| Summary: | In this dissertation, an institute of tertiary education in Hong Kong "The University" represents a leading international research university dedicated to the pursuit of new knowledge in cutting-edge fields and the education of tomorrow's leaders. In the University, the success of an effective safety management system (SMS) depends on many factors, one of which could be safety attitudes of Departmental Safety Representatives "DSRs" who have a major role in implementing SMS at the departmental level. They are employees with additional safety duties to make sure the University's safety policy, in-house rules, procedures, Code of Practice and legal requirements are adhered to. Clearly, DSRs are different from each other. Attitude, behaviour, personal beliefs, culture, competence, personality and various co-factors of individual ultimately make a difference toward the implementation of SMS. A well-designed workplace with a well established SMS does not guarantee an injury-free workplace. The problem, however, is that some DSRs involved may have different safety attitudes in implementing the SMS at work. Then, what would happen? An attempt has been made in this project to study the DSRs' safety attitudes by exploring the relationships of DSRs' introspection and various cognitive factors which may most likely influence the effectiveness of SMS implementation in the University. A comprehensive review of literature has provided a substantial ground work for the design of research instrument and the theoretical framework to develop the hypothesized "DSRs Safety Attitude Model". A self-reported six points Likert type safety attitudes survey questionnaire was developed to measure responses of the targeted group 'DSRs' safety attitudes towards the implementation of SMS that probes into the possible relationships between various cognitive factors. Constructs measured by the survey included perceptions of safety management, perceived management commitment to safety, perceptions of safety communication, perceptions of safety training, personal beliefs in accident causation, perceptions of group safety norms, perceived safety responsibility and perceived efficacy in managing safety. With respect to analyzing data, Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) version 11.0 for Windows was employed to test validity and reliability of the survey questionnaire. Both were over recommended levels and so the survey instrument was deemed fit for use. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was employed to analyze relationships among constructs of the hypothesized "DSRs Safety Attitude Model". Path analyses using AMOS 5.0 suggested some theoretically justifiable modifications to the model. The hypothesized "DSRs Safety Attitude Model" was tested by examining the goodness of fit of the model. Assessment of model fit was based on multiple criteria including model-fit indexes of Chi-square (p) value, Goodness-of-fit index (GFI), Adjusted Goodness-of-Fit Index (AGFI), Root Mean Square Error of Approximation (RMSEA) and PCLOSE. The results of five (5) selected model fit indexes fulfilled the criteria of model acceptance; as such the "DSRs Safety Attitude Model" fits the data and fails to be rejected. The excellent fit of the data from the questionnaire to the hypothesized "DSRs Safety Attitude Model" provided further evidence of the validity and reliability to the questionnaire. The significance of the research hypotheses between the model constructs was also tested and concurred with the hypothesized model structure. It is concluded that the hypothesized "DSRs Safety Attitude Model" falls within the criteria of a "Fit but Parsimonious" model in explaining DSRs' safety attitude towards the implementation of SMS at departmental level.
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