SafetyInsights.org

It’s no secret that I’m relatively cautious of ‘Safety Culture’. (** At least, I fall more into the interpretative, than functionalist, camp).

Nevertheless, I get the question of evidence often, so here it is. A compendium of studies focused on organisational culture, culture of safety, safety culture and safety climate.

Because there’s so many studies on these topics, I’m not providing a cross-section, but rather will focus on a few key areas: org culture, critical / nuanced discussions of Safety Culture, systematic reviews/meta-analyses, and varied applications in high-risk settings.

The org culture stuff is highly selective, since this is a huge field with whole book volumes dedicated to it.

Note: Safety Culture and Safety Climate aren’t the same, nor are they interchangeable; but I’m grouping them into the same compendium since they’re often studied together.

Note 2: This won’t be your happy, sunshine and lollipop, gumdrop smile compendium of ‘Safety Culture is great’ and survey studies, but more curated and nuanced works (plus systematic reviews for balance).

Critical / Nuanced Discussion of Safety Culture

https://library.oapen.org/bitstream/handle/20.500.12657/23084/1007074.pdf#page=43

https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-5973.2009.00585.x

https://library.oapen.org/bitstream/handle/20.500.12657/23084/1007074.pdf?sequ#page=129

https://sintef.brage.unit.no/sintef-xmlui/bitstream/handle/11250/2586271/REGULATING%2BTHE%2BINTANGIBLE_without%2Bauthor%2Bidentifiers.pdf?sequence=1

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/am/pii/S0925753518320356

Click to access Taming-Prometheus-Talk-About-Safety-and-Culture.pdf

Click to access Studying-organisational-cultures-and-their-effects-on-safety.pdf

https://ineris.hal.science/ineris-03319079v1

Chapter 10.2.1 Organisational Culture: A Search for Meaning

Chapter 10.2.2: Organisational Culture – Reviewed and Repositioned

https://www.academia.edu/80373312/The_nature_of_safety_culture_A_survey_of_the_state_of_the_art

https://library.oapen.org/bitstream/handle/20.500.12657/23084/1007074.pdf?sequ#page=29

Click to access The-Psychology-of-Occupational-Safety-and-Workplace-health.pdf

https://repository.urindo.ac.id/files/original/8737af828d90c46b08f6adbb8c15a6e33b5a05ec.pdf#page=44

Link: https://research-repository.griffith.edu.au/server/api/core/bitstreams/059114cd-8cf0-4b78-af31-20d0a9e85f07/content

https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1539-6924.2010.01452.x

Click to access Evaluating-the-Success-of-Safety-Culture-Interventions.pdf

Click to access Towards_a_model_of_safety_culture.pdf

https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Johan-Bergstroem/publication/335162893_The_Discursive_Effects_of_Safety_Science/links/650ad3bbd5293c106cca0807/The-Discursive-Effects-of-Safety-Science.pdf#page=58

Click to access 16962182.pdf

Click to access Perspectives%20on%20Safety%20Culture%20-%20Glendon%20%26%20Stanton.pdf

https://www.academia.edu/80373312/The_nature_of_safety_culture_A_survey_of_the_state_of_the_art

https://doi.org/10.1076/1566-0974(200003)7:1;1-V;FT003

Click to access Does-the-concept-of-safety-culture-help-or-hinder-systems-thinking-in-safety.pdf

https://apps.dtic.mil/sti/tr/pdf/ADA388027.pdf#page=88

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssci.2009.07.008

Click to access paper_432_1.pdf

Click to access LSc8.pdf

Click to access Management-systems-and-safety-culture-reflections-and-suggestions-for-research.pdf

https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpubh.2023.1217542/pdf

Click to access 9fa1b239d50179a32bd001cdd7c5d4fc.pdf

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssci.2024.106658

Click to access Safety-culture-Philosphers-stone-or-man-of-straw.pdf

Click to access Organizational-Structure-and-Safety-Culture.pdf

https://mitsloan.mit.edu/ideas-made-to-matter/5-enduring-management-ideas-mit-sloans-edgar-schein

https://library.oapen.org/bitstream/handle/20.500.12657/23084/1007074.pdf?sequ#page=29

Click to access bisbey-et-al-2019-safety-culture-an-integration-of-existing-models-and-a-framework-for-understanding-its-development.pdf

Click to access safety_culture_review.pdf

https://repository.tudelft.nl/record/uuid:30fb9f1c-7daf-41dd-8a5c-b6e3acfe0023

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssci.2007.05.014

Click to access 59195.pdf

https://doi.org/10.1111/1468-2370.00031

https://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/document?repid=rep1&type=pdf&doi=c5da7ef221fd649591b0c2d5b810b7dec3a3ec3a

Click to access Safety-Culture-Its-Importance-in-Future-Risk-Management.pdf

https://doi.org/10.1111/1468-5973.00032

https://doi.org/10.1177/0022022191221009

https://doi.org/10.1080/02678379808256862

Click to access health-safety-culture.pdf

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Organisational Culture

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/23311975.2024.2340129

https://samforsk.brage.unit.no/samforsk-xmlui/bitstream/handle/11250/2485371/Organizational%20culture%20and%20societal%20safety%20Collaborating%20across%20boundaries.pdf?sequence=4

Click to access The-Relationship-between-Employees-Perceptions-of-Safety-and-Organizational-Culture.pdf

