Development and Validation of the Occupational Safety Awareness Scale for Motorcycle Couriers

Motorcycle couriers in the platform-based gig economy are exposed to substantial occupational risks, yet no validated instrument exists to measure their occupational health and safety (OHS) awareness. This study develops and validates the Occupational Safety Awareness Scale for Motorcycle Couriers (OSAS-MC) to address this gap. Drawing on Türkiye’s OHS Law No. 6331, international OHS standards, and feedback from five domain experts, an initial item pool was generated and refined into a 30-item, six-dimensional instrument covering OHS Legislation Knowledge, OHS Practices, Personal Protective Equipment Use, Motorbike Use, OHS Exposure, and OHS Risk Factors. The scale was administered to 265 actively employed motorcycle couriers in Türkiye. Exploratory factor analysis supported a six-factor solution explaining 67.79% of the variance, and confirmatory factor analysis indicated an acceptable model fit (CFI = 0.875; RMSEA = 0.076; χ²/df = 2.543). Internal consistency was high overall (Cronbach’s α = 0.878) and across sub-dimensions (α = 0.805–0.895), and item discrimination was confirmed via upper-lower 27% group comparisons. The OSAS-MC offers a reliable, context-sensitive instrument for assessing safety awareness in high-risk, platform-mediated delivery work, and provides policymakers, platform operators, and labour organisations with a diagnostic tool to identify awareness gaps and guide targeted interventions.