(55c) A Survey of Process Safety Workers' Attitudes, Behaviors, and Outcomes: Moving Beyond Human Error and Toward a Systems Model

In an effort to move beyond the "human error" explanation for safety incidents, we explored issues with procedures from the worker's point of view by using an anonymous, holistic survey developed from interviews with then currently employed operators. The current sample (N = 174) included individuals employed in the process safety industry (MKO/Advanced Procedures Initiative) and were primarily from the Oil & Gas and Chemical industry. The survey was deployed over the course of approximately four weeks. Twelve distinct constructs emerged from the survey (e.g., perceptions of procedure quality, procedure deviation, attitudes toward the procedure change process, etc.). Results indicated that perceptions of procedure quality was the focal variable in all analyses including positive relationships with attitudes toward the procedure change process and negative relationships with procedure deviations, and safety incidents and near-misses. We conclude that these elements are important factors to consider when evaluating and developing procedure systems and provide additional information beyond what the industry considered paramount.