As global crises increase and the security landscape changes, safety culture and behaviours become vital for a secure work environment in military operations. Transformations and increased internationalisation demand a unified safety culture, especially when collaborating between different actors. Research emphasises the importance of integrating safety culture into military training to address today’s threats and create a comprehensive view of safety in both peace and crisis.
The systematic literature review is based on a systematic literature review of previous studies summarising the current state of knowledge.
What promotes a good safety culture
The results show that, at the individual level, experiences from previous events and time in service are central to enhanced safety awareness. Characteristics associated with reduced risk-taking include experience, older age, and female gender. It is also important that the employer meets the unspoken expectations between themselves and the employee. When this is done, both the willingness to remain in service and to follow safety regulations are strengthened.
At the group level, a transformational leadership style with open communication and good relationships can strengthen the safety climate. This leadership style encourages employees to share information and experiences, contributing to safer behaviours and a more secure work environment.
At the organisational level, management engagement, clear safety communication, continuous monitoring, relevant training initiatives, and reward systems are factors that promote a good safety culture.
Learning and Experience Sharing Create a Safer Work Environment
The results show that specific training at the individual level develops mental and physical readiness to handle risks. Specifically designed training programmes with a strong link between realistic exercises and safety behaviours contribute to shaping the safety culture, reducing risks, and promoting safety compliance at all levels.
Mynak
At the group level, safety is strengthened in a culture that embraces learning from mistakes without assigning blame. Transparency and honesty within the group foster an environment where experiences are openly shared, building a stronger collective understanding of safety and risk management. Advanced monitoring systems, such as driver assistance systems, can also contribute to reduced accident risk by directly influencing drivers’ behaviour and providing insights for learning in follow-up discussions. Another important factor is feedback. Feedback can be an effective way to provide military personnel with immediate insights into their behaviour, allowing them to make necessary adjustments.
At the organisational level, a workplace that encourages experience sharing and learning creates a safer and more open environment. When roles and responsibilities are clear, the safety system becomes stronger, and adaptation to changes occurs more quickly. The results also show that effective tools for monitoring safety make it easier for management to quickly access important information. This helps them make decisions that improve the safety culture and create a safer work environment.
Gender Aspects
Gender distribution in the included studies is reported in a smaller proportion of the articles, and where it occurs, it is usually only used as a control variable without deeper analysis. Gender aspects are only marginally addressed, with few examples of in-depth analyses, indicating that the discussion on gender is generally absent in these studies.
Knowledge Gaps
There is a lack of studies conducted under actual operational conditions, meaning that certain aspects of the work environment, safety culture, and safety behaviours are not sufficiently explored. There is also a need for longitudinal and system-oriented studies to understand causal factors over time, particularly regarding the relationship between leadership, work environment, and safety behaviours.
The authors
The systematic literature review was authored by Professor Mattias Elg and Associate Professor Jason Martin from Linköping University.
Read the systematic literature review here