Safety attitudes of offshore petroleum personnel in the UK and Norway : a statistical re-analysis

Abstract

This study re-evaluates the safety attitudes of an existing sample of offshore oil personnel. The data is comprised of the responses of 1138 Norwegians and 622 personnel from the UK to the Offshore Risk Perception Questionnaire (Rundmo, 1990). Six subscales were used in the present study including: 'attitudes to safety', 'perceptions of others commitment to safety', 'perceptions of job situation', 'perceptions of social support', 'risk perception' and 'satisfaction with safety systems'. Hierarchical cluster analysis displayed that 'attitudes to safety' and 'perceptions of job situation' displayed clear division between the UK and Norwegian installations. The remaining variables displayed several installations that consistently grouped away from their country. Hierarchical linear modeling (HLM) evaluated two separate multilevel models; 'risk perception' (Model I) and 'satisfaction with safety systems' (Model II) as outcome variables. For 'risk perception', results displayed no variance in slopes (p > 0.500) between groups. For Model II, there were significant slopes between 'others commitment to safety' (t(137) = 2.520, p < 0.05) and 'social support' (t(137) = 2.673, p < 0.05) with the outcome variable. Significant variability remained unaccounted after entering the organization level variables. Limitations of the study are discussed and the implications of cultural differences for international organizations.