Pergamon Safety Science Vol. 26, No. 3, pp. 155-168. 1947

0 1997 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved

Printed in the Netherlands

092%7535/97 $17.00 + 0.00

PII: SO9257535(97)00037-4

ASSOCIATIONS BETWEEN SAFETY CLIMATE AND EMOTIONAL REACTIONS TO PLATFORM MOVEMENTS ONBOARD AN OFFSHORE INSTALLATION

J0-m Ostvik a, Torbjom Rundmo a,* , Lennart Sjoberg b

a Department of Psychology, Norwegian University of Science and Technology,

7055 Dragvoll, Norway

* Center for Risk Research, Stockholm School of Economics, 11383 Stockholm,

Sweden

Abstract-The present study focuses on emotional reactions to platform movements onboard an

offshore installation, and to investigate to what degree the safety climate onboard the installa-

tion had impact on such reactions. The sample consisted of 179 respondents, taking all three

work shifts into consideration, representing all fields of work onboard. In general. emotional

reactions to platform movements were not associated with the safety climate. The exception was

instrumental protection. However, this tendency was to some extent altered when controlling for

various job related and demographic variables. Gender, marital status and offshore experience

promoted a moderate relationship between social support and emotional reactions. Moderate

associations between emotional reactions and safety involvement were promoted by personnel

category, offshore experience and age. Personnel category, offshore experience and age also

promoted moderate associations between emotional reactions and satisfaction with aspects of

safety and contingency measures. The respondents indicated engagement in emotion-focused

and perception-focused coping responses when anticipating platform movements onboard.

0 1997 Elsevier Science Ltd

1. Introduction

I. I. Definitions and aims of the study

The psychometric tradition on risk perception, which originated in empirical studies of probability assessments (Slavic, 1987), has primarily measured cognitive judgments. Conse- quently, a major portion of the previous research on risk perception lacks consideration of

emotional aspects. Marek et al. (1985) measured the subjective assessment of the probability of a specified

type of accident happening and how concerned individuals are with such an accident (which

* Corresponding author.

IS6 J. Ostc,ik et ul.

involved both cognitive and emotional processes). The risk of interest in the present study was platform movements onboard an offshore oil installation, caused by bad weather conditions.

Platform movements are characterized by the following characteristics: (1) They are not easy to control nor to prevent; (2) the occurrence is highly salient during bad weather conditions;

and (3) the effects on the construction are not well known among a majority of the employees. Platform movements have the potential of generating unpleasant experiences to the personnel

onboard. They may give rise to both emotional and cognitive reactions. The matter of concern in this study was the emotional reactions to such movements, generated by immediate

impressions when faced with the risk exposure.

Platform movement is a risk source where the perception is not only influenced by knowledge, but also emotions caused by exposure to the risk source (following Sjoberg,

19931. The main objective was to investigate whether or not the safety climate onboard the installation affects emotional reactions. In such a potential relationship, a subordinate goal was to investigate the effects of demographic and job related conditions. To determine the

relationship between safety climate and emotional reactions is of interest because the

emotional reactions may be important aspects of risk perception.

1.2. Mentul models of risk

A number of studies from several cultures, i.e. Slavic (1987) and Teigen et al. (1988) (see also Englander et al., 1986), have made use of a two-axis system which consists of the

dimensions ‘dreadful nature of risk’ and ‘knowledge of risk’. In the present study, the dimension of interest is the ‘dread’ variable, with special attention given to the aspect of

uncontrollability. Uncontrollability is regarded as an important characteristic of platform

movements. The rationale of taking account of emotional reactions is given by a distinction between

affective and cognitive processes as proposed by Zajonc (1980). He stressed the precognitive characteristic of affect. In accordance with Zajonc, affective responses can be an important key for understanding risk perception. There are several reasons for this Affective responses

can be primary to cognition, they are basic when faced with danger, are inescapable, need not

depend on cognition, and affective judgments tend to be irrevocable (see Zajonc, 1980). According to Sjoberg and Biel (1983) emotional reactions can be conceived to stem from

an emotionally potent mental image, which has the ability to generate emotional arousal. A subsequent use of the model of such a mental imagery is given by Rundmo and Sjoberg (1995a,b). Due to the mental imagery approach, cognitive judgments are conceived to be influenced by affective responses, i.e. emotions are primary to cognitions.

