Effects of Safety Behaviour, Safety Culture, and Warehouse Safety Assessment

This paper focuses on the effects of safety behaviour, safety culture, and warehouse safety assessment and facilitation. It provides insights into how to assess and facilitate the safety of warehouses. The findings demonstrate the importance of safety sub-dimensions and influencing factors in the logistics service industry. The paper contributes to the limited existing literature on warehouse safety.

Abstract
The purpose of this paper is to focus on the effects of safety behaviour of workers,
safety culture, and warehouse safety assessment and facilitation. Through a literature
study, we have developed a method for providing insights into how to assess and
facilitate the safety of warehouses. To minimize the risk of accidents and injuries, the
management plant must ensure safety. Using literature, we identify procedures,
people and technology related sub-dimensions of safety culture and safety behaviour
and factors that could affect how safety culture translates into safety behaviour. Our
findings demonstrate what sub-dimensions and influencing factors employees of
Logistics Service Providers (LSP) find important and why through case studies. We
found that the importance assigned to safety differs, which may point to the existence
of sub-cultures across warehouses. This paper contributes to the limited existing
literature on warehouse safety in which the factors affecting safety are not well
explored. The case study is investigating one LSP, providing valuable insights into
important safety aspects and how to influence them. Future research might address
this issue by unknown in the process of reaction, for example by directing a study, or
possibly by performing a consideration of perception. Taking everything into account,
our discoveries demonstrate the significance of the group pioneers ' contribution as
well as their insight into, safety and the significance of innovation in counteracting /
limiting dangerous circumstances when efforts are made to build up the safety culture.
Furthermore, the inborn inspiration of representatives and the worker's outstanding
task at hand are the primary variables that impacting the interpretation of a security
culture to safe conduct.
Keywords: Warehouse Safety, Improve Facilities, Leadership, Safety Behaviour

1.0 Introduction
The aim of this paper is primarily to evaluate and facilitate warehouse safety and
discuss the methodology to be used to assess the importance of warehouse safety as it
is considered to be of importance to both employees and companies. This paper also
correctly identifies the findings and limitations of research. Moreover, through our
methodology, the paper also helps to offer practical implications as well as paper
originality. Thousands of employees worldwide are suffering from serious accidents
every day. Not only do these accidents have a negative impact on employees '
physical and mental health, but they also bring high costs to the business and society
as a whole. In the warehouse, a large part of these accidents took place. There were
4,585 deaths from workplace injuries in 2013, according to the National Council for
Occupational Safety and Health, and an estimated 50,000 deaths from workplace
exposure are reported annually. These figures do not even indicate the injured
workers, some of whom may be sufficiently serious to prevent them from engaging in
manual labour.(SIMON BRISK, 2017) In the logistics service industry, safety is
generally important as data from 2016 helps to indicate, such as the United States.
Data from 2016 shows that the number of deaths in the transportation and
warehousing sector in the United States is ranked second highest in the number of
deaths. In addition, the injury rate of 13.5 persons per 100,000 workers is around four
times as high as the average injury rate in all industries. (U.S. Bureau of Labor
Statistics 2015) The warehousing sector generally accounts for the second highest
number of issues as well as fatalities. (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics 2015), as
summarized in Figure 1 below.
Safety at the warehouse is about protecting employees and the business. But they still
don't have the awareness of the dangerous for many people. In a small country like
the Netherlands, there were 651,279 occupational accidents in 2015 that caused
injuries and joblessness. The number of occupational deaths ranged from 99 to 150
annually between 2016 and 2017 (Bureau of labor statistics, 2017). An unsafe
working environment can lead to an accident, and there is also a tendency for the
employer to have more rule. Most accidents in the warehouse are associated with the
use of forklift trucks. In 2015, 1700 people were seriously injured in the Dutch
warehouse in the Netherlands, according to data from (www.logistiek.nl).

