Abstract:
demand more attention to reduce any incidences of fatal and non-fatal injuries. The main objective of the
study was to determine the predictive value of biorisk perception on the level of biological risks'
management at the university bioscience laboratories. A quantitative, descriptive survey design was
employed and administered through a survey by both the researcher and online to 1300 university
students, lecturers, and laboratory technologists with a response rate of 79.5% (1034 respondents). A
questionnaire designed to capture independent (level of biorisk perception of life scientists) and
dependent variables’ (Biorisk Management Level) scores were used. IBM SPSS software assisted in
computing Pearson correlation coefficients, analysis of variance (t-tests, F-tests), univariate, simple linear
regression analysis, and chi-square tests. Data were summarized as tables and other descriptive statistics.
One way ANOVA revealed that the private medium university category (M = 21.00) had the highest
biorisk perception mean score but there was no statistically significant difference of the mean scores at
the p<.05 for the six university categories [F (5, 1028) = .329, p = .895]. Simple linear regression analysis
revealed that 36.3% of the variation in Biological Risk Management Level at the universities was
explained by variation in biorisk perception (R Square= .363, p<0.001). It was concluded that biorisk
perception has great predictive value in determining the biorisk management level of university
bioscience laboratories. To improve biorisk management at the universities, there is a need to enhance the
biorisk perception of students, lecturers, and laboratory technologists.
