Jason Edwards Thesis

Safety Culture and the Australian Heavy Vehicle Industry: A Concept in Chaos – An Industry in Need Jason Edwards Bachelor of Behavioural Science (Honours) Thesis submitted for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy Queensland University of Technology Centre for Accident Research and Road Safety – Queensland Kelvin Grove, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia 2014 This thesis uses ethnographic methods alongside other research techniques. Ethnography seeks to describe a culture using the culture’s own language. A number of quotes within this thesis use crude language which may offend some readers. These quotes are not intended to cause offence, nor are they included for the sake of being crude. It was deemed important to avoid censoring these comments in order to maintain the integrity of the culture of the industry. The author apologises for any offence caused. Statement of Original Authorship The work contained in this thesis has not been previously submitted to meet requirements for an award at this or any other higher education institution. To the best of my knowledge and belief, the thesis contains no material previously published or written by another person except where due reference is made. Name: Jason R Edwards QUT Verified Signature Signed: Date: 11/06/14 i Acknowledgements There are so many people who deserve to be acknowledged. A PhD is no small project and to help a student with limited research knowledge to complete a PhD takes significant guidance, support and assistance. I might not have mentioned everyone but I’ve tried. The following acknowledgements are in no particular order: Jeremy Davey – Thank you for being a great supervisor! You always pushed me when I least wanted it but most needed it, and yet after pushing me hard you would always leave me feeling encouraged and capable. The regular jokes and random conversation also provided some of the most interesting parts of my research experience. Kerry Armstrong – Thank you for also being a great supervisor! You were always supportive and always invited me in, even when I just wanted to say a brief hello as I walked past. Thank you for always having an open door for me. I never felt unsupported. To the entire CARRS-Q team – Wow! What a great place to do a PhD. Thank you all! I couldn’t mention you all by name but there are a few of you I absolutely must. Barry Watson – You are an inspiration to us all, hardworking, knowledgeable about every topic we research and always friendly. Despite your huge workload, you never make a student feel beneath you. Thanks for the feedback at confirmation and your collaboration on the traffic safety culture paper. James Freeman – Thanks for all the encouragement over the past few months. The random greetings as I walked past and constant fist pumps were so funny yet uplifting at the same time. Thank you!! All the administrative staff – Thank you for making CARRS-Q happen! You’re all amazing and so helpful. I specifically want to mention Veronica (for being the most warm, friendly and welcoming person in QUT that I have met), Kate (for helping me with any queries about anything admin-related that I was unsure about), and Judith and Kim (for organising all my last minute travel for the project… particularly when I had to cancel a trip on the last working day beforehand ). Herbert Biggs –I didn’t end up doing the PhD you initially interviewed me for, but I honestly wouldn’t have done a PhD without your phone call. Can’t thank you enough. Other QUT personnel – It’s a big uni and in some way many of you played a part. But I particularly want to thank: The Faculty of Health Research Services – for everything behind the scenes. Patricia Obst – Thanks for not only being a great lecturer in fourth year, but also for playing a major role in the beginning of this project. ii Julie Hansen – I really am not sure why you suggested my name to Herbert, but without that little conversation he would never have called me and I would never have done this PhD. I’m not sure what you saw in me but thank you so much!! Also thanks for being a fantastic (seriously amazing) undergraduate coordinator and stats lecturer. Under your teaching statistics was so easy, even if I didn’t use it in this thesis. I would also like to acknowledge the project’s funding departments (in alphabetical order); The Department of Transport and Main Roads, Roads and Maritime Services (previously RTA), Workplace Health and Safety Queensland and WorkSafe Victoria. We hope that this research is as valuable to you as we see it to be. Specifically, I want to thank Peter Thorning for serving on both panels and inviting me to a WH&SQ meeting. Further, I would like to acknowledge Mechelle McMahon for conducting a professional edit of the final manuscript in preparation for printing and lodgement. It would be remiss of me not to also acknowledge all the hardworking members of the heavy vehicle industry out there. I knew nothing about you when I started, but you guys are awesome, working hard day and night to provide all the stuff Australia takes for granted. Without trucks Australia truly would stop. For confidentiality I cannot mention any of you by name, but for all those who took part in the current research thank you so much for your time and assistance. ~ Now to the more personal stuff ~ Ruth Fuhrman-Luck – Thank you for all the amazing support. Thank you for congratulating me on every bit of good news, encouraging me after every disappointment, and for all the tokening. Thanks for all the lunch breaks, late night snacks, movies, music and good times. You are so loving and supportive and I could never thank you enough. PS Never would have predicted this acknowledgement at the start of the PhD. To all my family – Thank you for the ongoing financial and moral support. Thanks Mum for the regular advice and proofreads. Thanks Dad for the advice and concern for the future. Thank you Alanna and Paul for just generally checking how I’m doing and offering support. Finally, thank you Lennox. You might have been born during the PhD but the play breaks when you visited home were such a great relief and I will always treasure you calling out for ‘Uncle Jasey’. C3 Indooroopilly/Ipswich – Thanks for all the support and encouragement along the way. But particularly Pastor Andrew McLennan, you are an amazing leader! Thank you for helping me to decide to do a PhD in the first place. Thank you Father for supporting me and carrying me through every struggle. I could not have done this without you. I love you so much! iii Abstract Every year Australian heavy vehicle drivers are involved in a significant number of injuries and fatalities. A number of researchers have suggested safety culture could be used to improve safety within the heavy vehicle industry. To date, however, no major research project has explored safety culture within this industry. Further, standard safety culture perspectives are ill-suited to the strong combination of both autonomy and regulation within the industry. Thus, to explore safety culture within the heavy vehicle industry, there is a need to enhance the current understanding of safety culture. The purpose of this research was to enhance the current understanding of safety culture by providing a new theoretically grounded framework of safety culture; and to utilise this framework to explore safety within the heavy vehicle industry. An initial analysis of the safety culture literature revealed theoretical ties to organisational culture and traditional concepts of culture found in the anthropology and cultural psychology literature. Due to their unique strengths and weaknesses, and the complementary nature of these conceptualisations, they were synthesised and a new conceptualisation of safety culture created. This synthesised conceptualisation holds that shared beliefs, attitudes and values (culture) of organisation members interact with their surroundings (context) to produce safety-related behaviours and outcomes. In order to apply the developed framework to the heavy vehicle industry, the research adopted the following five aims: (a) examine the suitability of key components of the synthesised conceptualisation of safety culture to the heavy vehicle industry; (b) identify factors previously identified within heavy vehicle industries which comprise the key components of the framework; (c) identify major factors within the heavy vehicle industry which have eluded previous research; (d) identify the best approach to investigating the effect iv of culture on safety in the heavy vehicle industry; and (e) examine how cultural and contextual factors affect safety-related behaviours in the heavy vehicle industry. A three-part research program was developed. Study One consisted of a systematic review of the heavy vehicle health and safety literature. This literature was analysed using the synthesised conceptualisation of safety culture, providing a preliminary framework of safety culture within the heavy vehicle industry. A number of safety-related behaviours and their associated outcomes were identified. Additionally, contextual factors, including those related to government, the organisation, customers, the workers union, and the road and work environment, and a selection of potential cultural beliefs, attitudes and values, were identified which related to the identified behaviours and outcomes. Study Two consisted of semi-structured interviews with key industry stakeholders. These interviews were used to identify major factors absent in previous research and to determine the best approach to explore relationships between key components of the synthesised conceptualisation of safety culture and associated behaviours and outcomes. Interview data was analysed using grounded theory coding techniques. Study Two provided additional depth to many of the factors identified in Study One.

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