One of the problems encountered by university students is the increasingly accidents at lab and workshop. Thus, this study specifically aimed to identify the level of safety behavior among Civil Engineering students at UiTM Pahang. This study also examined the relationship between safety awareness and safety behavior. In addition, this study also examined the relationship between safety attitude and safety behavior among 123 students. Quantitative data were analyzed using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) to test the hypotheses of the study. The findings supported the hypothesized of (a) safety awareness and safety behavior and (b) safety attitude and safety behavior. In order to achieve optimal workplace safety, the university management should focus on safety awareness and safety attitude to improve their safety level. Finally, the findings of the study provide theoretical and practical implications. The findings of this study contribute to the extant literature by empirically testing the role of safety awareness and safety attitude on safety behavior. The research of the study is about the requirement of a systematic approach at universities to integrate safety with academic processes through the setting of comprehensive safety education and proactive management practice. These observations are of the essence for universities who want to create a safe environment for their students and lower the accidents in lab settings. Specifically, this study recommends university management to emphasize on continuous improvement programs in safety training and safety awareness to ensure of creating a secure learning environment which is an issue that needs further investigation in the university.
Abd Aziz, F. S., Abdullah, K. H., & Samsudin, S. (2021). Bibliometric analysis of behavior-based safety (BBS): Three decades publication trends. Webology, 18(Special Issue on Information Retrieval and Web Search), 278-293.
Abdullah, K. H., & Aziz, F. S. A. (2020). Safety behavior in the laboratory among university students. Journal of Behavioral Science.
Abdullah, K. H., Abd Aziz, F. S., Abdullah, N. A. C., Isa, M. F. M., & Othman, Z. (2021). Safety climate and safety behavior in the laboratory among university students/Iklim keselamatan dan gelagat selamat di dalam makmal dalam kalangan pelajar universiti. Sains Humanika, 13(1).
Aziz, I. S., Subramaniam, C., & Johanim, J. (2019). Safety Management Practices and Safety Behavior: A Study in Manufacturing Industry in Kulim Hi-Tech Park. Research Gate, 7.
Calderwood, C., & Ackerman, P. L. (2019). Modeling intraindividual variation in unsafe driving in a naturalistic commuting environment. Journal of occupational health psychology, 24(4), 423.
Clarke, S. (2003). The contemporary workforce: Implications for organisational safety culture. Personnel review, 32(1), 40-57.
Crase, M. M. (2022). Underlying Factors of Laboratory Safety Behaviors in College Students Using The Theory of Planned Behavior and Risk Perceptions (Doctoral dissertation, Northern Illinois University).
Eid, J., Mearns, K., Larsson, G., Laberg, J. C., & Johnsen, B. H. (2012). Leadership, psychological capital and safety research: Conceptual issues and future research questions. Safety science, 50(1), 55-61.
Gadd, S., & Collins, A. M. (2002). Safety culture: A review of the literature. Health and Safety Laboratory.
Gong, Y. (2019). Safety culture among Chinese undergraduates: A survey at a university. Safety science, 111, 17-21.
Gravetter, F. J., & Wallnau, L. B. (2014). Essentials of Statistics for the Behavioral Sciences (8th ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, Cengage Learning.
Hasan, M. K., & Younos, T. B. (2020). Safety culture among Bangladeshi university students: A cross-sectional survey. Safety science, 131, 104922.
Hussain, U., Shoukat, M. H., & Haider, M. S. (2019, September). Analysis of safety awareness, accident prevention and implementation of behavior based safety program in energy utility. In 2019 6th International Conference on Frontiers of Industrial Engineering (ICFIE) (pp. 84-88). IEEE.
Johari, J. H. (2011). A Study on the Effectiveness of Safety Awareness at Seremban Specialist Hospital (Master dissertation, Universiti Utara Malaysia).
Kavalela, E. N. N., Chelliapan, S., & Kamyab, H. (2019). Evaluation of awareness and safety among students and technicians in UTM Research Chemical Laboratories. Journal of Advanced Research in Occupational Safety and Health, 5(1), 1-8.
Khalid, K., Khalid, K., & Davidson, R. (2024). A multi-group assessment of safety culture among engineering students in the United Arab Emirates. Journal of Engineering, Design and Technology, 22(2), 501-515.
Krejcie, R. V., & Morgan, D. W. (1970). Determining sample size for research activities. Educational and psychological measurement, 30(3), 607-610.
Li, Y., Wu, X., Luo, X., Gao, J., & Yin, W. (2019). Impact of safety attitude on the safety behavior of coal miners in China. Sustainability, 11(22), 6382.
Li, Z., Bao, X., Sheng, Y., & Xia, Y. (2021). Research on unsafe behavior of construction workers under the bidirectional effect of formal rule awareness and conformity mentality. Frontiers in Psychology, 12, 794394.
Liu, Y., Feng, W., Zhang, G., & Zhang, Y. (2023). The Influence of the University Laboratory Safety Climate on Students’ Safety Behavior: The Parallel Mediating Effects of Ability and Motivation. Sustainability, 15(19), 14070.
Moreira, F. G., Ramos, A. L., & Fonseca, K. R. (2021). Safety culture maturity in a civil engineering academic laboratory. Safety science, 134, 105076.
Nunnally, J., & Bernstein, I. (1994). Psychometric Theory. 3rd edition. New York: McGraw-Hill.
Osman, R., Awang, N., Hassan, S. A. H. S., & Yusof, N. M. (2015). Level of awareness on behavior-based safety (BBS) in manufacturing industry towards reducing workplace incidents. International Journal of Education and Research, 3(1), 77-88.
