| The purpose of the study was to describe the types, frequencies, and areas of accidents occurring in Ohio vocational agriculture laboratories. The relationships between selected variables and accidents in the laboratory were investigated. Also, instructor and student safety attitudes were analyzed along with factors that were thought to be influences upon them.;The research design would best be described as correlational descriptive research. Data was obtained by mail questionnaire.;The majority of accidents were of the minor first-aid type occurring primarily in the woodworking or weld/metal area. As a whole, teachers and students ranked themselves high on a six item Likert-type scale that assessed safety attitudes. However, 26% of the teachers responded they believed their instructional laboratories were hazardous to work in; about 50% did not know the recommended guidelines for noise, lighting, or ventilation requirements of their laboratories; 20% replied they might teach unsafe practices by example; 51% responded their tools/equipment were sometimes unsafe to operate; and almost 90% believed they were less careful than they should be at times. Also about 10% of the teachers responded they did not always require safety glasses to be worn in the laboratory. There were no strong associations found for teacher safety attitude.;Student safety attitude had significant substantial associations with: students' perception of teacher safety attitude and knowledge; and student's perception of their parents safety attitude, knowledge and home safety environment.;The vocational agriculture laboratory and the practices of some teachers appear to hold the potential for harm to students. Since student perceptions of teacher safety factors and parental safety factors had the strongest associations with student safety attitude, these would be the most likely areas to concentrate efforts on in order to impact student safety attitude. It is apparent that teachers need to exhibit correct safety practices and attitudes toward safety and it would be desirable to work with parents to increase student safety attitudes. |
