Improving Safety through Non-Technical Skills in Chemical Plants: The Validity of a Questionnaire for the Self-Assessment of Workers.

Marco Mariani,Dina Guglielmi,Michela Vignoli,Rita Chiesa,Francesco Violante

doi:10.3390/ijerph16060992

Abstract

This research is aimed at developing a questionnaire for the self-assessment of non-technical skills (NTS) leading to safety in the chemical sector and at analysing the properties of its scales in terms of construct validity. The research involved 269 Italian employees from three chemical plants of an international company, who occupied low–medium levels in the organizational hierarchy. Results showed a good level of validity and reliability of the instrument and suggested that communication, situational awareness, decision-making, and fatigue/stress management are the four most important NTS for safety in the chemical sector.

Highlights

As reported by the International Labour Organization [1], the chemical sector shows one of the highest large potentials of adverse effects such as (a) health hazards; (b) physical hazards, (c) environmental hazards and more importantly (d) fires, explosions, and other disasters.On the one hand, workplace safety has been recently defined as “an attribute of work systems reflecting the likelihood of physical harm—whether immediate or delayed—to persons, property, or the environment during the performance of work” [2] (p. 2)
In order to study the external validity of the NTSC-Q, we evaluated its relationship with an antecedent of non-technical skills (NTS) and one of their outcomes (Safety Performance)
Twelve key informant interviews were conducted with employees of three chemical plants with different roles in safety

Summary

Introduction

As reported by the International Labour Organization [1], the chemical sector shows one of the highest large potentials of adverse effects such as (a) health hazards (e.g., cancer); (b) physical hazards (e.g., flammability), (c) environmental hazards (e.g., widespread contamination and toxicity to aquatic life) and more importantly (d) fires, explosions, and other disasters.On the one hand, workplace safety has been recently defined as “an attribute of work systems reflecting the (low) likelihood of physical harm—whether immediate or delayed—to persons, property, or the environment during the performance of work” [2] (p. 2). Workplace safety has been recently defined as “an attribute of work systems reflecting the (low) likelihood of physical harm—whether immediate or delayed—to persons, property, or the environment during the performance of work” [2] Beus et al [2] defined an integrated safety model, which summarized the existing knowledge on safety theories. This model highlighted how safety knowledge and skills are relevant at an individual level in order to increase safety-related work behaviours and reduce accidents. To reduce the number of incidents and injuries, organisations need to improve levels of safety by improving technical equipment and by enhancing the safety skills of workers

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion