Examining Predictors of Safety Compliance among Agricultural Industry Workers through Safety Culture Constructs

Abstract

Introduction: Agriculture, employing over 1.1 billion workers worldwide, remains among the most hazardous occupations. The concept of safety culture provides a comprehensive framework for preventing injuries, showing that unsafe behaviors mainly reflect organizational norms rather than individual negligence. Thus, focusing solely on individual interventions is insufficient; lasting improvement requires organizational and managerial commitment. Despite its recognized importance, few studies in Iran have examined how safety culture relates to farmers’ safety behaviors—a critical gap this study addresses by identifying key predictors of safety performance among Iranian agricultural workers.

Material and Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted in 2024 among 303 agricultural workers selected via convenience sampling. Data were collected using standardized questionnaires on safety culture and performance validated in Iran (Cronbach’s α > 0.70). Analyses were performed in SPSS and AMOS 23 using descriptive statistics and structural path analysis with a significance level of p < 0.05.

Results: Participants scored highest on personal priority and need for safety (80.19 ± 12.02) and lowest on organizational priority for safety (46.08 ± 17.09). Workers without accident history had significantly higher safety culture scores than those with incidents (p = 0.008). Path analysis showed that safety culture constructs explained 66% of the variance in safety performance. Management commitment and personnel collaboration showed the strongest total effect (β = 0.745, 95% BC bootstrap CI: 0.688–0.790), followed by safety communication (β = 0.310, 95% BC bootstrap CI: 0.157–0.457) and formal safety training (β = 0.229, 95% BC bootstrapCI: 0.136–0.325) (all p < 0.001).

Conclusion: Overall, safety culture and performance in agriculture were moderate. Despite workers’ positive attitudes, safety has not yet become an institutionalized value. The model identified management commitment, communication, and training as key factors for improving safety performance. Integrating safety into agricultural policy and ensuring continuous, management-supported training are essential. Future longitudinal and mixed-method studies should explore the evolving nature of safety culture in this context to sustain its progress