Safety Science 117 (2019) 15–22

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Safety Science
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/safety

Data literacy for safety professionals in safety management: A theoretical T

perspective on basic questions and answers
⁎
Bing Wang , Chao Wu, Lang Huang
School of Resources and Safety Engineering, Central South University, Changsha 410083, Hunan, PR China
Safety & Security Theory Innovation and Promotion Center (STIPC), Central South University, Changsha 410083, Hunan, PR China

A R T I C LE I N FO A B S T R A C T

Keywords: The use of data in safety management has become more prevalent, especially in the era of big data. Hence a
Data Literacy for Safety Professionals (DLSP) growing number of organizations have begun to require safety professionals to use safety-related data to inform
Safety-Related Data (SRD) their safety management practices. Data Literacy for Safety Professionals (DLSP) is a prerequisite for data-driven
Safety management safety management, and has become an essential skill for safety professionals as safety management becomes a
Data-driven safety management
data-driven profession. Unfortunately, DLSP has never been explored. Using the concept of data literacy, this
Big data
study focuses on the potentially important value of safety-related data and DLSP in safety management, and aims
to give preliminary answers to some fundamental questions concerning DLSP from a theoretical perspective. The
questions examine (1) what it is, (2) what its main components are, and (3) what factors influence it. Other
theoretical and practical contributions include a discussion on the growing importance of safety-related data for
safety management, a rationale for fostering and studying DLSP, and suggestions for future research. This paper
is the first to study the basic questions of DLSP specifically, thus its results hold important implications for
developing and studying DLSP in the future.

1. Introduction
With the rapid development of information technology over the past
decades, various electronic and computing devices have come to have
numerous uses, and are essential for almost all organizations, in-
dustries, and professions (e.g., scientists, engineers, managers, teachers,
doctors, etc.) (Mandinach and Gummer, 2016a). Similarly, these de-
vices are widely used by many organizations and safety professionals in
safety management (Ding and Li, 2013). What all of these devices have
in common is the potential to generate data. At present, huge amounts
of data are being produced daily, and human society has entered the era
of big data (Chen et al., 2014). In this era, enabling people to quickly
obtain and effectively use data, and building human capacity around
data collection and usage, i.e., data literacy, has attracted wide atten-
tion as a way to strengthen data infrastructure (Koltay, 2015;
Mandinach and Gummer, 2016a; Stephenson and Caravello, 2007). In a
word, data literacy has become a hot topic. Safety-Related Data (SRD)
plays a vital role in safety management, and is one of the most valuable
assets in safety management, especially as it pertains to big data (Wang
et al., 2019; Huang et al., 2017, 2018; Ouyang et al., 2018; Stoop et al.,
2017; Wang et al., 2017; Wegman et al., 2015; Wu and Wang, 2014;
Yang, 2012). Safety professionals are not only the direct leaders,
organizers, and executors in safety management, but also the providers
and users of SRD (Huang et al., 2018; Wang et al., 2017), thus they also
need to gain data literacy skills to use SRD to inform and improve their
safety management practice. In a word, there is currently an urgent
need to foster Data Literacy for Safety Professionals (DLSP).
1.1. The growing importance of SRD for safety management
In safety management, it is important to effectively identify safety
problems and make effective safety decisions based on the basis of re-
liable and sufficient safety-related information (Abeytunga, 1995;
Yang, 2012; Huang et al., 2018; Wang et al., 2017; Liang et al., 2019).
Meanwhile, Stoop et al. (2017) suggested that system safety manage-
ment needs to apply the full information paradigm, to identify systemic
safety issues and to make systemic safety decisions. Thus, safety-related
information plays a crucial role in safety management. According to the
process of SRD refinement proposed by Huang et al. (2017), because
safety-related information is extracted from SRD by SRD analysis, SRD
collection and analysis are essential to obtain useful and complete
safety-related information for safety decision-making. Therefore, the
effectiveness of safety management is dependent on SRD that come
from various resources and formats (Huang et al., 2018).