The traffic in the warehouse is usually heavy, forklifts and workers work on foot, and
work is often under time pressure. (Koster et al., 2011).
Figure 1: Data in the United States. (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics 2016, n.d.)
Therefore, focusing on safety behaviour and safety culture is important. Safety culture
is found to be mainly integrated with the number of observed safety culture. It is not
clear how to measure the safety culture and safety behaviour of the organization. It
appears that the term "safety culture" was first used after the 1986 Chernobyl disaster.
(“International Warehouse Logistics Association (IWLA)). Since then, a number of
safety culture definitions have been published. One of the most commonly used
definitions of safety culture has been developed by the UK Health and Safety
Committee. Today, in the workplace of each industry, safety culture is defined as
attitude, beliefs, perceptions or values that employees share with respect to safety.
"Communications based on mutual trust, shared perceptions of the importance of
safety and confidence in the effectiveness of preventive measures are characteristic of
organizations with positive safety culture."(U.K. Health and Safety Commission)
There are five characteristics of a positive safety culture. Firstly, leadership is a highly

visible commitment to safety by top management, which is critical to creating a
positive safety culture. Secondly, safety should be communicated as a value, not as a
priority that can be traded on cost and timelines. Thirdly, decentralized decision-
making and accountability by key safety groups are important to creating and
maintaining a positive safety culture. Fourthly, all staff should learn about safety and
contribute to improved safety ideas. If employees learn from insight and intuition
rather than incidents and change their way of thinking and acting by sharing their
experiences and addressing shared issues, a positive safety culture is achieved. Lastly,
a positive safety culture is one where safety is a top priority and is integrated into
every aspect of the business. A good safety culture can be promoted by senior
management commitment to safety, the practical approach to dealing with hazards,
ongoing organizational learning, and attention to and concern for hazards shared
across the workforce.(“A guide to implementing a SAFETY CULTURE in our
universities,” 2016) The safety culture of an organization can be a significant impact
on the performance of people in safety-related tasks and hence on the safety
performance of the organization.
Safety behaviour is safety-related behaviour. It can refer to behaviour-based safety,
enhancing safety by monitoring and changing people's behaviour and stress-relieving
activity performed by anxious individuals. Moreover, it requires more than mitigation
control to improve safety behaviour or active care behaviour. It would be effective if
management could use the Behaviour-Based Safety (BBS) approach. The BBS
concept is intended to change unsafe behaviour into safe behaviour and eliminate
accidents in the workplace. The steps taken by the BBS can be divided into four main
stages, identifying, observing, intervening, reviewing and monitoring.(Ismail et al.,
2012) BBS is not only suitable for the construction industry, but also for other
industries. (Chen & Tian, 2012) The use of social recognition and motivation to
conduct safe behaviour will have a more positive effect than the application on
changing normal safety standards within the group. All incident data are tabulated in
Table 1.

Yea
r
Location Accident Known /
suspected cause
Effect Refere
nces
201
5
Tianjin,
China
Explosion Dangerous
chemicals stored
on the site.
(Safety Culture)
More than 700
people were
injured by the
explosion, many
extensive injuries,
mostly from burns
and explosive
injuries. Over a
thousand
firefighters were
on scene, and 95
were killed.
BBC
(2015)
201
7
Netherlan
ds
Falls from
height
No safe system of
work in place as
none of the
workers had
safety harnesses
and the worker
are not pay
attention. (Safety
Culture)
Company have
been fined after a
worker fell from a
warehouse racking
system, suffering
serious head
injuries.
HSE
(2017)
201
7
Singapore Hit by
Forklifts
The company had
not trained or
communicated
any safe system
of work with the
forklift driver.
A company was
fined S$80,000
after an accident
involving a
company forklift
caused an
employee to
CHAN
NEL
NEWS
ASIA

