The mediating impact of ergonomics between existing safety culture and targeted safety culture amongst Safety and Health (SH) practitioners

The aim of the current study is to investigate the perceptions of Safety and Health (SH) practitioners on ergonomics importance at workplace and its influence to safety culture. The study is important to show the role of ergonomics as mediating factor between existing safety culture practice (ESCP) and targeted safety culture practice (TSCP). A survey was done using a sample of 108 SH practitioners in Malaysian manufacturing companies. Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) is used to statistically test a priori theoretical assumptions against empirical data. A model was suggested and was modified using modification Index. Seven hypotheses have been investigated. The finding discovered that there was a lack of relation between how people practiced safety and what an ideal safety practice should be. In the Malaysian scenario, the ESCP does not significantly influence the TSCP. However, the existence of beliefs on importance of ergonomics at workplace significantly can influence the TSCP. This implies that ergonomics should be seen as an important agenda in safety culture activities in order to inculcate target safety culture by 2020.