The model of emotional reactions used in this study (see Fig. 1) corresponds to the model structure proposed by Rundmo and Sjoberg (1995a,b).

1.3. Organizational and social factors

Studies carried out previously have shown that the safety climate in an organization affects risk perception (Rundmo, 1992a,b, 1994a,b, 199.5). The safety climate is defined as the employees’ perceptions of the work environment (Zohar, 1980; Brown and Holmes, 1986; Rundmo, 1994a). According to Glendon and McKenna (1995) measurement of safety climate involves determining attitudes, values and behaviors which characterize an organization. These factors relate to management commitment to health and safety, adequate resourcing of

Safe8 climate, emotional reactions and platjorm mol>ements

Fig. 1. Model of a mental image of platform movements. generating emotional reactions

the risk management function, employee involvement and an atmosphere of trust and caring, effective communication and organizational learning (Glendon and McKenna, 1995). Conse- quently, organizational and social factors are parts of the safety climate.

The present study measured organizational and social factors by giving attention to the following variables: commitment and involvement from all personnel in accident prevention

work; the personnel’s satisfaction with safety and contingency measures, and perceived amount of social support and help from colleagues and members of the organization due to

personal and work related problems. The present study investigated whether or not these variables affected emotional reactions to platform movements.

The organizational conditions should have considerable influence on both the work environment and work conditions on the installation. It should also influence risk perception

of controllable risks. In addition, social support should also influence how and to what extent the personnel perceive risk. Glendon and McKenna (1995) emphasize this effect of social

support. Social support may also act as a buffer variable between perception of risk and mental health. Furthermore, social support can exert influence directly on the work environ- ment by creating a setting in which social needs are met and by having a positive effect

generally.

As noted, studies carried out by Rundmo (1992a,b, 1994a,b, 1995) have shown that organizational and social factors predict risk perception concerning controllable risk sources to a considerable degree. However, when encountering a uncontrollable risk such as platform movements, this relationship may not hold.

Whether or not personnel are involved with problem solving activities encountering uncontrollable risks is not clear. Folkman (1984) assumed that when stressors (i.e. job stress

factors) were uncontrollable, individuals tend to engage in emotion-focused coping strategies and fewer problem-focused attempts. If emotional reactions to platform movements are not dependent upon environmental conditions such as safety and contingency measures, the relationship between safety and contingency measures and emotional reactions may be weak. This hypothesis is based on an expectation of rational assessment of the situation in which uncontrollable risk sources occur. An assumption is made that personnel are aware of their inability to control platform movements. This is in line with Wortman and Brehm (I 9751, who postulate that individuals who perceive events as uncontrollable reduce their problem-solving

attempts.

158 J. Ostuik et al.

2. Method

2.1. The sample

The sample consisted of 179 respondents (9 1% men and 9% women), all employed on the offshore installation under study. The average age was about 39, ranging from 25 to 65 years.

Seventy percent of the respondents were married or co-habituating, 21 percent were unmar- ried, and 9 percent were divorced. All fields of work on the installation were represented in

the study. The three largest fields of work were drilling (30%), maintenance/construction

(21%) and production (12.5%). A majority of the personnel were contractors (62.7%). The remaining were operator

personnel. Those of the respondents who reported previous offshore experience from other installations had so on a median of 6.0 installations. In general, the respondents had worked an

average of 8.1 years offshore.

2.2. Questionnaire

A pilot study (n = 15) was carried out before the survey. The data were collected through a self-completion questionnaire in March 1994. The questionnaire mapped the following

background data: age, sex, marital status, normal field of work, job title, type of employment and four questions about previous offshore experience. In addition, the questionnaire mapped

the following factors:

2.2.1. Emotional reactions caused by plat$orm mouements

The respondents were asked to rate their concern and worry about platform movements,

and worry about the construction of the installation on seven-point rating scales. The scales ranged from “Very worried/concerned” to “Not at all worried/concerned”. A compound measure of emotional reactions was generated adding the scores of the three variables. Worry

about the construction of the installation was assumed to be associated with worry about

platform movements, because both mirror reactions to bad weather conditions. It was therefore included in the compound measure.

