title: A structural equation modelling approach examining the pathways between safety climate, behaviour performance and workplace slipping.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Safety climate has previously been associated with increasing safe workplace behaviours and decreasing occupational injuries. This study seeks to understand the structural relationship between employees' perceptions of safety climate, performing a safety behaviour (ie, wearing slip-resistant shoes) and risk of slipping in the setting of limited-service restaurants.
  
  
  METHODS
  At baseline, we surveyed 349 employees at 30 restaurants for their perceptions of their safety training and management commitment to safety as well as demographic data. Safety performance was identified as wearing slip-resistant shoes, as measured by direct observation by the study team. We then prospectively collected participants' hours worked and number of slips weekly for the next 12 weeks. Using a confirmatory factor analysis, we modelled safety climate as a higher order factor composed of previously identified training and management commitment factors.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The 349 study participants experienced 1075 slips during the 12-week follow-up. Confirmatory factor analysis supported modelling safety climate as a higher order factor composed of safety training and management commitment. In a structural equation model, safety climate indirectly affected prospective risk of slipping through safety performance, but no direct relationship between safety climate and slips was evident.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Results suggest that safety climate can reduce workplace slips through performance of a safety behaviour as well as suggesting a potential causal mechanism through which safety climate can reduce workplace injuries. Safety climate can be modelled as a higher order factor composed of safety training and management commitment.
authors.affiliation: Center for Injury Epidemiology, Liberty Mutual Research Institute for Safety, Hopkinton, Massachusetts, USA Environmental and Occupational Medicine and Epidemiology Program, Department of Environmental Health, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.
authors.forename: David I
authors.initials: DI
authors.lastname: Swedler
authors.affiliation: Center for Injury Epidemiology, Liberty Mutual Research Institute for Safety, Hopkinton, Massachusetts, USA Department of Family Medicine and Community Health, University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester, Massachusetts, USA.
authors.forename: Santosh K
authors.initials: SK
authors.lastname: Verma
authors.affiliation: Center for Behavioral Sciences, Liberty Mutual Research Institute for Safety, Hopkinton, Massachusetts, USA.
authors.forename: Yueng-Hsiang
authors.initials: YH
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.affiliation: Center for Injury Epidemiology, Liberty Mutual Research Institute for Safety, Hopkinton, Massachusetts, USA Environmental and Occupational Medicine and Epidemiology Program, Department of Environmental Health, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.
authors.forename: David A
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Lombardi
authors.affiliation: Center for Physical Ergonomics, Liberty Mutual Research Institute for Safety, Hopkinton, Massachusetts, USA.
authors.forename: Wen-Ruey
authors.initials: WR
authors.lastname: Chang
authors.affiliation: Center for Injury Epidemiology, Liberty Mutual Research Institute for Safety, Hopkinton, Massachusetts, USA.
authors.forename: Melayne
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Brennan
authors.affiliation: Center for Injury Epidemiology, Liberty Mutual Research Institute for Safety, Hopkinton, Massachusetts, USA Environmental and Occupational Medicine and Epidemiology Program, Department of Environmental Health, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.
authors.forename: Theodore K
authors.initials: TK
authors.lastname: Courtney
mesh_terms: D000058:Accidental Falls / Q000517:prevention & control*; D000062:Accidents, Occupational / Q000517:prevention & control*; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D008875:Middle Aged; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D060051:Occupational Injuries / Q000517:prevention & control*; D015279:Organizational Culture; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012147:Restaurants; D012449:Safety; D017751:Safety Management; D012775:Shoes; D017132:Workplace; D055815:Young Adult