Safety culture in the context of occupational health and safety: Sakarya province automotive sub-industry research

In this study, the aim is to identify the problems in OHS in Turkey with a scale developed within the scope of safety culture. The reason behind the selection of the related aim is that it is necessary to identify the issues in OHS within the scope of safety culture as these problems are generally in a close relationship with it beyond legal regulations. In the related study, mixed research method was selected in order to both prepare such a scale and to elaborate on identified problem areas. As for the sub-genre, the exploratory sequential mixed method design was preferred. Accordingly, the scope was expanded with the literature review and the opinions of the experts, and during the development of the scale, the opinions of the sector representatives, experts and consultants were used. In the end, an 11-dimensional holistic safety culture scale with 81 statements was developed. The 11 dimensions in the scale are proactive approach OHS training, OHS awareness, OHS communication, reporting culture, OHS participation, OHS rules and procedures, OHS inspection, compliance with non-workplace safety measures, OHS justice and safety leadership of management. The scale was successfully applied to 696 employees in 34 workplaces within the scope of the automotive supplier industry in Sakarya province. In addition, 42 people consisting of occupational safety specialists, workplace physicians, other health personnel and employers in 8 workplaces were interviewed. As a result, it was recognized that building a safety culture with holistic dimensions has a significant place in the effective implementation of OHS, and there is a close relationship between OHS and safety culture. Moreover, it was detected that it works by testing the scale in the example of Sakarya province within the scope of automotive sub-industry. Within the scope of the scale, problems were identified in the expressions of OHS training, OHS communication, OHS participation and compliance with out-of-workplace safety measures from the perspective of the employees. The identified problem areas were detailed from the perspective of employers and OHS professionals.