Problem description: Since research on causes of occupational accidents more and more focuses on organizations as a whole in stead of on individual employees, the concept of safety climate is increasingly gaining attention. Previous research has already shown that the safety climate of organizations is an important predictor of safety behavior and occupational accidents (e.g. Gimeno et al., 2005). In this sense, more insight in predictors of the safety climate of organizations could provide knowledge on ways to improve the safety climate of organizations, which in turn may contribute to safer workplaces. There appear to be substantial differences according to sector in the way the safety climate is rated by employees. Analyses reveal that, contra intuitively, the safety climate is rated relatively positive in sectors associated with dangerous and physically demanding working conditions. To find an explanation for this contra intuitive finding, this study looks more deeply into the way working conditions and measures to improve working conditions are related to the safety climate. Methodology: For this purpose data from the Netherlands Working Condition Survey (NWCS) were used. The NWCS is a yearly survey of about 25,000 employees that covers topics regarding quality of work, work characteristics, safety and health. Data are collected by means of paper and pencil interviewing (PAPI) and computer-assisted personal interviewing (CAPI). Participants are free to choose whether they would like to complete the paper questionnaire or access the questionnaire on the internet. For this study, data from 2005 and 2006 were used. In the NWCS, safety climate is measured by means of 4 items, based on a questionnaire of Zohar & Luria (2005). Regression analyses were performed to identify determinants of safety climate, controlling for gender, age, education. Working conditions (dangerous work, physical and emotional demands and pressure of work), the need for measures to improve working conditions and the interaction between working conditions and the need for measures to improve working conditions were used as predictors. Results: Results show that working conditions and safety climate are strongly related. On average, employees with bad working conditions (high pressure of work, dangerous work and high physical and emotional demands) rate the safety climate of their companies significantly lower as compared to employees not working in these conditions. In addition, also the need for measures to improve the working conditions appears to be related to the safety climate. Employees reporting measures to improve the working conditions are needed, rate the safety climate substantially lower as compared to employees that do not need these measures. The negative effect poor working conditions have on the safety climate appears to depend on the need for measures to improve the working conditions. The effect that employees with a need for measures rate the safety climate of their company lower as compared to employees that do not report a need for measures, appears to be much stronger when the working conditions are considered to be poor by the employee. In fact, when no measures are needed, the safety climate appears to be even higher when employees report dangerous work than when they do not. These results suggest that the fact that the safety climate is rated more positive in sectors related to poor working conditions, could be due to the fact that in high risk sectors, safety measures are taken relatively often. Conclusion: Previous research has shown that the safety climate is a predictor for safety behavior and occupational accidents within companies (e.g. Gimeno et al., 2005). In this sense, more insight in factors that could improve the safety climate of the company may give employers the opportunity to create safer workplaces. The results of the present analysis imply that taking measures to improve working conditions has a substantial positive impact on the safety climate of the company, especially when working condition are reported to be poor. References Gimeno, D., Felknor, S, Burau, K.D. & Delclos, G.L. (2005) Organisational and occupational risk factors associated with work related injuries among public hospital employees in Costa Rica. Occup Environ Med, 62, 337-343. Zohar, D. & Luria, G. (2005) A multilevel model of safety climate: Cross-level relationships between organization and group-level climates. Journal of Applied Psychology, 4, 616-628.