Safety culture in petrochemical companies in Brazil

Abstract

A framework to measure safety culture maturity in Brazilian petrochemical companies was formulated. A questionnaire was designed to measure 5 aspects of organizational safety indicative of 5 levels of cultural maturity in Brazilian industry. The questionnaire was completed by the safety managers of 23 petrochemical companies based in Camacari, Brazil. The reliability of the questionnaire was tested by asking the same questions in an interview and comparing the results (alternate-forms reliability). The correlation coefficients between the questionnaire and interview scores on each dimension ranged from r= 0.7 – 0.9, demonstrating good reliability of the measures used. The research findings demonstrated that the companies studied showed characteristics of different levels of safety culture. The framework was found to be practical to use, making it possible to identify levels of safety culture maturity in the context of the Brazilian petrochemical industry.