TITLE:
Workplace Safety Personality Indicator (WSPI-36): A Behavioral Approach to Understanding Occupational Safety Risk
AUTHORS:
Paul W. Ford
KEYWORDS:
Occupational Safety, Workplace Safety, Personality, Risk Perception, Safety Behavior, Psychometrics, Highway Maintenance
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Social Sciences,
Vol.14 No.7,
July
10,
2026
ABSTRACT: The present study examined the preliminary psychometric performance of the Workplace Safety Personality Indicator (WSPI-36), a 36-item exploratory instrument designed to assess six psychological dimensions relevant to occupational safety behavior in highway maintenance work. Data were collected in two SurveyMonkey waves within a single U.S. highway maintenance organization: a preliminary pilot administration (n = 61) and a subsequent company-wide administration (n = 126), yielding a merged analytic sample of 187 respondents. Internal consistency for the full scale was α = 0.669. Subscale alphas were 0.559 for Action Orientation, 0.591 for Pattern Processing, 0.801 for Human-Driven Motivation, 0.456 for Flexibility Under Pressure, 0.842 for Protective Orientation, and 0.695 for Risk Amplifiers. Exploratory factor-analytic evidence provided partial support for the proposed multidimensional structure, although several items showed weak or overlapping loadings, especially within Flexibility Under Pressure and Pattern Processing. Protective Orientation was specified as a negatively weighted buffering factor in the Safety Risk Index and functioned inversely in the scoring model, consistent with the study’s conceptual framework. Most respondents were classified in the Moderate-risk band. Findings suggest that the WSPI-36 captures potentially meaningful safety-related behavioral tendencies, but additional refinement and external validation are needed before broader psychometric or operational use.