Analysis of differences among safety climate, safety knowledge, safety attitude, safety motivation, and safety behavior according to laboratory safety education methods

This study aims to confirm the difference in educational outcomes according to educational methods in laboratory safety education, confirm the effectiveness of safety education methods, and provide basic data for future laboratory safety policies and safety education operations of institutions. To this end, variables related to educational outcomes were selected as safety climate, safety knowledge, safety attitude, safety motivation, and safety behavior through prior research, and an online survey was conducted in April 2024 targeting research workers subject to the Laboratory Safety Act. A total of 551 copies were collected, and statistical analysis was conducted using a final 516 copies. Statistical analysis was conducted using SPSS 26.0 to conduct reliability analysis, descriptive statistics, and independent sample t-tests. The main research results are as follows. First, collective education showed statistically significant higher safety climate, safety knowledge, safety attitude, safety motivation, and safety behavior than online education, indicating that collective education was more effective in laboratory safety education. Second, as a result of checking the differences in variables according to safety education methods by type of institution, collective education showed better safety education outcomes than online education in all institutions. Third, as a result of checking the differences in variables according to safety education methods by age group, collective education showed better outcomes than online education in all age groups from those in their 20s to those in their 50s and older. Finally, in terms of performance, laboratory safety education needs to be operated as collective education, and institutions subject to the Laboratory Safety Act should organize and implement a curriculum that takes into account the characteristics of researchers, such as research fields and careers. In addition, when operating collective education, it is necessary to set the training period well and secure sufficient locations and costs to operate effective safety education.