Human resource safety practices and employee injuries.

There are several limitations to this study. One of the most notable is the small sample size which increases capitalization on chance, and indicates results are likely not completely representative of the population value. Further, because of the reduced power due to the smaller sample size, impact was difficult to detect, and chances of replicating findings are reduced. The measures of the HR safety practices may also represent a weakness. Because of the lack of existing measures, new items were developed for this study. CFAs indicated some support for the scales, but fit indices indicate that training and performance evaluation should be investigated further. Also, measures were all collected from upper-management. Although this provided a more accurate measure of company policies and organizational-level practices, some information on what actually was occurring may have been lost. The dependent variable measures were also a limitation. In order to get the most consistent information across companies as possible, OSHA information was used. However, this information provides only injuries serious enough to report, resulting in the low base rate of the injury criterion, potentially reducing the estimated correlations. Transient error was also unable to be fully corrected for in the measures of the independent variable. This most likely caused the correlation and regression estimates to be conservative, reducing the probability of detecting an impact of HR safety practices. However, despite the small sample size and conservative estimates, this study still supports the impact of HR safety practices on organizational injuries.

Future Research

This study just touches on the vast aspects of Human Resource practices that may actually impact organizational safety outcomes. There are many additional questions that arise from this research, as well as other areas that need to be explored. When examining the selection process, drug-testing continues to be elusive in what is being measured and its importance to the organization. Whereas alcohol-testing can determine the amount a person is under the influence, drug-testing is simply an indicator of whether or not an individual has recently had drugs in their system (Macdonald, 1995). Drug-testing may also be an indicator of other life-style characteristics (Macdonald, 1995) that are also predictors of job injuries. Additionally, variation on location and type of work where selection practices may be more beneficial should be considered. Association between selection practices and different types of industries needs to be considered, as jobs that have high psychological and emotional demands (Swaen et al., 2004) have been found to have a higher risk of occupational injury. When examining prior work experience, cognitive reasoning behind why an injury occurred could be examined. Curry, Quinn, Atkins, and Carlson (2004) hypothesize that the experience factor is lessened because employees' view of risk on a job is reduced over time. Thus, the inexperienced worker may have an injury due to lack of knowledge and information, whereas an experienced worker may simply take additional risks. Other pre-employment tests should also be included in future research, as Wallace and Vodanovich (2003) found scales, such as the Cognitive Failures Questionnaire (CFQ) and Blunder factor, associated with workplace accidents.

When examining rewards for safety in future research, additional individual factors should be taken into consideration. Sims (2004: 103) discusses the "human desire to be heroic," indicating not just rewards, but human nature itself, might impact the lack of injury reporting. Additionally, as organizations are beginning to pilot safety reward programs based on risk reduction (Sheehy, 2004), rather than reduced numbers of injuries, differences in the types of safety incentive programs and employees' reactions toward them should be explored. Additional control variables should also be explored. Although this study had a relatively low number of unionized companies participate, unionization and its effect on safety has continued to be debated (Reardon, 1996). Age also should be examined more as Salminen (2004) found that younger workers had a higher injury rate, but a lower fatality rate.

Conclusion

This study begins the important integration of the human resource and safety literatures, as well as providing findings that HR practices are associated with employee injuries. This provides organizations with some potential steps they can take to improve employee safety. However, this study only begins to touch on issues that may make a significant difference in organizational safety, calling for future studies to continue defining what and how HR practices may be associated with reducing employee injuries.

References

Anderson, N. and C. Ostroff. 1997. "Selection as Socialization." Chapter in International Handbook of Selection and Assessment. Eds. N. Anderson and P. Herriot. Chichester, England: John Wiley & Sons. pp. 413-440.

Arthur, W.J., G. V. Barrett and R. A. Alexander. 1991. "Prediction of Vehicular Accident Involvement: A Meta-analysis." Human Performance 4: 89-105.

Bartol, K. M. and L. L. Hagmann. 1992. "Team-based Pay Plans: A Key to Effective Teamwork." Compensation and Benefits Review 24: 9.

--and E. A. Locke. 2000. "Incentives and Motivation." Chapter in Compensation in Organizations: Progress and Prospects. Eds. S. Rynes and B. Gerhart. San Francisco, CA: New Lexington Press. pp. 104-147.

Becker, B. and B. Gerhart. 1996. "The Impact of Human Resource Management on Organizational Performance: Progress and Prospects." Academy of Management Journal 39: 779-801.

