Development of a New Index to Assessing the Safety Culture Based on the Edgar Schein Model (Audit Approach)

Introduction: Over the past few decades, particularly following the Chernobyl incident, awareness of the importance of safety culture has increased significantly. Traditionally, safety culture has been assessed using questionnaires, with results often influenced by employees' psychological states. Therefore, the present study evaluates safety culture through an audit-based approach, employing performance indicators grounded in Edgar Schein's model. Materials and Methods: To identify the key factors contributing to the safety culture index, Edgar Schein's model was applied. Relevant indicators were derived across three levels: artifacts, espoused values, and basic assumptions. The fuzzy analytic hierarchy process (FAHP), combined with expert evaluations, was used to determine the relative importance of these criteria. Finally, the company's safety culture index was quantitatively assessed using guide tables and the weighted contribution of each factor. Results: Then, 10 indicators were identified across the three levels of Schein's model: quality of documentation and procedures, employee involvement, management of professional competence, change management, organizational learning, openness and communication, prioritization of safety, managerial knowledge, safety perspectives, and attitudes toward mistakes. According to the FAHP results, prioritization of safety had the highest weight (0.157), while quality of documentation and procedures had the lowest weight (0.026) in the safety culture index. Discussion: An audit-based approach proves more effective than questionnaire methods for quantitatively assessing safety culture.