Development and Initial Validation of the Safety Training Engagement Scale (STE-S)

Area of Science:

• Occupational Safety and Health
• Psychometrics
• Industrial Psychology

Background:

• Effective safety training is crucial for workplace safety.
• Engaging training methods are key to promoting safety awareness and adherence.
• Measuring individual engagement in safety training is essential for evaluating training effectiveness.

Purpose of the Study:

• To introduce and psychometrically analyze a new Safety Training Engagement (STE) scale.
• To assess the construct validity, including internal consistency, dimensional structure, and external validity, of the STE scale.
• To provide a reliable tool for measuring trainee engagement in safety training programs.

Main Methods:

• Development of the five-item Safety Training Engagement (STE) scale.
• Two studies were conducted with participants from chemical industry safety training programs (N=913 for study 1, N=133 for study 2).
• Psychometric analysis included internal consistency, dimensional structure, and external validity assessments.

Main Results:

• The STE scale demonstrated strong psychometric properties, affirming its validity and reliability.
• Analysis supported the internal consistency and dimensional structure of the scale.
• External validity testing further confirmed the scale's ability to measure safety training engagement.

Conclusions:

• The validated STE scale is a robust tool for assessing individual engagement in safety training.
• The scale can be practically applied to enhance the design and evaluation of safety training programs.
• Recommendations for future research include further refinement and broader application of the STE scale.