(Safety
behaviour)
sustain serious leg
injuries.
(2017)
201
8
Bengalur
u
Crushed by
heavy racks
fill with
crates full of
goods
Racks over
loaded and the
worker still
continues to
complete it.
(Safety behavior)
Stock was damage
and cause serious
injuries even dead
THE
NEWS
MINUT
E
(2018)
201
6
Tesco Manual
handling
incidents
Regular
movement of
cartons to pallets.
Rolls of stretch-
wrap and flat
pallets. (Safety
behavior)
Injury to
colleagues and
cost to the
business.
SHP
(2016)
Table 1 Selected Safety behaviour and culture hazard (2015-2018)
1.1 Research boundaries
This paper's scope is to cover the entire warehouse. Regardless of what the warehouse
is, the safety culture and safety behaviour is the same, so this proposed project will
cover all warehouse. However, this research involves a global outlook on warehouse
safety and is not limited to specific countries because safety culture and safety
behaviour in today's globalization era will be the same across multiple countries.
2.0 Literature review
2.1 Introduction of warehouse
In the sense, we can use the words “warehouse” and “distribution centre”
interchangeably. (De Villiers, Nieman, & Niemann, 2008) Warehousing can be
defined as a planned space for the efficient storage and handling of goods and
materials as well as the assumption of responsibility for the storage of goods.
Warehousing creates time utility by storing the goods throughout the year and
releasing them as and when needed.

Four types of warehouses are available, including private warehouses, public
warehouses, bonded warehouses, cooperative warehouses. Private warehouses are
owned for the storage of their own goods by individual producers, wholesalers in
different cities. In return for storage fees, the public warehouse is set up as
independent units for the storage of goods. These warehouses are state-licensed.
Government controls and regulates the way they operate and the rate of charge. The
government duly authorizes bonded warehouses to accept imported goods to the store.
The goods will be released on payment of customs duties to the importer. The bonded
warehouses may be owned by the dock or a private owner. These warehouses operate
under the country's customs authorities ' supervision and control. It is also possible to
establish cooperative warehouses in villages or cities. Cooperative warehouse
members can store their goods, which is relatively lower than a private warehouse.
(Umar Farooq, 2016)
All warehouses are used by customs, importers, manufacturers, wholesalers, exporter
transportation companies, etc. (Harris, 2006). They are usually large plain buildings in
the outskirts of towns, villages or cities, located in industrial parks. Usually they have
docks for loading and unloading goods from trucks. Sometimes warehouses are
designed directly from railways, airports or seaports to load and unload cargo. Usually
they also have forklifts and cranes for moving goods, which are often loaded into
pallet racks on standard ISO pallets. Stored goods may include any manufacturing,
raw materials, packaging materials, spare parts, components or finished goods.
There are many features in the warehouse that are very useful and helpful to
everyone. Warehouse functions include storage, price stabilization, risk bearing,
grading and packing, and funding. (Umar Farooq, 2016) Storage is the basic
warehouse function. It is not immediately necessary to store surplus commodities in
warehouses. When the customer needs it, they can be provided. In the process of price
stability, warehouses play an important role. It is implemented by creating
warehousing time utility. The price of the goods will fall if the supply of goods is
sufficient and the price rises during the slack season. They face many risks in the form
of theft, deterioration, exploration, fire when the goods are stored in warehouses.
Warehouses should be built in such a way that these risks are minimized. Nowadays,
warehouses provide packing, processing and grading facilities for goods. Loans can

be raised against the goods stored by the owner from the warehouse keeper.
(K.K.Pandey, 2018.) Likewise, banks and other financial institutions also advance
loans against receipts from warehouses. In this way, warehousing is used to meet
business operations as a source of finance for businessmen.
3.0 Warehouse Safety
All benefit from a safe and healthy workplace. This means that the employees feel
good and work flows smoothly. Supervisors carried on the financial and operational
safety and health responsibility in the workplace. Each employee is obliged to take
reasonable care of themselves and the health and safety of their colleagues and to
inform the supervisor and the representative of Occupational Health and Safety
(OHS) about the defects in the workplace that cause culture or behaviour. Induction
and work guidance play an important role in ensuring safety at work. Induction refers
to all actions taken to familiarize a new employee with the workplace, its culture, and
behaviour of people, as well as the work itself and the related behaviour. Work
guidance includes everything related to the performance of the parts and stages of the
task as well as the knowledge and competence required by the job.(“Safety
Responsibilities for Supervisors,” )
Nowadays, there are many accidents occurred in the warehouse, such as falling on
height, blade cutting, hitting by the forklift, etc. According to (Ding et al., 2016), the
factors that are helpful for the warehouse safety are generally identified as being
helpful in reducing hazard as well as various types of safety specific transformational
based leadership that further helps to create significant influence on warehouse safety.
They also find appropriate safety awareness that does not mediate the impact of
Safety-Specific Transformation Leadership (SSTL) on warehouse safety. It is stated
by (Peninsula et al., 2016) that hazardous materials generally have well-defined
standards for storage that are mainly set to minimize potential hazards with the help of
legislation. It is found that this type of storage standards must be allowed permitted
and therefore the various list of potential hazards generally serves as one of the inputs
for the risk management process.