⁎
Corresponding author at: School of Resources and Safety Engineering, Central South University, Changsha, Hunan 410083, PR China.
E-mail address: safeboy@csu.edu.cn (B. Wang).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssci.2019.04.002
Received 23 October 2018; Received in revised form 23 March 2019; Accepted 1 April 2019
0925-7535/ © 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
B. Wang, et al.
In fact, good safety professionals (e.g., enterprise’s safety managers,
government safety administrators, professionals engaged in safety ser-
vices, etc.) have been collecting and using SRD to identify safety pro-
blems or propose effective safety solutions for a very long time. For
example, in organizations, safety managers identify and assess hazards.
They record and analyze near misses, incidents, accidents, fatalities,
and so on. They learn the safety requirements of government regulatory
agencies. They study safety laws, regulations, standards, etc. They ob-
serve how organizational members react, behave, or perform with re-
gard to safety. They identify safety management strengths and weak-
nesses. They pay attention to the changes of key safety performance
indicators and look for current best evidence (e.g., safety research
evidence) for safety decision-making (Wang et al., 2017). They then
make decisions about safety management strategies and measures, and
technical, educational, and cultural support. These are examples of how
various sources of SRD can inform how safety managers seek appro-
priate solutions to safety problems.
Clearly, safety professionals rely extensively on SRD. SRD are used
to make safety decisions, such as decisions for accident prevention and
control, safety investments, and safety training, as well as decisions in
numerous other areas of safety management (Wang et al., 2017). For
instance, SRD can help safety professionals make decisions about
whether there is a need for new safety management approaches and
infrastructure. SRD can inform safety professionals about whether it is
cost-effective to strengthen the safety management infrastructure in an
organization. SRD can also inform safety professionals about the impact
of work schedules on safety-related behavior patterns of organizational
members or organizational safety performance.
Furthermore, in the era of big data, data-driven safety management
(including evidence-based safety management, and safety-related
knowledge management) has become the popular safety management
paradigm or approach, and safety professionals are confronted with
more diverse SRD than ever before (Wang et al., 2019; Ouyang et al.,
2018; Wang and Wu, 2017). The implementation steps of data-driven
safety management are shown in Fig. 1 (Wang et al., 2019, 2017;
Huang et al., 2018). Today, database technology and computing tech-
nology, such as enterprise safety management, accident prevention and
control, safety inspection, and safety behavior management systems are
widely used in safety management (Gabbar et al., 2002; Li et al., 2015;
Rocha et al., 2015), to capture and process vast quantities of SRD as
part of their regular operations. Meanwhile, systems or organizations
are becoming increasingly complex and producing a large quantity of
SRD (Leveson, 2011; Wang et al., 2017); the extensive sources of SRD
(such as internet, publications, safety supervision organization of gov-
ernment, and intermediary organization) make the contents wider and
more various (Ouyang et al., 2018). Therefore, safety professionals are
trying to collect and analyze SRD to make effective safety decisions or
uncover complex trends that may indicate the presence of hazards
(Wang et al., 2018).
For these reasons, data-driven safety management in recent years
has been used widely in the field of safety management (Wang et al.,
2019; Huang et al., 2018), and some researchers have found that ef-
fective data-driven safety management has been shown to specifically
enhance organizational safety management success (Hallowell, 2012;
Wegman et al., 2015). Interested readers can find some detailed dis-
cussions on the potential value of data-driven safety management in
some studies (e.g., Wang et al., 2019; Huang et al., 2018). In fact, the
essence of data-driven safety management is to help safety professionals
1. Asking a safety 2. SRD 3. SRD
management problem collection quality check
Continual improvement
7. Implementing 6. Making a safety
8. Evaluation
improvement measures management decision
16
Safety Science 117 (2019) 15–22
make effective safety decisions by effective SRD management.
1.2. Reasons for fostering and studying DLSP
In recent years, with the rapid growth and the growing importance
of data in many fields, a growing number of fields (e.g., education,
medicine, health, policy, management, science, marketing, finance,
economics, etc.) have begun to foster the data literacy of researchers
and practitioners to effectively collect and use data in their fields
(Koltay, 2015; Mandinach and Gummer, 2016a; Qin and D’Ignazio,
2010; Ma et al., 2019). Davies et al. (2011) suggested that data literacy
needs to take into consideration the framework of future work skills and
abilities. In safety management, SRD that are not used have little value,
and can be a waste of space and resources. Conversely, SRD that are
operated on or analyzed by safety professionals can be of inestimable
value. For instance, SRD mining in safety management can help orga-
nizations increase safety performance by predicting, identifying, and
controlling safety risks, unsafe conditions, unsafe acts of members (e.g.,
misjudgment, inappropriate operation) or discover hitherto unknown
safety management evidence in SRD (Wang and Wu, 2017).
In addition, the increased interest in SRD characterizes not only
safety research, but safety practice, especially safety management
practice. For example, data-driven safety management has been the
focus of many safety management practitioners (Hallowell, 2012;
Huang et al., 2018; Wegman et al., 2015;). The vast amounts of SRD