2.2.2. Organizational factors

Organizational factors were measured by (1) commitment and involvement in accident prevention work; and (2) satisfaction with safety and contingency measures. Commitment and involvement were measured by asking the 8 questions about how committed various groups of personnel were seen to be. A five-point rating scale was applied, ranging from “Very concerned” to “No concern at all”. Safety and contingency measures were measured by asking the respondents to rate how satisfied there were with 18 safety measures. A five-point rating scale was applied, ranging from “Very satisfied” to “Very dis-satisfied”.

2.2.3. Social support from others The respondents were asked to rate their impression of the amount of help and support they

got from five personnel groups. The following three aspects of social support were measured: (1) support in relation to work; (2) possibility to talk about a work related problem; and (3) possibility to talk about a personal related problem. The ratings were obtained using a five-point rating scale, ranging from “Very much” to “None”. An option for “Lack such people” were also applied for each of the aspects.

2.3. Procedure

The questionnaires were given to respondents during work and returned within 25 h. Three different shifts were responding to the questionnaire at different points in time. All did so in the very beginning of their shift when they arrived at the platform. The response rate for the

first shift was 100%. However, it declined for each of the next two shifts, especially for the

third and last shift. The response rate for the two last shifts was difficult to calculate, because

the personnel overlapped the shifts.

2.4. Statistical analvsis

Principal component analysis was used to identify dimensions of organizational and social

factors. Separate analyses were carried out on each of these aspects. The analyses were

performed by requiring the eigenvalue to be at least 1. Measuring correlation among the variables in the compound measure of emotional reac-

tions, both Pearson’s product moment correlation and partial correlation were applied. Further, the study made use of multiple regression analysis to investigate the amount of variance in the

compound measure of emotional reactions which could be explained by the various dimen-

sions of organizational and social factors. In addition. correlation analyses were used in analyzing the relationships between the organizational and social factors, and emotional reactions.

3. Results

3. I. Dimrnsionali~ of employees ’ ecaluation of organizational and social factors

3.1. I. Dimen.sionality of safety incohement

The results from the principal component analysis, which are given in Table I, show that three dimensions of safety involvement were identified: (1) Management, i.e. platform

Table I Dimensionaliry of safc~y involvement

Dimension Factor loadings Q of

I II 111 Eirenvalue Variance Cronbach‘s u

I Muna,qemenl 3.3 40.x5 0.777 Platform management 0.9 I 0.11 0.09

Management onshore 0.76 0.4 I - 0.07

Your immediate supervisors 0.74 0.12 0.38

II Health and sofee personnel I .4 17.26 0.696 The trade union 0.12 0.8 I 0.0s

Safety rep 0.1s 0.78 0.32

Nurse on the installation 0.2 I 0.7s 0.W

111 The employee himself ond colleagues I.1 14.15 0.703

Yourself 0.10 0.04 0 86

Your colleagues 0.1 I 0. I 5 0.83

160 J. Osruik et al.

8Not committed at all

8Neither committed nor not

OVefy committed

Management Health and safety

personnel

The employee

himself and colleagues

Fig. 2. The employees’ evaluation of commitment and involvement in accident prevention work for each

dimension (%).

management, management onshore and supervisor; (2) Health and safety personnel, repre- sented by the trade union, safety representatives and nurse on the installation; and (3) The employee himself and colleagues. Reliability analyses were performed for each of the

dimensions using the Cronbach’s o method. These results are given in Table 1. As can be seen, the reliability was at a satisfactory level. Totally, the three factors contribute about 72%

to the variance of the eight variables measuring safety involvement. Fig. 2 shows the distribution of safety involvement after categorizing each dimension into

three categories: Very committed (Very concerned and Fairly concerned), Neither committed nor not committed, and Not committed at all (Nearly no concern and No concern at all).

3.1.2. Dimensional&y of safety and contingency satisfaction

The same factor structure was applied as by Rundmo and Sjoberg (1995b), with the addition of a fourth dimension, which was found important enough to be singled out as one

dimension. Thus, the employees’ satisfaction with safety and contingency measures was found to consist of four dimensions, represented by (1) Instruction, control and reliability, i.e. safety and work instructions, control routines for safety, safety officer and reliability of alarm systems; (2) Instrumental protection, i.e. deluge and fire and gas detection systems, temporary refuge and protection and safety devices; (3) Personal protection, i.e. safety/contingency

training and first aid training, availability and use of personnel safety equipment; and finally (4) Evacuation and marking, which includes escape routes, marking and sign posting, and housekeeping at the work place.

