Leader and subordinate perceptions impact different elements of safety reporting.

Abstract

Previous research has demonstrated how the leader-subordinate relationship can impact safety, but their respective perceptions could have different influences on different elements of safety-related behaviors. The current study analyzed a large sample (N > 11,000) to explore how leader and subordinate perceptions could influence three safety-related issues: safety underreporting, where the individual knowingly withholds safety information from the organization; near misses, where the situation could have resulted in injury but did not; and frequency of actual safety incident reporting. As both leader perceptions and subordinate perceptions became more negative, problematic safety-related issues increased. Leader and subordinate perceptions most strongly affected safety underreporting with a moderate relationship to the likelihood of experiencing a near miss, and the weakest (although statistically significant) relationship to actual safety reporting. Although safety underreporting is affected most, leader and subordinate perceptions can have a robust influence upon multiple aspects of safety climate.