Safety climate and compliance in the Norwegian aquaculture industry—employees’ perceptions at different company levels

Abstract

The aquaculture industry is economically important in Norway, and the production is expected to increase in the future. Employees at the fish farms face a high risk of accidents compared to employees in other industries and the focus on safety from both industry and researchers has increased during the last decade. Adding to the knowledge on safety in aquaculture, the objective of this paper is to study employees' perception of safety climate, and whether aspects related to safety climate may predict employees' compliance. Findings from two surveys aimed at managers and employees in different companies are analysed. The first is a telephone survey targeting employees and managers at the fish farms. The second is a web-based survey involving the onshore management level. The results show that employees at all levels have a positive perception of the safety climate, but they also illustrate challenges related to work pressure, maintenance and employee participation. Furthermore, the analysis shows that work pressure affects compliance negatively while participation and competence have positive associations with compliance. These results give input to some practical measures for safety management in the industry.

Safety Management in Norwegian Fish Farming: Current Status, Challenges, and Further Improvements

“…Previous studies have documented that operations using cranes and capstans involve risk of accidents [ 3 ]. Furthermore, organizational factors such as staffing, work hours, and maintenance are documented challenges for safety in aquaculture [ 8 , 38 ].…”

“…Despite the perceived practical relevance, these resources are not always in place. As documented in previous studies from the aquaculture industry, production in some operations may be prioritized over safety [ 19 , 38 , 41 ]. For example, the safety of personnel may be compromised when employees work up to 20 consecutive hours without sleep during large operations such as delousing of fish [ 8 ].…”

“…The contribution may increase with increased participation and usefulness for operative personnel. A study found that participation and competence had a positive influence on compliance [ 38 ]. However, 24.4 % of operational fish farmers were not involved when new procedures were introduced.…”

Reporting of Hazardous Events in Aquaculture Operations – The Significance of Safety Climate

“…Organizational aspects influence the conditions of aquaculture employees [13].Organizational challenges such as prioritizing production at the expense of safety, long work hours and lack of rest during large operations, lack of training, inadequate maintenance and insufficient manning are some relevant examples that illustrate this [8,13,14,15,16,17,18]. Previous analyses also showed that 31% of 258 fish farmers agreed that it is uncomfortable to point out a lack of compliance with safety rules and procedures [13] and that near accidents are frequent among workers at the fish farms [17].…”