First Advisor

Laurie Skokan

Term of Graduation

Winter 1998

Date of Publication

1998

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science (M.S.) in Psychology

Department

Psychology

Language

English

Subjects

Industrial safety, Questionnaires

DOI

10.15760/etd.3528

Physical Description

1 online resource (91 pages)

Abstract

It is important that organizations manage the safety behavior ofemployees by the implementation of a safety program including periodic assessment of the safety level (i.e., how frequently employees are complying with safety guidelines) in the organization. The occupational safety literature lacks sufficient assessment tools for measuring employee safety behavior.

The purpose of the present study was to develop and validate a comprehensive measure of compliance with safety behavior guidelines in the form of a questionnaire that can be utilized across industries and occupations. The research objectives for the present study were to: 1) Perform factor analysis on the safety questionnaire and obtain a clear factor solution, 2) Identify questionnaire items that are good indicators of their underlying construct (i.e., work safety behavior), 3) Reveal high reliabilities of the factors and overall scale, and 4) Reveal a correlation between accidents on the job and self-reported work safety behavior.

One thousand employees from four different industries in six states were selected as subjects. The 52-item Work Safety Compliance Measure (WSCM) was administered to each subject. Subjects were also asked to report the number of accidents and near accidents experienced in the last 12 months.

The exploratory factor analyses revealed a four-factor solution. Factor loadings were examined and 38 items were retained for subsequent analyses. Each factor represents a type of safety behavior: a) Hazard Communication and General Safety (WSCM-HC), b) Safety Protocol (WSCM-SP), c) Unsafe behaviors (WSCMUn), and d) Chemical Handling (WSCM-CH). Each of these subscales and the overall scale had internal consistencies above .82. The intercorrelations among the WSCM subscales were considerably lower than subscale reliabilities suggesting that the WSCM measured four empirically distinct constructs. WSCM subscales were negatively correlated with unreported and near accident rates. Multiple linear regression analyses revealed that the Unsafe Behavior subscale was the best predictor of unreported and near accidents. Future research suggestions for the use of the WSCM are discussed.

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Persistent Identifier

https://archives.pdx.edu/ds/psu/40104

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