Organizational safety climate and work experience.

The study examined the relationships between work experience and (a) safety perceptions, (b) job satisfaction, (c) compliance with safety management policies and (d) accident frequency. Participants were Ghanaian industrial workers (N = 320). They were divided into 2 cohorts: experienced and inexperienced workers. Workplace safety perceptions were assessed with Hayes et al.'s 50-item work safety scale. MANOVA was used to test for differences of statistical significance. Posterior comparison with t test consistently revealed significant differences between experienced cohorts and their inexperienced counterparts. Experienced workers indicated the best perceptions on safety, expressed the highest level of job satisfaction, were the most compliant with safety procedures and recorded the lowest accident frequency. From a practical perspective, analysing differences in work experience in relation to safety perceptions could be useful for organizations as the workers' experience could indicate a need for special safety programmes for particular groups.