Investigating attitude toward safety isuues among agricultural Jihad professionals with an emphasis on safety training

Introduction: Agriculture is amongst the hazardous activities with a high rate of occupational injuries. Safety training is proved to have positive effects on reduction of agricultural users’ occupational accidents. In this sense, agricultural experts and extension agents play an important role in safety training programs. Thus, the purpose of this study was to investigate attitude of Agricultural Jihad Organization professionals toward safety.   Materials and Methods: This descriptive study was implemented by survey research design. The study population was 230 individual selected by Tackmans' Table, using proportionate stratification sampling method from Agricultural Jihad Organization professionals in Khuzestan and Ilam provinces. A questionnaire validated by a panel of experts and its reliability within a pilot with Coronbach Alpha's coefficient (α=0.75), was used for data collection. Data were finally analyzed by SPSS software version 22.   Results: The mean (SD) of safety attitude score was 4.04(0.77) out of 5, and overall attitude of 71.23 percent of the respondents toward agricultural safety were at "good" and "moderate" level. Of the components of experts' safety attitude "spending on safety is a worthwhile investment" and "the necessity of formulation of agricultural safety legislation by executers" had the first and second priority, respectively. There were significant differences in safety attitude considering gender and job tenure. However, no significant difference was observed regarding marital status, occupational group, and witnessing agricultural accidents. Furthermore, the association between safety attitude and "age" and "education" was positive and significant; but no significant correlation was found between number of educational courses and safety attitude.   Conclusion: Considering the importance of safety training, identifying the factors pertinent to agricultural experts' safety attitude would help safety experts to develop and implement strategies in order to reduce occupational accidents in this sector