Satisfactory safety climate and performance are necessary characteristics of a work environment where excellence is sought. Sound leadership is a prerequisite for both these elements. In the context of social systems theory, safety leadership behavior is the result of interaction between organizational and individual factors. Nevertheless, no evidence drawn from empirical investigations has yet been brought forward to support such an argument. The purpose of this study is to explore the interactive effects of organizational and individual factors on safety leadership in college and university laboratories. A self-administered questionnaire was distributed to a sample of 754 employees at four colleges and universities in central Taiwan. From them, 465 usable questionnaires were returned, corresponding to a 61.67% response rate. The results indicated that the correlation between safety leadership and individual factors varied according to organizational factors. Hence, the safety leadership perception of employees with various individual characteristics was found to vary with organizational factors. (C) 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.