Safety climate assessment and its relation to reliability in Korean manufacturing plants

The objective of this study was to explore safety climate practices (level of safety climate, and the underlying problems), and to find the variables that may influence the level of safety climate among managerial and non-managerial workers. Interventions for improving safety climate practices in the Korean manufacturing plants, especially in hazardous chemical treating plants, were explored. Out of 642 plants contacted 195 (30.4%) of them agreed to participate. The questionnaires developed by Health and Safety Executive (HSE)[1] in the UK were adopted and surveyed managerial and non-managerial workers. Eleven factors were summarized from over 100 questions surveyed. Internal reliability for these factors was tested. The data were collected by e-mail using SQL-server or mail. Number of employees in the company varied from less than 30 employees (9.2%) to over 1, 000 employees (37.4%). Both managerial and non-managerial workers recorded generally high level of safety climate score, and the major underlying problems were inadequate Health and Safety procedures/rules, pressure for production, and rule breaking. The length of employment was the most significant contributing factor to the level of safety climate. In this study, most managerial and non-managerial workers showed generally high level of safety climate. Higher level managerial commitment to comply safety rules, procedures, and effective safety education and training are recommended.