Someone once told me “You can’t change the world.” I took it as a challenge.
After witnessing a work-related injury very early in my career, I remember thinking to myself that someone should have done something to prevent that from happening. I then realized I was that someone. Over the last 15 years, I’ve tried to do whatever I could to improve the safety of workers. I have a genuine concern for workers’ well-being and safety. Workplace accidents and injuries can have significant physical, emotional, and financial consequences for individuals and their families. By focusing my research on workplace safety, I hope to contribute to creating a safer work environment that prioritizes the health and well-being of employees and prevents significant incidents from occurring.
Workplace safety is also an issue of broader societal importance now, with many organizations in pursuit of ESG-related goals. Governments, regulatory bodies, and stakeholders are increasingly emphasizing the need for safe workplaces. I am motivated to contribute to this societal goal by providing evidence-based insights that inform policies, regulations, and practices aimed at improving workplace safety.
Lastly, workplace safety is an essential area of study within so many disciplines, such as occupational health and safety, organizational behavior and psychology, industrial engineering, and sustainability. I have an academic and professional interest in advancing knowledge and understanding within these respective fields. I am striving to continue to contribute to the existing body of literature, fill gaps in knowledge, and propose innovative approaches to address workplace safety challenges in organizations.
Key Insights Summarizing Research:
- Informal safety leadership has emerged as a new paradigm in safety leadership, and there is a need to understand its impact on workplace safety. The proposed research aims to examine the impact of informal safety leadership on safety consciousness and risk perception in workplace safety events.
- The study’s hypotheses suggest that informal safety leadership positively influences safety consciousness and risk perception in workplace safety events.
- A diverse sample of teams in different industries and organizational settings will be selected, and a full network approach will be used to assess team members’ informal leadership behavior at the team level. Validated scales will assess safety consciousness and risk perception.
- The research methodology employs a quantitative research approach. Surveys will collect numerical data as well as insights from open-ended questions and analyze the relationships between informal safety leadership and key safety variables.
- The study’s findings aim to provide a comprehensive understanding of the impact of informal safety leadership on workplace safety.