Researchers are finding merits in utilising industry-specific safety climate scales that capture the nuances of context, and tend to show stronger associations with safety behaviour and outcomes like incidents. Yet, to date, guidance around the practicalities of developing and validating such industry-specific scales is lacking in the safety science literature. In this presentation I outline my experiences developing six industry-specific safety climate scales and highlight strengths and limitations of the approach. I also briefly review the industry-specific safety climate literature and offer highlights for consideration when developing such scales. Our research highlighted the diversity of safety climate dimensions when it is considered at an industry level. Finally, I conclude with reflections on the nature of safety climate within and across industries, and offer suggestions for future lines of research across other contexts (e.g., national culture, geography, and regulatory settings).

At the conclusion of this event, attendees will be able to:

- Define safety climate
- Explain the differences between generic and industry-specific safety climate scales.
- Know how to develop their own industry-specific safety climate scale
- Be more aware of challenges with scale development

Casey, Tristan W.; Hu, Xiaowen; Kanse, Lisette; Varhammar, A.