“Digging Deeper” into the Relationship Between Safety Climate and Turnover Intention Among Stone, Sand and Gravel Mine Workers: Job Satisfaction as a Mediator

Abstract

Employee turnover has been linked to negative business performance outcomes, increased costs, and disruptions to operations. Research to explore predictors of turnover intention is important to the mining industry, including the stone, sand, and gravel mining (SSGM) industry. Safety climate has been linked to job satisfaction and reductions in turnover intention in other fields, but investigation within SSGM has virtually been non-existent, creating a knowledge gap. This research seeks to address this dearth of information. Cross-sectional data from 452 workers in the SSGM industry were analyzed to assess the influence of safety climate on turnover intention through job satisfaction. Mediation analyses showed that job satisfaction significantly mediated the relationship between safety climate and turnover intention. The implications of these novel findings are important for SSGM administrators. It suggests that bolstering safety programs and increasing safety climate perceptions will help increase job satisfaction and reduce turnover intention among workers in the SSGM industry.

NOSACQ-50 for Safety Climate Assessment in Agricultural Activities: A Case Study in Central Italy

“…Actually, these authors stressed the fact that the main benefit of assessing workers’ SC relies on its association with safety practices, accidents and unsafe behaviors. Accordingly, SC assessment provides information on the workers’ perception of safety in their work environment [ 5 ], resulting in an effective tool for evaluating their safety performances in a specific context [ 6 , 7 , 8 ]. Hence, it is deemed that investigating SC represents a crucial factor for the prevention of accidents and the improvement of the level of safety at the workplace [ 9 ].…”

“…Therefore, given the importance of focusing on human-centered approaches to enhance safety management [ 15 ], numerous studies have investigated SC in different types of industry [ 2 ], for example the construction sector [ 16 , 17 ], as well as the mining, oil and gas extraction [ 8 , 18 , 19 ], healthcare [ 20 ], fire service [ 21 ], and aviation [ 22 ] sectors. However, when it comes to agricultural activities, very little research can be found addressing SC, although agriculture is deemed to be a very hazardous working environment [ 23 , 24 , 25 , 26 ].…”

Health, Physical Activity and Musculoskeletal Symptoms among Stone, Sand, and Gravel Mine Workers: Implications for Enhancing and Sustaining Worker Health and Safety

“…Additionally, researchers have not determined what specific job resources may be beneficial within SSGM operations. Since safety is of vast importance within the mining industry and because the safety climate positively influences organizational outcomes [43], an examination of safety-focused job demands may be beneficial. Research by Nahrgang and colleagues [44] may provide guidance on which measures to include in future research and may provide insights for intervention studies that could be integrated along with health promotion initiatives to foster a true TWH approach.…”

Safety Climate in MT Mining: A Case Study

“…Safety communication and supervisory practices were positive predictors of compliance and safety participation [18]. Research from stone, sand, and gravel operations found that increasing safety climate perceptions leads to increased job satisfaction and a reduction in turnover intention [22]. Another investigator found turnover rates have negative implications in a variety of areas including safety and profits [23].…”