allow safety professionals to discover new safety problems in new ways,
and to challenge new classes of safety problems they were not able to
solve in the past (Huang et al., 2018; Wang and Wu, 2017). Parallel to
the growth in SRD and the increasing importance of SRD in safety
management is the awareness that all safety professionals must un-
derstand how to collect and use tangible SRD to inform their safety
decisions rather than relying only on intuitions, or personal preferences
(Huang et al., 2018; Wang et al., 2017). At the same time, the sig-
nificant and rapid increase in SRD also raises a wide range of concerns
for SRD collection, management, preservation, processing, and usage in
safety management (Ouyang et al., 2018). For example, we live in a
time of data overload. Similarly, with the growth of the massive amount
of SRD, safety professionals are overwhelmed with SRD, which makes it
more and more difficult for safety professionals to gain useful safety-
related information from SRD to inform their safety decisions. There-
fore, they urgently need to gain data literacy skills.
To make SRD accessible and useful in organizational safety man-
agement, the organization needs to improve data tools and infra-
structure for collecting, analyzing, processing, storing, and managing
SRD. Incentives, policies, and systems for safety professionals to collect
and use SRD in safety management are also indispensable. However,
just as a with a lack of tools, infrastructure, standardized processes, and
effective policies, a lack of properly skilled personnel may seriously
impede the practice of data-driven safety management. Data literacy is
an essential tool for those who will collect and use the data (Koltay,
2015; Mandinach and Gummer, 2016a; Schield, 2004). Acquiring data
literacy skills is thus an issue for safety professionals in data-driven
safety management, who need to become data literate. Therefore, the
DLSP, which could potentially be a motivating factor in practicing data-
driven safety management in an organization, should be one of the
essential qualities of safety professionals, especially in an era of big
data.
All in all, with the rapid growth of SRD, safety professionals rely
Fig. 1. The implementation steps of data-driven
4. SRD analysis safety management.
5. Interpretation
and conclusion
B. Wang, et al.
more extensively on SRD, and SRD collection and usage have become
essential to safety management. Therefore, building DLSP is an im-
portant issue for safety management at present. How important has
data literacy become to the modern safety professionals? In some large
organizations, data literacy has become an essential skill set. As part of
the application process, candidates for organizational safety managers
must demonstrate the ability to collect and use SRD to design organi-
zational safety improvement solutions. The ability to collect and use
SRD now impacts hiring decisions for safety managers in some orga-
nizations. A question, however, arises. How do organizations foster
DLSP, or make sound hiring decisions for safety professionals if they do
not clearly know what DLSP is and what skills and knowledge are
needed? Although there have been many studies on the data literacy of
educators (teachers), students, doctors, science workers, librarians,
managers, and so on (Koltay, 2015; Mandinach and Gummer, 2016a;
Qin and D’Ignazio, 2010), no studies consider DLSP. Therefore, at
present, neither practitioners nor researchers can properly understand
and develop DLSP, because of the lack of studies on this topic.
In summary, the pressures and incentives that are driving the need
to foster DLSP and to study it come from multiple directions. As noted
in the discussion above, eight major trends or challenges in safety
management have emerged: (1) the wide use of data technology (e.g.,
data acquisition technology, data mining technology, data integration
technology, database technology, cloud computing technology, big data
technology, etc.), (2) the rapid development and growth of SRD sys-
tems, (3) the large quantities of SRD generated, (4) the increased em-
phasis on SRD in safety management decisions, (5) the rise and im-
plementation of data-driven safety management closely related to SRD
activities, (6) organizations’ increasing attention to developing DLSP,
(7) the growing importance of DLSP, and (8) the lack of in-depth the-
oretical studies on DLSP. In fact, the push to foster and study the data
literacy of practitioners is not unique to safety management. Safety
management can learn from the trends seen in many fields, such as
medicine, education, and business (Koltay, 2015; Mandinach and
Gummer, 2016a; Qin and D’Ignazio, 2010).
1.3. The aim, contributions, and framework of this study
As noted previously, SRD has become essential in safety manage-
ment today as the use of SRD to inform safety management is a salient
aspect of modern safety management practice, especially nowadays.
This has made it necessary for safety professionals to be data literate.
Although DLSP has gradually attracted the attention of safety practi-
tioners and researchers, no in-depth theoretical study on DLSP is
available. In particular, there remain many unanswered basic questions
about DLSP. Therefore, this paper focuses on the potential value of SRD
and DLSP in safety management, and aims to answer some of the fun-
damental questions concerning DLSP to promote its practice and re-
search in the future; these questions concern what DLSP is, what its
main components are, and what factors are influencing it. This study
provides brief answers to these questions, and illustrates the ideas and
methods involved in addressing them from a theoretical perspective.
The remainder of the article is organized as follows: Section 1
briefly introduces the study context and research rationale; Section 2
provides a brief introduction to data literacy to lay the foundation for
the discussion on DLSP; Section 3 explains what DLSP is and presents a
theoretical framework for DLSP in safety management; Section 4 ana-
lyses the main components of DLSP; Section 5 recognizes the factors
that influence DLSP; and Section 6 draws conclusions from the analysis
and proposes directions for future research.
2. An introduction to data literacy
Data literacy is an emerging concept. According to Schield (2004),
since the concept of data literacy was proposed in the early 21st cen-
tury, it was supported by the International Association for Social
17
Safety Science 117 (2019) 15–22
Science Information Services and Technology (IASSIST), by the Asso-
ciation of Public Data Users (APDU) and by related organizations, such
as the Interuniversity Consortium for Political and Social Research
(ICPSR). Meanwhile, Koltay (2015) identified several different terms
(e.g., data information literacy, science data literacy, research data
literacy) that are used to represent this concept. He suggested that
terminology should be unified around the concept using the term data
literacy.
In recent years, numerous definitions of data literacy have been
provided by different researchers. Qin and D’Ignazio (2010), for ex-
ample, defined it as “the ability to understand, use and manage data.”
Mandinach and Gummer (2013), defined it as, “the ability to under-
stand and use data effectively to inform decisions.” Further definitions
have been proposed by other researchers (e.g., Koltay, 2015; Gummer
and Mandinach, 2015; Mandinach et al., 2015; Mandinach and
Gummer, 2013; Schield, 2004; Stephenson and Caravello, 2007). Al-
though there is no generally accepted definition for data literacy, all of
these definitions are relatively similar. After reviewing the recent lit-
erature on data literacy, we find the following:
• Data literacy focuses on addressing problems. Some researchers
(e.g., Ruan and Zheng, 2016) suggest that data literacy is the ability
to ask and answer questions by collecting and making sense of the
data encountered in daily life. Therefore, data literacy emphasizes
the role of data collection and application in solving problems. For
instance, building the data literacy of teachers aims to solve
teaching problems effectively.
• Data literacy focuses on data processing, namely understanding,
using, and managing data. For example, a data literate manager can
collect, assess, and use data according to the specific objectives and
needs of management.
• Data literacy focuses on decision-making. In other words, data lit-
eracy is a specific skill set and knowledge base that enables decision
makers to transform data into information and ultimately into ac-
tionable knowledge to guide and support the decision-making
practice.
• Data literacy involves not only the ability to understand, use, and
manage data, but also other capacities such as professional ability
and learning ability. For instance, the learning ability is one of the
key factors affecting teachers’ data literacy.
• Data literacy is dependent on critical thinking. Data literacy enables
individuals to critically select, assess, and analyze data. Many re-
searchers (e.g., Schield, 2004) indicate that a data literate decision
maker needs to be able to think critically about data to make in-
formed decisions. Thus, critical thinking skills are essential to data
literacy.
In addition, data literacy and information literacy are inter-related
(Schield, 2004; Koltay, 2015). Although there are similarities between
the two types of literacy, data literacy specifically focuses less on in-
formation-based attributes and more on functional ability in data col-
lection, processing, management, evaluation, and application. In-
formation is different from data. It is collected and processed data
(Liew, 2013). In other words, it notes that without data collection and
processing, there is no information. Therefore, many scholars (e.g.,
Huang and Li, 2016; Ruan and Zheng, 2016) in the field of library and
information studies generally believe that information literacy requires
both data literacy and information management. They define data lit-
eracy as an essential component of information literacy. In other words,
data literacy is an essential basis for information literacy. If people are
information literate, they must be data literate. Moreover, according to
Hunt (2004), the data literacy field is more fragmented than the domain
of information literacy. Interested readers can find some more detailed
discussions on the differences between data literacy and information
literacy in the literature on data literacy (e.g., Schield, 2004; Si et al.,
2013; Schneider, 2013; Koltay, 2015; Huang and Li, 2016; Ruan and
B. Wang, et al.
Zheng, 2016). In the era of big data, a growing number of researchers,
practitioners, and institutions think data literacy is an extension and
expansion of information literacy, they would put more emphasis on
data literacy (Koltay, 2015; Huang and Li, 2016; Ruan and Zheng,
2016).
3. What is DLSP?
To appraise the importance of DLSP, and obtain a full picture of its
role in safety management, it is necessary to provide a comprehensive
definition of DLSP. Clearly, DLSP consists of a combination of the
knowledge and skills around SRD usage in safety management. A sci-
entific definition of DLSP could be given based on the definitions of
data literacy in Section 2. DLSP is the ability to collect, understand,
evaluate, use, and manage SRD to inform safety management decisions.
In other words, it is the ability to collect and analyze SRD, and to use
SRD as evidence in safety management. Specifically, based on data
literacy for educators (Mandinach and Gummer, 2016a), DLSP is a
mixture of skills, knowledge, and dispositions that safety professionals
need to possess to be able to collect, evaluate, analyze, interpret, and
use SRD effectively and responsibly in safety management.
Based on the above discussion, the basic theoretical framework for
data literacy (Lai and Schildkamp, 2013; Mandinach and Gummer,
2016b; Van Geel et al., 2016), the model of safety management system
(BSI 2007), and the conceptual framework of data-driven safety deci-
sion-making (Wang et al., 2019), a conceptual framework for DLSP in
safety management is put forward in Fig. 2. There are five key issues in
Fig. 2 that require detailed explanations.
1. Fig. 2 shows that safety professionals may need to collect, process,
and use various types of SRD in safety management. These include
external SRD (e.g. current safety studies, accident reports, safety
laws, safety standards, etc.) and internal SRD. Specifically, internal
SRD can be divided into four sub-types: (1) input SRD, such as safety
investments, data on safety training and facilities, and safety quality
of organizational members; (2) process SRD, such as data on safe
operations, safety monitoring, safety inspection, safety-related ac-
tivities, safety-related behaviors, and the effectiveness of a concrete
safety management strategy; (3) outcome SRD, namely, safety per-
formance indicators, such as the number killed and injured, accident
rates, death rates, injury rates, economic loss for accidents, cost-
effectiveness, the result of safety culture assessment, and the result
of safety evaluation; and (4) satisfaction SRD, such as the extent of
members’ safety satisfaction, and safety-related opinions or sug-
gestions from the organization’s leaders and members, parents, or
government safety supervision departments.
Types of SRD
External SRD
Internal SRD
• Safety research data
• Accident reports
• Input SRD
• Safety laws, regulations
• Process SRD
and standards
• Outcome SRD
• Safety consultants
• Satisfaction SRD
DLFSP
Establish a safety
Collect SRD Evaluate SRD
management purpose
Fig. 2. Conceptual framework for DLSP in safety management.
Safety Science 117 (2019) 15–22
2. The framework as shown in Fig. 2 acknowledges that the presence of
raw SRD does not ensure its use. More specifically, SRD itself is
meaningless unless it is turned into valid safety-related information
and actionable safety-related knowledge that supports effective and
efficient SDM through processing and managing SRD (namely, by
collecting, evaluating, analyzing, and interpreting all types of SRD)
(Huang et al., 2017, 2018). According to the process of SRD re-
finement proposed by Huang et al. (2017), safety-related informa-
tion and actionable safety-related knowledge are extracted from
SRD by data analysis.
3. DLSP for safety management is the ability to transform SRD into
safety-related information and ultimately into actionable safety-re-
lated knowledge by setting a safety management purpose, and
processing and managing SRD (namely, by collecting, evaluating,
analyzing and interpreting all types of SRD) to help determine safety
management steps, approaches, and strategies to achieve various
safety management goals. More specifically, DLSP for data-driven
safety management is a specific skill set and knowledge base, which
empowers safety professionals (safety managers) to extract safety-
related information and actionable safety-related knowledge from
SRD to inform safety decisions by enabling decision makers to
continuously access, critically evaluate, comprehensively analyze,
effectively interpret, and ethically use SRD.
4. SRD can inform different types of safety decisions that might in-
clude, for instance, creating strategies (e.g. safety enforcement,
safety technology, safety education, and safety culture) for preven-
tion and control of accidents, setting safety management goals and
assessing progress toward achieving them, addressing individual or
organizational safety needs (demands) (e.g., providing safety
training for organizational members, improving working condi-
tions), evaluating the effectiveness of safety management practices,
assessing whether safety requirements (e.g., safety laws, safety
standards, etc.) are being met, or reallocating safety management
resources in response to outcomes.
5. The safety decisions shown in Fig. 2 are also usually divided into
two types: those that need SRD to inform, identify, or clarify (e.g.,
identifying and assessing safety risks, setting safety management
goals, identifying safety demands or problems) and those that need
SRD to act (e.g., reallocating safety management resources, im-
plementing safety training programs, purchasing new safety facil-
ities, changing out of date safety management scheme). Once the
decision to act has been made by safety managers, new SRD can be
ongoingly obtained (collected) to begin evaluating the effectiveness
of those safety management actions, leading to a continuous cycle of
collection, organization, synthesis, and analysis of SRD in support of
safety management.
Types of safety decisions
• Make strategies for accident prevention and control
• Set and assess progress toward safety management goals
• Address individual or organizational safety needs (demands)
• Evaluate effectiveness of safety management practices
• Assess whether safety requirements are being met
• Reallocate safety management resources in reaction to outcomes
Analyze SRD Interpret SRD Use SRD
18
B. Wang, et al.
Set a SM purpose
Collect SRD
1. Asking a SM problem 1. Asking a SM problem
2. SRD collection
8. Evaluation
Evaluate SRD
Use SRD Continual
6. Making a SM decision improvement 3. SRD quality check
7. Implementing
improvement
measures
Interpret SRD Analyze SRD
1. Asking a SM problem 1. Asking a SM problem
5. Interpretation and
3. SRD quality check
conclusion 4. SRD analysis
8. Evaluation 8. Evaluation
Fig. 3. Links between DLSP (bold) and the SRD use in safety management
(italics). Notes: “SM” is an abbreviation for “safety management,” and the im-
plementation steps of data-driven safety management are shown in Fig. 1.
To effectively implement data-driven safety management, safety
professionals clearly need training in how to obtain and manipulate
SRD. According to the implementation steps of DDSM (see Fig. 1), and
the conceptual framework for DLSP in safety management (see Fig. 2),
the links between DLSP and the SRD use in safety management
(namely, DDSM) are shown in Fig. 3, where DLSP can be seen to be
essential to the implementation of DDSM. In particular, the successful
implementation of data-driven safety management should be supported
by safety professionals with both excellent data literacy and safety
management literacy (safety management skills and knowledge) (Wang
et al., 2017). Therefore, apart from the required data skills and
knowledge, DLSP must be integrated with other essential aspects of
data-driven safety management, namely strictly defined safety man-
agement skills and knowledge. In other words, safety professionals with
good DLSP should know how to select and synthesize SRD and combine
it with prior safety management skills and knowledge. Meanwhile, for
safety professionals to use SRD effectively, SRD must be contextualized
within the specific safety management content, requirements, and
processes. Safety professionals in all stages of professional development
need to learn how to collect and use SRD effectively and responsibly to
inform their safety management practices.
4. What are the main components of DLSP?
The components of DLSP are the basis of defining what it means to
be a data literate safety professional and fostering DLSP. Based on the
definition of DLSP and general data literacy components (Kippers et al.,
2018; Lai and Schildkamp, 2013; Mandinach and Gummer, 2016a,
2016b; Van Geel et al., 2016), four main components of DLSP can be
identified: general data knowledge and skills; general SRD knowledge
and skills; attitudes, beliefs, and consciousness of SRD; and SRD use in
safety management. Moreover, we recognize that some of the specific
knowledge and skills sub-components could be aspects of different
components (see Table 1).
To improve DLSP, organizations have to develop DLSP education
and training (Mandinach and Gummer, 2016a, 2016b) according to the
main components of DLSP. DLSP emphasizes the ability to understand,
use, and manage SRD in safety management. Clearly, the DLSP edu-
cation and training serve two distinct, though related, goals: one is that
safety professionals become data literate so that they can be effective
safety management workers in an era of big data, and the other is for
safety professionals to become SRD management professionals. In
19
Safety Science 117 (2019) 15–22
either case, the focal point is to educate and train safety professionals
with the knowledge and skills to collect, evaluate, analyze, interpret,
and use SRD for safety management or, more specifically, data-driven
safety management. However, the DLSP education and training cannot
be carried out effectively if its content is unclear. Apparently, the
content of the DLSP education and training should include at least four
main components of DLSP. From a more macro perspective, it should
include knowledge and skills of two disciplines (namely, data science
and safety science or, more specifically, safety management). The
conceptual framework is presented in Fig. 4.
5. What factors influence DLSP?
Like safety management, DLSP resides within the context of a
complicated system, thus fostering DLSP requires considerable support
and the necessary resources. To effectively enhance DLSP, it is ex-
tremely important for the organization to identify the key factors in-
fluencing it. Through examining the conceptual framework for DLSP in
safety management (see Fig. 2) and the components of DLSP in safety
management (see Table 1), and referring to the determinants of the data
literacy of other professions (e.g., teachers or educators, science
workers, librarians, and students) (Koltay, 2015; Mandinach and
Gummer, 2016a, 2016b; Qin and D’Ignazio, 2010), the major factors
that influence DLSP can be identified. We present just a few key de-
terminants here (see Fig. 5): data culture; safety culture; safety lea-
dership; a vision for SRD use in safety management; data technology
infrastructure; SRD teams and SRD coaches; awareness of DLSP; and the
individual attributes of safety professionals.
5.1. Data culture
Data culture in an organization generally refers to the set of shared
beliefs, attitudes, and values that are concerned with data collection
and its use in effective organization management or, more specifically,
decision-making (Shaha et al., 2016). In the era of big data, it is con-
sidered an important sub-system of organizational culture. First, it is
important for organizations to create a data culture in which SRD use in
safety management is expected, supported, and sustained (Mandinach
and Gummer, 2016a). Meanwhile, a strong organizational data culture
can ensure safety professionals explore, examine, and discuss SRD (e.g.,
safety performance, safety-related behaviors) openly and frankly within
a trusting environment (Mandinach and Gummer, 2016a). Finally, an
effective organizational data culture can enable the organization’s
leaders and safety professionals to realize the importance of SRD in
safety management (Wang et al., 2017).
5.2. Safety culture
Safety culture, as a subset of organizational culture, is a set of va-
lues, attitudes, perceptions, and competencies that the organization
owns in safety (Wang and Wu, 2019). Many authors, such as
Guldenmund (2010) and Håvold (2010), agree that safety culture plays
a vital role in safety management. In other words, managing safety is a
key aspect of safety culture. For example, safety culture has a sig-
nificant effect on safety management approach, the behaviors of safety
managers, and safety learning. Obviously, safety culture also affects
SRD use in safety management (namely the DDSM practice) (Wang
et al., 2017) and the development of DLSP in an organization. In other
words, safety culture should be guided by an explicit vision of why SRD
are being collected and used to inform safety management practices.
Parker et al. (2006) state that an organization with a strong safety
culture has a perfect safety-related information/SRD system that col-
lects, analyzes, and disseminates safety-related information/SRD
through organizational safety management.
B. Wang, et al. Safety Science 117 (2019) 15–22

