Affiliations: [a] Faculty of Engineering Management, Poznan University of Technology, Poznan, Poland
| [b]
Technical University of Varna, Varna, Bulgaria
Correspondence:
[*]
.Corresponding author: Beata Mrugalska, Faculty of Engineering Management, Poznan University of Technology, ul. J. Rychlewskiego 2, 60-965 Poznan, Poland. Tel.: +48616653402; Fax: +48616653374; E-mail: beata.mrugalska@put.poznan.pl; ORCID: 0000-0001-9827-9449.
Note: [1] These authors contributed equally to this work.
Abstract: BACKGROUND:In the last decades a revolution for safety industries is widely recognizable. Regulatory bodies have tried to investigate more and more how the industry can get better and learn from hazardous events. Moreover, industrial associations have increased the amount of provided best practices, and started to train and certify new standards of process safety. However, experts indicate that one of the most important elements in safety performance is the role of people. The recent findings of accident investigations demonstrate a growing recognition that the cultural context and human performance may influence safety and therefore, a focus on safety culture is inevitable in contemporary enterprises. OBJECTIVE:The aim of this paper is to establish the relationship between human factors and safety culture in industrial environment. METHODS:In the research study we adopted multiple methods that consisted of the completion of a safety culture assessment survey in an industrial sector (243 responses) and research interviews (5 in total) within industrial authorities. RESULTS:The results of the research clearly show a crucial role of human factors in safety culture. It was investigated in relation to safety training, safety awareness, hazard identification and risk, responding to incidents, and communication and safety. CONCLUSIONS:Summing up, it can be concluded that the behaviours and awareness of humans and a positive safety culture influence directly safety good practices, hazard control, incident reporting and finally number and scope of accidents at work.