Reliability analysis for each of the dimensions indicated a satisfactory reliability for all measures.

Fig. 3 shows the distribution of the employees’ evaluation of satisfaction with safety and contingency measures. The evaluations were categorized into three categories: Very satisfied (Very satisfied and Satisfied), Neither satisfied nor not satisfied, and Not satisfied at all (Dissatisfied and Very dissatisfied).

3.1.3. Dimensional@ of social support and help ,from others

Four dimensions were found to be included in the employees evaluation of social support and help from others: (1) Work related support from management and HSE-personnel, i.e. support in relation to work and support for work related problems from supervisor, platform

Safety climate, emofional reactions and pla@otm mocements 161

100 %

90 %

80 % 70 %

60 %

50 %

40 %

30 %

20 %

10 %

0 %

mNot satisfied at all

Wk$;;;satisfied nor not

Wery satisfied

Instruction. Instrumental Personal Evacuation

control and protection protection and marking

refffility

Fig. 3. The employees’ evaluation of satisfaction with safety and contingency measures for each dimension (%o).

management and HSE-personnel (excluding support from medic); (2) General related support from colleagues, i.e. both personal and work related support; (3) Personal related support from management and HSE-personnel, i.e. support from supervisor, platform management and HSE-personnel (including support from medic); and finally (4) Work related support from medic. These results are given in Table 2 together with the results from the reliability analyses.

Table 2

Dimensionality of evaluation of social support and help from others

Dimension Factor loadings % of

I II III IV Eigen- variance Cronbach’s

value (Y

I Work related support from management and HSE-personnel 6.0 39.79 0.877 Your supervisor (support in relation to work) 0.83 0.17 0.07 0.13

Your supervisor (work related problem) 0.80 0.3 1 0.13 - 0.03

Platform management (support in relation 0.74 -0.08 0.15 0.40

to work)

HSE-personnel (support in relation to work) 0.73 - 0.06 0.17 0.4 1

HSE-personnel (work related problem) 0.61 0.08 0.31 0.43

Platform management (work related problem) 0.5 1 - 0.09 0.4 1 0.38

II General support from colleagues 2.3 15.11 0.842

Fellow workers (work related problem) 0.14 0.89 0.00 0.08

Fellow workers (support in relation to work) 0.14 0.84 -0.15 0.25

Fellow workers (support of personal problem) 0.00 0.84 0.30 - 0.05

111 Personal related support from management and HSE-personnel 1.5 9.97 0.773

Platform management (support to personal 0.17 - 0.09 0.82 0.20

problem)

HSE-personnel (support of personal problem) 0.25 0.04 0.75 0.14

Your supervisor (support of personal problem) 0.53 0.22 0.61 -0.11

Medic on the platform (support to personal -0.10 0.31 0.60 0.44

problem)

IV Work related support from medic 1.2 7.63 0.757 Medic on the platform (work related problem) 0.20 0.15 0.24 0.80

Medic on the platform (support in relation 0.37 0.12 0.10 0.76

to work)

162 .I. Qstcik et al.

100%

90 %

60 %

70 %

60 %

50 % 40 %

30 %

20 %

10 %

0%

n Little support

n Neilher much nor little support

0 Much support

Work related support General support Personal related Work related support from from colleagues support from from medic

management/HSE- management/HSE- personnel (- medic) personnel

Fig. 4. The employees’ evaluation of social support and help from others for each dimension (%I.

The employees’ impression of help and social support are dependent on the context in which the support occurs, with the exception of the group of colleagues. Together, the four dimensions of social support have a contribution of 72.5%.

As remarked, it should also be noted that, in general, the employees considered all sorts of support from colleagues as different from support from other personnel groups. This tendency is also shown in Fig. 4 where a majority of the employees reveal an impression of getting much support from their colleagues.

3.2. Assessment of worry and concern

The intercorrelations between the three variables in the compound measure representing emotional reactions, indicates that employees who were very (or little) concerned about platform movements, also had a relative strong tendency of being very (or little) worried about

the same platform movements. See Fig. 5 for the distribution of scores for the compound measure of emotional reactions caused by platform movements.