Table 1
Components of DLSP in safety management.
No. Component Sub-component

1 General data knowledge and skills • Basic knowledge of data, including the concept of data, the life cycle of data, and the formats, types, and characteristics of data
• Use of data tools (including hardware and software)
• Ethical issues concerning the collection and use of data, such as data security, data laws and regulation, data ethics
• Knowledge of general metadata standards
• Statistical knowledge and skills
• Knowledge
knowledge)
and skills for collecting, assessing, analyzing, and interpreting data (including transforming data into information/

2 General SRD knowledge and skills • Definition of SRD

3 Attitudes, beliefs, and awareness of
SRD
4 SRD use in safety management
• Types and sources of SRD
• Forms and properties of SRD
• Importance of SRD in safety management
• Approaches to generating SRD
• SRD displays and representations
• Elements of data accuracy, appropriateness, and completeness
• Knowledge and skills for safety statistics
• SRD communication with colleagues within or outside the organization
• Concepts and implementation concerning data-intensive safety management approaches, such as data-driven safety management
• Approaches to finding, locating, accessing, and retrieving SRD
• Approaches to assessing, prioritizing, analyzing, summarizing, and explaining SRD
• Approaches to organizing SRD into meaningful and manageable representations of safety-related information/safety-related
knowledge and to managing SRD
• Safety management knowledge and skills related to SRD processing
• Others
• Awareness of the significance (value) of SRD in safety management
• Belief in SRD/critical thinking
• Belief that improvement in safety management requires continuous SRD collection and use
• Awareness of the need to use SRD to identify and solve safety management problems
• Attitudes toward the use of SRD in safety management (data-intensive safety management approaches)
• SM knowledge and skills related to SRD use in safety management
• Integration of data technology into safety management activities, such as behavior-based safety management, safety monitoring
and checking, emergency management, and safety education and training)
• Using technologies to support SRD use in safety management
• SRD curation and re-use
• Developing sound safety-related assessment design and implementation
• Identifying possible sources of SRD in an organization
• Using multiple measures/sources of SRD
• Using qualitative and quantitative SRD
• Understanding the specificity of SRD for addressing safety management questions/problems
• Understanding which SRD are appropriate
• Modifying safety management practice according to the SRD collected
• Articulating inferences and conclusions related to safety management from SRD/safety-related information
• Using SRD to identify safety management problems, such as hazardous factors, safety management needs, safety management
strengths and weaknesses, unsafe conditions, and unsafe acts
• Using SRD to assess patterns and trends related to safety management (e.g., accident, safety culture, safety performance)
• Using SRD to probe for causal understandings of why safety management successes or failures have occurred
• Transforming SRD/safety-related information into effective safety management decisions, including determining next steps,
performance monitoring, making safety management adjustments, understanding the context for safety management approaches
and strategies, etc.
• Evaluating safety management outcomes or effects of safety management by using SRD, such as re-examining the original safety
management question or problem, assessing efficacy of individual safety management solutions; monitoring and recognizing
changes in safety management practices, etc.

5.3. Safety leadership data literacy skills. All in all, safety leadership is a crucial factor that
can support the SRD in safety management and the development of
Safety leadership involves the interaction between leaders and fol- DLSP.
lowers, through which leaders can exert their influence on followers to
realize organizational safety management objectives (Zhang et al.,
5.4. A vision for SRD use in safety management
2017). As safety leadership at the top level in an organization is re-
sponsible for the strategic direction of safety management, the im-
Safety professionals (safety managers) in the organization need to
portance of leadership for effective organization’s safety management is
understand why they are being required to use SRD in safety manage-
well-established (Lu and Yang, 2010). Similarly, because data-driven
ment. Datnow et al. (2007) suggested that having explicit norms and
safety management is a new safety management paradigm, its practice
expectations are an important part of the vision. Obviously, a clear
in the organization must be significantly influenced by safety leadership
vision for SRD use in safety management can ensure safety professionals
or, more specifically, by leaders’ attitudes toward DLSP. At the same
gain a deep understanding of the importance of SRD use for effective
time, the quality of safety leadership can influence the organizational
safety management, and that they actively use SRD to inform their
safety culture/climate (Lu and Yang, 2010), which can have a sig-
safety management practice.
nificant impact on DLSP. Moreover, most leaders in an organization
According to Mandinach and Gummer (2016a), a vision for SRD use
expect safety professionals (safety managers) to use SRD in their safety
in safety management can be communicated by fostering an effective
management practice to improve safety performance (Wang et al.,
data culture and safety culture, by building collaborative SRD teams, by
2017), which could encourage safety professionals to improve their
planning for SRD collection and use, and by providing the necessary

20
B. Wang, et al. Safety Science 117 (2019) 15–22

Knowledge and skills of safety 5.6. SRD teams and SRD coaches
Knowledge and skills
science or, more specifically,
of data science
safety management
In organizations, SRD teams (including both safety professionals
Attitudes, and data professionals) are responsible for not only the design, mod-
Data SRD SRD usage in ification, maintenance, and management of the SRD-related infra-
beliefs, and
knowledge knowledge safety
awareness of structure, but also the collection, analysis, and use of SRD. In addition,
and skills and skills management
SRD SRD coaches can teach safety professionals how to collect, manipulate,
and use SRD. Hence, the number of SRD teams and SRD coaches, and
their data literacy skills can directly influence DLSP.

