Abstract
Aerojet Ordnance has an extensive safety program that has as its basic philosophy the promotion of a "safety climate," or congruence, wherein management is perceived as being committed to providing and supporting an effective safety program, and the program and its individual items can be understood, and considered important by all employees. As a result, it is expected that there will be employee acceptance and compliance and assured accident prevention. Over the last three years, however, accidents have increased in number and frequency, and management has directed that the program be evaluated to determine if it is ineffective as a means of accident prevention because the perceptions of management and the employees are significantly different. Management may believe that the program is being given a significant amount of commitment and support, and as a result the program is understood, accepted and complied with by all employees. At the same time, employees may have different perceptions as to the actual versus desired emphasis that should be placed on the program, and, as a result, the employees can, either by their ignorance or intent, ignore or violate the program thus contributing to accidents and injuries. A survey was developed which included the forty-one items that comprise the safety program. A Likert-type scale was applied twice to each item, one reflected the employee's opinion relative to the amount of importance that should be placed on the program items. The other scale reflected the employee's perception of the amount of importance that is actually placed on the items. The survey was also designed to provide data for individual levels within the company and demographic information relative to age, seniority and gender. The survey was administered to 162 employees. Data analysis indicated that there are different perceptions as to the actual versus desired emphasis that should be placed on the program. The difference is evident across all levels of the respondent population, and especially so between top management and supervision. The existence of perceptual differences at these organizational levels necessitates further in-depth research. No significant difference was shown relative to age, seniority, or gender.