Evaluation of the Maturity Level of the Process Safety Culture for Oil and Gas Industry Workers in a Region of Middle East

Abstract This paper evaluates the maturity level of the process safety culture within a major contracting organization in the oil and gas sector in a region of the Middle East, with a specific emphasis on leadership influence and human-centered perceptions. Using a questionnaire grounded in the Center for Chemical Process Safety (CCPS) core principles and the Hudson-Westrum maturity framework, responses from 172 workers-including managers, supervisors, and maintenance/construction staff-were analyzed to quantify perceptions of the existing safety culture. Results indicate an overall average maturity score of 74.5%, placing the organization in the "Calculative/Bureaucratic" stage. However, significant differences emerged between management and frontline workers, particularly in modules addressing leadership engagement and the prioritization of safety over production, underscoring the critical role of human-centered leadership in shaping these perceptions. The study found that while management often rated the process safety culture as proactive, supervisors and workers reported weaker implementation, particularly in areas such as visible leadership response to safety concerns and empowerment to prioritize safety. Conversely, open communication and trust mechanisms were reported favorably across all groups. The research underscores that achieving a proactive or generative safety culture requires bridging these perception gaps through consistent, demonstrated leadership commitment and strategies that embed process safety as a shared organizational value. Recommendations are provided for organizational leadership to implement unified safety vision strategies, enhance competency training, integrate safety metrics into performance reviews, and establish robust process safety frameworks to advance the culture maturity. These insights support practical leadership strategies to elevate the organization's process safety culture from calculative toward proactive maturity