Assessing the Relationship between Safety Culture and Occupational Accidents: A Case Study in a Process Industry Using Structural Equation Modeling

Human error is the leading cause of accidents in industries. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the safety culture and model the factors affecting it in a process industry using the structural equation modeling.

In this cross-sectional study, safety culture was assessed using ten dimensions’ questionnaire constructed by researchers with Likert-scale. This study was conducted in a petrochemical industry in 2021. Questionnaires were distributed among 312 employees and 308 questionnaires were completed. SPSS 23.0 and AMOS 23.0 were used to analyze the data.

The safety culture score was calculated to be 3.35. The results of SEM demonstrated that the factor loadings of the effect of income, education, and work experience on safety culture were 0.322, 0.445, and 0.328, respectively, and the factor loadings of the effects of education, work experience, and age on accident experience were -0.336, -0.312, and -0.214, respectively. The relationship between safety culture and accident experience had a factor loading of -0.477, and GFI was 0.97.

The results of the safety culture assessment indicated that this organization has a positive safety culture, with a high score related to the dimensions of utilizing protective equipment, training and understanding of issues, and the commitment of managers and supervisors. The results of structural equation modeling revealed that education, income, and work experience all have a positive impact on safety culture. Accident experience was inversely related to factors such as age, education, and work experience, and safety culture was likewise inversely correlated to accident experience.