Safety culture, safety performance and financial performance. A longitudinal study

Abstract

Safety Culture and managing employee relationships in a safe and socially responsible climate might help avoid risks at the workplace and reputational damage for companies. Drawing on the social approach and Occupational Health and Safety Management, this paper aims to gain further knowledge regarding the impact of safety culture through safety performance on financial performance in organisations. We test a set of hypotheses in a panel data of European companies from different activity sectors from 2005 to 2019. Our findings provide strong support for the premise that companies with policies aimed at improving employee health and safety, employee training, or having safety management systems positively influence safety performance, which in turn has a positive impact on financial performance. The development of safety culture in the company is necessary to meet the needs of employees, and thus improve safety performance. This study has implications for both theory and practice and offers some relevant implications for regulators and policy makers.