project, please contact Michael Leiter.
* This project was funded in partnership with the Saskatchewan Workers’ Compensation Board and the Workers’ Compensation Board of Nova Scotia.
Issue
This project tested a workplace intervention designed to improve the safety culture within nursing units in a Nova Scotia health district. The intervention – called Creating a Safety Culture (CSC) – included biweekly group discussions to enable nursing staff to explore the reasons for workplace accidents, identify solutions and develop action plans.
Key findings
- Before the intervention, participants’ survey responses suggested a lack of work engagement and sense of community among nursing staff. After the intervention, survey responses showed a small increase in average scores for energy (feeling energized by work), involvement (attitude towards work) and values (work goals and beliefs).
- Each participating nursing unit identified a major workplace safety goal for their unit, discussed unit strategies on how to attain that goal, and completed some of their action items.
- The group discussion format encouraged open dialogue, and participants felt that the intervention enhanced their safety training.
- The authors recommend that future interventions include full organizational support, encouragement of broad participation, and policies and processes to provide for sustainability after the formal intervention period.
Objectives
- To test a workplace intervention designed to increase the value placed on safety and improve the implementation of safe work practices within an organization
Methods
The CSC intervention was conducted at four nursing units within the Nova Scotia South Shore Health district between September and December 2009. Facilitated discussion groups were held every two weeks to talk about nurses’ views on why injuries were occurring and identify potential solutions. Intervention units chose one major safety goal for their unit and identified strategies for achieving it. The discussions also identified actions that could be taken to sustain the program beyond the formal intervention period.
The researchers conducted surveys of nursing staff before and after the intervention, to assess the impact of the intervention on safety culture. The survey included questions about how nurses perceived safety issues and hazards in the workplace.
Results
- Participants’ pre-intervention survey responses suggested a lack of work engagement and sense of community. After the intervention, survey responses showed a small increase in scores for energy, involvement and values (goals and work beliefs).
- Unpredictable hazards (slippery surfaces, patients, lifting) were seen by nurses as posing the greatest risk in both the pre- and post-intervention survey responses.
- Each intervention unit identified one major safety goal. For example, one group chose to focus on reducing nursing staff’s feelings of being rushed first thing in the morning and after supper, while another group identified improving patient transfers as their major goal. The units also discussed strategies for achieving goal, executed some of their action items, and talked about how progress could be sustained beyond the formal intervention.
- The group discussion format encouraged open dialogue among nursing staff about safety, and participants felt that the intervention enhanced their safety training.
Conclusions
The authors conclude that the intervention results are encouraging, and that the CSC intervention could be adapted to other workplaces interested in enhancing safety culture within a workgroup. They also make three key recommendations for organizations conducting future health and safety interventions:
- Provide full organizational support for a focus on safety culture (e.g., commitment from senior management, clearly stated plans for injury prevention, dedicated resources, accountability processes).
- Encourage and support broad employee participation in the intervention.
- Sustain progress after the formal intervention (e.g., by developing a post-intervention action plan, check-ins and monitoring).
Future directions
- The survey data and action plans created by the intervention units could be used for future health and safety initiatives in the health district.
- The CSC intervention model can be adapted for use in other types of workplaces to improve the workplace safety culture.
- The survey tool developed for this project could be used in a variety of situations to assess how participants view workplace hazards.
Publications and presentations
The researchers held a conference in Bridgewater, NS on February 10, 2010, entitled Developing a Safety Culture: Shared Assumptions and Interventions, that highlighted the results of the research project.