Journal of Health and Safety at Work

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Introduction: Positive safety attitude of employees is directly associated with workplace safety, and it can decrease occupational accidents through increasing the number of safety acts. Assessment of employees’ safety attitude in workplaces can be more helpful to identify underlying causes of unsafe acts. The main aim of this study was to assess safety attitude and its’ relationship with different personal and occupational variables in a number of manufacturing companies, located in Urmia City, Iran.  

Material and Method: In this study, the safety attitude of 194 employees was measured in 9 manufacturing companies using a questionnaire with acceptable validity and reliability. The questionnaire consisted of two parts: participants’ personal and job related information, as well as 46 safety attitude related questions. The questions of safety attitude was measured using a five-point Likert scale in form of ten main aspects. 
 
Result: The results indicated that majority of participants (78.9 %) had a moderate safety attitude level and the mean (±SD) score of total safety attitude was 3.19 (±0.25). “Commitment to safety and participation in safety activities” and “safety talk and risk information communication” obtained the highest and lowest scores of safety attitude factors, with mean (SD) of 3.97(±0.52) and 2.53(±0.58), respectively. In addition, the participants from private companies showed a better safety attitude than those of governmental companies (P-value<0.05). Managers and workers, who had previously received safety training, reported a different attitude toward various factors of safety attitude, in comparison with untrained groups.

Conclusion: Since the majority of participants had a moderate safety attitude, this research suggests the study companies to attempt in order to increase the quantity and quality of safety training courses, as well as safety communication of managers and supervisors with workers for improving their attitude toward safety and subsequently decreasing occupational accidents.

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Introduction: Maintaining and improving organizational safety requires a strong safety culture. Following the occurrence of occupational incidents, proper registration, reporting, and investigation is a key requirement for safety culture to provide an appropriate learning culture. As a result, this study was carried out to assess the culture of occupational incident registration, reporting, and investigation in the province of west Azarbaijan’s industries.
Material and Methods: In this cross-sectional study, data on the culture of registration, reporting, and investigating occupational incident were collected using a 68-item questionnaire. A total of 420 employees from a number of construction and mine companies, as well as hospitals participated in this study.
Results: The results of study showed that the average total score for the culture of registration, reporting, and investigating occupational incidents was 3.08 (±0.38), with the factor of corrective action had the highest 3.17 (±0.72) and the reasons for lack of reporting had the lowest 2.90 (±0.54) scores. There was also a significant relationship between the average score of the culture of registration, reporting, and investigating occupational incidents with education, industries, and companies. Employees who attended training courses had a lower mean score for the culture of occupational incident’ registration, reporting, and investigation than those who did not take training courses. The mean score of the culture of registration, reporting, and investigating occupational incidents of the employees who had experienced an occupational accident was lower than those who had not experience occupational accidents in the past.
Conclusion: The findings of this study revealed that corrective actions is necessary after the occurrence of occupational incidents. Attending training courses and having an occupational accident experience had no positive impact on promoting culture of registration, reporting, and investigating occupational incidents.

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Introduction: Unsafe acts are one of the main causes of workplace accidents. Given the critical role of the steel industry in our country, and the limited research on human factors, and the importance of identifying the contributors to accidents, this study was conducted with the aim of identifying human factors influencing accidents and unsafe behaviors using the Human Factors Analysis and Classification System (HFACS). The identified factors were then prioritized using the Decision-Making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory (DEMATEL) and Analytic Network Process (ANP) methods. Based on the results, appropriate recommendations were proposed for the prevention of accidents and the reduction of unsafe acts.
Material and Methods: This descriptive-analytical study was carried out in the rebar production unit of a steel manufacturing plant. Among 35 recorded accidents over the past two years, 28 were related to the rebar production unit. Data were collected through review of accident reports, seven on-site observations during high-risk shifts, and interviews with employees. After analyzing the occupational accidents, the rebar production process in the rolling unit was identified as a high-risk area. The HFACS checklist was used to assess this process and classify the human factors contributing to accidents. Subsequently, DEMATEL and ANP methods were applied to determine causal relationships and prioritize the factors.
Results: The HFACS analysis identified 236 human factors, among which the preconditions for unsafe acts and organizational factors had the highest frequency (24.57% each), while external factors had the lowest (8.47%). According to DEMATEL results, organizational influences exerted the greatest impact on other levels, whereas external factors had the least effect. In terms of being influenced by other levels, unsafe acts showed the highest level of susceptibility, whereas unsafe supervision had the lowest levels. Based on ANP findings, the preconditions for unsafe acts had the highest importance, while unsafe supervision had the lowest in contributing to unsafe acts.
Conclusion: The findings of this study suggest that improving safety culture, improving organizational regulations, implementing targeted training programs, and updating equipment can play a significant role in reducing accidents caused by unsafe acts. The results provide practical insights for managers and policymakers and can serve as a useful tool for decision-making in occupational health and safety within the steel industry.