Teachers’ perceptions of the safety competence of process operator students

In the safety-critical process industry, the safety competence of process operators is essential. Process operators are educated at vocational education and training (VET) organizations. The reform of vocational upper secondary education in Finland emphasizes the role of on-the-job learning; thus, the process operator education program has changed. Early adoption of correct safety skills enables them to be followed in the workplace. Thus, it is important to study the safety competence of process operator students and related educational requirements in the current circumstances. Seven teachers from five VET organizations were asked to estimate their students’ safety competence using a previously published framework. Overall, the interviewees considered that more safety competences were easy rather than difficult for their students. Knowledge and skills related to production processes, special and high-risk work tasks, exceptional and fault situations, general view, identification of own skills, and proactive mindset were most often viewed as difficult for students.