The Development of an Interdisciplinary and Integrated Model of Occupational Safety

Background: Occupational safety and health professionals facilitate safer workplaces through the development and implementation of interventions. Empirically validated theories can enhance the likelihood that an intervention will be successful in achieving the desired outcome; however, occupational safety interventions are often devoid of theory or utilize frameworks that fail to take a comprehensive approach to conceptualizing occupational safety processes. Focus of the Article: The current paper seeks to address these gaps by proposing an interdisciplinary and integrated model of occupational safety (IIMOS). Importance to the Social Marketing Field: IIMOS takes an interdisciplinary approach, examining the combined influence of concepts from psychology, social marketing, and occupational safety on behavioral change. This model accounts for the influence that threat appraisal, coping appraisal, and customer service factors can have on safety behaviors’ initiation/adoption and maintenance. Recommendations for Research and Practice: IIMOS may inform the design, implementation, and evaluation of occupational safety and health programs. Although future empirical work must still test the model’s propositions, the model’s in-depth application of social marketing techniques is a novel addition to the field. This model can encourage practitioners to develop innovative products, build relationships with consumers, and design upstream efforts to support program adoption.