How safety training impacts safety early warning in high-risk industries: safety proactivity behavior as mediator

Abstract

This study examines the associations between safety training and organizational safety early warning, and the role of safety proactivity behavior in this relationship. Specifically, it tests whether distinct behavioral dimensions mediate the relationships between safety training and safety management, prevention and control. Using structural equation modeling, survey data from 707 employees in high-risk industries were analyzed. The results indicate that employee perceptions of safety training are positively associated with self-reported safety management, prevention and control, and that these associations are mediated by safety proactivity behaviors. Change-oriented safety voice, affiliative-oriented safety stewardship and proactive safety initiative functioned as domain-specific mediators within the estimated model. Because the data are cross-sectional, these findings are interpreted as associations rather than causal effects. The patterns observed nonetheless underscore the relevance of targeted safety training to proactive safety frameworks and offer actionable implications for safety managers seeking to strengthen leading safety indicators in complex sociotechnical systems.