title: Best practices to promote occupational safety and satisfaction: a comparison of three North American hospitals.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Hospitals in North America consistently have employee injury rates ranking among the highest of all industries. Organizations that mandate workplace safety training and emphasize safety compliance tend to have lower injury rates and better employee safety perceptions. However, it is unclear if the work environment in different national health care systems (United States vs. Canada) is associated with different employee safety perceptions or injury rates. This study examines occupational safety and workplace satisfaction in two different countries with employees working for the same organization.
  
  
  METHODS
  Survey data were collected from environmental services employees (n = 148) at three matched hospitals (two in Canada and one in the United States). The relationships that were examined included: (1) safety leadership and safety training with individual/unit safety perceptions; (2) supervisor and coworker support with individual job satisfaction and turnover intention; and (3) unit turnover, labor usage, and injury rates.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Hierarchical regression analysis and ANO VA found safety leadership and safety training to be positively related to individual safety perceptions, and unit safety grade and effects were similar across all hospitals. Supervisor and coworker support were found to be related to individual and organizational outcomes and significant differences were found across the hospitals. Significant differences were found in injury rates, days missed, and turnover across the hospitals.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This study offers support for occupational safety training as a viable mechanism to reduce employee injury rates and that a codified training program translates across national borders. Significant differences were found.between the hospitals with respect to employee and organizational outcomes (e.g., turnover). These findings suggest that work environment differences are reflective of the immediate work group and environment, and may reflect national health care system differences.
authors.forename: Deirdre
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: McCaughey
authors.forename: Jami
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: DelliFraine
authors.forename: Cathleen O
authors.initials: CO
authors.lastname: Erwin
mesh_terms: D000062:Accidents, Occupational / Q000517:prevention & control* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D002170:Canada / Q000453:epidemiology; D006293:Health Promotion / Q000458:organization & administration*; D006761:Hospitals; D006801:Humans; D007318:Inservice Training; D007588:Job Satisfaction; D007857:Leadership; D016272:Occupational Health / Q000592:standards*; D015279:Organizational Culture; D010563:Personnel Turnover / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology