SAFETY BEHAVIORS ASSESSMENT IN PROCESS INDUSTRY: A CASE STUDY IN GAS REFINERY

I. Mohammad Fam*

Department of Occupational Safety and Health, Faculty of Health, University of Hamadan Medical Science

Shariati Road, Hamadan, Iran

A. Azadeh

Research Institute of Energy Management and planning and Department of Industrial

Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran

M. Faridan

Department of Occupational Health and Faculty of Health, University of Esfahan Medical

Science, Esfahan, Iran

H. Mahjub

Department of Biostatistics, Health and Faculty of Health, University of Hamadan Medical Science

ABSTRACT

The study aims to evaluate the workers safety behavior in an Iranian gas treatment company. The methodology was based on the safety behavior sampling (SBS) technique. After specifying the unsafe behaviors, a sample of 2121 was determined, with reference to the results of a pilot study with a sampling accuracy of 5% and confidence level of 95%. The results indicated that 36.7 % of workers behaviors were unsafe. The most important unsafe behaviors were awkward postures in working hours with 16.1% of total unsafe behaviors. The results also showed a significant relationship between unsafe behaviors, age and job experience (p less than 0.001). The relationship between unsafe behaviors and previous accidents records was also significant (p less than 0.001). The ultimate findings of study indicated that a considerable number of worker's behaviors were unsafe, which is the main cause of accidents. Considering catastrophic consequences of probable accidents in gas treatment industry, the results put an emphasis on decreasing unsafe behaviors and recommend applying behavior based safety principles.

Keywords:accidents, process industry, behavior sampling, safety

(*Contact: E-mail Fam@engmail.ut.ac.ir )

Cite this article as: I. Mohammad Fam, A. Azadeh, M. Faridan and H. Mahjub, " Safety Behaviors Assessment in Process Industry: a Case Study in Gas Refinery," Journal of the Chinese Institute of Industrial Engineers, 25, 298-305 (2008).