How does training contribute to workplace safety? A meta-analysis examining the effects of safety training.

Abstract

Although workplace safety concerns are often addressed with employee safety training, organizational research has yet to provide a critical examination into the extent to which safety training impacts outcomes. This meta-analysis examines the training literature across industries to evaluate the effects of safety training on the antecedents and indicators of workplace safety. We extracted 666 effects from 157 independent studies and coded for the content of safety training (technical or nontechnical expertise), the motivational strategy employed (promotive or preventive focus), and the stakeholder of the intervention (employees/internal stakeholder or external stakeholder safety). Findings suggest that safety training has an overall positive effect on training outcomes (δ = 0.78), demonstrating medium-to-large effects on trainee reactions (δ = 0.92), learning (δ = 1.18), and transfer (δ = 0.61) and smaller effects on overall safety indicators (δ = 0.26), including organizational safety (δ = 0.20) and individual health and well-being outcomes (δ = 0.15). Findings suggest that both technical and nontechnical training, as well as promotion- and prevention-focused training, contribute to improved safety via different mechanisms. Moreover, effect sizes appear generally weaker for training that is focused on improving the safety of external stakeholders compared to employee safety-based programs. We contribute an integrative framework for safety training effectiveness and offer recommendations for future research to extend theory on workplace safety and safety training. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).