The use of mindful safety practices at Norwegian petroleum installations

Offshore petroleum production involves several major hazards to health, safety and the environment. Employees may contribute to guard against these hazards in different ways. To obtain a better understanding of the type of contextual factors that affect employees’ willingness to use mindful safety practices (MSPs) at Norwegian petroleum installations, an exploratory study was performed. The study comprised two parts: The first part constituted the original study (n = 2928), and the second part constituted the replication study (n = 7207). The two part studies were based on data obtained in questionnaire surveys performed by the Petroleum Safety Authority, Norway. The study suggested that safety management practices to promote employees’ willingness to use MSPs would be most efficient if directed at the employee work groups and their local work environment, rather than at the individual employee or at employees on the installation in general. It further suggested that particular efforts might be needed to promote MSP use when employees were transferred to new work environments, and when changes were introduced into existing work environments. Based on the results, a set of concrete safety management practices aimed at promoting employees’ willingness to use MSPs were suggested.