Safety attitudes among workers in Malaysian chemical manufacturing plants

Abstract

Statistics in Malaysia show that accident cases in the manufacturing industry are the highest compared with other sectors. Concerns regarding changing workers' attitudes, controlling their current perceptions, and installing knowledge and experiences that travel through the culture are necessary. This study investigates workers' attitudes to safety between executives and operators. A total number of 309 respondents voluntarily participated. Results report that respondents' attitude toward individual responsibility (M = 4.24, SD = 0.63) is the highest, followed by the effectiveness of safety arrangements (M = 3.91, SD = 0.81) and safeness of the work environment (M = 3.17, SD = 0.73). Results revealed a significant difference between groups (t = 6.67, p = 0.014) for personal skepticism and (t = 15.775, p = 0.001) for personal immunity. There was a statistically positive correlation between attitudes measured with selected demographic factors. It can be concluded that increases in the level of education were associated with increases in individual responsibility, and an increase in age was directly correlated with increases in the effectiveness of safety arrangements. Furthermore, different groups of workers influence their attitudes toward safety arrangements and safeness of the work environment. This study can be used as a preliminary study or the first step for enhancing an organizational safety culture through behavior and attitude change.