Japanese Journal of Applied Psychology
2020, Vol. 46 (Special edition), 29-37

Research Report

Program development for fostering safety culture in multi-tiered organizations―Finding and solving interorganizational issues―

Tomoki YOMURA＊, Guirong SHI＊＊, Satoshi HOSODA＊＊＊ and Shiichiro INOUE＊
Although there have been some studies on safety culture, studies on specific methods to foster safety culture havebeen limited. Moreover, it is deemed necessary to assess and foster safety cultures not only for individual organizations but also inter-organizationally. In this study, we developed a program to foster safety culture. Thereafter, we applied the program to multi-tiered industrial organizations. Hence, this paper focuses on interorganizational approaches.
The program consisted of multiple questionnaire surveys, interview surveys, group works, and monitoring surveys.
The subjects of the surveys were members of energy plants. As a result, in general, improvements in the safety culture
evaluation were seen after the implementation of countermeasures. In the program consisting of multiple surveys andactivities, a certain effect of fostering safety culture in multi-tiered organizations was recognized. Henceforth, morestudies will be required on the means of assessing and fostering safety cultures in multi-tiered industrial organizationsof various types.
key words: safety culture, foster, organization, multitiered, industry

Introduction
In recent years, safety cultures in organizations
have drawn much attention to ensure safety in industrial organizations. Studies on defining safety cultures, their constituent elements, and assessment
methods have also been pursued (e.g., IAEA, 1991;
Schein, 1992). In fact, The authors have developed
safety culture assessment tools ( SCAT ) to provide
structures for mutual assessment between the various
tiers in organizations ( managers, field supervisors,
workers ) ( hereinafter referred to as the “ withinorganization SCAT”) that have been actually applied
in industrial organizations ( e. g. , Shi, Hosoda,
Suganuma, Okumura, Yomura, & Inoue, 2004 ;Yomura, Hosoda, & Inoue, 2015).
Based on the results of previous studies, authors
think that the definition of safety culture is defined by
the mutual relationship between 1) the organizational
structure (e.g., system, equipment and activities madeto ensure safety) 2) the attitude and behavior of or＊

ganization members against the structure, and 3) thesituation of sharing these subjects between the staff
members in the organization ( Yomura, Hosoda, &Inoue, 2015). The evaluation index for staff safety attitude against the safety structure consists of 36 items
from 10 fields and is based on the ASCOT Guidelines(IAEA, 1996) (see Table 1). To measure the sharing
situation in the organization, we divided the organizational members into three tiers and used mutual measurement.
Meanwhile, in the industrial sector, multiple organizations share functions from work planning to
implementation. However, the more organizations are
involved, the less in volume and accuracy the information is communicated. It is considered difficult todisseminate safety policies of a contractee to fields or
to convey the risk information in fields to a contractee. In short, as the organization becomes multitiered,more risks tend to arise not only “ withinorganization”, but also “inter-organization”. Therefore, it becomes necessary to assess and foster safety

System Safety Research Group, The Ohara Memorial Institute for Science of Labour, 3-23-1 Hyakunincho, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo 169-0073, Japane-mail: t.yomura@isl.or.jp＊＊
Kanto Gakuin University College of Interhuman Symbiotic Studies, 1-50-1 Mutsuurahigashi, Kanazawa-ku, Yokohama-city,
Kanagawa 236-8503, Japan ＆ The Ohara Memorial Institute for Science of Labour＊＊＊
Kanto Gakuin University, College of Sociology, 3-22-1 Kamariyaminami, Kanazawa-ku, Yokohama-city, Kanagawa 2368502, Japan ＆ The Ohara Memorial Institute for Science of Labour（ 30 ）

Japanese Journal of Applied Psychology, Vol. 46

Table 1
Evaluation fields(10)

Evaluation fields and items
Evaluation items
Within an organization(36)

Inter-organization(12)

recognition●

understanding

Safety declaration

review
penetration
priority

Safety and productivity●

level of involvementawarenessdocumentation

Safety rules

improvement of procedures
observance of procedures●

authority●

Responsibility, authority and roles

review of role
participation in improvement activities
experience of analysis
analysis of human-factors

