Improving Safety Awareness in Offshore Environments: A Quantitative and Qualitative Report

Running Head: ORGANIZATIONAL SAFETY CULTURE
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ORGANIZATIONAL SAFETY CULTURE: A QUANTITATIVE AND QUALITATIVE
REPORT ON HOW TO IMPROVE SAFETY AWARENESS IN OFFSHORE
ENVIRONMENT
Name:
Institution:
Date:

ORGANIZATIONAL SAFETY CULTURE
ABSTRACT
The working environment in offshore oil & gas sector expose personnel’s to involve in a high
risk activity on a daily basis. A set of safety standard regulated by Statutory and Regulatory Body
have been established and followed. The Organization is also playing a role to enforce and
provide the required safety resources and training as to prevent any incident or accident to occur.
Unfortunately, with all the spent resources, there is still incident or accident happens throughout
the operation period. The underlying causes of these calamities are often pointed toward the
Safety Culture in the organization itself. From the many calamities, it is necessary that the
organization is to be made aware of the risks. This will allow the organization make necessary
measures and create a clear path to ensure a total personnel awareness toward safety ownership.
For this reason, a research is proposed on how to improve safety awareness in the offshore
working environments. The project proposed will therefore focus on the views of those working
and involved with the offshore unit operation; both offshore and shore base support team.
Individuals sampled from the population will be given questionnaires to answer and secondary
data will also be necessary. The data collected will then be cleaned and analyzed using statistical
(MS Excel). From this, conclusions and relevant recommendations will be proposed.

ORGANIZATIONAL SAFETY CULTURE 3
TABLE OF CONTENTS
ABSTRACT................................................................................................................................................2
TABLE OF CONTENTS............................................................................................................................2
CHAPTER ONE..........................................................................................................................................5
1.0 INTRODUCTION.............................................................................................................................5
1.2 Problem Statement.............................................................................................................................6
1.3 Objectives..........................................................................................................................................6
1.4 Research Questions............................................................................................................................7
1.5 Hypothesis.........................................................................................................................................7
1.6 Significance of the Research..............................................................................................................7
1.6.1 Significance to Academe............................................................................................................8
1.6.2 Significance to Industry..............................................................................................................8
1.7 Scope of the Research........................................................................................................................9
1.8 Limitations of the Research...............................................................................................................9
1.9 Operational Definitions...................................................................................................................10
CHAPTER TWO.......................................................................................................................................11
2.0 LITERATURE REVIEW:...................................................................................................................11
2.1. Safety plus Health traditions:..........................................................................................................11
2.2 Gas and Oil Setting..........................................................................................................................18
2.3 Evaluating the Role of Organization in Executing Safety:...............................................................18
2.3.1 Evaluating External and Internal Influences.............................................................................19
2.3.2 Safety Teaching and wellbeing.................................................................................................22
2.3.3 All-inclusive management........................................................................................................24
2.4 Barriers and challenges in executing safety culture.........................................................................24
CHAPTER THREE...................................................................................................................................26

ORGANIZATIONAL SAFETY CULTURE 4
3.0 METHODOLOGY..............................................................................................................................26
CHAPTER FOUR.....................................................................................................................................30
4. DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS..........................................................................................................30
4.1 Analysis...........................................................................................................................................31
CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION.........................................................................................33
REFERENCES..........................................................................................................................................36

ORGANIZATIONAL SAFETY CULTURE 5
CHAPTER ONE
1.0 INTRODUCTION
Work-related safety lingers being a challenge for executives, managers, and employees in
all extents of the labor force. There exists an eye-catching absence of culture modification
intervention investigations in the safety collected works (Barnett-Schuster, 2008). This is
attributable to underdeveloped hypothetical context for safety culture plus the fact that linking
this to research on corporate culture remains frail or even non-surviving. There stands, for
example, no extensively established model for safety culture or even any agreement on definition
or description of the safety culture of any corporate. Thus, the theory concerning safety culture
remains imprecise and not straightforwardly converted into transformation efforts. One
conceivable approach to cure this is by viewing safety culture as incorporated portion of the
over-all model of corporate culture. Explicitly, safety culture may be viewed as the features or
portions of the corporate culture which impact behaviors and attitudes that have some influence
on the degree of safety in the corporate. Some information on the literature defines corporate
culture as a design of common elementary assumptions which an assembly of people has learnt
since it they applied them to solve problems of exterior adaptation and interior assimilation
(Ariss, 2003)
These rudimentary assumptions are not enthusiastically discernable or quantifiable since
they are insentient, and sometimes these beliefs are ignored although they are the critical source
of standards and actions. These rudimentary assumptions are parallel to theories in application
that remain as the imbedded assumptions which essentially guide conduct. The pinning down of
these rudimentary fundamental assumptions is quite hard. It is a logical procedure centered on

