Safety awareness, attitudes, and behaviors among university students in Saudi Arabia: implications for pre-employment safety readiness.
7 affiliations
- 1Biostatistics, Epidemiology and Public Health, College of Medicine, Alfaisal University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
- 2College of Pharmacy, Alfaisal University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
- 3University of Jeddah, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
- 4Department of Global Public Health, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden.
- 5Population Health Research Section, King Abdullah International Medical Research Center (KAIMRC), Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
- 6King Saud Bin Abdulaziz University for Health Sciences, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
- 7Ministry of National Guard-Health Affairs, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Abstract
Background
Safety culture supports safe learning environments and is widely regarded as a determinant of safety practice, yet evidence among university students in Saudi Arabia remains limited. Because students represent the future workforce in safety-sensitive fields such as healthcare, engineering, and science, characterizing their safety awareness, attitudes, and behaviors is relevant to occupational health practice. This study assessed these three domains among students at a single private university in Riyadh and identified demographic factors associated with them.Methods
A single-center cross-sectional survey was conducted among a convenience sample of 370 undergraduate and graduate students at Alfaisal University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, using a previously validated 19-item questionnaire assessing safety awareness and attitudes (12 items) and safety behaviors (7 items). Descriptive statistics and multivariable generalized linear model (GLM) analyses identified demographic factors independently associated with each domain. Findings are discussed in relation to pre-employment safety readiness; workplace safety behavior and performance were not measured.Results
Most participants were aged 18-22 years (76.2%), female (62.2%), and undergraduate (86.2%). Mean scores were 3.44 ± 0.71 for safety awareness and attitudes and 3.63 ± 0.69 for safety behavior. Female students scored significantly higher than male students on both safety awareness and attitudes (β = 0.27, 95% CI: 0.12 to 0.42; p = 0.0006) and safety behavior (β = 0.23, 95% CI: 0.08 to 0.38; p = 0.002). Non-Saudi students scored significantly higher than Saudi students on both safety awareness and attitudes (β = 0.27, 95% CI: 0.10 to 0.44; p = 0.001) and safety behavior (β = 0.19, 95% CI: 0.03 to 0.36; p = 0.010). Adjusted models accounted for a small proportion of variance (R² = 0.082 and 0.070, respectively). Age, academic level, marital status, and college affiliation were not significantly associated with either outcome.Conclusions
University students showed generally positive yet moderate safety awareness, attitudes, and behaviors. Gender and nationality were the only variables that reached statistical significance in the adjusted models, and the associated effects were small. Because subsequent workplace safety readiness and performance were not measured, these findings describe students at one point in time and do not demonstrate future occupational behavior. They identify pre-workforce groups with lower current scores and provide baseline, hypothesis-generating evidence for multicenter and longitudinal studies in Saudi Arabia.
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BibTeX
@article{alsubaie2026safety,
title = {{Safety awareness, attitudes, and behaviors among university students in Saudi Arabia: implications for pre-employment safety readiness.}},
author = {Mohammed Alsubaie and Sadeq Abu-Dawas and Aiman Alwadi and Sereen Kazim and Narmeen Shaikh and Fouad Jabri and Mohammad Hasan Rajab and Noara Alhusseini and Majed Ramadan},
journal = {Frontiers in medicine},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.3389/fmed.2026.1940131},
url = {https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42898194},
note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Safety awareness, attitudes, and behaviors among university students in Saudi Arabia: implications for pre-employment safety readiness.
AU - Mohammed Alsubaie
AU - Sadeq Abu-Dawas
AU - Aiman Alwadi
AU - Sereen Kazim
AU - Narmeen Shaikh
AU - Fouad Jabri
AU - Mohammad Hasan Rajab
AU - Noara Alhusseini
AU - Majed Ramadan
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/05
JO - Frontiers in medicine
DO - 10.3389/fmed.2026.1940131
UR - https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42898194
AB - Background Safety culture supports safe learning environments and is widely regarded as a determinant of safety practice, yet evidence among university students in Saudi Arabia remains limited. Because students represent the future workforce in safety-sensitive fields such as healthcare, engineering, and science, characterizing their safety awareness, attitudes, and behaviors is relevant to occupational health practice. This study assessed these three domains among students at a single private university in Riyadh and identified demographic factors associated with them.Methods A single-center cross-sectional survey was conducted among a convenience sample of 370 undergraduate and graduate students at Alfaisal University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, using a previously validated 19-item questionnaire assessing safety awareness and attitudes (12 items) and safety behaviors (7 items). Descriptive statistics and multivariable generalized linear model (GLM) analyses identified demographic factors independently associated with each domain. Findings are discussed in relation to pre-employment safety readiness; workplace safety behavior and performance were not measured.Results Most participants were aged 18-22 years (76.2%), female (62.2%), and undergraduate (86.2%). Mean scores were 3.44 ± 0.71 for safety awareness and attitudes and 3.63 ± 0.69 for safety behavior. Female students scored significantly higher than male students on both safety awareness and attitudes (β = 0.27, 95% CI: 0.12 to 0.42; p = 0.0006) and safety behavior (β = 0.23, 95% CI: 0.08 to 0.38; p = 0.002). Non-Saudi students scored significantly higher than Saudi students on both safety awareness and attitudes (β = 0.27, 95% CI: 0.10 to 0.44; p = 0.001) and safety behavior (β = 0.19, 95% CI: 0.03 to 0.36; p = 0.010). Adjusted models accounted for a small proportion of variance (R² = 0.082 and 0.070, respectively). Age, academic level, marital status, and college affiliation were not significantly associated with either outcome.Conclusions University students showed generally positive yet moderate safety awareness, attitudes, and behaviors. Gender and nationality were the only variables that reached statistical significance in the adjusted models, and the associated effects were small. Because subsequent workplace safety readiness and performance were not measured, these findings describe students at one point in time and do not demonstrate future occupational behavior. They identify pre-workforce groups with lower current scores and provide baseline, hypothesis-generating evidence for multicenter and longitudinal studies in Saudi Arabia.
SN - 2296-858X
ER -