A factor analysis of the WSS revealed an interpretable five-factor solution, each factor representing one of the five WSS subscales. Addtionally, across three independent samples, the internal consistency estimates for each of the WSS subscales were high (above .87) and the correlations among the WSS subscales were relatively low, suggesting that the WSS measured five empirically distinct constructs. Thus, the limited number of factors measured in previous work safety questionnaires may not reflect the underlying dimensionality of work safety, but may be due to the inadequate sampling of thework safety content domain of these measures. Supporting previous research on perceptions of work safety, WSS subscales were correlated with accident rates (Guastello and Guastello
Employees who said they worked in a safer environment reported experiencing fewer accidents and reported fewer health complaints than employees who said they had a less safe work environment
It is important to note that the management safety practices and supervisor safety subscales were among the best predictors of accidents, job satisfaction, and compliance with safety behaviors
This is in line with previous research supporting the importance of management safety in predicting accident-related variables