SAFETY-RELATED STRESS EFFECT ON SAFETY BEHAVIOR OF ENGINEERING STUDENTS THROUGH THE UTILIZATION OF SAFETY KNOWLEDGE

Abstract

In the uncertain times as today, safety-related stress can affect the behavior of the engineering students at engineering universities due to which institutes require more resources and skills to help with their growth of their students (future employees) and to deal with any unforeseen circumstances. This study aims to explore the effect of safety knowledge of the engineering students on safety-related stress and safety behavior in engineering universities. To understand this, a positivist epistemology and objective ontology is gauged to understand this phenomenon and also a quantitative method was employed. Datawas collected via survey/questionnaire from379 final year engineering students of different departmentsfrom the top 10 engineering universities of Pakistan (NUST, PIEAS, IST, GIKI) according to Pakistan Engineering Council (PEC) rankings. The findings suggest that there exists a positive relationship between safety-related stress and safety behavior. Safety Knowledge acts as a mediator between safety-related stress and safety behavior. Furthermore, this relationship affects the engineering student’s behavior and knowledge because safety is overlooked at universities due to which it creates conflicts, low self-efficacy, high stress levels, low participation and commitment towards their work in laboratories and in organizations. Hence, use of safety knowledge can help the engineering students use existing resources and procedures to perform better at universities and then in organizations while working at labs or at sites. This study adds to the existing research by emphasizing the role of safety knowledge on safety behavior and reducing the effect of safety-related stress factors because of the inverse relation between safety knowledge and safety-related stress and a positive relation between safety knowledge and safety behavior. These findings provide the grounds for engineering universities to be fully equipped with advanced technologies, follow safety protocols and the role of the instructors/supervisors to help create a favorable environment to work in labs of the institutes and to provide them safety-related instructions so not to feel stress induced and give them basic trainings so that they can be confident while participating in performing such hazardous experiments at engineering universities or in organizations site areas. This type of the environment can increase the individual’s performance level and can help with their success and growth of their own. It also gives future researchers the groundwork for studying different factors related to safety related stress and safety behavior that can help contribute to better performance of the engineering students and in understanding managerial factors associated with it so that they can perform better, be safe and healthy for to achieve maximum efficiency later in the desired organizations.