Offshore Safety Questionnaire (OSQ)

Abstract

The Offshore Safety Questionnaire (OSQ) is a specialized psychometric instrument developed to measure the organizational safety climate and associated attitudes among personnel operating on offshore oil platforms. The creation of the OSQ stemmed from previous extensive research dedicated to understanding organizational factors that influence safety outcomes in high-risk settings. It serves as a diagnostic tool, providing insight into the shared perceptions of safety practices, particularly concerning supervisory actions and managerial commitment, alongside the assessment of unsafe behaviors.

Keywords

Offshore Safety Questionnaire, OSQ, Safety Climate, Offshore Environments, Supervisor Competence, Management Commitment, Unsafe Behavior, Psychometrics, Safety Performance

Authors

Mearns, K., Whitaker, S., Flin, R.

Purpose

The primary purpose of the OSQ is to quantitatively measure the subjective attitudes of offshore personnel regarding the safety climate prevalent on oil platforms. By capturing these perceptions, the instrument allows organizations to benchmark their current safety culture against best practices and identify specific areas—such as management communication or supervisory support—requiring intervention. This measurement is crucial for proactively enhancing organizational safety performance in hazardous offshore environments.

Construct

The OSQ measures the psychological construct of organizational Safety Climate, defined as the shared perceptions among employees concerning safety policies, procedures, and practices. The scale operationalizes this construct through two main domains: attitudinal beliefs regarding the organization’s commitment to safety, and self-reported behaviors related to safety compliance and deviance. Specifically, the scale assesses the perceived competence of immediate supervisors and the level of commitment demonstrated by senior management.

Validity

Specific details regarding criterion or convergent validity coefficients are not explicitly detailed in the source material. However, strong evidence for construct validity is supported by the results of the Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA). The clear and consistent factor structure, which aligns with established theoretical models of safety climate (i.e., distinguishing between management commitment and supervisor competence), suggests that the scale items effectively measure the intended underlying psychological constructs.

Reliability

Specific internal consistency reliability coefficients (e.g., Cronbach’s Alpha) for the subscales of the OSQ are not provided in the source material. Reliability is indirectly supported by the consistency of the factor structure. The fact that the items pertaining to unsafe behavior yielded the same two factors across different measurement periods indicates a stable and reliable measurement model for those behavioral dimensions.

Factor Analysis

The development of the OSQ involved rigorous Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) on its two core item sets. The 19 attitudinal statements concerning organizational safety yielded two highly salient common factors: 1) Perceived Supervisor Competence and 2) Perceived Management Commitment to Safety. Furthermore, the 11 items designed to assess unsafe behavior also consistently resolved into two distinct factors across repeated administrations: one relating to Unsafe Behaviour under Incentives and the other to General Unsafe Behaviour. This consistent four-factor structure confirms the intended dimensionality of the OSQ.

Instrument

Test Type: Self-report Questionnaire / Organizational Safety Assessment Tool

Format: Attitudinal statements and behavioral items, typically utilizing a Likert-type response format (inferred).

Language Available: English (Inferred from publication context)

Population Group: Industrial / Organizational Personnel

Age Group: Adult (Working Professionals)

Population Details: Personnel working specifically on offshore oil platforms.

Test Methodology: Survey administration, generally conducted electronically or via paper-and-pencil, followed by psychometric scoring and comparative analysis.

Keywords

Safety Management Practices, Organizational Factors, High-Reliability Organizations, Industrial Psychology, Benchmarking, Oil and Gas Industry, Factor Structure

Authors

Author ORCID Identifier: Not specified in source material.

Affiliation Email addresses: Not specified in source material.

Correspondence Address: Not specified in source material.

Permissions & Fee and Test Year

Information regarding permissions, licensing fees, and current availability is not specified in the source material. The core psychometric development and publication of the OSQ occurred in 2003, establishing this as the primary test year.

Reference’s

• Mearns, K., Whitaker, S., & Flin, R. (2003). Safety climate, safety management practices and safety performance in offshore environments. Safety Science, 41, 631-640.
• Mearns, K., Whitaker, S., Flin, R., Gordon, R., & O’Connor, P. (2003). Factoring the human into safety translating research into practice. Volume 1: Benchmarking human and organisational factors in offshore safety. Norwich, England: Her Majesty’s stationary office.

The original PDF of the key reference research can be downloaded here: http://www.abdn.ac.uk/iprc/documents/Safety_climate_safety%20management_practice…

Items of the Offshore Safety Questionnaire (OSQ)

The specific items comprising the Offshore Safety Questionnaire (OSQ) are not provided in the source material.