According to (J. et al., 2016) , the hazardous substance must be properly stored
outside the warehouse at a distance of about 5-10 m according to the combination of
different types of hazardous materials generally stored. Separation is found to
generally mean storage within the entire storage area, but with the help of barriers or
gaps, products with different classes can be separated from each other. Exceptions
related to the case different types of storage regulations such as regulations related to
explosives, where flammable substances are observed quite effectively. In addition,
segregation storage is generally required within the proper storage area. Moreover,
proper labelling of different chemical-based substances is considered as one of the
main issues as it is considered to be the most visible communication tools. (Office,
2017) This label is generally regarded as the first sources of information generally
alerting the users to various inherent chemicals hazards and instructions related to safe
storage and handling.
4.0 Methodology
In this paper, factors influence the translation of safety culture into safety behaviour in
the logistics services industry. Behaviour is known to be influenced by culture, but
also by contextual factors interacting with culture. (Edwards, Davey, & Armstrong,
2013) There are two methods to be implemented that are safety culture and its
dimension and safety behaviour and dimension, as summarized in Figure 2 below.
Both methods are used to ensure warehouse safety to achieve the warehouse's safe
environment. Warehouse safety is very important because inside the warehouse there
are many workers working. Their safety is one of the priorities to be taken into
account in order to maximize warehouse productivity.
Influencing Factors

Figure 2: Conceptual model.
4.1 Safety culture and its dimension
Safety culture is not a new concept, and it took place in companies in the late 1980s
on larger safety culture. (Guldenmund, 2000) However, the fact that on one hand
organizations want to be fully perceived on the market and search the ways to reduce
costs and improve the quality of their operations. On the other hand, more attention is
paid to monitoring the activities by external business customers. In many scientific
and practical research, issues related to safety culture appear more frequently in the
organization. The benefits of "high" safety culture are being recognized by more and
more companies. (Zou, 2011)
According to (Ell et al., 2016), there is an agreement that reflects that safety culture is
not self-constrained, but is part of the culture of the organization. The different
concept of safety culture and its association with organizational culture need to be
reviewed. Safety culture is generally considered as one of the structural aspects of
safety that helps in manifesting itself on a proper organizational level. The proper
definition of the safety culture as one of the important observable output is generally
reflected in the context of the organization's safe resources. It is stated by(Fan, Lo,
Ching, & Kan, 2014) ,(Linda Goldenhar; Matt Gillen; Scott Schneider; Steve Hecker,
2013)).
Safety culture is mainly linked to the company's climate through the whole concept is
mainly related with the term’s safety culture as well as safety climate that are utilized
interchangeably. It is quite imperative to make the proper distinction (Del Puerto,
Fontan-Pagan, Molina-Bas, & Mrozowski, 2016). The company's climate can be
Safety Culture Safety Behaviour

considered as the product of some underlying assumptions and therefore it is
considered as a way of making the company's culture visible.
On the other hand, it is shared by (Ding et al., 2016), that the climate of the company
can be seen as the outer layers for the culture of the company. Therefore, the observed
safety culture helps in emphasizing the continuity while its climate is considered to
comparable to a perceived snapshot for the culture. It is found that a significant
difference that exists between these concepts is considered as a way which can be
measured easily. Moreover, the safety climate of the company generally corresponds
with the outer as well as visible and perceived layers of observable safety cultures.
(Thierry Meyer,) So, it can be measured significantly with the help of standardized
questionnaires. The safety culture that is observed is found to be more fundamental so
that the entire instance can be measured with the help of in-depth interviews as well
as observations.
As we know there are a few models of safety cultures such as total safety culture
model and the reciprocal safety culture model and more. According to the people,
procedures and technology model of (Reniers, Cremer, & Buytaert, 2011) we can
expect that safety culture consists of three dimension which is people, procedures and
technology. This model explain safety culture sub-dimensions for each of dimensions
and base on the model and literature review we know that safety culture are relevant
in the warehouse safety.
The first dimension is people, the extent to which employees such as team leaders,
managers, and workers are responsible for safety (Reniers et al., 2011) and
communicate about safety on a daily basis especially management. (Cigularov, Chen,
& Rosecrance, 2010), as summarized in Table 2 below. They may reflect safety
behaviour in the workplace. Similarly, the extent to which employees apply their
safety knowledge on a daily basis may reflect safe behaviour in the workplace. The
involvement of both employees (Reniers et al., 2011)(Veltri et al., 2013) and external
stakeholders in the development of security policy (Cigularov & Rosecrance, 2010)
reflects the importance of security in organizations and the resources dedicated to it.
Organizational safety culture reflects the overall priority given to safety within an

