Is It Me or Is It You? Assessing the Influence of Individual and Organizational Factors on Safety Performance in the North American Railway Industry

Abstract

The recent Lac-Mégantic disaster highlighted the safety-critical nature of the railway industry. The public inquiry identified both individual and organizational failures as causal factors for the incident; yet, very few studies examine both constructs simultaneously. The authors examined the impact of safety climate and individual differences on self-reported safety performance and safety records. The study examined 306 railway workers employed by a North American Class I Railway (M = 5.8 years of service). Personality traits accounted for significant incremental variance over safety climate in self-report measures of safety compliance (ΔR ² = 0.18), safety participation (ΔR ² = 0.13), safety knowledge (ΔR ² = 0.24), and safety motivation (ΔR ² = 0.15). Based on the findings, employers may want to consider personality factors when selecting training, or identifying interventions for employees within safety critical occupations. Limitations include a relatively small industry specific sample; therefore, the results may not generalize to all transportation employees.