Analysis of Workers’ Safety Attitude in an Iranian Process Industry

Background & Aims of the Study: To prevent lots of work-related accidents in different industries and workplaces, managers should consider macro-factors such as safety culture and its elements like safety climate as the main subject to reflect attitude toward safety . This study aimed at finding the best work shift group in an Iranian process industry by safety attitude/climate analysis conducted in 2010. Materials and Methods: Through a cross-sectional study 151 workers were selected in order to fill the safety climate questionnaires. After gathering safety climate questionnaires, the statistical tests of T-test, ANOVA and Pearson correlation were used through SPSS V16 to analysis data. To find the best work shift group TOPSIS method was also utilized. Results: 134 out of 151 completed questionnaires were valid, making the response rate %88.74. Questionnaire’s reliability was assessed by Cronbach’s Alpha to be 0.928. The mean score of safety climate was 154.84 while the maximum score could be 245. Furthermore, 68.7% of workers had positive safety climate. A significant relationship was found between age and safety climate (P< 0.05). Conclusion: The most effective and least attractive alternatives shift groups for intervention were selected in this company using TOPSIS method. By taking into account variant effects of accidents in process industries in different categories such as personal injuries/death, damage to property, and effects on environment and community, the results showed the importance of attention to safety principles and developing a positive attitude among employees with regard to safety.