organization and the extent to which open communication between employees on
safety is possible (Reniers et al., 2011).
The second dimension is procedures. Procedures are provided employees insight into
how to handle safety-related issues, as summarized in Table 2 below. The degree to
which employees know what is expected of them concerning safety can be a
reflection of safe behaviour (Reniers, Cremer, & Buytaert, 2011). In addition, safe
workplace behaviour is related employees adhere to safety policies and safety
markings (Flin, Mearns, O’connor, & Bryden, 2000) The existence of safety policies
and procedures reflects the importance of safety just as safety markings are placed
(Reniers et al., 2011).
The third dimension is technology. Storage may include filing cabinets, manuals in
company archives or libraries, or using modern technology such as databases, CD-
ROMs, floppy disks, tapestreamers, etc. Each of these should be able to handle the
addition of further information and the maximum amount of data that may be required
in the future, so it will be necessary to make decisions about what needs to be stored
and how long. Information processing issues will concern the integrity of the system
when a number of people want to use it at the same time and what happens when the
system is actually accessed by large numbers of people who all extract information at
the same time. We know that technology can reduce hazards and risks, as summarized
in Table 2 below. An important sub - dimension of a safety culture is that the
equipment and facilities available to improve safety. For instance, help to prevent
minimize hazardous situations. The advance of technology could ensure the safety of
workers while they are working inside the warehouse. (Hofstra, Petkova, Dullaert,
Reniers, & Leeuw, 2017) For example, they using the forklift to carry the staff instead
of using their own hand. This could help them to avoid injure during moving the
items. On the others hand, the maintenance of machine is also an important issue due
to ensure the lifetime and safety of the machine.
Table 2 shows these dimensions of safety culture and their sub-dimensions. In the
next sections, we will examine the extent to which the sub-dimensions derived from
the literature apply to warehouses and whether other sub-dimensions that should be
added to the list.

Safety culture dimension Safety culture sub-dimensions References
People
i. Employee involvement
ii. Awareness
iii. Incentives (motivation)
iv. Elements of person of Cooper
v. Safe cooperation with contractors
vi. Open communication within the company
vii. Knowledge about safety
viii. Involvement of external stakeholders

ix. Priority given to safety within the firm (Reniers et al., 2011)
(Geller, 2012)
Procedures
i. Safety management system
ii. A company safety policy
iii. Procedures to operate safely
iv. Procedures and guidelines about audits
v. Documents about installation specifications
vi. Manage employees competencies
vii. Procedures to safely store hazardous
substances
viii. Elements of the environment from Cooper
Safety markings
ix. Safety policies
Technology
i. Equipment and facilities to ensure and
improve safety
ii. Technological devices
iii. Risk analysis
iv. Elements of the situation of copper
v. Installations, chemical products, and
processes
vi. Risk assessment software procedures
Table 2: Safety culture and its sub-dimensions.
4.2 Safety behaviour and its dimension
Safety behaviour refers to safety-related work performance. A number of measures
also include questions assessing individual attitudes, such as fatalism, personal
responsibility for safety, and scepticism (Flin et al., n.d.) It is stated by (Del Puerto et
al., 2016; Edwards et al., 2013) that safety culture helps in forming proper structural
aspect for the safety which is generally manifested at an organizational level. It is
found that safety behaviour is considered too much transient in nature that generally
takes place at different levels of the individuals. Safety culture is generally reflected
in the various resources which are generally made available for the safety purpose.

