National cultures and safety orientation: A study of seafarers working for Norwegian shipping companies JON IVAR HA ˚ VOLD A ˚ lesund University College, Norway Abstract Up to now, little work has been conducted on safety in relation to national culture. This paper examines the association between national culture and the safety orientation of seafarers on Norwegian-owned vessels. Safety orientation is the result of cultural, organizational, and contextual factors that create attitudes and behaviours that in turn influence safety. In this study a safety culture/ orientation questionnaire was designed and used to determine risk and safety characteristics. Survey data was collected from 2,558 seafarers from 27 countries. The sample used consisted of seafarers from the 10 countries for which there were more than 10 respondents. Five national (cultural) characteristics were calculated using Hofstede’s Value Survey Model 94. Multivariate analysis of variance revealed that (a) the number of nationalities represented on a vessel was related to their attitude towards safety issues, such that two-nation vessels obtain relatively negative scores regarding these issues, and (b) national culture was related to safety culture, such that high power distance, high uncertainty avoidance, and high individualism were positive for safety. The implications of these findings for practice and future research are discussed. Keywords: National cultures, safety culture, safety orientation, safety at sea, risk, Hofstede’s dimensions, seafaring Introduction This paper reports selected results from a survey addressing safety orientation in a multinational workforce from 10 countries working aboard Norwegian-owned vessels. Safety work at sea is important because seafaring is a high-risk occupation. Hanson (1996) conducted a survey that showed that fatal injuries from 1986 to 1993 among Danish seafarers were 11.5 times higher than the average rates among the Danish male workforce ashore. Similar statistics from England and Wales on work-related fatalities have shown that seafarers’ mortality rates for water transport accidents are higher than train drivers’ rates for railway accidents and truck drivers’ rates for traffic accidents. Among transport workers, only aircraft flight deck officers had higher fatal accident rates than seafarers (Drever, 1995). Many researchers involved in safety research believe that safety culture and climate are key predictors of safety behaviour and performance (for example, Cox & Cheyne, 2000; Glendon & Litherland, 2001; Mearns, Whitaker, Flin, Gordon, & O’Connor, 2000). One Correspondence: Jon Ivar Ha ˚vold, A ˚ lesund University College, N-6025 A ˚ lesund, Norway, and Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), N-7034 Trondheim, Norway. E-mail: jh@hials.no ISSN 0267-8373 print/ISSN 1464-5335 online # 2007 Taylor & Francis DOI: 10.1080/02678370701424594 Work & Stress, April  June 2007; 21(2): 173  195