Background Safety culture of an institution is the reflection of actions, attitudes and behaviour of its members concerning safety. A good safety culture in an academic institution impacts on the quality of work and improves organisational performance. This paper aims to explore the knowledge, attitude and practice (KAP) on work safety culture (WSC) among a sample of academic and non-academic staffs in a university in Malaysia.

Methods A cross-sectional study using self-administered questionnaire was conducted among 215 academic and non-academic staffs in a medical faculty in Malaysia.

Results In general, 73.8% have good knowledge regarding WSC, 54.5% reported positive attitude regarding WSC and 74.1% practiced good WSC. Bivariate analysis was performed to examine the association between participants’ KAP and several sociodemographic characteristics, as well as employment factors, followed by multivariate analysis to identify the predictors of KAP. Knowledge level on WSC was significantly associated with length of services, where participants who worked for less than eight years reporting better knowledge on WSC compared to their colleague with longer service duration (adjusted odds ratio, AOR = 1.76; 95% confidence interval, CI: = 1.21, 3.53). Positive attitude regarding WSC was significantly associated with being permanently employed compared to temporary employment (AOR = 2.72; 95% CI: = 1.11, 6.64), whereas the practice of good WSC was significantly associated with having good knowledge on WSC (adjusted OR = 4.91, 95% CI: 2.42,10.75), having good attitude towards WSC (adjusted OR = 2.22, 95% CI: 1.07,4.62) and being married (adjusted OR = 2.64, 95% CI: 1.13, 6.16)

Conclusions This study concludes that good knowledge and positive attitude being important factors in determining good safety practice among the participants. While employment characteristics have shown significant association with knowledge and attitude, these did not determine the participants’ practice on WSC. Therefore, appropriate education and safety promotion need to be given to all members of the faculty regardless of their socio-demographic and employment status to ensure optimum safety practices in the organisation.