[Design and validation of an instrument to measure the level of worker participation in an Occupational Health and Safety Management System].

Introduction: Occupational health and safety is affected by various internal and external factors, most importantly the human factor. The objective of this study was to design and validate a questionnaire to measure the level of worker participation in occupational health and safety management systems.

Method: To design the questionnaire, Peruvian regulations and recommendations from international institutions, among others, were consulted. The qualitative validation was based on expert judgment, using the content validity coefficient (CVC). For quantitative validation, we conducted a reliability analysis using Cronbach's alpha coefficient, correlation analysis of the questions, and construct validity analysis using exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis.

Results: We designed a 25-item questionnaire with a CVC of 0.94. The quantitative validation was performed at the Industrial Engineering College of the Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos, resulting in the elimination of 5 questions based on results of the reliability, construct and exploratory factor analyses. In the confirmatory factor analysis, the remaining 20 questions had factor loadings greater than 0.50, and a repeat reliability analysis yielded a Cronbach's alpha of 0.949.

Conclusions: This validated questionnaire will allow the determination of the degree of participation in occupational safety and health in companies, as well as the ability to assess needs and impact of implemented improvements.