Trouble resolving

reporting procedure
implementation of measures●involvement in improvementawareness of improvement
provision of training●

evaluation
contents

Education and training

trouble response training
materialization

Information channel

top-down channel●

communication●

bottom up channel●

understanding of environmental conditions
Work environment

attitude to improvement●awarenessuse of safety system
Safety activities●

evaluation
indirect department
use of research institutions

Safety operation

external audit
service contract

cultures not only for each organization, but also for
overall inter-organizations. Therefore, we modified
the within-organization SCAT and developed SCAT●

based on mutual assessments among organizations( hereinafter referred to as the “ interorganizational
SCAT”) (Yomura, Fujikake, Shi, Hosoda, & Inoue,

T. YOMURA et al.: Program development for fostering safety culture in multi-tiered organizations

Table 2（ 31 ）The program for fostering safety culture in multi-tiered organization

Survey & Involvement
I. Preliminary questionnaire survey (SCAT)
II. Preliminary interview survey

PurposeUnderstand actual situation

Cycle

Plan

III. Discussion of countermeasures

Set theme & Plan countermeasure

IV. Countermeasure implementation

Implement countermeasureDo

Confirm progress
Solve the disturbing factor

Check

Modify planAct& monitoring research

V. Posteriori questionnaire survey (SCAT)
VI. Posteriori interview surveyCountermeasure effect
Understand remaining issue2016).
With careful consideration for the reduction of private burden to participants, we selected 12 out of 36
items used for evaluating interorganizational safety
culture. For example, “Recognition of Declaration”
pertains to when “members know that the plant has
issued a safety declaration” and “Priority of Safety”
pertains to when “members change their work schedule to ensure safety” (see Table 1).
As we applied SCAT in industrial organizations,the needs of the organizations have shifted from assessment of safety cultures to drafting of countermeasures and development of effective implementation
methods. However, as for the means of fosteringsafety cultures, more studies are still necessary at thisstage.
Therefore, the purpose of this study is to develop a
program for fostering safety cultures, comprised ofseveral researches and practices, and to implement
the program in a multitiered industrial organization in
Japan to examine its effectivity.
Methods
1. Subject Organization
The program was intended for a certain contractee,
an original contractor, and a subcontractor in the fieldof maintenance and management of energy plants inJapan. There was a company each for ordering andoriginal contractors while there were several companies chosen for subcontractors. The roles played byeach organization with regard to maintenance andmanagement are summarized hereafter. First, the contractee prepares the maintenance plan for the plantand places work orders based on the plan with theoriginal contractor. The work volume becomes substantial especially in cases where periodic inspections
are required for several times a year. Next, the original contractor prepares specific work plans based on
the list of works undertaken from the contractee andissues purchase orders to suppliers and subcontractors
for required equipment, material, and personnel.
Then, the subcontractor procures the required numberof professionals with sufficient skills necessary for
performing the works undertaken from the originalcontractor company and, subsequently, actually executes the work undertaken. Thereafter, the originalcontractor instructs and supervises on-site the work
performed by subcontractors. The contractee inspects
the work on-site at the time of completion or at apoint in time as prescribed. Also, the subcontractor or
the original contractor reports to the contractee any
defect in the facility found in the work on-site, andthe contractee records the information on a facility
datasheet for reference in future maintenance plans.
2. Research Method
Several researchers were involved in considering
the research method and conducting the research. At
times, they had discussions about the research and its
method with a number of experienced staff members
in energy plants on-site. The overall construction was
set as shown in Table 2.
I. Preliminary questionnaire survey ( withinorganization and interorganizational SCATs)
To quantitatively grasp the status quo of safety cultures within-organization and inter-organization, aquestionnaire survey was conducted. This corre-（ 32 ）

Japanese Journal of Applied Psychology, Vol. 46

sponds to the starting point of “Plan” in the PDCA
cycle. The questionnaire used the SCAT developedby the authors (Yomura, Hosoda, & Inoue, 2015).
There were 36 items for within-organization
SCAT, and 12 for interorganizational SCAT. Bothassessments were made on a scale of 1 to 8, ranging
from “ l. Completely disagree ” to “ 8. Completely
agree”.
Mutual assessment among three work classes wasmade for within-organization, which were made in
relation to managers, superintendents, and workers;
while mutual assessments among three organizations
were made for inter-organizations, which were madein relation to contractee, original contractor, and subcontractor. Scores given for assessment items wereaveraged out for the assessment value, and served as
an index to express the degree of safety attitude takenby the members towards safety arrangements. For thedetails of the questionnaire and the scoring method,refer to Yomura, Hosoda, & Inoue ( 2015 ) , andYomura et al. (2016).
The subjects for the preliminary questionnaire survey were those in charge of maintenance works in theabovementioned subject organizations : 101 staff
members of the contractee, 43 staff members of theoriginal contractor, and 54 staff members of subcontractors. Response rates of distributed questionnaires
for respective organizations exceeded over 90%.
II. Preliminary interview survey
To explore the specific issues of the vulnerable
points in safety cultures discovered in the preliminary
questionnaire survey, an interview survey was conducted. The subjects were those staff members engaged in maintenance works in the same three organizations as for the questionnaire survey; four to eightstaff members from each job class per organization
were interviewed in a group setting. Questions wereasked in semi-structured interviews. The following
points were confirmed in the talk : the content andstatus of their work, the issues recognized for each organization, the actual situation, and the backgroundregarding characteristic results of SCAT. The interviews were conducted by three industrial psychology
researchers. Two of the three researchers classified
the data.
After the preliminary interview survey, the results

