Workplace Safety Climate and Incivility Among British Columbia and Ontario Operating Room Nurses: A Preliminary Investigation

Poor safety climate and incivility have been linked to worse work organization-related practices and high accident rates. This study investigates the influence of safety climate and incivility on the use of a recommended operating room (OR) practice, the hands-free technique (HFT), among OR nurses in four hospitals in Ontario and British Columbia. Of the 87 nurses who completed self-administered questionnaires, 82% perceived safety climate as “not good” and 49% reported supervisor incivility. Incivility correlated with worse safety climate on the communication/conflict subscale. Better safety climate on the management support subscale and less supervisor incivility predicted HFT use.