Study on the factors that lead to laboratory accidents among university students

¹ Faculty of Earth Science, Universiti Malaysia Kelantan, Jeli Campus, 17600 Jeli, Kelantan, Malaysia
² Faculty of Engineering, Universiti Putra Malaysia, 43400 Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia

^* Corresponding author: sayzwani@umk.edu.my

Abstract

Accidents always happen in the workplace as well as in the education sector. To reduce the accident rate in the workplace, causal factors must be considered. Hence, this study aims to analyze the level of causal factors that lead to laboratory accidents. This study involved students from higher education and was distributed to 489 students. The socio- demographics results show that 67.3% of respondents are female students compared to 32.7% are male students. Besides that, most of the respondents (35.4%) are from Third Year students. This study focuses on four major causal factors to laboratory accidents: individual factor, environmental factor, equipment factor and organization factor. The findings revealed that environmental factor is the main factor that causes laboratory accidents with an overall mean score of 4.67, followed by the organization factor (overall mean score of 4.66). Meanwhile, the overall mean score for the individual and equipment factors is 4.64. The results of this study can be used by the authorities or stakeholders in organizations, particularly in the education sector, to identify the most effective ways to reduce laboratory accidents in the education sector.