According to (Ding et al., 2016), safety culture helps and guiding the safety-related
behaviour of the various employees and therefore the procedures that are related with
the handling of certain types good and how the employees generally help in handling
the goods in order to improve the safety of the warehouse effectively (Koster et al.,
2011). It is typically considered as one of the safety cultures that helps in influencing
various types of safety-related behaviour of the different employees of the
organization (Choudhry, Fang, & Mohamed, 2007; Clarke, 2000; Cooper Ph.D.,
2000; Myers, Nyce, & Dekker, 2014; Zhang, Wiegmann, von Thaden, Sharma, &
Mitchell, 2002) .
On the other hand, it is opined by (Ding et al., 2016; Schein, 2010) that the timespan
that is involved in the relationship that helps in leading to the culture change. It is
found that safety culture mainly depends on the factors that help in influencing the
relationship. As the significant aspect of the safety culture are generally captured with
the help of three different dimensions within the people, producers and technology
(P2T) model by (Reniers et al., 2011) as it helps in reflecting the various aspects of
safety behaviour that is mainly related three different dimensions. In order to study
how the behaviour can be properly operationalized within the warehouse, as
summarized in Table 3 below. As the employees of the organization generally feel
responsible for the purpose of safety and the proper information, as well as details,
can be communicated about safety on daily basis (Cigularov & Rosecrance, 2010).
It is stated by (J. et al., 2016) that safety procedures providing the employees proper
insight in order to properly deal with the safety-related problems. The degree through
which the employees get to know about what is expected about the concerning safety
that is mainly related to safe behaviour (Reniers et al., 2011). Moreover, the safe
workplace behaviour is mainly linked both with the degree to which the employees
adhere to various types of safety markings (Flin, Mearns, O’Connor, & Bryden, 2000;
Fugas, Silva, & Meliá, 2012) as well as safety policies.
Advancement in the field of technology helps in some cases to reduce risk exposure to
hazards, for example by moving data around to ensure that the right information is
given to the Right person at the right time, consideration must be given to the
feasibility of telecommunications links, computer networks, and staffing. So that the

employees ' need to properly perform the various types of dangerous tasks can be
eliminated. Moreover, it is opined by (Wami, Demssie, Wassie, & Ahmed, 2016), that
safety-related behaviour within the workplace is generally reflected with the help of
the frequency that is helpful in proper functioning of the equipment that is checked so
that proper safety-related facilities, as well as equipment, will be updated and
purchased (Reniers et al., 2011). Both the dimension as well as sub-dimension of the
entire safety behaviour is needed to be reflected. Moreover, it is also necessary to
investigate the extent in which the various sub-dimensions that is generally found in
the literature so that it can be successfully applied in the warehouse so that other
dimensions can be added properly within the list.
Safety behavior
dimension
Safety behavior sub-dimensions References
People Employee feeling of responsibility (Kark, Katz-Navon, &
Delegach, 2015;
Reniers et al., 2011;
Underhill & Quinlan,
2011; Veltri et al.,
2013)
Employee communication about (Cigularov &

safety Rosecrance, 2010;
DeJoy, Della,
Vandenberg, &
Wilson, 2010; Reniers
et al., 2011; Underhill
& Quinlan, 2011)
Employee application of
competence and expertise
regarding safety
(DeJoy et al., 2010;
Reniers et al., 2011;
Underhill & Quinlan,
2011)
Procedures Degree to which employees know
what is expected of them
concerning safety
(Hofstra, Petkova,
Dullaert, Reniers, & de
Leeuw, 2018)
Employee adherence to safety
procedures and markings
(Flin et al., 2000;
Fugas et al., 2012;
Hofstra et al., 2018;
Reniers et al., 2011)
User friendliness of safety
procedures
(Hofstra et al., 2018;
Reniers et al., 2011)
Technology Checking equipment and facilities (Hofstra et al., 2018;
Reniers et al., 2011)
Maintenance on, and updating of,
equipment and facilities
(Hofstra et al., 2018;
Reniers et al., 2011)
Table 3: Safety behaviour and its sub-dimensions.
In other words, safety behaviour may be inconsistent with the safety culture in place.
Some factors can influence the impact of safety culture on safety behaviour. Since
employees exhibit safe behaviour, that is, safety behaviour is manifested at the
individual level rather than at the organizational level, the factors influencing safe
behaviour also apply at the individual level, as summarized in Figure 3 below. First,
perceived individual costs or benefits may affect the translation of a safety culture
into safe behaviour. Another factor that may affect the translation of safety culture
into safe behaviour is the workload that employees face. Continuously increasing
competition, the pressure to reduce costs and increase efficiency and operations

