The role of organisational safety culture in the Australian water industry: a review of trust, transformational leadership, voice, commitment and empowerment

The purpose of this research is to explore the effects of organisational safety culture of trust, transformational leadership and voice being antecedents to the safety outcomes of empowerment and commitment. Specifically, this research examines the effects of safety culture and safety performance in an undisclosed water utility corporation in Australia in order to explore the proposition that if an organisation encourages trust, leadership and voice in the context of safety culture, the organisation will benefit in meeting safety performance objectives and targets. Linear regression modelling was conducted on data sourced from a survey questionnaire. The test results indicated that there was a positive relationship between the antecedents of trust, transformational leadership and voice (i.e. representing organisational safety culture) and a commitment to achieving safety performance outcomes. The results also indicated a limited relationship between the antecedents and empowerment to achieving safety performance outcomes. Based on the outcome of this study, the researcher has presented a number of future research opportunities that would benefit in a greater understanding of the relationship between organisational safety culture and workplace safety performance within the Australian Water Industry.