Effect of health, safety, and environment management system training on safety climate in a mine in Yazd Province, Iran

Abstract

Background: Today, with the development of technology, the presence and role of human resources has been highlighted in industrial environments. Hence, the importance of safety culture is growing. Mining is the one of the most dangerous occupations. Therefore, this study was performed to determine the effect of health, safety, and environment management system (HSE-MS) on safety climate in one of the mines in Yazd Province, Iran, in 2014. Materials and Methods: The study population consisted of 32 employees of the operations unit working in one of the mines in Yazd Province. The standard 20-item Safety Climate Questionnaire (α = 0.77) which was valid and reliable was used to evaluate the safety culture at the unit. In this questionnaire, the items were scored based on a 5-point Likert scale. Data were collected before and 2 months after the HSE-MS training courses. The inclusion and exclusion criteria were willingness to participate in the project, at least 1 year of work experience, and the lack of specific and neurological diseases. The collected data were entered into SPSS statistical software. Results: In this study, 28.1 of the study population was single and 71.9 married. The average score of the safety climate dimensions of managerial commitment, safety communications, safe environment, responsibility of managers, perception of risk, job satisfaction, and knowledge and awareness of safety issues was 11.09 ± 2.66, 7.50 ± 2.36, 8.09 ± 1.92, 6.56 ± 1.58, 8.43 ± 1.56, 4.59 ± 1.58, and 4.25 ± 1.27, respectively. The dimension of understanding of risk and knowledge and awareness of safety issues were predictors of job satisfaction in workers. Conclusions: It can be concluded that attitudes of the examined miners toward safety climate were at a moderate level, and that the level of their attitudes increased after the HSE-MS training course. Therefore, safety climate can be greatly improved with HSE-MS training course.