practices such as just-in-time delivery lead to workload increases, which can be
detrimental to safety (Veltri et al., 2013). A high workload may compromise safety as
employees may take shortcuts in order to perform their tasks faster and finish on time
(Pagell et al., 2014). This factor is especially important for safety in warehouses as
heavy equipment is used in close to workers who often work under time pressure
orders need to be fulfilled regardless of the volume to be handled. (de Vries, de
Koster, & Stam, 2011).
There are many ways to improve warehouse safety such as designing traffic routes,
loading and storages areas as well as designating a pathway for pedestrian workers.
This can be achieved by floor markings of the warehouse(Addy-Tayie, 2012; Hofstra
et al., 2018). This can be done with tapes or paints, determined between the company
and a specialist by considering the nature of the concrete floor. Appropriate floor
marking or striping helps to separate the warehouse space among its users, so as to
avoid interference and possible obstruction(Addy-Tayie, 2012).It can enhance the
warehouse safety and also the productivity. According to (Goode, Salmon, Lenné, &
Hillard, 2014)it is a must to wearing the safety equipment when we use the facilities
in the warehouse such as we need to wear the seatbelts when we are using the forklift
to lifting the bulky items.In the remainder of this paper we consider safety behaviour
as related to these three underlying dimensions, as summarized in Figure 3 below.
Influencing Factors on
Warehouse Safety

Figure 3: Warehouse safety framework.
5.0 Practical examples from the safety culture and safety behaviour
5.1 Certification
Safety culture can be seen as the integrated sum of certain observable factors that
should be a proxy for the existence, quantity, and quality of safety procedures, work
instructions, a safety management system, safety-related technology, safety software,
safety practices, safety training, safety behaviour, safety knowledge, safety
communication,and more. It is assumed that the observable aspects of a safety culture
strongly depend on available resources for safety within a firm (Reniers et al., 2011).
This person argue that the aspects of a strong safety culture can be grouped under
three dimensions: people, procedures, and technology. (Reniers et al., 2011)
A majority of accidents is caused by human error (Eventura, 2017) (Fuller & Ward,
2008). Therefore people—who may, or may not, have e.g. safety knowledge and
People dimension Technology
dimension
Procedures
dimension
Team leader
Management
Workload
Worker
Safety
procedures
Safety markings
Equipment
Facilities
Safety Culture Safety Behaviour

skills, be involved in safety issues, or place a high priority on safety—are an
important dimension of a safety culture. The second important dimension of a safety
culture, procedures, is interpreted broadly and includes, for instance, rules on how to
work safely, how to handle emergencies, or how to operate equipment. The third
dimension, technology, is important because it may, for instance, help to prevent or
minimize hazardous situations. The interplay between these dimensions determines
whether a safety culture is present (Reniers et al., 2011). While a safety culture is
shared by members of an organization (Edwards et al., 2013), actual safety-related
behaviour. For example, the incorrect use of a forklift truck by a warehouse employee
takes place at the individual level. However, individuals are also members of the
organization; thus, safety behaviour is arguably shaped by the underlying safety
culture (Myers et al., 2014). Therefore, we interpret safety behaviour as related to the
same three dimensions as safety culture. It is unknown which factors will affect the
translation of safety culture into safety behaviour in the logistics services industry.
Extrinsic factors such as rewards can be used to induce safe behaviour (Zohar &
Luria, 2003). This means that there are contextual factors that can influence how
safety culture shapes safety behaviour. We help to determine the factors that influence
the translation of safety culture into safety behaviour. This work not only
complements the existing safety literature in other industries but also enables
warehouse managers to work on safety issues on a daily basis (Koster et al., 2011).
Interventions to improve safety require an understanding of the factors that influence
safe behaviour (Fugas et al., 2012).
6.0 Conclusion
In this paper, our study contributes to existing literature by exploring how warehouse
safety can be assessed and facilitated. We performed a literature study that described
two element of safety that is safety culture and safety behaviour. Therefore, we
identified factors that influence the translation of safety culture into safety behaviour.
Then, we assessed the relevance of these factors in assessing the safety culture and
behaviour of the leading logistics service provider warehouse. We particularly pay
attention to how safety culture shapes safety behaviour, rather than how behaviour
leads to cultural change. Before discussing the theoretical and managerial
implications of this study, we want to reflect on our finding. Our paper show the
importance of the team leaders' involvement, and the knowledge about safety and the
importance of technology to prevent unsafe situations when working to develop the