were reviewed in conjunction with the findings of thepreliminary questionnaire survey to extract the points
at issue in safety cultures, which were then fed backto each organization. It was intended to be shared
among all parties concerned in order to understandcommonly the status quo and to have a sense of ownership over the results.
III. Discussion of countermeasures
Following the foregoing, a working group of 24
staff members was set up, representing job classes inthe three organizations (hereinafter referred to as the“WG”) to hold discussions on issues to be tackled
among organizations and countermeasures therefor.
The WG members were selected as key personnel forwork and safety in each organization.
Safety countermeasures and approaches on-site inindustrial fields were, in many cases, sent top-downfrom the administration departments in head offices.
However, it is crucial that employees of subject organizations are given incentives to have them commit
to this activity. For that purpose, we made the members of subject organizations responsible for operating the WG. We participated as observers and offeredto facilitate and provide consultation as needed.
It is often the case that there are several issues regarding safety culture among organizations. However, taking countermeasures for all of them is not realistic. Therefore, the WG was advised in this program to take up one issue only, the one with the highest priority, to be tackled inter-organizationally, forwhich results could be realized in a year to one and ahalf years.
Thereafter, the WG formulated countermeasures in
concrete terms. In doing so, they were asked to makeit clear by specifying the 5W1H (when, where, who,
what, why, and how) to improve the viability of suchcountermeasures. Moreover, the WG was urged todebate the system and rules required for implementing the countermeasures. Up to this point, it corresponds to “Plan” of the PDCA cycle.
IV. Countermeasure implementation and monitoring research
The WG took the initiative in designing approaches based on the plan. Moreover, to confirm theprogress of their efforts, monitoring researches wereperiodically conducted. The authors received pro-

T. YOMURA et al.: Program development for fostering safety culture in multi-tiered organizations

gress reports from the WG, removed the causes ofproblems, if any, and modified implementation methods, thereby contributing to the enhancement of theviability and effectiveness of their approaches. Since
the WG had too many members to carry on meticulous meetings and collect information, subgroups
were set up to facilitate proceedings as needed.
V. Posteriori questionnaire survey ( withinorganization and interorganizational SCATs)
After the countermeasure was taken, to ascertain
the changes in safety culture and the remaining vulnerability, another questionnaire survey was conducted. The items of the questionnaire and the methods employed were the same as those for the preliminary questionnaire survey. Likewise, the subjects
were the same as the staff members in charge of
maintenance works in abovementioned organizations:
44 staff members of the contractee, 60 staff membersof the original contractor, and 180 staff members of
subcontractors.
VI. Posteriori interview survey
To clarify specific issues of vulnerable points insafety cultures discovered in the posteriori questionnaire survey, another interview survey was conducted. The subjects were those staff members engaged in maintenance works in the same three organizations as the posteriori questionnaire survey. The
subjects consisted of a total of 51 people, from five tonine staff members from each job class per organization. They were interviewed in a group setting. Questions were asked in semi-structured interviews. The
following points were confirmed in the talk : thestatus of their work, the issues recognized for each organization, the actual situation, the background regarding characteristic results of SCAT, the changes
from the situation at the preliminary interview survey, and the evaluation of WG activities. The interviews were conducted by three industrial psychology
researchers. Two of the three researchers classified
the data.
After the interview survey, the results were reviewed in conjunction with the findings of the posteriori questionnaire survey, and the effects of the approach were examined to extract remaining points at
issue in safety cultures. Finally, these results and suggestions were fed back to each organization.

