Developing a Questionnaire to Assess Safety Climate at Universities of Medical Sciences

Background & Aims of the Study: The implementation of safety principles in work environments can directly benefit both employees and the organization by reducing the mental and physical strain, reducing the risk of work-related injuries, and performance improvement. Thus, with the consideration and implementation of safety principles, and the creation of a positive safety climate, organizations can improve their performance and the welfare and safety of their employees. The purpose of this study was to design and provide a domestic questionnaire of safety climate assessment at universities of Health Ministry in 2018-19. Materials and Methods: This descriptive-analytical study was carried out with the participation of health and safety specialists, methodologists and personnel of the universities of medical sciences. Universities and people were selected randomly. The validity of the questionnaire was measured by CVI and CVR analysis and then the structural validity was studied by factor analysis using R، MPLUS and SmartPLS softwares. Also, to test the reliability of the questionnaire, test-retest test and Cronbach's alpha coefficient used. The analytic methods T and Mann–Whitney were used in SPSS V20 software to measure predictive value. Results: By forming a group, the Focus Group methodology was used and reached to 37 questions. The test-retest showed a correlation of 0.96 with a one-week interval. Then, data from 265 people were analyzed for exploratory factor analysis. Two questions were deleted. Therefore, a final questionnaire includes 35 questions with five-point Likert scale responses, was obtained. The output of this analysis identified seven subscales for the questionnaire. The reliability of the questionnaire was tested with Cronbach's alpha and was 0.909. The analysis of predictive validity of difference in safety climate and its components between two groups of with and without experience of occupational accident indicated that commitment and performance of management in the field of safety, and environment and conditions of work was significant (P<0.05). Conclusion: The findings indicated that the questionnaire was acceptable. Since human resources are the main and vital part of organizations, recognizing the status of the organization from their viewpoint is important to them. In the area of safety, it is also necessary to have an instrument for assessing its available atmosphere. This instrument can help managers to plan for the future. It is worth noting that other factors and places can also be investigated in future studies.