safety culture. We also show that the manager and team leader must have
responsibility for their safety behaviour. The reason is that team leaders are contacted
with workers every day and actively participate in the warehouse. Therefore,
warehouse workers consider their safety behaviour to be more important. In addition,
as our research explains, ensuring the safe operation of equipment and facilities as
well as monitoring and maintaining equipment and facilities are very important in
warehouses.Furthermore, we find that the intrinsic motivation of employees and the
workload of employees are the main factors influencing the translation of safety
culture into safe behaviour.
6.1 Theoretical implications
The results of this study have several theoretical implications. First, although logistics
research focused on transportation safety, there is little research on warehouse safety
(Koster, Balk, Davelaar, & Martens, n.d.) . In addition, a literature review by (Fan et
al., 2014) on safety in Operations Management did not report warehousing safety.
This paper contributes to this literature gap by exploring how to assess and facilitate
safety in warehouses. The proposed conceptual model serves as the basis for future
research. Therefore, this study responds to call for more research on safety in an
operational environment.
Secondly, this study demonstrates the importance of measuring the safety of different
locations. The finding that safety is valued differently in different warehouses

suggests there may be sub-cultures within the company. These sub-cultures may vary.
For example, one is more developed than another calculating the overall safety culture
score may produce crude results.
Third, this study research enriches the safety literature in logistics by studying the
observable part of safety culture, which reflects shared beliefs and values and,
emphasizing continuity and persistence. This is different from safety climate, which
can be seen as how the company’s safety culture is seen and perceived by the outside
world, that is, the perceived performance of the culture (Thierry Meyer, n.d. 2016)
Therefore, this study furthers deepens the understanding of two important concepts of
safety that are not clearly distinguished in the literature (Myers et al., 2014), which
seems to assume that a safety culture automatically translated into safety behaviour.
More specifically, we propose that some factors influence the impact of safety culture
on safety behaviour. In this regard, we explained the important influence of
employees’ intrinsic motivation to behave safely and the workloads they face.
Therefore, although it is often noted that overall safety culture can be identified, sub-
cultures must be considered.
6.2 Managerial implications
There have been various implications in the research. This research has been showing
various warehouse safety managers and how to assess their safety rules. The safety
culture and safety behaviour have been posted that might help in assessing the current
state of safety. Our outcomes propose that if there is a lesser need to carry on
securely, the consciousness of and esteem put on wellbeing diminishes. Our
information demonstrated the significance of a steady job of the board when
endeavours are taken to build up a security culture. Our outcomes uncovered that the
sheltered conduct of chiefs just as group pioneers is imperative when creating
wellbeing practices in representatives. Second, with a comprehension of the variables
affecting the interpretation of wellbeing society into security conduct wellbeing
directors are better prepared to encourage wellbeing in their distribution centres. Our

discoveries recommend that chiefs should consider the significance of representative
inherent inspiration on security conduct. This inborn inspiration is particularly vital in
the coordination business as administrators in this industry have moderately little
power over the day by day conduct of their representatives (Edwards et al., 2013).
Administrators ought to consider that a high representative remaining task at hand
could be an imperative boundary to positive security conduct.
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