Human resource management practices and organizational injury rates

We investigated the extent to which 5 human resource management (HRM) practices - systematic selection, extensive training, performance appraisal, high relative compensation, and empowerment - simultaneously predicted later organizational-level injury rates. Specifically, we modelled the association between these HRM practices (assessed via on-site audits by independent observers) with organizational injury rates collected by a national regulatory agency one and two years later. Results from 49 single-site United Kingdom organizations indicated that, after controlling for industry-level risk, organization size, and the other 4 HRM practices, only empowerment predicted lower subsequent organizational-level injury rates. Findings from the current study have important implications for the design of HRM systems and for organizational-level policies and practices associated with better employee safety.