ABSTRACT
Attribution theory is the area of social psychology concerned with how people process information in arriving at inferences of causality for the events around them. Attributional processes are inexorably linked to safety management at the worksite. Individual workers, supervisors, managers, and safety specialists are all involved in making inferences of causality or attributions for various safety-related events. These causal inferences, in turn, broadly determine the actions that are taken or not taken to correct hazards and prevent injuries. Attributions of causality are certainly part of the formal analysis of hazards and accidents, but many other safety-relevant attributions occur informally as part of normal workplace interactions and job activities.
