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Journal Article

Citation

Shuhara A, Oshima Y. J. Environ. Saf. 2015; 6(2): 115-121.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2015, Academic Consociation of Environmental Safety and Waste Management, Japan)

DOI

10.11162/daikankyo.E14RP0701

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to clarify how safety management approach and academic fields among researchers in university laboratories in Japan and the US affect safety awareness/behavior and unobserved statistical variables ("latent factors" in technical terms). Survey data was collected regarding the awareness and behavior of science-major-researchers in the US (Sci-US) and bioscience-majorresearchers universities in Japan (Bio-JP) conducting experiments in a university laboratory environment. In addition to a quantitative analysis, a statistical analysis of the data using predictive analytical tools was also conducted. As for Sci-US, it was revealed that "Internet", "Safety training sessions/lectures" and "Environment, Health, and Safety Office (EHS Office)" were mainly used for information sources on safety. Explorer Factor Analysis (EFA) extracted two factors: "Systems of laboratory safety" and "Active personal behavior." The answer distribution of the question on safety glasses showed a significantly higher usage ratio; this presumably means that EHS education has penetrated American university respondents as aggressive self-protective action. As for Bio-JP, 90% of respondents utilized "Professors/staff in your group" and "Senior-year students" as safety information sources. EFA extracted "Rules on laboratory safety" and "Systems of laboratory safety" as latent factors. Distribution of the answers on safety glasses showed a significantly lower usage rate. The possible reason for this trend seems to be culture-specific customs in this academic field. How backgrounds such a safety management approach and academic field among researchers in university laboratories affected safety awareness/behavior and latent factors were analyzed; furthermore, it was analyzed how multiple backgrounds affected actual behavior. The answers concerning eye-protection usage was chosen, which showed distinct differences between the two background groups. This result showed some respondents were influenced by the safety culture of Sci-US, and others by that of Bio-JP. Since a person who belongs to a group has several backgrounds, behavioral features of a group cannot be explained simply by the feature of any single background.


Language: ja

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