20

16

16

14

12

% 10

8

6

4

2

0

VW Not all all worried / worried I

concerned concerned

q Compound measure representing emotional reactions; including worry and concern about platform movements, and worry about the construction of the installation

Fig. 5. Distribution of scores for compound measure of emotional reactions caused by platform movements (%).

Partial correlation analyses were performed in an attempt to clarify the effects the three

variables in the compound measure had upon each other. Three partial correlation analyses were performed, controlling for each variable. The results indicate that the association between concern about platform movements and worry Jbout the construction of the installa- tion was not independent of worry about platform movements. Similarly the relationship

between worry about platform movements and worry about the construction of the installation was not independent of concern about platform movements. Worry about the construction did

not have such a remarkable effect on the relationship between the other two variables.

Results from the distribution of scores regarding the compound measure of worry and concern gave a rather surprising picture of reactions to platform movements. The employees

generally demonstrated very little concern and worry about platform movements, a finding in

correspondence with results obtained by Rundmo and Sjaberg (1995a,b). The mean score of the compound measure representing emotional reactions to platform movements was 16.3.

3.3. Associutions between warp und concern, and organi:ationul and social factors

Correlation (Pearson’s r) and multiple regression analyses were applied to analyze the relationships between each dimension of organizational and social factors, and the compound measure of worry and concern. Only instrumental protection. which was a dimension of status

of the safety and contingency measures. was found to correlate significantly with emotional reactions to platform movements. Instrumental protection was found to predict about 5% of the variance of the emotional reactions. and correlated negatively with emotional reactions,

r(n = 145) = - 0.22, p = 0.009. A potential relationship between the emotional reactions to platform movements and

organizational and social factors was also investigated as a function of the following

demographically and job related variables: personnel category, offshore experience, type of employment. gender, marital status and age. The condition of personnel category, reflecting the employee’s normal field of work on the installation. consisted of 9 subcategories, i.e. (I)

Administration/Management; (2) Production; (3) Drilling; (4) Logistics (marine and helitrans- port); (5) Catering; (6) Maintenance/Construction; (7) Technical and mechanical work; (8) Auxiliary work; and (9) Other fields of work. From the total of nine subcategories, six

categories were extracted and formed into four new categories, providing a less complex

representation of the personnel groups. The new categories consisted of (I) Administration/Management and Production; (2) Drilling; (3) Catering; and (4) Maintc-

nance/Construction and Technical and mechanical work. Offshore experience was taken into account. The number of years as well as the number of

installations which the employees had worked on. were also taken into consideration. The number of years was categorized into three groups, represented by (I) between 0 and 4 years; (2) between 5 and I4 years; and (3) more than 14 years. The number of installations was also categorized into three groups; (I) I to 3 installations; (2) between 4 and IO installations; and (3) more than IO installations. The derivation of the categories was based on the frequency distribution of the data for each variable. demanding a representation near 33 percent in each category. Type of employment was a dichotomous variable. represented either by operator or contractor personnel.

The associations between emotional reactions and organizational and social factors were measured using correlation and multiple regression analysis. Analyses were carried out

separately for each of the demographic and job related variables. The findings from the

analyses revealed that each of these aspects in fact influenced the above mentioned relation- ships.

The effects on the relationship between emotional reactions and safety involvement were

only minor for the demographic and job related variables. The results indicated that drilling

personnel demonstrated more emotional reactions if they had confidence in themselves and their colleagues with regard to safety involvement [ r(n = 50) = 0.3 1, p = 0.0301. This was

also true for employees between 35 and 42 years of age [ r(n = 49) = 0.30, p = 0.0341. Employees with offshore experience from 4 to 10 installations were less worried and concerned about platform movements if they considered the management to be highly involved in safety matters [ r(n = 42) = - 0.33, p = 0.0361.

