Abstract: In order to explore key causes of safety risks in flying area in the civil airport, this paper collected data on safety risks in airfield and identified safety risk factors by open coding, axial coding, selective coding and saturation test based on grounded theory. Then a hypothetical model of risk factors interaction according to relationships among categories was put forward. Finally, the hypothetical model was verified by the SEM. The results show that risk factors consist of four core categories including personnel risks, management risks, environment risks, and mechanical equipment risks and 31 main categories, and that the personnel risks have the most significant impact on safety risks and management capability has the biggest effect on personnel risks. Results also show that the four core categories influence with each other, and that personnel risks have a significant positive impact on management risks, and personnel risks and management risks have a notable positive effect on mechanical equipment risks and environment risks.

Key words: flying area in civil airport, risk identification, action mechanism, grounded theory, structural equation model (SEM)