Exploring The Impact of Principals’ Safety Management On Safety Performance: A Case Study of the Private Education Sector

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to analyze the effect of safety management practices on safety performance of staff working at private schools in education sector in Erbil city of Kurdistan region, Iraq. This research is unique as it contributes to the literature on safety management in schools. It is one of the earliest research projects on occupational safety conducted in the Kurdistan region. The research methodology used a quantitative approach, utilizing a survey questionnaire to collect data from a sample of 200 staff members. A total of 172 completed questionnaires were returned and analyzed using SPSS ver. 25. The results of the study showed a positive effect of management commitment and safety training on safety performance. However, the study also concluded that there is no statistically significant effect of safety policy, safety communication, and safety incentive on safety performance, the results also showed that male staff are more prone to experience incidents and injuries during work compared to female staff. This study recommends the leadership of schools to pay utmost attention to commitment to the implementation of measures and procedures of safety and continuously provide training programs to keep staff aware of safety measures and procedures.