The effects of the demographic and job related variables on the relationship between emotional reactions and satisfaction with safety and contingency measures were only slightly

moderate. Administration/management and production personnel appeared to show less emotional reaction if they were more satisfied with instructions/control routines and the reliability of alarm systems [ r( II = 30) = - 0.38, p = 0.0381. No such effect was found for the

other personnel categories. The same tendency was found among employees with offshore

experience of between 4 and 10 installations. Instrumental protection was found to correlate negatively with emotional reactions for employees characterized by experience of between 4

and IO installations [ r(n = 37) = - 0.47, p = 0.003] and experience of between 5 and I4 years [ r(tI = 60) = -0.30, p = 0.018], employment conditions. i.e. employed by operator [ r(n = 46) = -0.3 I. p = 0.0361, marital status, i.e. married [ dn = 95) = - 0.25. p = 0.0151 and male [ r( n = 126) = - 0.20. p = 0.0251.

The effects of the demographic and job related variables on the relationship between

emotional reactions and social support were also moderate. Surprisingly, employees with offshore experience between I and 3 installations showed more emotion if they received much social support from colleagues [ r(tI = 32) = 0.36, p = 0.0431. The same tendency was also found for unmarried or divorced personnel. A somewhat contrary finding was that employees

with offshore experience between 4 and IO installations were less emotional if they received

much work related support from management and HSE-personnel (not medic) [ r(n = 43) = -0.34. p = 0.0281. Social support from the same group of personnel has also a positive impact on emotional reactions among contractor personnel. Furthermore. women who received little personal related support from management and HSE-personnel. also reported emotional reactions to a greater extent [ r(n = 13) = - 0.67, p = 0.012].

From these analyses one can reach a conclusion that the various conditions in varying degrees had some impact on certain of the relationships of interest. However, with reference to the obtained correlation coefficients and the degree of explained variance, they did so only in a small to moderate manner. The results indicated a noticeable pattern in the dimensions of organizational and social factors and the conditions involved (see Fig. 6). Gender, marital status and offshore experience promoted a significant association between emotional reactions and the amount of social support which was perceived. Further. the association between safety involvement and emotional reactions was mediated by personnel category and offshore experience. This was also true for the association between safety and contingency measures and emotional reactions beyond that explained by instrumental protection.

Finally, it should be noted that age was the only condition variable which was found to be associated with emotional reaction. Older employees reported less emotional reaction than younger ones, r(n = 147) = - 0.24, p = 0.004.

Sgfety climate. emotional reactions and plarfomt movements 165

Personnel category: 7-r: : -.. ..--

Offshore experience:

Gender: _._~__

Maritalstatus: ~~--

Type of employment: .

independent of job related and demographic variables

Fig. 6. The relationships between organizational and social factors and emotional reactions,controlled for job related

and demographic variables.

4. Discussion

In general, emotional reactions to platform movements were not associated with the safety climate. The exception was instrumental protection, a rather perceptible indication of safety and contingency measures. However, this tendency was to some extent altered when control-

ling for various job related and demographic variables. Gender, marital status and offshore

experience (number of installations) had a moderate relationship with social support and emotional reactions. At the same time, moderate associations between emotional reactions and safety involvement were affected by personnel category, offshore experience and age (age

only with regard to safety involvement). This was also true due to the relationship between emotional reactions and satisfaction with aspects of safety and contingency measures.

The relationship between instrumental protection and emotional reaction deserves special attention. Although instrumental protection was not the major dimension of safety and contingency measures, it seems to include properties which may be of great importance. These are (a) measures which give the opportunity of temporary refuge in case of major accidents, and (b) active and passive devices useful during major accidents or in the prevention of

accidents (deluge systems, protection and safety devices on machines, and fire and gas detection systems). These properties reflect common preventive measures whose importance is independent of the type of accident happening. Investigation of the results indicated a belief among the personnel that such measures can also be useful in prevention of accidents or during potential accidents caused by platform movement effects.

Attention should also be directed to offshore experience, which had a mediating effect on different aspects of both organizational and social factors. It is notable that experience from a number of installations had a somewhat different impact on the relationships of concern than

166 J. Ostoik et al.

experience measured by number of years offshore. This may be due to the possibility that offshore experience from several installations makes the employees more experienced with various environmental conditions. Hence, the number of years offshore reported does not

necessarily reflect offshore experience from more than only a few installations which may not differ in work environment.

