Health and Safety at Work in the Transport Industry (TRANS-18): Factorial Structure, Reliability and Validity

Abstract

In this article, we study the psychometric properties of a short scale (TRANS-18) which was designed to detect safe behaviors (personal and vehicle-related) and psychophysiological disorders. 244 drivers participated in the study, including drivers of freight transport vehicles (regular, dangerous and special), cranes, and passenger transport (regular transport and chartered coaches), ambulances and taxis. After carrying out an exploratory factor analysis of the scale, the findings show a structure comprised of three factors related to psychophysiological disorders, and to both personal and vehicle-related safety behaviors. Furthermore, these three factors had adequate reliability and all three also showed validity with regard to burnout, fatigue and job tension. In short, this scale may be ideally suited for adequately identifying the safety behaviors and safety problems of transport drivers. Future research could use the TRANS-18 as a screening tool in combination with other instruments.En el presente artículo estudiamos las propiedades psicométricas de una escala breve (TRANS-18) creada con el objetivo de detectar las conductas de seguridad (personales y en el vehículo) y los trastornos psicofisiológicos. Los participantes de la presente investigación son 244 conductores de vehículos de mercancías (comunes, peligrosas y especiales), grúas, pasajeros (línea regular y discrecional), ambulancias y taxis. Los resultados obtenidos constatan, después de realizar un análisis factorial exploratorio de la escala, una estructura constituida por tres factores que hacen referencia a los trastornos psicofisiológicos, a las conductas de seguridad tanto personales como de seguridad en el vehículo. Además, los tres factores obtenidos tienen una fiabilidad adecuada e igualmente se constatan indicios de validez de los tres factores si se toman como referencia el burnout, la fatiga y la tensión laboral. En suma, la presente escala puede resultar idónea para identificar de manera apropiada las conductas seguras y los trastornos que tienen los transportistas. Futuras investigaciones podrían utilizar el TRANS-18 como una herramienta de screening en combinación con otros instrumentos. Palabras clave: conductas seguras, trastornos psicofisiológicos, transporte, escala, estudio instrumental.

Psychosocial Work Factors, Job Stress and Strain at the Wheel: Validation of the Copenhagen Psychosocial Questionnaire (COPSOQ) in Professional Drivers

“…Then the factorial structure of the COPSOQ-III was, after an initial assessment via exploratory factor analysis or EFA with maximum likelihood (a statistical method used to uncover the underlying structure of a relatively large set of variables), tested by means of a rigorous confirmatory procedure. We did this considering model fit indexes and reliability/consistency scores, as it is suggested by other studies measuring similar issues in occupational and organizational settings (Boada-Grau et al, 2012b; Moncada et al, 2014). More specifically, competitive confirmatory factor analyses (CFA) were assessed and subsequently tested.…”

“…Although workplace causalities are decreasing worldwide, as a result of diverse regulations, interventions and improvements in industrial safety, occupational accidents in the industry of transportation are still considered a challenging issue in many countries, including Spain (Boada-Grau et al, 2012b; Montoro et al, 2018). Following an applied perspective, the task of reducing the number of work injuries largely depends on the available knowledge on their causal factors and dynamics, and this remains a pending issue for both researchers and road safety practitioners, considering that relatively little is known of psychosocial factors related to the work environment that may explain occupational accidents suffered by professional drivers (Gamero et al, 2018).…”

Work Environment, Stress, and Driving Anger: A Structural Equation Model for Predicting Traffic Sanctions of Public Transport Drivers

“…Vehicle operators in the transport sector industry may belong to the occupational group with the highest prevalence of job stress rates [ 4 , 5 ], and many environmental variables associated with the job of professional drivers, especially those working in the field of public transportation, have been addressed by different studies as typically adverse [ 6 , 7 ]. Several factors such as continuous time pressure, excessive physical demands, environmental overstimulation, problematic interactions with other road users, lack of social support at work, and irregular shifts [ 8 , 9 ] have been characterized as potential stress-related factors, which at the same time enhance the potential occurrence of negative outcomes in terms of health, safety, and performance [ 10 , 11 , 12 ].…”

Entrepreneurial Orientation Scale: Adaptation to Spanish

“…Finally, we also used a number of external correlates in order to measure the convergent validity (Boada-Grau, Sánchez-García, Prizmic-Kuzmica, & Vigil-Colet, 2012) in the form of questions which the respondents were required to answer concerning certain sociodemographic aspects (for example, “Tenure in the profession”, “Feeling healthy”, etc. ), the reasons for setting up their own company (for example, “To achieve personal success”, “To become more independent”, etc.)…”