1. ABSTRACT Using data from 95 organizations embedded within 14 nations, we examined hypotheses concerning the moderating roles of national culture and organizational culture on the transfer of training to the work context. A dimension of national culture, uncertainty avoidance, and organizational safety culture moderated the transfer of safety training to the job. Consistent with prior research, organizational safety culture is positively associated with the transfer of training in terms of safety performance. Moreover, a notable conclusion is that the tendency within a culture to avoid uncertainty is associated with the use of training methods that involve less worker participation in the learning process, and negative consequences in relation to injuries. METHOD (cont.) National culture dimension scores. Scores on uncertainty avoidance, the tendency to ensure predictability, for each of the nations examined in the primary studies included in this investigation were taken from Hofstede (1991). The countries represented in the database were Australia, Canada, China, Finland, Hong Kong, Israel, Italy, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nigeria, Sweden, Thailand, United Kingdom, and the United States. Organizational safety culture scores. Each organization (primary study) was rated on the three organizational safety culture dimensions (i.e., management commitment to safety, appropriateness of the safety training, and safety policies and procedures). Analyses are presented for overall organizational safety culture. Analyses. Examinations of the moderating roles of uncertainty avoidance and organizational safety culture were based on correlating these variables with the respective safety training effects for the safety performance and safety outcome distributions (i.e., the transfer of training to the job as measured by safety behaviors and reported injury rates). INTRODUCTION In light of public security and safety issues and on-going efforts to reduce the millions of injuries and accidents reported in private industry each year, a greater understanding of how best to prepare safety and health professionals and to structure work (and work contexts) has become a critical need in both the public and private sectors. Burke et al’s (2006) meta-analytic study recently indicated that as the method of safety training became more engaging (i.e., requiring trainees’ active participation), workers demonstrated greater knowledge acquisition, improved behavioral performance, and were involved in fewer accidents, illnesses, and injuries. Because training effects for more distal outcomes such as on-the-job performance and injuries are likely to be more affected by intervening variables than training effects for proximal measures such as knowledge assessments, the need exists to examine the influence of situational (contextual) variables on safety and health training effectiveness. Using training program data from Burke et al.’s (2006) meta-analysis and archival data on national culture and organizational safety culture, this study tested hypotheses concerning the moderating role of national culture and organizational safety culture on the effectiveness of safety and health training. Paper presented at the 134th Annual Meeting of the American Public Health Association, Boston, November, 2006. RESULTS As shown in the table, as uncertainty avoidance increases, the effectiveness of safety and health training in reducing negative outcomes such as injuries decreases. In addition, organizational safety culture was positively related to the transfer of training in terms of worker safety performance and the reduction of accidents and injuries (see Table 1). TABLE 1 CONCLUSIONS National culture, in terms of uncertainty avoidance, moderates the relationship between safety training and safety outcomes. Organizational safety culture moderates the relationship between safety training and safety performance, and the relationship between safety training and safety outcomes. Importantly, the present results imply that irrespective of national culture, within organizations, enhancing organizational safety climate has a positive impact on the transfer of this training to the work setting METHOD Safety Training Effects. Initially, from Burke et al.’s data base, we gathered 67 relevant safety training-safety performance effects and 31 relevant safety training-safety outcome effects. REFERENCES Burke MJ, Sarpy SA, Smith-Crowe K, Chan-Serafin S, Salvador RO, Islam G. Relative effectiveness of worker safety and health training methods. Am J Public Health 2006;96:315-324. Hofstede G. Cultures and organizations: Software of the mind. London: McGraw-Hill; 1991. An Examination of the Roles of Organizational Culture and National Culture in the Transfer of Safety Training Michael Burke M.S., Ph.D., Suzanne Chan-Serafin, M.B.A., Rommel Salvador, M.B.A., Alexis Smith, B.A., Sue Ann Sarpy M.S., Ph.D. Tulane University