The relationship between organizational safety culture and unsafe behaviors, and accidents among public transport bus drivers using structural equation modeling

Abstract

Safety culture and unsafe behavior have been considered to be important factors in operational safety in various fields, including transportation systems. This study aimed to investigate the relationship between safety culture and unsafe behaviors, and accidents among bus drivers. Indeed, two questionnaires; i.e., Driver Safety Culture Questionnaire (DSCQ) and Public Transport Driver Behavior Questionnaire (PTDBQ), were developed. This cross-sectional study was conducted among 336 public transport bus drivers in Tehran, Iran. Unsafe behavior and safety culture were measured using DSCQ and PTDBQ, respectively. Additionally, a questionnaire was developed to assess socio-demographic factors and number of accidents. DSCQ and PTDBQ had appropriate psychometric properties. The results indicated a negative relationship between accidents, and safety culture and drivers’ unsafe behaviors. A positive association was also observed between unsafe behaviors and accidents. On the other hand, the unsafe behavior significantly mediated the relationship between safety culture and accidents. Overall, the model presented in this study indicated that strategies for improvement of organizational safety culture could decrease the drivers’ unsafe behaviors and subsequently reduce the number of accidents.