Development of a Turkish Occupational Health and Safety Perceived Competency Scale

Year 2021, Volume: 5 Issue: 8, 1 - 12, 28.08.2021

Funda Kocaay , Mine Ocaktan

Abstract

This study aimed to develop a Turkish Occupational Health and Safety Perceived Competency Scale (OHSPCS) about the perceived competency in Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) on employees of a faculty of a public university. Identifying OHS-related problems at workplaces and taking necessary precautions are essential. No studies from Turkey are available about assessing perceived competency in OHS and the respective scales. OHS has recently been included in the public sector agenda but the implementation of OHS has not been completed and related studies have not been conducted yet. This is a methodological study with a cross-sectional design. The first version of the scale comprised 55 items scored on a five-point Likert scale. The "alpha internal consistency coefficient" test was used to study the reliability of Turkish OHSPCS. Due to the results of preliminary analysis it was decided that to compose Turkish OHSPCS as 29 items. Then it as applied to the main study group. By this study, a valid and reliable scale aiming to measure perceived OHS competence on employees of a chosen public university faculty was developed. This new scale will help activate strategies and policies about OHS and determine the current situation and perceptions about OHS in organizational structuring, human resources, and current legislation. 

Keywords

Public employees, occupational health and safety, competence perception, perceived competence scale

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