Psychosocial Safety Climate Predicts Health and Safety Status of Ghanaian Fuel Attendants

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to determine the level of psychosocial safety climate (PSC) at fuel stations in Accra and test the paths via which PSC predicts health and safety of the attendants. We surveyed 876 conveniently sampled attendants from four major Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs). A questionnaire derived from three pre-existing ones (PSC-12, Job Content Questionnaire and Short Form Health Survey) was used for data collection. It yielded composite reliability between 0.91 and 0.95. Partial Least Squared-Structural Equation Model was used for analysis. Results shows a high risk of (36.08) PSC perception among the attendants. PSC directly, and indirectly, via the path of job resources, predict health and safety of the attendants. Job demands have significant direct influence on health and safety with its path being the strongest (r = -0.66) and most significant (t = 39.48, p = 0.00) compared with PSC (r = 0.16) and job resources (r = -0.12). The health, safety and well-being of the fuel station attendants appears to be preserved where management takes practical steps to raise PSC of the fuel stations and supervisor provides increased support for the attendants. An increase in PSC is most likely to cause increase in supervisor support to the attendants. In such stations, daily productivity is more likely to increase due to well-being of the workers.