Bliese, P. D. 2000. "Within-group Agreement, Non-independence, and Reliability: Implications for Data Aggregation and Analysis." Chapter in Multilevel Theory, Research, and Methods in Organizations. Eds. K.J. Klein and S. W. Kozlowski. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass, Inc. pp. 349-381.

Carroll, S.J. and C. E. Schneier. 1982. Performance Appraisal and Review Systems: The Identification, Measurement, and Development of Performance in Organizations. Glenview, IL: Scott, Foresman.

Collinson, D. L. 1999. "Surviving the Rigs: Safety and Surveillance in North Sea Oil Installations." Organization Studies 20: 579-600.

Cooper, D. 2001. "Treating Safety as a Value." Professional Safety 46: 17-21.

Curry, D. G., R. D. Quinn, D. R. Atkins and T. C. G. Carlson. 2004. "Injuries and the Experienced Worker." Professional Safety 49: 30-34.

DeJoy, D. M., C. A. Searcy, L. R. Murphy and R. R. M. Gershon. 2000. "Behavior-Diagnostic Analysis of Compliance with Universal Precautions among Nurses." Journal of Occupational Health Psychology 5: 127-141.

Delaney, J. T. and M. A. Huselid. 1996. "The Impact of Human Resource Management Practices on Perceptions of Organizational Performance." Academy of Management Journal 39: 949-969.

Dougherty, T. M. 1997. "Reinforcing Safety Values in People." Professional Safety 42: 20-26.

Fan, X., B. Thompson and L. Wang. 1999. "Effects of Sample Size, Estimation Methods, and Model Specification on Structural Equation Modeling Fit Indexes." Structural Equation Modeling 6: 56-83.

Gottfredson, L. S. 2004. "Intelligence: Is it the Epidemiologists' Elusive 'Fundamental Cause' of Social Class Inequalities in Health?" Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 86 (1): 174-199.

Guzzo, R. A. and M. W. Dickson. 1996. "Teams in Organizations: Recent Research on Performance and Effectiveness." Annual Review of Psychology 47: 307-338.

Hale, A. R. and M. Hale. 1972. A Review of the Industrial Accident Literature. London: HMSO.

Hansen, C. P. 1989. "A Causal Model of the Relationship among Accidents, Biodata, Personality, and Cognitive Factors." Journal of Applied Psychology 74: 81-90.

--. 1988. "Personality Characteristics of the Accident Involved Employee." Journal of Business and Psychology 2: 346-365.

Harshbarger, D. and T. Rose. 1991. "New Possibilities in Safety Performance and the Control of Workers Compensation Costs." Journal of Occupational Rehabilitation 1: 133-143.

Harvey, J., H. D. Bolam, D. Gregory and G. Erdos. 2001. "The Effectiveness of Training to Change Safety Culture and Attitudes within a Highly Regulated Environment." Personnel Review 30: 615-646.

Hoffman, D. A. and A. Stetzer. 1998. "The Role of Safety Climate and Communication in Accident Interpretation: Implication from Negative Events." Academy of Management Journal 41: 644-657.

--and--. 1996. "A Cross-level Investigation of Factors Influencing Unsafe Behaviors and Accidents." Personnel Psychology 49: 307-339.

Hu, L. and P. M. Bentler. 1999. "Cutoff Criteria for Fit Indexes in Covariance Structure Analysis: Conventional Criteria Versus New Alternatives." Structural Equation Modeling 6: 1-55.

Huselid, M. A. 1995. "The Impact of Human Resource Management Practices on Turnover, Productivity, and Corporate Financial Performance." Academy of Management Journal 38: 635-672.

Ingalls, T. S. 1999. "Using Scorecards to Measure Safety Performance." Professional Safety 44: 23-28.

Kaestner, R. and M. Grossman. 1998. "The Effect of Drug Use on Workplace Accidents." Labour Economics 5 (3): 267-294.

Lawler, E. E., III. 1971. Pay and Organizational Effectiveness. New York, NY: McGraw Hill.

Lehto, M. and G. Salvendy. 1995. "Warnings: A Supplement Not a Substitute for Other Approaches to Safety." Ergonomics 38: 2155-2163.

Macdonald, S. 1997. "Work-place Alcohol and Other Drug Testing: A Review of the Scientific Evidence." Drug and Alcohol Review 16: 251-259.