5.7. Awareness of DLSP

Humans’ awareness determines their behavior (Aarts et al., 2008).

Awareness of DLSP is a concern about SRD use in safety management
and the improvement of DLSP. Many studies (e.g., Mandinach and
SRD use for effective Gummer, 2016a) have shown that awareness of DLSP in an organiza-
safety management tion (including leaders, safety professionals and other members) is an
important factor that can influence DLSP. For example, a safety pro-
Transform fessional with strong awareness of DLSP focuses on improving his or her
Identify Predict Evaluate
Transform SRI/SRK data literacy skills. Deepening members’ understanding of the benefits
safety safety safety
SRD into into safety of analyzing SRD and using the results to improve safety management
management management management
SRI/SRK management
problems trends outcomes practices can create the necessary momentum to successfully imple-
decisions
ment DDSM.
Fig. 4. Conceptual framework for DLSP education and training. Notes: “SRI” is
an abbreviation for “safety-related information,” and “SRK” is an abbreviation 5.8. Individual attributes of safety professionals
for “safety-related knowledge.”
The individual attributes of safety professionals influencing their
data literacy mainly include their safety management knowledge and
skills, education, learning ability, awareness of innovation, and various
other forms of literacy. First, as noted in Section 4, safety management
knowledge and skills are important components of DLSP that affect
DLSP. Second, the education and learning abilities of safety profes-
sionals play a direct role in learning data literacy skills. Finally, data
literacy is a new skill for safety professionals but some safety profes-
sionals may be reluctant to learn and master data literacy skills if they
lack awareness of innovation. Furthermore, other forms of literacy,
such as statistical and digital literacy, are closely associated with DLSP.

6. Conclusions and future directions

Data scientists like to state that “We are completely data-driven.” In

Fig. 5. Factors influencing DLSP.
data literacy education and training for safety professionals.
5.5. SRD-related infrastructure
Data-driven safety management is the use of data technology (in-
cluding information technology) to conduct safety management activ-
ities according to the safety management infrastructure. When an or-
ganization is dependent on data-driven safety management or SRD to
support its safety management decisions, its SRD-related infrastructure
becomes a critical issue for an effective safety management solution.
SRD-related infrastructure, as the basis for easily accessing SRD in a
timely fashion, mainly includes hardware (e.g., computers, monitors),
software (e.g., statistical software, database management system), and
networks. To support SRD use in safety management, organizations
should provide good SRD-related infrastructure conditions, increase the
availability of technological tools, and train safety professionals (safety
managers) to use new SRD-related technologies (e.g., safety-related big
data technology) and infrastructure. Moreover, data technologies and
data devices should be widely used in organizational safety manage-
ment, to help in SRD generation, collection, and use.
recent years, the “data-driven” age that drives the safety science (safety
management) community has started to pay attention to data-driven
safety management. DLSP is a prerequisite for data-driven safety
management, so it has become an essential skill for safety professionals
as safety management becomes more of a data-driven profession.
Hence, DLSP needs to take into consideration a framework of future
work skills and abilities needed by safety professionals. In the present
study, some fundamental questions concerning DLSP, including its de-
finition, conceptual framework, main components, and factors that
influence it were discussed in detail according to the concept of data
literacy.
Fostering and studying DLSP is an important issue for safety man-
agement currently. To the best of our knowledge, this study is the first
work proposing DLSP as an essential skill for safety professionals, so it
will be of great significance for the future DLSP research and practice.
As it is a preliminary study DLSP from a theoretical perspective, there
are many key issues which need to be studied and solved in the future.
These include the measurement of DLSP; the quantitative study of
factors influencing DLSP; the essential supports for fostering DLSP;
approaches to establishing DLSP; integration of traditional safety edu-
cation and training and DLSP education and training; and the re-
lationship between DLSP and safety management. Furthermore, based
on the literature concerning data literacy in other fields (e.g., Schield,
2004; Qin & D’Ignazio, 2010; Si et al., 2013; Schneider, 2013; Koltay,
2015; Mandinach and Gummer, 2016a, 2016b; Huang and Li, 2016;

21
B. Wang, et al.
Ruan and Zheng, 2016), further questions to explore DLSP can be as-
sembled.
Acknowledgements
This study was supported by the National Natural Science
Foundation of China (Nos. 51534008 and 71790613), and the Hunan
Provincial Innovation Foundation for Postgraduate (No. CX2018B048).
Appendix A. Supplementary material
Supplementary data to this article can be found online at https://
doi.org/10.1016/j.ssci.2019.04.002.
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