Safety culture maturity models in occupational safety and health: An updated scoping review

Safety culture maturity models are intended to improve an organization’s safety culture. However, there is still no consensus on which safety culture maturity measurements are best to use in occupational settings. This scoping review aimed at updating the existing knowledge on safety culture maturity models in occupational safety and health (OSH). We followed the PRISMA-ScR reporting guidelines along with those issued by the Joanna Briggs Institute. Studies were selected based on the “Population-Concept-Context” framework. We conducted a systematic search across PubMed and Scopus from January 1, 2021, to March 31, 2024. Tables and narrative descriptions were used to synthesize the main findings. Seventeen studies were included in qualitative synthesis. The vast majority of included studies (59%, n=10) referred to the development and application of a new (or adapted) safety culture maturity model. Only two studies developed a new safety culture maturity model without field application. Five out of 17 studies applied already established safety culture maturity models. Only five studies carried out a reliability test. Of these, only two new safety culture maturity models were validated. This scoping review provided an overview of the state of the art on safety culture maturity models in OSH. These findings can support organizations in the selection of the appropriate tools to assess safety culture maturity levels at work. Further research is needed to validate existing and newly developed tools aimed at assessing safety culture maturity level allowing comparisons between organizations.