Work safety climate. Comparison of selected occupational groups

organizing safe workplaces and preventing the possibility of accidents occurring, e.g. by sys- tematic training of workers, issuing clear instructions, making appropriate personal and col- lective protection equipment available, and using effective shields and safeguards on moving machine parts. However, an analysis of the research reports so far indicates that such a classic approach to understanding the employer’s role in creating a safe working environment, based only on compliance with legal requirements, is incapable of ensuring high standards of that environment [1–3]. Nor is a systemic approach to safety management, consisting in constant monitoring of its status and in implementing intervention measures on the procedural and technical level, a sufficient tool shaping a high level of safety culture within the organization, even though it does yield better results and results in lower accident rates [3–8]. Experts tend to reflect on the role of psychological mechanisms, which often play a key role in accidents [9,10]. Therefore, it is legitimate to take into account, apart from procedural and technical improvements, also the subjective feelings of workers regarding the current level of satisfaction with the safe working conditions created by their organization as well as their own attitude and subjective perception of the existing regulations and practices in this respect. E.S. Geller [11,12] and D. Cooper [13] argue that two dimensions of safety culture need to be taken into account in its analyses. The first dimension consists in visible measures related to

safety management in the organization. Studies on this aspect of safety culture rely on an audit of the procedures applied and of the workplace in terms of its safety, as well as reviews of the causes and effects of accidents that have taken place and the remedial mechanisms introduced. The organization’s security climate is the other significant, hidden dimension, related to psy- chological factors, behavioral patterns, values and attitudes, as well as standards adopted in the organization and their perception by the employees. Importantly, studying this dimension requires the employees to be engaged and it is impossible for researchers to use documentary analysis alone. Similarly, R. Studencki [14], defining work safety culture as part of the overall organiza- tional culture of a company, clearly contrasts it with the safety climate. In this author’s opinion, an organization’s safety culture refers to the state of awareness of threats, the defined standards of conduct in situations when they occur, and the technical and organizational ways to ensure the safety of employees (e.g. readiness of rescue services, restrictive monitoring of the technical efficiency of emergency alarm devices, training of employees). The safety climate is expressed by the individual beliefs of the people working in the organization regarding life and health and the need to protect them in work situations. Other researchers [15–18] define work safety climate as a dimension of the organization’s safety climate, constituting a sum of observations

shared by the employees about their working environment and the organizational manage- ment system, including policy, practices and procedures aimed at ensuring safety. The work safety atmosphere reflects in a way the perceived atmosphere related to occupational health and safety. It influences workers’ attitudes and behavior in terms of health and safety at work, determining safe or risky behaviors [10,15,17,19]. It is emphasized in the literature that safety climate surveys may be considered as activities making it possible to develop practical recommendations for improving occupational safety in the organization [3,8,18,20,21]. They concern mainly spheres such as safety education, shaping standards and values, building the community and co-responsibility for others, responsible leadership, building authority, and motivating safe behaviors. Implementation of programs of modifying hazardous behaviors, based on the results of safety climate surveys, contributes to an improvement of the safety culture and of the quality of life of employees, and is also an effective tool for accident prevention. As empirical studies so far [5,15,17,20–25] have shown, studying the safety climate may constitute an important element of an appropriate and com- plete diagnosis of an organization’s safety culture. It is worth noting that the climate survey PLOS ONE Work safety climate PLOS ONE | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0243056 December 14, 2020 2 / 19 2019-2022 program "Regional Initiative of Excellence", project number 012 / RID / 2018/19.

Competing interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.