STOP STICKS CAMPAIGN

Safety Culture: Evaluation Survey

The six questions below measure safety culture. This survey was developed by NIOSH and many health care partners across the United States. It has been tested in studies of health care workers at 3 hospital sites, over 5,600 U.S. Department of Energy workers at 5 sites across the country, EMS workers, and loggers.

Safety at work

Please indicate how much you agree or disagree with each of the following statements about safety behavior in the organization where you work. Use this scale to answer the questions:

1. New employees quickly learn that they are expected to follow good safety practices
   1    2    3    4
2. There are no significant compromises or shortcuts taken when worker safety is at stake
   1    2    3    4
3. Where I work, employees and management work together to ensure the safest possible working conditions.
   1    2    3    4
4. Employees are told when they do not follow good safety practices
   1    2    3    4
5. The safety of workers is a big priority with management where I work
   1    2    3    4
6. I feel free to report safety violations where I work
   1    2    3    4

Scoring

Add up your score. The range of possible scores is 6-24.

If your score is:

• Between 9 and 15, this indicates a Poor safety culture at work
• Between 16 and 20, this indicates a Fair safety culture
• Between 21 and 24, this indicates a Good safety culture

Analyses of data from 700 nurses in a large Northeastern U.S. hospital showed that groups with a "good" safety climate were over 4 times more likely to follow safe work practices than those with "fair" or "poor" climates scores.

Correlation analyses indicate that work environments with a good safety climate also tended to be cleaner and less cluttered, to have less loud noise, etc.