Chemical Risk Perception and Safety Behaviors as Key Factors toward Safer Chemical Industries - A Case Study in Iran

Organization and employees’ attitudes towards chemical risks are an important contributing factor for safe and unsafe behaviors. These risks should be controlled to as low as reasonably practicable (ALARP) level. The objective of this study was to assess chemicals risk perception, safety knowledge, attitude and their relationships with safe behavior among chemical workers in Iran. The study was a descriptive-analytical and cross-sectional study. 209 workers from five chemical companies were selected in random and stratified sampling. Vinodkumar questionnaire as a demographic questionnaire and Smith-Jackson questionnaire as a safety behaviour questionnaire was utilized to assess safety knowledge, attitude, and chemicals risk perception. Collected data were analyzed utilizing T, ANOVA, and multiple-linear regression by SPSS V20. Males were in the majority (83.1%). Mean and standard deviation (SD) of age and work experience were 31.75±6.86 and 6.00±5.24 years, respectively. Also, mean and SD of risk perception, safe behavior, knowledge and attitude were 22.33±4.29, 22.12±2.88, 24.79±4.79 and 19.18±3.08, respectively. Gender and education were the most important demographic criteria in the case of difference in four variables. Also, correlation between safety behavior with risk perception and safety attitude was significant (p<0.05). According to the findings, development in employees’ knowledge and attitude through organizational plans and omission of cultural and organizational barriers against doing safety orders and risk perception enhancement would result in workers’ safer behaviors towards chemical risks; leading to occupational accidents and diseases reduction in industries.

کلیدواژه ها:

Safety Behavior ، Risk Perception ، Knowledge ، Attitude ، Chemical agents