Evaluation of general awareness of dockworkers in maritime dangerous cargo transport

More than 80% of world transport consists of maritime transport with its advantages. One of the basic components of maritime transport is "cargo". Many different cargoes, including dangerous cargoes that are used in the daily life, are transported by sea. Another basic components of maritime transport are "ports". Ports are the constructions where the cargo is transferred from the sea to the land and the land to the sea, and various services are given to the cargo. When the causes of dangerous cargo accidents in the past are examined, carelessness, violations of the rules and, most importantly, the lack of education of crew and dockworkers attract the attention. Dangerous cargos that have the potential to damage the environment, to the living creatures and other cargos, can cause great financial losses, injuries, permanent injuries, deaths and environmental disasters with the smallest error. The prevention of big and small dangerous cargo accidents in ports or to overcome the taken place dangerous cargo accidents in the ports with minimum damage considerably depends on the level of dangerous cargo general awareness of dockworkers. The lack of any previous work on the dangerous cargo general awareness of dockworkers has revealed the necessity of the handle the subject. When international and national regulations are examined, it is seen that the issue of maritime dangerous cargo transport is addressed extensively. International Maritime Organization (IMO) is the first international organization which was established by the United Nations only for maritime matters. IMO carries out works on development of maritime safety and security and the prevention of marine pollution. As regards maritime dangerous cargo transport, IMO has adopted great numbers of conventions, protocols, codes and recommendations to ensure international standardization. The maritime dangerous cargo transport has also taken part in the national legislation as it is in line with international legislation. The maritime dangerous cargo transport is regulated to prevent injury to persons or damage to ships and cargos as far as possible. The International Maritime Dangerous Goods (IMDG) Code has been adopted in order to increase the safety of the dangerous cargo transport and to prevent environmental pollution, while facilitating free circulation of dangerous cargos. The IMDG Code contains rules on the transport of packaged dangerous cargos and the dangerous cargos within the scope of the IMDG Code are examined under various classes according to their characteristics. Various trainings are given to dockworkers who take part in operations related to the dangerous cargos covered by IMDG Code. IMDG Code General Awareness Training is the training which is given to dockworkers who handle the dangerous cargos within the scope of the IMDG Code. With regard to the maritime dangerous cargo transport, general awareness training includes classification, packaging, marking, labelling, badging, loading to transport units and ships, unloading from transport units or ships, requesting freight offer, preparing and accepting freight offer, cargo handling, preparing stowing and discharge plans, carriage, storage, preparing shipping bill, control and supervision, legal requirements and general damages of dangerous cargos. IMDG Code Mission Related Training is a detailed training concerning missions carried out by dockworkers and safe handling of dangerous cargos. IMDG Code Refresher Training is a biennial training to inform about the changes made in the IMDG Code. In this thesis study, it is aimed to measure and evaluate the dangerous cargo general awareness of dockworkers. In accordance with this purpose, a dangerous cargo general awareness questionnaire has been developed. The dangerous cargo general awareness questionnaire consists of two parts: in the first part of the questionnaire, the questions were asked to determine the demographic characteristics of dockworkers; in the second part of the questionnaire, the items were taken place to measure the dangerous cargo general awareness levels of dockworkers. 5-point Likert scale was used for each item of the questionnaire. The dangerous cargo general awareness questionnaire has been applied to 100 dockworkers who have received the Dangerous Cargo General Awareness Training. In the analysis of the data obtained from the questionnaire, a statistical program SPSS Statistics 23.0 (Statistical Package for Social Sciences) was used. For the validity of the questionnaire, the content validity of the questionnaire and the construct validity of the questionnaire were examined. Explanatory factor analysis and item analysis were conducted to determine whether the questionnaire had construct validity. The internal consistency coefficient (Cronbach Alfa) was examined for the reliability of the questionnaire. With test-retest reliability method, Pearson product-moment correlation coefficient was evaluated. As a result of the questionnaire validity and reliability study, it has been proved that the dangerous cargo general awareness questionnaire prepared for the dockworkers is valid and reliable. Findings related to demographic variables, findings related to general awareness levels of dockworkers, findings related to discriminant analysis of demographic variables and findings related to regression analysis were evaluated. It has not been possible to determine whether there is a statistically significant difference between the variables of gender and working time and the dangerous cargo general awareness factors. It has been found that there is no statistically significant difference between age, working position and educational status variables and dangerous cargo general awareness factors. It has been determined that the dangerous cargo knowledge and competence awareness of dockworkers is at medium level; dangerous cargo training awareness of dockworkers is at good level; business responsibilities awareness of dockworkers is at medium level and attitude awareness of dockworkers is at very good level. A significant relationship was found between each of the dangerous cargo general awareness factors. It has been determined that dangerous cargo training has statistically significant effect on knowledge and competence awareness, business responsibilities awareness and attitude awareness towards dangerous cargos. The dangerous cargo general awareness of dockworkers has been evaluated in this thesis. The thesis consists of five chapters. In the first chapter, general information about maritime transport, the concept of port and the concept of dangerous cargo is given and important dangerous cargo accidents in the past are mentioned. In the second chapter, the place of maritime dangerous cargo transport in international and national legislation is examined. In the third chapter, the dangerous cargo classes and, if any, the dangerous cargo subclasses within IMDG Code are examined. Characteristic features of dangerous cargo classes and the general precautions to be taken concerning dangerous cargo are mentioned. In the fourth chapter, the prepared questionnaire to measure the dangerous cargo general awareness of dockworkers, applied to the dockworkers who carry out the activities related to dangerous cargos in a container port. The data obtained from the questionnaire were analyzed with the SPSS 23.0 statistical program in line with the established relational screening model. In the fifth chapter, conclusions of the study and the limitations of the study were mentioned and recommendations based on the conclusions of the study were made.