School of Management

This project investigated how supervisors perceive their safety leadership skills. Demographic data was collected in the first instance, via interviews, to determine such details as length of time in a supervisory role, previous working roles, age, gender, and the number of employees they supervise. 

Research questions

Specifically the research questions were: 

1. Do supervisors perceive their safety leadership skills positively?
2. What gaps exist in their current safety leadership skills and knowledge?  
3. If a gap exists what explains it?
4. What strategies could be used to increase their safety leadership skills?

Research methods

This project investigated how supervisors perceive their safety leadership skills. 20 semi-structured interviews were conducted with supervisors across 10 civil construction firms in WA. In the first instance, interview demographic data was be collected to determine such details as length of time in a supervisory role, previous working roles, age, gender and the number of employees they supervise.

Semi-structured questions followed that asked supervisors to comment on the difficulties they encountered in managing their teams in the area of safe work performance, the support and training they received while transitioning from worker to supervisor, and the processes they need to adhere to within their organisation to encourage safety improvement.

Finally, they were asked to suggest future support needs to perform their role better, that encourages better safety performance and their ability to lead more effectively.

Researcher

Dr Susanne Bahn - Chief Investigator

Funding body

Faculty of Business and Law, Strategic Research Grant

Timeline 

January 2012 – October 2012