Enabling Employees to Work Safely: The Influence of Motivation and Ability in the Design of Safety Instructions

Purpose: One of the major challenges for modern organizations is to create healthy and safe work environments, as evidenced by the number of occupational deaths (worldwide: four per minute), and an even higher number of injuries. This study explores different levels of motivation and ability, to identify which are most relevant for safety climate and safety performance. This study aims to pinpoint the areas information designers should focus on to most effectively contribute to healthy and safe work environments.

Method: We designed a questionnaire for employees of a Dutch high-tech and high- risk warehouse, a workplace where safety regulations are important. The employees scored their attitudes regarding motivation, ability, safety climate, and safety performance.

Results: The results confirmed the expected relationship between safety climate and safety performance. Of the explored sublevels of motivation and ability, personal motivation and external ability proved most relevant for creating a healthy safety climate and healthy safety performance.

Conclusion: In the design of safety instructions, focusing on personal motivation and external ability seems a promising strategy for contributing to healthy and safe work environments, especially in high-risk environments.