The demographic and job related variables used in the analyses can also be conceived as

factors promoting either positive or negative associations between the organizational and social factors and emotional reaction. Thus, management’s involvement in safety work, safety status (of instructions, control and reliability), instrumental protection, and work and personal

support from management and HSE-personnel were found to reduce the effect on emotional

reaction, if the employees had confidence in these factors (negative relationship). On the other hand, safety involvement of colleagues and the respondents themselves and social support

from colleagues were found to elevate emotional reactions if the employees had high confidence in their colleagues (positive relationship). Factors within a negative relationship, dominated by management’s role in support and safety matters, may rest on employees’ feeling of safety based on trust of the management. Employees involved in such relationships were, among several characteristics. characterized by versatile offshore experience, or by

administration/management + production personnel. The personnel categories involved are

associated with quite a well protected work environment, compared to other personnel categories which often are more exposed to potential hazards caused by platform movements. Factors which appeared with a positive relationship with emotional reactions, characterized by

confidence in colleagues, may reflect a higher extent of worry which possibly can be traced back to a closer relation to certain people (the colleagues). High degree of confidence and

contiguity to other people may give rise to an increased exchange of views with regard to platform movements, and to risk in general. According to the obtained results, this opportunity seemed to be important for novices (offshore experience between 1 and 3 installations), for employees with expected lower social support in private life (unmarried and divorced people), and for employees working in a more susceptible work environment (drilling personnel).

Overall, the initial expectation that the employees would give a rational assessment of the situation in which platform movements occur, based on the insufficiency and poor relevance

of organizational and social factors with reference to this risk, seemed in a large degree to be fulfilled. The exception was with regard to specific personnel groups during specific condi- tions. The quite weak predictability of emotional reaction from such factors indicates that variance in emotional reactions must be founded on factors beyond those measured in the study. A possible qualifier to explain a larger proportion of variance in emotional reaction is

the employees’ mood. However, inconsistent results from previous studies do not give any clear answer whether or not mood elevates or lowers risk acceptability (see Sjoberg and Winroth, 1986; Johnson and Tversky, 1983) which could be seen in association with emotional reactions to risk.

The employees reported only minor emotional reactions to platform movements. This finding questions whether or not emotional reactions to a risk source are dependent upon its controllability. Results from a previous study with respect to controllable and uncontrollable risks (Sjoberg, 1993, Study I), where correlations between worry about the risks and the opportunity of protection against the risks were very low, give support to the independence of emotional reactions with regard to risk control. The finding coincides with results in this study, although no controllable risk sources were involved here to give full support to this notion.

Safey climate, emotional reactions and platjorm movements 167

The quite weak relationship between emotional reaction and safety climate, indicating an

emphasis on emotional rather than cognitive coping strategies (no demand for measures against platform movements), corresponds to previous findings given by Wortman and Brehm

(1975) and Folkman (1984), and subsequently by Thoits (1991). Thoits (1991) found that

when people perceived events as uncontrollable, they were less likely to: take action, to stop thinking about the event, and to express their feelings freely. This is in accordance with findings obtained in this study, the employees tended to be more concerned than worried about the risk (not stop thinking about it), less willing to express emotional reactions, and overall not

demanding for more actions with respect to platform movements. Moreover, Thoits argued that respondents were more likely to engage in emotion-focused

coping responses (accepting the situation, hiding one’s feelings) when anticipating a negative situation. Further, viewing a negative situation as not preventable increased what Thoits called

perception-focused coping, where reinterpreting the meaning of the situation was a very

frequent strategy of coping. Hiding one’s feelings (unconsciously or consciously) may be a possible explanation why the employees were reporting very low emotional reactions to

platform movements. Further, the results obtained could be seen as a tendency to accept the

situation or reinterpreting the meaning of the situation. Hence, two implications can be drawn from such an interpretation: (1) the coping strategies could have a reducing effect on emotional reactions because platform movements were regarded as a matter of little interest;

and (2) the demand for measures reducing the effect and occurrence of platform movements was very low, because such measures were considered to be of little importance for the safety

onboard. According to Hale and Glendon (19871, individuals have a very strong resistance to accepting that one is not in control of a situation during exposure to a risk source. This seems also to be the case when interpreting the results of the present study. Such coping strategies can act as defense mechanisms, by ignoring the importance or the presence of platform

movements. Ignoring the importance of the risk can act as a way of making harmless an uncontrollable risk source. Nevertheless, the results of the study call for a further investigation

of the relationship between precognitive affect and coping strategies (as proposed by Thoits

(1991)).

References

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