Safety-Culture Interfaces in Chemistry-Related University Laboratories: A Mixed-Methods Study of Rules, Material Conditions, Management Commitment, and Self-Reported Safety Practices

Abstract

Chemistry-related university laboratories operate with hazardous chemicals, changing reaction conditions, and frequent personnel turnover; formal rules must therefore be continually converted into field controls through resource provision and management response. We define the connection points among risk information, formal requirements, site resources, management response, and user practices as safety-culture interfaces. We first coded 58 accident, regulatory, and inspection evidence units from 11 sources to identify four auditable implementation nodes, and then examined the corresponding associations in a chemistry-related primary sample of 381 laboratory users. Risk level showed only a small difference in rule-norm scores (η2 = 0.024) and near-zero differences in self-reported compliance and participation. After controlling for safety value perception, the association between rule norm and material safety conditions was weak (β = 0.010, 95% CI [-0.086, 0.107]). Material conditions showed small indirect associations with compliance and participation through perceived management commitment (0.035 and 0.045), with consistent directions across sample definitions. After adjustment for personnel role, access-duration groups explained 0.042 of the incremental variance in participation but only 0.006 in compliance. Academic chemical laboratories should therefore shift attention from the number of rules to their implementation: task-level risk assessment should trigger control updates, resource needs should enter accountable deadline-and-acceptance loops, and visible management response and postaccess reinforcement should support sustained safety participation.