Differences in Attitudes of Operators and Managers on Risk Management of Pressure Equipment

Abstract

Introduction: Previous research indicates that models for risk assessment of pressure equipment have not sufficiently nor adequately integrated indicators of human factors and organizational factors. Method: The goal of this paper is to check the differences in attitudes of operators and managers engaged in the area of pressure equipment risk management. Questionnaire was designed and then data was collected from 253 operators and managers working with the same pressure equipment in Serbia. By applying the paired t-test, differences in their attitudes were checked for the issues described by constructs communication (COM), potentially hazardous materials and equipment (PHME), process safety (PS), safety and health at work (SHW), organizational change management (OCM), maintenance/inspection (MI) procedures, human error (HE), trainings and competences of employees for crisis situations (TCECS) and conducting investigation after accidents (CIAA). Results: It is statistically evident that the coincidence of attitudes accounted for less than 20% of questions. The highest coincidence is shown for PHME and TCECS, where one half of dimensions of given constructs indicate that there are not statistically significant differences. Conclusions: Differences found could be used as an explanation of high-risk levels of pressure equipment exploitation and the manner they influence it.