Understanding the Safety Culture of SMEs in the Finnish Food Industry
Ofori, Gideon Bonah (2025)
2025
Master's Programme in Security and Safety Management
Johtamisen ja talouden tiedekunta - Faculty of Management and Business
Hyväksymispäivämäärä
2025-12-16
Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:tuni-2025121511709
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:tuni-2025121511709
Tiivistelmä
This study investigates the safety culture within small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the Finnish food industry, using Munax Oy as a case study. The research aims to assess the current state of the company’s safety culture and to explore how leadership, communication, and employee participation influence its development. To achieve this, a hybrid methodological approach was adopted, combining the Nordic Safety Climate Questionnaire (NOSACQ-50) for quantitative analysis with semi-structured interviews for qualitative insight.
Fifteen participants representing diverse roles and locations within Munax completed the NOSACQ-50 survey, and selected managers and employees participated in follow-up interviews. The NOSACQ-50 results revealed moderate overall scores across all seven dimensions, ranging from 3.06 to 3.36, indicating a developing but not yet generative safety culture. The highest score was observed in workers' trust in the efficacy of safety systems (3.36), while the lowest appeared in workers' safety priority and risk non-acceptance (3.06), suggesting lingering risk-tolerant attitudes under production pressures. Interview data corroborated these findings, highlighting strong managerial commitment and trust, but also communication gaps and limited employee involvement in safety decision-making.
When interpreted through Hudson’s Safety Culture Maturity Model, the results place Munax within the calculative–proactive stage of cultural development, where formal systems exist, but consistent behavioral integration is still evolving. The study concludes that advancing toward a generative safety culture requires sustained management engagement, continuous training, structured communication, and greater employee empowerment.
This research reinforces existing literature and the growing body of knowledge on safety culture in Finnish SMEs. It contributes empirically to understanding how human and organizational factors interact in the food industry context. The findings offer both theoretical insight and practical recommendations for enhancing safety management and cultural maturity in similar organizations.
Fifteen participants representing diverse roles and locations within Munax completed the NOSACQ-50 survey, and selected managers and employees participated in follow-up interviews. The NOSACQ-50 results revealed moderate overall scores across all seven dimensions, ranging from 3.06 to 3.36, indicating a developing but not yet generative safety culture. The highest score was observed in workers' trust in the efficacy of safety systems (3.36), while the lowest appeared in workers' safety priority and risk non-acceptance (3.06), suggesting lingering risk-tolerant attitudes under production pressures. Interview data corroborated these findings, highlighting strong managerial commitment and trust, but also communication gaps and limited employee involvement in safety decision-making.
When interpreted through Hudson’s Safety Culture Maturity Model, the results place Munax within the calculative–proactive stage of cultural development, where formal systems exist, but consistent behavioral integration is still evolving. The study concludes that advancing toward a generative safety culture requires sustained management engagement, continuous training, structured communication, and greater employee empowerment.
This research reinforces existing literature and the growing body of knowledge on safety culture in Finnish SMEs. It contributes empirically to understanding how human and organizational factors interact in the food industry context. The findings offer both theoretical insight and practical recommendations for enhancing safety management and cultural maturity in similar organizations.