INVESTIGATING TECHNICAL INSTRUCTORS PERCEPTIONS OF SAFETY CULTURE USING PARTIAL LEAST SQUARE-STRUCTURAL EQUATION MODELLING (PLS-SEM) IN MALAYSIAN EDUCATION SECTOR

Abstract

Keselamatan merupakan isu pekerjaan yang penting untuk ditangani kerana implikasinya kepada organisasi.Kajian budaya keselamatan semakin meningkat di kebanyakan sektor pekerjaan. Bagaimanapun, kurangtumpuan kajian budaya keselamatan di sektor pendidikan terutamanya di Malaysia. Kajian ini dijalankanuntuk menguji faktor-faktor yang mempengaruhi budaya keselamatan di sektor pendidikan sebagaipenambahan sorotan literatur dalam kajian budaya keselamatan di tempat kerja. Satu tinjauan telahdijalankan di Kolej Vokasional (KV) seluruh Malaysia, yang merupakan salah satu institusi pendidikanteknik dan vokasional di Malaysia, melibatkan 380 pengajar dalam kursus teknologi kejuruteraan di KV.Analisis menggunakan perisian SmartPLS digunakan untuk menguji hipotesis kajian. Model pengukurantelah mengesahkan kebolehpercayaan dan kesahan lima faktor budaya keselamatan yang dikaji. Analisismodel berstruktur mendapati pengetahuan keselamatan merupakan pemboleh ubah peramal budayakeselamatan yang paling penting, diikuti oleh peraturan keselamatan, latihan keselamatan dan komunikasikeselamatan. Walau bagaimanapun, tiada hubungan yang signifi kan didapati antara komitmen pengurusandan budaya keselamatan di kalangan pengajar KV. Penguatkuasaan pematuhan Akta Keselamatan danKesihatan Pekerjaan 1994 di semua organisasi dalam sektor pendidikan oleh Kementerian PendidikanMalaysia dilihat sebagai satu langkah yang perlu untuk mencapai budaya keselamatan yang positif dalamsektor pendidikan. Kempen, bengkel dan latihan juga perlu dijalankan oleh kerajaan bagi meningkatkankesedaran tenaga pengajar/guru berkaitan budaya kerja yang selamat. Pihak pengurusan dan tenagapengajar/guru perlu memainkan peranan dan tanggungjawab masing-masing untuk memastikan objektifbudaya keselamatan dapat dicapai.   Safety is an important employment issue that needs to be tackled because of the implications it bringsto organizations. Studies on safety culture have been increasing recently in many occupational sectors.However, less focus has been given to safety culture studies in the education sector particularly in Malaysia.Adding to the safety culture research literature, this study examined to what extent factors that affect thesafety culture at education sector. A survey was conducted in Vocational Colleges (VC) all over Malaysia,as one of technical and vocational institution in Malaysian Education sector, involve 380 instructorsteaching in engineering technology courses at VC. Partial least square (PLS) analysis was employedin this study to test the research hypothesis. The measurement model resulted in fi ve factors of safetyculture which validity and reliability were confi rmed. The analysis on the structural model revealed thatsafety knowledge is the most signifi cant predictor of safety culture, followed by, safety regulations, safetytraining and safety communication. However, no signifi cant eff ect was found for management commitmenttowards safety culture among the instructors. Furthermore, in order to achieve a positive safety culturein education sector, the Ministry of Education needs to enforce a compliance of Occupational Safety andHealth Act 1994 at all organizations in education sector. Beside that, campaigns, workshops and alsotrainings need to be carried out by the government in order to increase instructors/teachers awarenessof safe work culture. Both the management and instructors/teachers need to play their own roles andresponsibility in order to ensure the objective of safety culture is achieved.