Improving Safety Leadership Using industrial/organizational psychology to enhance safety performance

SSAFETY PROFESSIONALS ARE charged with reducing employee injuries and promoting a strong safety culture within their organizations. To achieve this, they must gather and apply information from many sources, including psychology. In fact, much information has been gleaned from one of the most powerful and proven subdisciplines in psychology, applied behavior analysis. Little existing research in the safety field draws from industrial/organizational psychology (IOP), however. This is unfortunate because IOP has been extensively used in other organizational improvement efforts, such as employee selection, job placement, team building, performance management, executive assessment, leadership and training (Cascio; Saal and Knight 1995). To become optimal safety leaders, safety professionals should look to IOP as a supplement to behavior analysis. This article explains what IOP is and examines its impact on safety leadership. The styles and behaviors of optimal safety leaders are reviewed, as are motivational styles that predict good safety leadership. In addition, specific guidelines to motivate employee safety and guidance on increasing employees’ organizational commitment are offered, along with tips for improving organizational safety culture.