Safety Behavior Across Domains: The Influence of Family and Supervisor Safety Norms

Kristin M. Repchick

Advisor: Lois E Tetrick, PhD, Department of Psychology

Committee Members: Seth Kaplan, Stephen Zaccaro

David J. King Hall, #2031-2032
January 07, 2019, 10:30 AM to 12:30 PM

Abstract:

Safety in the workplace has been a popular topic in the last several decades, with statistics showing a decrease in the number of workplace injuries and accidents (Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2016). Although this decrease is promising, other studies show that employees are more likely to be injured outside of work (Smith, Sorock, Wellman, Courtney & Pransky, 2006). Only 28.6% of injuries experienced by working adults are actually work-related(Smith et al., 2006), thus research efforts into employee safety may see benefits and further injury prevention by considering all domains of life and not just the workplace. The current study illustrates how the work and non-work contexts could potentially be considered in conjunction and examines both individual and environmental influences on safety behavior across domains. Results supported cross-domain effects of both supervisor and family safety norms on safety behavior. Supervisor safety norms also exhibited indirect effects through workplace safety attitudes across domains, as evidenced by a significant indirect effect on safety behavior at home. Family safety norms did not exhibit significant indirect effects on safety behavior in either domain through workplace safety attitudes. Attitude change across time as a result of safety norms is explored and discussed.