CONFIDENTIAL ©2020 National Safety Council

NIST 

2022 NSC Safety Barometer 

Preliminary Results for Federal Employees

Crystal Cannan

Director, Workplace Training & Survey Services
Agenda

▪ Survey Methodology

▪ Discussion of Results

▪ Next Steps

Objective

▪ Review and guide you through your NSC Safety Barometer Results.
National Safety Council

Our Mission: Save lives, from the workplace to anyplace
NSC Safety Barometer Goals
Survey 

Administration 

and Methodology
60.3% 

Response Rate

2,081 Respondents

• Conducted survey in 

December and January 

2022/2023

• Administered through 

anonymous online survey
➢ 50 Standard items assessing six safety performance categories 

➢ Employee Demographic Questions: 

➢ Tenure, 

➢ Primary Work Location, 

➢ Organizational Unit (OU),

➢ Division,

➢ Employment Category, and

➢ JHA or HRA

NSC Safety 

Barometer Content 
Six Performance Categories of Safety Excellence
Benchmarking
Benchmarking

This reduces both context and construct biases in your data.

0...................20....................40....................60...................80..................100

least

positive

most

positive

Percentiles are scaled from 0 to 100

NSC’s Database contains data from 1,530 businesses

>3,000,000 respondents
Standard Survey Results

Benchmarked Survey Results

Value of Benchmarking – Example
NSC Database

Plus additional benchmarking by 

Industry: NAICS 54, 92, and 61: 

153 businesses

NIST Results
Overall & Performance Categories Percentile Scores

• Above average scores for all six 

Program Categories

• Best-Performing Categories: 

Supervisor Engagement, 

Organizational Climate

• Opportunity Areas: Employee 

Involvement & Safety Support 

Activities
Industry-Specific Benchmarking

*156 businesses/establishments

63.2

70.9

56.1

51.5

50.8

86.1

57.6

67.7

70.0

54.9

54.4

67.8

90.6

60.4

0.0 10.0 20.0 30.0 40.0 50.0 60.0 70.0 80.0 90.0 100.0

OVERALL

Organizational Climate

Safety Support Climate

Safety Support Activities

Employee Involvement

Supervisor Engagement

Management Commitment

Performance Category Percentile Scores

Industry Specfic (54,92,61) All Industries
Safety Component Percentile Scores

34 of the 51 components received above average 

percentile scores:

➢ 13 component at or above the 76th percentile 

➢ 21 components from 50th to 75th percentile

➢ 14 from 25th percentile to 49th percentile

➢ 3 components below the 25th percentile 

There is an additional item - (35b) 
Strengths

(Top Performing Components)

• Four of the highest-performing 

components are ‘key drivers’ –

focusing on EI and SE

• None of the Safety Support Activities 

Components identified in top ranked 

strengths

• Strong organizational culture! 

Buttressed by good environmental 

conditions and engaged supervisors. 

Indicates that item is more strongly correlated to higher percentile scores or ‘key drivers’

Clustering in 

Supervisor Engagement

Indicates top-performing component in Industry-Specific comparison
Focus Areas

(Lower Performing Components)

• Four of the lowest-performing 

components are ‘key drivers’

• 7/10 lower-scoring components 

generated elevated neutrals –

increase employee awareness, 

knowledge, involvement and 

visibility of these components if no 

deficit is present

Indicates that item is more strongly correlated to higher percentile scores or ‘key drivers’

Clustering in 

Management Commitment & Safety 

Support Activities

High level of neutral responses (≥30.0%) Indicates bottom ten component in Industry-Specific
How to read Employee Demographic Comparisons

Values are assigned to each response the scale from -2 to +2. A mean is calculated based on the 

answers of the respondents. Average Response Scores are calculated for each of the 50 items, six 

performance categories, and overall. Groups with fewer than five respondents not included in 

comparisons. 

What to look for

1. Do all groups have positive safety culture perceptions? 

• Look for negative average response scores

2. Are all groups experiencing these elements similarly (Disparity)

• If a group has lower perceptions it does not indicate they are ‘less safe’ than other groups. A 

number of factors contribute to these perceptions. 

• Use there results to see if there are opportunities to elevate perceptions among lowerscoring groups and consider opportunities for targeted action planning if applicable. 

-2 0 +2

Strongly 

Negative Neutral Strongly 

Positive
Comparisons by Tenure

• All workgroups responded positively, indicating an 

overall positive perceptions regarding safety culture. 

• Employees with 21 years and over of tenure held more 

positive perceptions than the other tenure groups, 

overall. 

• Employees with 1-5 years of tenure held the least 

positive perceptions, overall. 
Comparisons by Primary Work Location

• All three locations responded positively, indicating an 

overall positive perceptions regarding safety culture. 

• Employees who indicated ‘Other’ had more positive 

perceptions than Boulder and Gaithersburg. 

• Employees from Gaithersburg held the least positive 

perceptions, overall. 
Comparisons by Organizational Unit (OU)

• All Organizational Units responded positively, indicating 

an overall positive perceptions regarding safety culture. 

• Communications Technology Laboratory held 

significantly more positive perceptions than Office of 

Safety, Health, and Environment
Comparisons by Division - Count
Comparisons by Division • Public Safety Communications scored the highest overall Average Response Score. 

• Lowest scoring division is Facilities Services Division
Comparisons by Role

• As found with majority of businesses, 

Management/Supervisor held higher 

perceptions. Increased involvement of 

Non-Supervisor employees in safety 

discussions will help close gaps in 

perception
Comparisons by JHA or HRA

• Both groups that responded ‘Yes’ or 

‘No’ generated positive and similar 

overall scores, indicating cohesive 

application of the SMS.

Thank You! 

Crystal Cannan

Workplace Training and Survey Services

National Safety Council (630)775-2121

crystal.cannan@nsc.org

nsc.org