Danger - Men at Work. Management Influence on Safety

Research into the factors determining the safety of industrial organizations shows clearly the influence of managerial factors on the standard of the safety climate. While investigations exploring the mechanism of this process have been rather limited, there is sufficient evidence to indicate that supervisors, site managers, and senior managers all have distinctive effects. Following a short review of ongoing research into managerial behavior and leadership styles in relation to safety, it is suggested that senior management commitment to safety should be regularly measured using safety climate surveys and upward appraisal techniques. (C) 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.