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Each survey was conducted upon prior consent of
the subject organization and with its cooperation. Utmost attention was paid to the protection of each survey participant’s privacy.
Results
I ． Preliminary questionnaire survey ( withinorganization and interorganizational SCATs)
Since this paper focuses on interorganizational approaches, we dispense with within-organizational results.
In the mutual interorganizational assessment results (see Figure 1), the contractee was found to havehigh self-evaluation scores, while the original contractor and subcontractors assessed the contractee
with low scores, exhibiting a big difference. In particular, the evaluation from the original contractor
was generally severe. Among them, the ratings on“Attitude to improvement ” , “ Bottom-up channel ” ,“Service Contract”, and “Use of safety system” wereparticularly low.
II．Preliminary interview survey
We categorized the comments we obtained by theirorganization and content. Table 3 shows the maincontents.
It was observed that delayed and inaccurate ordering by the contractee resulted in causing the originalcontractor and subcontractors to distrust the contractee. The reasons for such delayed ordering were related to old facilities and insufficient facility datalists. The original contractor and subcontractors
pointed out strongly the problem of the contractee in
disregarding such information on defective facilities
and ordering flaws that had been repeatedly reported.
This appears to have resulted in the low interorganizational SCAT.
III．Discussion of countermeasures
After explaining the outline and feature points ofthis program from the authors, the WG debated thetheme regarding the countermeasures to be taken. As
a result, they decided to address the theme of “Optimized timing of order placement and information
sharing for periodic inspections”.
IV．Countermeasures implementationand monitoring survey
Six rounds of WG meetings and 13 subgroup ses-（ 34 ）

Japanese Journal of Applied Psychology, Vol. 46

Figure 1

Preliminary questionnaire survey: mutual evaluation of inter-organization at the plant

Table 3Main contents of a preliminary interview survey

Contractees
㾎 The same request is issued every time at meetings with the contractor or partner company.
㾎 We were so busy that ordering was delayed.
㾎 Because the machine is old, management is difficult.
Original Contractors
㾎 The order is not received even though the construction period has begun.
㾎 There are many mistakes in purchase orders.
㾎 There is a lot of waste in parts and labor costs.
Subcontractors
㾎 Working in a risky way because of lack of work time.
㾎 We have repeatedly communicated mistakes to contractees, but they are not improved at all.
㾎 There is no feedback even if corrections and requests are communicated.

sions were held during a period of 13 months. Primarily, the WG set the direction of activities, based
upon which, the subgroup session reviewed information collection and specific methods. Thereafter, theWG determined the necessary revisions and made final decisions. Tangible activities were conducted notby the WG or the subgroup, but were integrated, asmuch as possible, into regular routine works. The
authors exchanged information at times with the secretariat and consulted as to what they should cover in
the approach and how they may carry it out.

The specific methods for optimizing the order timing were determined in relation to considering thecontent and timing of information required to be conveyed inter-organizationally, the specific methods ofinformation sharing, and the methods of reflecting
on-site risk information to the database.
The monitoring survey was made six times when
the WG met to confirm the specific method and progress. When progress lagged behind schedule, thecauses therefor were identified and plans for its resolution were proposed.

T. YOMURA et al.: Program development for fostering safety culture in multi-tiered organizations

Figure 2（ 35 ）

Posteriori questionnaire survey: mutual evaluation of inter-organization at the plant

V ． Posteriori questionnaire survey ( withinorganization and interorganizational SCATs)
In the posteriori questionnaire survey, the contractee’s substantially low assessment of the original contractor improved significantly (see Figure 2). For instance, the assessment score regarding the “Attitude
to improvement” shifted from 3.76 to 5.79. The average of all 12 items mutually evaluated among thethree organizations improved from 5.71 to 6.32 (F (1,15946) =1.27, p< .001).
VI．Posteriori interview survey
We categorized the obtained comments according
to their organization and content. Table 4 shows themain contents.
Orders were placed, except for a few cases, generally according to plans, and early ordering was accomplished. As the accuracy of orders improved bysharing information, it resulted to a reduction in thecosts. Furthermore, the overall interorganizational
communication improved. Among the subcontractors,
there emerged some voluntary movements for safety
activities, because of the changes that were developedin the contractee.
However, the original contractor and subcontrac-

tors enumerated problems which remained with thecontractee and their workers: transfer of information
was inadequate, few site visits, insufficient working
knowledge of facilities and jobs on-site, etc.
Discussion
As shown above, a program was developed to foster safety cultures in an energy plant in Japan. While
several tasks for organizations to address still remain,
there have been some notable effects to the current
programs in practice. In this project, the system ofwork was developed not as a one-time event, but as acontinuing one. Therefore, we considered that this effect must be sustainable.
It is important to make use of the SCAT initially atthe outset of the program to foster safety cultures.
Even among tiers of managers, site superintendents,
and workers within an organization, perception gaps
tend to exist. Inter-organizationally, the gaps arelikely to grow, making the task to fill them more difficult. With organizations assessing each other mutually, the existence of interorganizational risks become
visible. By sharing risks inter-organizationally, strong
impetuses for improvements may become available,（ 36 ）

