The knowledge and awareness of occupational health and safety requirements among civil engineering students in an Indonesian university

Abstract

Work accidents in the construction industry can happen at any time. This is because the construction industry involves heavy work, and has a high risk of accidents for its workers, caused by the materials used, equipment and the work environment. The high number of work accidents in Indonesia, especially in the construction sector, has prompted the government to introduce regulations related to the implementation of occupational health and safety in the workplace. The purpose of this study was to determine the level of influence of knowledge and awareness of occupational health and safety (OHS) on students’ behaviour in the civil engineering programme, at Syiah Kuala University in Banda Aceh City, Indonesia. The data for this study was collected through a questionnaire survey distributed to 150 civil engineering students at the University, and then processed using descriptive statistics. The results show that the average score for the knowledge factor was 92.59%, and the occupational health and safety behavioural awareness factor was 91.97%. This high percentage indicates that almost the majority of civil engineering students at Syiah Kuala University understood OHS and were aware of its importance in construction projects.