This study aimed to theoretically establish and empirically identify factors that have a significant impact on disaster safety awareness for security employees who must quickly identify and preemptively respond to the situation before the arrival of p...
This study aimed to theoretically establish and empirically identify factors that have a significant impact on disaster safety awareness for security employees who must quickly identify and preemptively respond to the situation before the arrival of primary disaster response agencies such as fire, police, and basic local governments in the event of a disaster at large-scale domestic and international events and major facility security sites.
In particular, the rapid urbanization of modern society and the advent of the Fourth Industrial Revolution are raising new challenges in disaster safety management due to the high-rise and underground urban structures, aging infrastructure, and complex and large-scale disaster types. In this environment, the pursuit of efficiency centered on economic logic intensifies safety insensitivity, and people's ignorance and indifference to disaster safety are pointed out as a major cause of weakening disaster safety awareness.
Therefore, this study focused on the importance of the role and responsibility that security employees play in the early stages of a disaster, and tried to derive practical implications for strengthening their capacity in the disaster safety field by empirically analyzing their level of awareness of disaster safety and the factors that influence it.
In this study, a total of 325 security employees working in the public sector (Presidential Security Service, Police, Military) and private sectors (C Mall, Airport, and L Tower) were surveyed, and the factors affecting disaster safety awareness were composed of four independent variables : ① general awareness of disaster safety, ② education experience of disaster safety theory, ③ experience of disaster safety experiential training, and ④ recognition and experience of mutual cooperation between disaster response agencies. In addition, work experience was set as a control variable to verify its effectiveness. Frequency analysis, descriptive statistical analysis, T-test, ANOVA, correlation analysis, and multiple regression analysis were performed on the collected data using the SPSS 26 program.
The main results of this study are summarized as follows.
First, among the independent variables, it was analyzed that disaster safety theory education experience, disaster safety experiential training experience, mutual cooperation awareness and feel, and dependent variable disaster safety interest and response had a statistically significant positive (+) effect on disaster safety awareness.
Second, work experience and basic theory education and experiential training experience, which are control variables, showed a statistically significant positive (+) moderating effect on disaster safety awareness. On the other hand, it was confirmed that the control variables, work experience and disaster safety in-depth theory education and experiential training experience, were statistically significant, but showed a negative (-) moderating effect.
Third, among the independent variables, general awareness of disaster safety and control variables (gender, age, education, affiliation, and work experience) were analyzed to be statistically insignificant for disaster safety awareness, which is a dependent variable for all five items.
Fourth, the standardization coefficient representing the relative influence of independent variables on dependent variables was shown in the order of control variables : work experience and basic theory education and experiential training experience, basic theory education and experiential training experience, in-depth theory education and experiential training experience, mutual cooperation awareness among disaster response agencies, and mutual cooperation experience among disaster response agencies.
In order to improve the awareness of disaster safety of security employees, this study suggests that it is necessary to strengthen practical education and training programs and establish a cooperative system between disaster response agencies beyond simple awareness, and emphasized the need to improve the realistic disaster safety management system and developmental policy alternatives to secure golden time for disaster response and minimize human and material damage.
In future studies, empirical studies on a wider variety of tasks other than primary disaster response agencies and safety vulnerable groups should continue.