Psychological Safety Climate and Occupational Health Behavior Among Workers in the Nigerian Oil and Gas Sector

Safety climate, defined as the shared perceptions of policies, procedures, and practices relating to workplace safety, is a well-established determinant of occupational health behavior, yet evidence from Nigeria's oil and gas sector is sparse. This study examined the relationship between psychological safety climate and occupational health behavior among workers in oil and gas companies in the Niger Delta region, with specific focus on Rivers and Delta States, South South Nigeria. An analytical cross-sectional design was employed, with 380 workers from onshore and offshore operations completing the Zohar Multidimensional Safety Climate Scale and the Occupational Health Behaviors Inventory. Structural equation modeling was used to examine direct and mediated pathways. Safety climate scores were above the median in only 34.5 percent of respondents, with perceptions of supervisory safety leadership being the weakest sub-dimension. Safety climate was a significant predictor of PPE use (beta: 0.47), hazard reporting behavior (beta: 0.52), and participation in safety programs (beta: 0.39). Management commitment to safety and peer safety norms fully mediated the climate-behavior relationship. Contractor and subcontractor workers demonstrated significantly lower safety climate perceptions than permanent employees. The study contributes structural equation evidence on the safety climate-behavior relationship in Nigerian oil and gas and recommends organizational safety culture interventions, contractor safety integration programs, and supervisory leadership development as priority occupational health investments. Keywords: safety climate, occupational health behavior, oil and gas, Niger Delta, structural equation modeling.