The Influence of Safety Culture on Safety Performance in the Chemical Industry, Malaysia

Abstract

Occupational and health researchers often discuss safety performance, particularly in manufacturing. Industry 4.0 era has triggered significant changes in the manufacturing sector which led to various occupational safety and health issues. Therefore, this study was conducted to test the relationship between safety culture and safety performance (safety compliance and safety participation) of workers in the chemical industry in Malaysia. This study hypothesizes the existence of a direct impact of the safety culture with safety compliance and safety participation, as well as the indirect effects of safety attitude and work value as mediators. PLS-SEMwas used to test hypotheses based on data from 385 workers in the chemical industry. The findings indicated that out of five direct hypotheses, only four hypotheses were supported. For example, safety culture and safety attitude are significantly related to safety compliance; safety culture is also significantly related to safety attitude. However, the safety culture did not significantly relate to safety participation. In terms of indirect hypotheses, two out of three hypotheses were supported. For example, safety culture is significantly related to both safety compliance and safety participation via safety attitude. But work values did not mediate the relationship between safety culture and safety attitude.