BACKGROUND: Furniture companies can analyze their safety status
using quantitative measures. However, the data needed are not always
available and the number of accidents is under-reported. Safety climate
scales may be an alternative. However, there are no validated Portuguese
scales that account for the specific attributes of the furniture sector.
OBJECTIVE: The current study aims to develop and validate an
instrument that uses a multilevel structure to measure the safety climate of
the Portuguese furniture industry.
METHODS: The Safety Climate in Wood Industries (SCWI) model was
developed and applied to the safety climate analysis using three different
scales: organizational, group and individual. A multilevel exploratory
factor analysis was performed to analyze the factorial structure. The
studied companies' safety conditions were also analyzed.
RESULTS: Different factorial structures were found between and
within levels. In general, the results show the presence of a group-level
safety climate. The scores of safety climates are directly and positively
related to companies' safety conditions; the organizational scale is the one
that best reflects the actual safety conditions.
CONCLUSIONS: The SCWI instrument allows for the identification of
different safety climates in groups that comprise the same furniture company
and it seems to reflect those groups' safety conditions. The study also
demonstrates the need for a multilevel analysis of the studied instrument.