Panik, R. T., Nazemi, H., Saleh, J. H., Fitzpatrick, B., & Mokhtarian, P. L. (2024). Precursory elements of safety culture: Exploratory analyses of engineering students’ safety attitudes. Journal of safety research, 88, 179-189.
Pickens, J. (2005). Organisational Behavior in Health Care, Jones and Bartlett Publishers, Sudbury.
Prasetiawan, S. T., Ahmad, I., Setyawati, A., & Zainal, M. (2024). Safety behavior model based on safety competence, culture, and awareness. JPPI (Jurnal Penelitian Pendidikan Indonesia), 10(1), 622-634.
Ramli, F. B., Mokhtar, S. N. B., Jamaluddin, M. H. B., Harun, M. N. B., Salim, M. A. B. M., Lokman, M. N. B., ... & Nor, N. H. B. M. (2020, September). Awareness among students and staff on occupational safety and health (OSH) in Universiti Teknologi Malaysia. In International Conference on Student and Disable Student Development 2019 (ICoSD 2019) (pp. 13-18). Atlantis Press.
Sætrevik, B., & Hystad, S. W. (2021). Ship leadership, situation awareness, and crew safety behavior—preregistered replications in two survey datasets.
Salazar-Escoboza, M. A., Laborin-Alvarez, J. F., Alvarez-Chavez, C. R., Noriega-Orozco, L., & Borbon-Morales, C. (2020). Safety climate perceived by users of academic laboratories in higher education institutes. Safety science, 121, 93-99.
Sammer, C. E., Lykens, K., Singh, K. P., Mains, D. A., & Lackan, N. A. (2010). What is patient safety culture? A review of the literature. Journal of nursing scholarship, 42(2), 156-165.
Schober, P., Boer, C., & Schwarte, L. A. (2018). Correlation coefficients: appropriate use and interpretation. Anesthesia & analgesia, 126(5), 1763-1768.
Seo, H. C., Lee, Y. S., Kim, J. J., & Jee, N. Y. (2015). Analyzing safety behaviors of temporary construction workers using structural equation modeling. Safety Science, 77, 160-168.
Shin, M., Lee, H. S., Park, M., Moon, M., & Han, S. (2014). A system dynamics approach for modeling construction workers’ safety attitudes and behaviors. Accident Analysis & Prevention, 68, 95-105.
The Edge Malaysia. (July, 16th 2013). Fire destroys science lab in UiTM Shah Alam. Retrieved from https://theedgemalaysia.com/article/fire-destroys-science-lab-uitm-shah-ala
Trochim, W. M., & Donnelly, J. P. (2006). The research methods knowledge base (3rd ed.). Cincinatti, OH: Atomic Dog Publishing.
Uzuntarla, F., Kucukali, S., & Uzuntarla, Y. (2020). An analysis on the relationship between safety awareness and safety behaviors of healthcare professionals, Ankara/Turkey. Journal of occupational health, 62(1), e12129.
Van Mol, C. (2017). Improving web survey efficiency: the impact of an extra reminder and reminder content on web survey response. International Journal of social research Methodology, 20(4), 317-327.
Walters, A. U., Lawrence, W., & Jalsa, N. K. (2017). Chemical laboratory safety awareness, attitudes and practices of tertiary students. Safety science, 96, 161-171.
Wang, M., Sun, J., Du, H., & Wang, C. (2018). Relations between safety climate, awareness, and behavior in the Chinese construction industry: a hierarchical linear investigation. Advances in Civil Engineering, 2018(1), 6580375.
Williamson, A. M., Feyer, A. M., Cairns, D., & Biancotti, D. (1997). The development of a measure of safety climate: The role of safety perceptions and attitudes. Safety science, 25(1-3), 15-27.
Xian, L. J., & Sekaran, R. (May 6th, 2019). No explosion: Poor lab ventilation led to 13 students inhaling iodine gas. The Star. Retrieved from https://www.thestar.com.my/news/nation/2019/05/06/no-explosion-poor-lab-ventilation-led-to-13-students-inhaling-iodine-gas/#:~:text=BALIK%20PULAU%3A%20Thirteen%20students%20%E2%80%93%2011,turned%20out%20to%20be%20inaccurate
Zhang, S., Shi, X., & Wu, C. (2017). Measuring the effects of external factor on leadership safety behavior: Case study of mine enterprises in China. Safety science, 93, 241-255.
Zikmund, W. G., Babin, B. J., Carr, J. C., & Griffin, M. (2010). Business research methods (8th ed.). South-Western: Cengage Learning.
Zubir, B., Saad, F., Maidin, W. F. W., & Jamaludin, M. R. (2016). Safety and health awareness among staff and students in workshop and laboratory of an Engineering Technology University Campus. International Journal of Engineering Research & Technology (IJERT), 5(3).
Ashri, N. M., Zuraidi, S. N. F., Ramlee, S. A. M., Johari, S. A., & Saat, M. Z. M. (2024). Factors Influencing Safety Behavior among Civil Engineering Students in UiTM Jengka, Pahang. International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences, 14(8), 3084–3095.
Copyright: © 2024 The Author(s)
Published by Knowledge Words Publications (www.kwpublications.com)
This article is published under the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY 4.0) license. Anyone may reproduce, distribute, translate and create derivative works of this article (for both commercial and non-commercial purposes), subject to full attribution to the original publication and authors. The full terms of this license may be seen at: http://creativecommons.org/licences/by/4.0/legalcode
