Relationships between organizational climates and safety-related events at four wood manufacturers

Most segments of the wood manufacturing industry place a great deal of emphasis on production in order to meet daily or weekly productivity quotas. Unfortunately, conflicts often exist between productivity and employee safety, as well as between productivity and quality. The perceived emphasis placed on each of these areas by an organization's management will cultivate a corresponding climate within the work force. This study examined the relationship between production employees' perceptions of productivity and quality climates and safety-related events. Data were collected with surveys of 526 production employees at 4 secondary wood products manufacturers in Pennsylvania. Results suggest that an increased emphasis on productivity is related to an increased number of incidents, while a stronger safety climate had an inverse relationship. These results imply that productivity climate is a useful factor in understanding employee safety-related incidents, and that managers should attempt to strike a better balance between climates for productivity, quality, and safety.