Analyse comparative de l'impact du genre sur la perception des risques au sein de laboratoires de l'Université de Liège

Abstract

Nowadays, there is an ever-growing interest in risk and safety management within organizations in the industrial world, which is translated into implementation of good practices in order to minimize risks as much as possible. This risk awareness can also be found in the academic sector, and more precisely in research laboratories whose core activity generates risks However, although risk awareness is arising, there is a tendency to neglect the human factor against organizational and technical aspects of safety management. Yet in order to execute an efficient safety management, the organization has to understand risk perception and the attitude towards risks to which its staff is exposed. Moreover, the gender dimension within the safety management has never been explored so far. This study aims at measuring the risk perception and attitudes towards risks of laboratory technologists in five laboratories of the University of Liège, belonging to the Medicine Faculty and the Applied Sciences Faculty. The final purpose is to determine whether or not the risk perception among experts will vary according to their gender, and what it would involve for the safety management. This exploratory project thesis is organized as follows: the first chapters will be dedicated to clarifying the different concepts that will be used all along this study, such as security management and risk perception. Then, this work will be contextualized by exposing the particular context of the academic sector, and more specifically the research laboratories. Once these theoretical bases are in place, the fourth chapter will be devoted to presenting this explanatory research thesis as a project before laying out the methodology adopted as part of this work. Finally, chapter five will start the empirical study which will be constructed in two parts: a quantitative survey, followed by a qualitative analysis based on interviews. Following the presentation of variables which appeared to be linked to the risk perception, a few recommendations will be provided regarding safety management before concluding on the matter.