Analysis of the safety management perceptions and practices of secondary residential construction teachers in vocational education

The purpose of this study was to examine the perceptions and beliefs of secondary vocational education teachers in residential construction regarding (a) the relative importance they assigned to cognitive, affective, and psychomotor factors which have a significant influence on governing the safe behavior of their students in performing work activities in the lab setting, and (b) various factors relating to the content, procedures, and policies that they believe are essential elements of an effective school lab safety program. The effects of various demographic information on the perceptions these teachers were also analyzed. Vocational training programs in residential construction were defined in this study as courses involving frame and finish carpentry (including floors, window sills, etc.). Information examined in this study was gathered through the use of a mailed survey instrument.; The sample was comprised of 459 secondary residential carpentry teachers as reported by various states' Trade and Industrial Education representatives in the continental United States of America, Alaska, and Hawaii. Each instructor in the sample was mailed a survey instrument packet, including a self-addressed, stamped reply envelope for return of the instrument.; A total of 183 (42%) survey instruments were received. Statistical calculations were computed utilizing the SPSS computer program. The relative importance that teachers assigned to students' ability to perceive hazards, aspiration to behave safely, attitude toward safety, knowledge of safety procedures, spatial perception, mechanical comprehension, and general intelligence was discovered.; The relative importance that teachers assigned to techniques of accident reduction involving student motivation, supervision, testing, and hazard assessment was discovered. Categories of factors which they believed needed to be addressed in their respective lab settings were also discerned. Factors analyzed in this part of the study involved teachers' assessments of the conditions of areas relating to safety equipment, budgets, materials, methods, educational opportunities, curriculum, tools, and laboratory design in their respective settings. Finally, the demographic areas of age, level of education, teaching experience, residential construction work experience, and the number of students enrolled in teachers' respective classes were determined to have significant effects on the perceptions of respondents in the sample.