The effect of intervention based on Health Action Model to promote workers' safe behavior in Isfahan Steel Company

The worldwide concern for safety has created the need for new and effective methods to improve safety in the workplace. This study was designed to determine the effect of educational intervention based on Health Action Model on the safe behavior among workers in Isfahan Steel Company.

This study was designed as a quasi-experimental research with experimental and control groups with pre- and post- intervention measurements. The experimental group received intervention based on the Health Action Model. The control group did not receive any intervention except that they participated in the current safety courses of the company. The sample size was 270 workers who were randomly selected and divided into two groups: Experimental (n = 135) and control (n = 135). Data were collected using a questionnaire and a checklist after and before the intervention and were analyzed. Based on the distribution of variables, parametric (t-test, paired t-test) or nonparametric (Chi-square, Wilcoxon) tests were utilized to analyze data. P value less than 0.05 was considered significant.

The results indicated that before intervention, the experimental and control groups were similar in model structures. After intervention, the mean scores of knowledge, attitude, and behaviors in relation to safety in the experimental group increased statistically significantly and the observed difference in the control group was not significant. The results also indicated that unsafe behaviors in the experimental group decreased following the educational intervention. This difference also was not statistically significant in the control group.

The results showed that application of Health Action Model has an acceptable and positive influence on promoting safe behaviors, knowledge, normative system, and facilitating factors among workers in Isfahan Steel Company. It is, therefore, recommended that Health Action Model based intervention be used for other and similar industries.