How Antecedents Affect Oil and Gas Workers' Perception of Safety and Their Influence on Safe Work Performance in Southeast Asia

How Antecedents Affect Oil and Gas Workers' Perception of Safety and Their Influence on Safe Work Performance in Southeast Asia

Significant variances in safety related behaviours exist between co-workers in onshore oil and gas drilling operations within the Southeast Asian Region. The resultant outcome of the differing behaviours is a high rate of personal injury to those employed within this field when compared to the entire workforce population.

Underlying individual antecedents facilitating the preparedness to undertake high risk workplace behaviours is an area that remains relatively unexplored, particularly within the onshore environment. This study seeks to examine individual antecedents and establish their prevalence in influencing both the perception of safety and safe work performance.

In order to understand this phenomenon relating to human behaviour, a pragmatic constructivist paradigmwas adopted relying on sequential exploratory mixedmethods design approach to generate the necessary data. Both qualitative and quantitative data were obtained and analysed providing the opportunity for this research to present integrated findings. Mixed methods approach was selected as the preferred research method for investigating the experience of a population to assist with the comprehension of their situational realities within a professional environment.

Areas of investigation led to the identification of antecedent factors that affect the perception of safety. Evidence reveals that respondents raised in rural areas indicated higher levels of risk tolerance based on the type of activities they engaged in in their formative years. Proximity to injury was also an important factor associated with the development of hazard awareness, evidenced by changes in the workplace after exposure to workplace incidents. Data confirmed that parental involvement in formative years assisted with the development of the fundamental understanding of safety that was carried into their early work experiences.

These findings generated knowledge that did not currently exist for onshore oil and gas workerswithin the region. Findings fromthis research have implications for organisations to better understand the inherent qualities of individuals, information that provides opportunities for the development of targeted interventions based on a constructed risk profile of their workforce.

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