Salāmat-i kār-i Īrān (Mar 2013)
The effect of an educational intervention based on the theory of planned behavior to improve safety climate
Abstract
Background and aim: Annually, occupational accidents have a major impact on workers health and Impose large costs on employers. The current study was designed to evaluate the efficacy of the theory of planned behavior-based intervention to improve workers safety climate in industrial city of Qazvin in the first half of 2010. Methods : A number of 75 workers in each of the control and intervention groups participated in a quasi experimental study. With respect to the fact that the changes of safety climate usually take place in the long term, and for the longer follow-up of participants, data were collected through self-report questionnaires in three different time intervals including initial followed by , 3 and 6 months after the intervention . The intervention consisted of four training courses with 8-15 trainees in each group and its duration was 45-69 minutes. The data were entered into SPSS 16.0 software and were analyzed using statistical tests. Results : The score of Management commitment was significantly increased in the three and six month evaluation in intervention group (p< 0.001). Also, results showed a significant increase in other dimensions such as safety communication, secure environment , responsibility, risk perception , safety climate (P<0.05). Results also indicate a significant change in mean scores of attitude , subjective norm (P<0.05), perceived behavioral control (P<0.001) and attempted (P<0.05) in the intervention group and no significant change in these variables in the control group. Conclusion : Results showed an improvement of workers' safety and common perceptions of workplace safety policies and procedures due to educational intervention based on theory of planned behavior. Thus, the theory of planned behavior can be used as a theoretical framework for the design and implementation of workplace safety interventions.