Click to access Deeper-Culture-Mucking-Muddling-and-Metaphors.pdf

https://sloanreview.mit.edu/article/three-cultures-of-management-the-key-to-organizational-learning/

Click to access The-Dynamics-of-Organizational-Culture.pdf

Click to access Organizational-Culture-and-Organizational-Performance-A-Review-of-Literature.pdf

https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=5916&context=lkcsb_research

Click to access 328024696.pdf

https://doi.org/10.1111/jpim.12021

https://www.academia.edu/28521368/Organizational_Culture_and_Organizational_Effectiveness_A_Meta_Analytic_Investigation_of_the_Competing_Values_Frameworks_Theoretical_Suppositions

https://dspace.mit.edu/bitstream/handle/1721.1/98839/Gibbons_Organizational%20culture.pdf;sequence=1

https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2019-01223-001

https://psycnet.apa.org/buy/2014-38357-001

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/26334895211018862

Click to access 1748-5908-6-33.pdf

https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1060&context=ejasljournal

Click to access Models-and-Tools-for-Stability-and-Change-in-Human-Systems.pdf

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11301-025-00498-5

Click to access Unobtrusive_Indicators_of_Culture._R2_v010_author_details.pdf

Click to access Instruments-for-the-Exploration-of-Organisational-Culture.pdf

Click to access s10551-020-04620-3.pdf

Click to access Scottlitrevorgcul22930511.pdf

Click to access ORGANIZATIONAL-CULTURE-AND-ORGANIZATIONAL-CLIMATE-RESEARCH-A-SYSTEMATIC-LITERATURE-REVIEW.pdf

https://ebooks.iospress.nl/pdf/doi/10.3233/FAIA250035

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/21582440241247976

Click to access qt2bs5g897.pdf

https://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/document?repid=rep1&type=pdf&doi=3d993f3086df8c532be842a8d1be5adf8a8ba9d6

http://blickwechsel.net/index_htm_files/Allaire_1984.pdf

https://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/document?repid=rep1&type=pdf&doi=a6d10c3cc776694e0e81095ce836ed2b0da15a5e

Click to access On-Reading-Organizational-Culture.pdf

Click to access Organizational-Culture-Origins-and-Weaknesses.pdf

https://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/document?repid=rep1&type=pdf&doi=bd41364194fd545ad57edcec5501d01ee81e0ee3

Click to access Defining-Culture-and-Organizational-Culture.pdf

https://isnuponorogo.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Cambridge_Handbook_of_Culture__Organizations__and_Work.pdf#page=93

https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Nancy-Adler/publication/229740164_Is_Organizational_Culture_culture_bound/links/5b1670464585151f91fb8608/Is-Organizational-Culture-culture-bound.pdf?_sg%5B0%5D=started_experiment_milestone&origin=journalDetail

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Meta-Analyses / Systematic Reviews of Safety Culture

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssci.2019.02.027

Click to access e002506.full.pdf

Click to access Strategies-for-improving-patient-safety-culture-in-hospitals-A-systematic-review.pdf

Click to access e043982.full.pdf

Click to access The%20relationship%20between%20safety%20culture%20and%20safety%20climate%20and%20safety%20performance%20a%20systematic%20review.pdf

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssci.2021.105624

https://e-journal.unair.ac.id/IJOSH/article/download/51672/30069

https://www.academia.edu/90872621/Examining_Organizational_Cultural_and_Individual_Level_Factors_Related_to_Workplace_Safety_and_Health_A_Systematic_Review_and_Metric_Analysis

Click to access 145112_2020_08_24.pdf

https://commons.erau.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1017&context=ijaaa

Click to access s12913-023-09332-8.pdf

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.trf.2020.07.001

Click to access 178-Bartnicka-Jamil-Kabiesz.pdf

Click to access Tear_Safety-culture-and-power.pdf

Click to access Exploring-the-relationship-between-safety-culture-and-safety-performance-in-US-nuclear-power-operations.pdf

https://www.academia.edu/66404917/Improvement_of_Safety_Culture_in_Industry_A_Systematic_Review

https://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/document?repid=rep1&type=pdf&doi=a03319d6aa5f33a26813e0a3e2532f935750ac7f

Click to access Evaluating-safety-management-and-culture-interventions-to-improve-safety-Effective-intervention-strategies.pdf

https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/ffutr.2022.917915/pdf

Click to access 9955994.pdf

https://toi.brage.unit.no/toi-xmlui/bitstream/handle/11250/2764266/N%C3%A6vestad_10.1016_j.trf.2018.01.002_accepted+version.pdf?sequence=2

Click to access DoesImprovingSafetyCultureAffectPatientOutcomes.pdf

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.resourpol.2021.102250

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Safety Climate

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssci.2018.05.019

Click to access He-et-al.-2019-How-it-safety-climate-formed-A-meta-analysis-of-the-antecedents-of-safety-climate.pdf

https://www.academia.edu/84609784/An_integrative_model_of_safety_climate_Linking_psychological_climate_and_work_attitudes_to_individual_safety_outcomes_using_meta_analysis

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jsr.2022.08.008

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssci.2022.105917

https://doi.org/10.3390/su131910603

https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/ecam-11-2022-1074/full/html

https://www.academia.edu/111291020/A_review_simple_meta_analysis_and_future_directions_of_safety_climate_research_in_manufacturing_organisations

LinkedIn post: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/compendium-cultural-approaches-safety-culture-climate-ben-hutchinson-24noc