ORGANIZATIONAL SAFETY CULTURE 6
two different cultural levels which are more reachable: artifacts (observable corporate
organizations and procedures which are easily observed but not easily interpreted) and adopted
standards and beliefs (policies, philosophies and objectives which serve as the adopted
validations for schedules and are comparable to adopted theories.
Organizational culture can be transformed deliberately if the correct initiatives and
conditions are provided. Culture is perceived as a steadying force which works as an anxiety
decreasing purpose, since it offers people relevant information on how to think, act, and carry on
in different circumstances. Therefore, culture is a refined shield mechanism to counter change
and uncertainty. Thus, cultural change remains as an anxiety initiating process which is
embarked on if there exists sufficient incentive to change. This may be the situation when the
corporate perceives a huge crisis, threat, or frustration with the existing set of circumstances to
justify an alteration in its rudimentary assumptions (Fishback & Kantor, 2007).
1.2 Problem Statement
The focused unit in the past has experienced several calamities. The causal factor is
divided into two category; Occupational Safety and Process Safety. For this research, attention is
therefore focus to Occupational Safety which has a direct connection and relation toward the
organizational culture. Proper awareness created either quantitatively or qualitatively or both will
result to a recommendation, action list and in depth gauges which will assist to reduced
incidents. This makes the statement of the problem.
1.3 Objectives
The general objective of the study will be to measure and determine the better and
effective ways of elevating the safety culture in the organization. This will demand for in depth

ORGANIZATIONAL SAFETY CULTURE 7
understanding of the personnel contribution, awareness and opinion. This will include both
qualitative and quantitative measures.
1.4 Research Questions
The research questions will include:
1. How strong is the Safety Culture in MDPC?
2. What is the current perception on the organization practices?
3. Does safety awareness and ownership varied for each personnel?
4. What is the role and level of shore base personnel in safety awareness?
1.5 Hypothesis
1. H0: All personnel do not follow the code of practice.
H1: All personnel follow code of practice.
2. H0: The perception of safety is unsatisfactory
H1: The perception of safety is satisfactory
3. H0: Each personnel has diverse safety awareness and ownership
H1: All personnel have identical safety awareness and ownership
4. H0: Shore bases do not promote safety awareness
H1: Shore bases promote safety awareness.
1.6 Significance of the Research
The study will be relevant in preventing the occupational accidents experienced in the
offshore unit. From the qualitative and quantitative input, all personnel will be aware and
understand of the current situation and more importantly what contribution and action to be done
in order to elevate the safety standard. The management will be able to have a clear overview

ORGANIZATIONAL SAFETY CULTURE 8
and being able to react accordingly with the research result. Also, the research will also pin
pointing the trouble area and increase the awareness and effort to resolve the issue.
1.6.1 Significance to Academe
This research will augment the existing knowledge body. The scholars all over the world
will be able to understand the offshore measures in place as well any of the existing challenges in
terms of the safety measures in offshore environment. The data and information obtained by this
research will also hopefully trigger the study on occupational behavior particularly in Malaysia.
1.6.2 Significance to Industry
The study will be of relevance to the company as well as other players in the industry in
coming up with measures to reduce the accidents and catastrophes experienced in the offshore
environments. From the qualitative and quantitative ideas given by the people, people will be
aware of the significant gap, and tailored any action item according to their needs. People will be
able to focus the effort and resources in more efficient manner. The industry player will reflect
the finding toward their organization and trigger the further development of methodology. Figure
1.1 explained the historical Global Safety Performance for Oil and Gas operation players.