Examining the effect of safety climate on accident risk through job stress: a path analysis

BACKGROUND: Job stress is a probable mediator of the relationship between safety climate and accident occurrence. To demonstrate this, this study investigates the relationship between safety climate, job stress, and accident risk using a large number of surveys. The study will use structural equation modeling (SEM) to analyze the data collected from the surveys to examine the effect of safety climate on accident risk through job stress. METHODS: The study is a cross-sectional study that was conducted on 1,530 male workers of a petrochemical company. The subjects were asked to complete several questionnaires during rest periods, which included demographic information, the Nordic safety climate questionnaire (NOSACQ-50), and the generic job stress questionnaire (GJSQ). Additionally, data on the frequency and intensity of accidents among participants were gathered from the health unit of the company. Path analysis was conducted by structural equation modeling (SEM) in Analysis of Moment Structures (AMOS) software. RESULTS: The results revealed that the latent variable of safety climate with an effect coefficient of – 0.112 did not have a direct effect on accident risk (P = 0.343). However, safety climate with an effect coefficient of − 0.633 had an indirect effect on accident risk through job stress (P < 0.001). The total score of job stress had a significant direct effect (0.649) on accident risk (P < 0.001). Among the dimensions of safety climate, the variables of management’s safety priority, commitment, and competence (− 0.108) and workers’ safety commitment (− 0.107) had the highest indirect effect coefficients on accident risk. Among the dimensions of job stress, the highest indirect effects belonged to the variables of conflict at work (0.636), physical environment (0.631), and workload and responsibility (0.631), respectively. CONCLUSION: The results of the study revealed that job stress mediates the relationship between safety climate and accident risk. This finding suggests that organizations can potentially decrease accidents in industries by addressing and managing job stress in the workplace.