Development of occupational health culture scale: A study based on miners and construction workers

Abstract

Culture is an essential influence on effectiveness of workplace health promotion, which can promote occupational health protection behavior. The aim of this research was to develop and validate an occupational health culture scale available to Chinese workers. Occupational health culture scale (OHCS) was developed based on elements of health culture and safety culture in workplace. Nine techniques steps of scale development were used, including a 15-member expert group, 10 workers for cognitive interview, and 1,119 questionnaires (from 710 miners and 409 construction workers) for formal investigation. Welch's variance analysis, independent samples t-test, Kruskal-Wallis test, Spearman correlation analysis was employed, respectively, to verified nine hypotheses about impact relationship on OHCS score. After the analysis reliability and validity, the final scale consisted of 21 items in five domains: leadership support, co-workers support, values, policy and norms, employee involvement, physical environment. Moreover, respirable dust concentration from individual sampler had the largest negative correlation coefficient on OHCS score, -0.469 (p < 0.01). The development of an occupational health culture among Chinese workers is necessary for the sustainability of human resources and the implementation of corporate responsibility.

Keywords: culture; occupational health; reliability; scale development; validity; workplace contamination.

Figure 1

The technical flowchart of scale development of occupational health culture.

Figure 2

Hypothesis for correlation between OHCS scores and personal factor.

Figure 3

Seven factor model occupational health culture.

Figure 4

Analysis of the difference in OHCS scores between miners and construction workers. TAS-M, total average occupational health scale scores of miners; TAS-C, total average occupational health scale scores of construction workers. ***P < 0.001, **P < 0.01.

Figure 5

(A) OHCS score distribution of miners. SO, safety officer; FM, filling worker; OP, ore porter; ELO, electric locomotive operator; LM, loading miners; MR, machine repairer; HEO, hoist engine operator; TBM, transport belt miner; SM, signaling miner; RD, rock driller; EMA, explosive magazine administrator; SUM, support miner. (B) OHCS score distribution of construction workers. EW, electric welder; COW, concrete worker; EOI, equipment installer; DW, decoration workers.

Figure 6

(A) Workplace total dust concentration and miners' OHCS score distribution. (B) Workplace respirable dust concentration and miners' OHCS score distribution. (C) Workplace individual respirable dust concentration and miners' OHCS score. (D) Workplace noise values and miners' OHCS score distribution. (E) Workplace illumination and miners' OHCS score distribution.