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ORIGINAL PAPER
Barriers to Developing a Safety Culture in the Opinion of Occupational Health and Safety Professionals
1
Casimir Pulaski Radom University
These authors had equal contribution to this work
Submission date: 2026-02-26
Final revision date: 2026-10-12
Acceptance date: 2026-10-13
Publication date: 2026-10-29
JoMS 2026;67(3):306-328
KEYWORDS
TOPICS
ABSTRACT
Objectives:
Identification of barriers to the development of a safety culture, determining their importance and detecting associations between them.
Material and methods:
First, a critical and comparative literature analysis was used, followed by a quantitative empirical study. The quantitative analysis examined the frequency of occurrence as well as associations and connections between attributes. A survey was conducted on a sample of 105 people.
Results:
It was found that the most common barriers to the implementation of safety culture in the literature are: (1) lack of leadership and commitment of management, (2) lack of commitment and disregard by employees and (3) lack of understanding by employees. On the other hand, practitioners indicated (1) lack of leadership and commitment of management, (2) problems with communication and (3) lack of commitment and disregard by employees as the most important barriers. Therefore, two of the three most important barriers are the same in both cases and concern people: management on the one hand, and employees on the other.
Conclusions:
A characteristic triad of barriers to developing a safety culture has been identified. In this way, a model approach to the problem was proposed. Understanding them and striving to eliminate them will allow for a more effective shaping of this area of organizational culture.
Identification of barriers to the development of a safety culture, determining their importance and detecting associations between them.
Material and methods:
First, a critical and comparative literature analysis was used, followed by a quantitative empirical study. The quantitative analysis examined the frequency of occurrence as well as associations and connections between attributes. A survey was conducted on a sample of 105 people.
Results:
It was found that the most common barriers to the implementation of safety culture in the literature are: (1) lack of leadership and commitment of management, (2) lack of commitment and disregard by employees and (3) lack of understanding by employees. On the other hand, practitioners indicated (1) lack of leadership and commitment of management, (2) problems with communication and (3) lack of commitment and disregard by employees as the most important barriers. Therefore, two of the three most important barriers are the same in both cases and concern people: management on the one hand, and employees on the other.
Conclusions:
A characteristic triad of barriers to developing a safety culture has been identified. In this way, a model approach to the problem was proposed. Understanding them and striving to eliminate them will allow for a more effective shaping of this area of organizational culture.
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