Japanese Journal of Applied Psychology, Vol. 46

Table 4Main contents of a posteriori interview survey

Contractees
㾎 Each organization has worked hard using time.
㾎 We will continue to provide guidance to departments that are slow to place orders.
㾎 Perfection is impossible.
㾎 We will improve the rules.
㾎 WG initiatives are good.
㾎 We began to contact original contractors frequently.
㾎 Each organization is willing to do better.
Original Contractors
㾎 The timing of ordering has become earlier.
㾎 If the order is late, contractees are trying to increase the accuracy.
㾎 Increased accuracy and reduced overall costs.
㾎 Construction safety has increased.
㾎 For better ordering, contractees should look more at the site.
㾎 There is no other activity that the three organizations do together.
Subcontractors
㾎 Ordering is quicker and we are very helpful.
㾎 The accuracy has also improved.
㾎 If contractees does not know the contents of the equipment, waste will increase.
㾎 Information is not carried over in contractees.
㾎 The WG activities were good.
㾎 We hope that this activity will continue.
㾎 As contractees was about to change, we also started various safety activities.

causing approaches to be highly convincing.
The approach used in tackling one task by a groupof three organizations of ordering, original contractor,
and collaborating can produce significant effects.
However, an activity of this nature is usually rare tosee. Before introducing this program, there weremany opinions from the contractees and original contractors regarding the difficulty for subcontractors toparticipate in the WG, particularly because joining
the WG does not earn them money. Nevertheless, it
was found that subcontractors voiced their intentions
to continue their participation in the WG. We, thus,
surmise that the subcontractors felt the benefits totheir safety, exchanging of opinions, and creating systems for working well.
As was observed in this study, in multi-tiered industrial organizations that have interorganizational
perception gaps, the tendency is that bottom-up communication in the hierarchy does not function well
(Yomura, Fujikake, Okumura, Shi, Hosoda, & Inoue,
2011 ) . Of course, it is desirable that information
flows smoothly in daily business. If, however, thesituation does not allow for such smooth flow, thensetting up the WG to build routes of information flow

will be an effective way of addressing the issue. At
this time, participation in the WG by staff membersof each organization from workers to managers
served to reflect a wide variety of opinions and madeapproaches that had high viability in reality possible.
At the same time, the specific activities of the WG
were communicated widely to other employees. Further, some effects were manifest in promoting communication beyond inter-departments and job classes.
However, it does not suggest that a separate route canensure, at once, a smooth flow of information. It isnecessary to engage a third party for a while to workout the smooth flow of information.
Henceforth, more studies will be required for themeans of assessing and fostering safety cultures in
multi-tiered industrial organizations of various types,
such as manufacturing and construction.
References
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IAEA 1996 ASCOT Guidelines revised edition : IAEA TECDOC-860. Vienna : International Atomic Energy

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Agency.
Schein, E. H. 1992 Organizational Culture and Leadership, 2
nd Edition. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Shi, G., Hosoda, S., Suganuma, T., Okumura, T., Yomura, T.,& Inoue, S. 2004 A study on the development of thesafety culture assessment tool in an industrial organization. Proceedings of the annual meeting of Japanese Association of Industrial/Organizational Psychology, 19-22 (inJapanese).
Yomura, T., Hosoda, S., & Inoue, S. 2015 A study on the baseline assessment of the safety culture in the industrial organization―The index of the communication gap between
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Japanese Journal of Applied Psychology, 40(3), 194-202(in Japanese).
Yomura, T., Fujikake, K., Okumura, T., Shi, G., Hosoda, S., &Inoue, S. 2011 A study on safety culture issues in multilayered industrial organizations. Proceedings of the annual
meeting of Japanese Applied Psychology, 66 (in Japanese).
Yomura, Y., Fujikake, K., Shi, G., Hosoda, S., & Inoue, S.
2016 Evaluation of comprehensive safety culture including inter-organization in a multi-tiered organization. Japanese Journal of Applied Psychology, 42(Special edition),
67-72.
(Received: 2019.6.30; Accepted: 2020.4.2)