Decreased Job Security Without Change in Safety During Hydrocarbon Industry Recession

Bjørn Sætrevik; Sunniva Berge Ørbeck; Maria Vannes Helland; Jarle Eid

doi:10.16993/sjwop.98

Decreased Job Security Without Change in Safety During Hydrocarbon Industry Recession

Scandinavian Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology

Volume 5 (2020): Issue 1

By: Bjørn Sætrevik, Sunniva Berge Ørbeck, Maria Vannes Helland and Jarle Eid

Open Access

|Apr 2020

Abstract

Economic recessions may decrease an organization’s investment in maintenance, training and safety management, and may thus have a negative impact on safety. The present study examines how job security and safety changed during and after a major recession in the Norwegian hydrocarbon industry. Interviews with HSEQ officers in ship-owning companies informed our hypotheses about what effects the recession may have had on safety perception among crew members. Three cross-sectional surveys of maritime hydrocarbon workers were conducted in 2013 (N = 829), 2015 (N = 444), and 2017 (N = 555). The results showed that although the crew’s perceptions of job security decreased from 2013 to 2017, their perceptions of safety climate did not change. Attitudes to safety and to reporting declined from 2013 to 2015, then improved from 2015 to 2017, indicating that the recession had a temporary effect on the crew’s motivation and intention to comply with the safety regulations. Potential organizational and individual explanations are discussed.

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Articles in this issue

DOI: https://doi.org/10.16993/sjwop.98 | Journal eISSN: 2002-2867

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Language: English

Page range: 2 - 2

Submitted on: Aug 14, 2019

Accepted on: Mar 4, 2020

Published on: Apr 13, 2020

Published by: Stockholm University Press

In partnership with: Paradigm Publishing Services

Keywords:

safety climate,

job insecurity,

recession,

hydrocarbon industry,

maritime workers

© 2020 Bjørn Sætrevik, Sunniva Berge Ørbeck, Maria Vannes Helland, Jarle Eid, published by Stockholm University Press
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Volume 5 (2020): Issue 1