Project management and safety: Attribution theory as it applies to project safety

Attribution Theory predicts that the perception of management support for the safety program is a key element of a safety program's success. Attribution Theory (Heider, 1958) proposes that a person's social response is to behave as they perceive others behavior would be, thus making inferences for action. This study will investigate the safety culture of a company by measuring the perceptions of the employees and management of the company's safety processes. Is there a difference between the employees and management in their perceptions of management support for safety principles? Are any differences reflected in the resulting accident rates? Attribution Theory may indicate that in order to improve safety program results, first change the behavior of management in order to change the perceptions and thus the behaviors of the employees.; Heinrich (1931), in the first modern book on accident prevention, stated that (p. 127): The initiative and chief burden of activity in accident prevention rest upon the employer, but since it would be somewhat visionary to expect the employers themselves to adopt a self-educational point of view, the practical field of effort for prevention through psychology must, temporarily, at least, be confined largely to the employee.; Up to the present day, the safety field continues to concentrate on the psychology of changing the behavior of the employees to decrease incident rates. It has only been in the last 20 years that industry began to recognize Heinrich's prophetic views that the "...chief burden of activity in accident prevention rest upon the employer." Cohen (1977) recognized that management's visible support for the principles of accident prevention was a major predictor of safety program success. Dejoy (1994) pointed to the importance of management leadership in setting company culture and described attribution theory as the reason. Management leadership establishes the corporate culture and to a great degree it is by observing the actions of management that the employees perceive that culture.