The effect of workers' visibility on effectiveness of intervention programs: supervisory-based safety interventions

INTRODUCTION: This paper discusses an organizational change intervention program targeting safety behaviors and addresses important considerations concerning the planning of organizational change. Using layout of the plant as a proxy for ease of daily leader-member interaction, the effect of workers' visibility on the effectiveness of supervisory-based safety (SBS) interventions is examined. Through a reinforcement-learning framework, it is suggested that visibility can affect supervisors' incentive to interact with subordinates regarding safety-related issues. METHOD: Data were collected during SBS intervention studies in five manufacturing companies. RESULTS: Results suggest a reinforcement cycle model whereby increased visibility generates more frequent exchanges between supervisors and employees, resulting in improved safety behavior among employees. In turn, employees' safer behavior reinforces continued supervisory safety-related interaction. CONCLUSION AND IMPACT ON INDUSTRY: Visibility is an important moderator in supervisory based safety interventions, and can serve to increase workplace safety. Implications of these findings for safety are discussed.     

Production supervisor impacts on subordinates' safety outcomes: an investigation of leader-member exchange and safety communication

PROBLEM: Supervisors are increasingly important to the functioning of manufacturing operations, in large part due to their role as leaders. While supervisors' relations and communication with their subordinates are known to be important in influencing subordinates' behavior, little is known about how these two factors will impact subordinates' safety. This study investigated how much each factor contributes to safety-related outcomes for blue-collar production employees. METHOD: Production employees at five Pennsylvania wood manufacturers completed a survey during their work shift. Five hundred and ninety eight employees provided data on leader-member exchange (LMX), safety communication, and safety-related events. Archival data on OSHA recordables were also obtained from the producers' human resources database. RESULTS: Analyses found that the influence of LMX was greater than that of safety communication in predicting safety-related events. Neither LMX nor safety communication was significantly related to OSHA recordables. Results also demonstrated that employee job satisfaction and demographic variables such as gender and age have safety implications. IMPACT ON INDUSTRY: Results from this study further emphasize the importance of production supervisors and illustrate the potential role of leader-member exchange in enhancing workplace safety. Specifically, organizations should foster positive social exchange between their employees and supervisors and enhance the leadership qualities of supervisors to help reduce workplace injuries.     

认知心理学视角下矿工的信息加工模型研

矿工在煤矿井下的生产过程是对外界信息的加工处理过程。矿工能否正确处理外界刺激,将直接产生安全或不安全行为,影响煤矿安全生产,甚至引发重大事故。在认知心理学视角下,应用感觉、注意和记忆理论对矿工行为的形成机制进行分析,建立矿工信息加工模型,并对模型的特点和作用进行分析,同时指出该模型存在的不足。信息加工模型的建立与分析可为安全管理措施的制定及安全培训内容及环节的设计提供理论依据。     

Management commitment to safety as organizational support: relationships with non-safety outcomes in wood manufacturing employees

INTRODUCTION: Employee perceptions of management commitment to safety are known to influence important safety-related outcomes. However, little work has been conducted to explore non-safety-related outcomes resulting from a commitment to safety. METHOD: Employee-level outcomes critical to the effective functioning of an organization, including attitudes such as job satisfaction and commitment to the organization, were included on surveys given to 641 hourly production employees at three wood products manufacturing facilities. Participants' were asked about perceptions of management commitment to safety and job-related variables such as perceived dangerousness of their position, organizational commitment, and withdrawal behaviors. Supervisors also rated the performance of each of their hourly subordinates. RESULTS: Results suggest that employee outcomes differ based on perceptions of management's commitment to safety. Specifically, management commitment to safety was positively related to job satisfaction, organizational commitment, and job-related performance. We also found a negative relationship between commitment to safety and employee withdrawal behaviors. CONCLUSIONS: Our results suggest that increasing employee perceptions of management's personal concern for employee well-being through a dedication to safety will result in positive outcomes beyond improved safety performance. These results also imply that there is a type of social exchange between employees and management that may affect employees similarly to perceived organizational support. IMPACT ON INDUSTRY: Results further reinforce the value of a commitment to safety by a firm's management. Organizations with a strong commitment to safety may enjoy not only a reduction in safety-related events but also increases in desirable employee attitudes and behaviors.     

Linking emotional intelligence to safety performance: The roles of situational awareness and safety training

Introduction: Safety outcomes in the workplace require individual employees to perform (behave) safely in everyday duties. While the literature suggests that emotional management capabilities or traits can be positively related to individual performance in certain conditions, it is not clear how they can influence safety-related performance in high-risk work contexts. Drawing upon trait activation theory, this paper aims to examine when emotional intelligence (EI) benefits employees’ safety performance. We propose that when employees receive inadequate safety training, EI is more likely to trigger their situational awareness and consequently promote their safety performance. Method: We collected time-lagged data from 133 full-time airplane pilots working in commercial aviation industry. Hierarchical moderated regression analysis was conducted to test the moderating effect of safety training inadequacy on the EI–situational awareness relationship. The moderated mediation model, which involves conditional indirect effects of EI on safety performance via situational awareness across different levels of safety training inadequacy, was tested using the PROCESS-based bootstrap confidence interval. Results: Safety training inadequacy negatively moderated the relationship between EI and situational awareness, such that EI was significantly related to situational awareness only when safety training inadequacy was more salient. The more inadequate safety training was, the greater the indirect effect of EI on safety performance via situational awareness was. Conclusions: Inadequate safety training, as a negative situational cue, can activate individuals’ EI to drive their safety-related cognitions (e.g., situational awareness) and behaviors. Effective safety training may be able to complement employees’ low EI in shaping their situational awareness and safety behaviors. Practical Applications: Aviation managers should monitor the adequacy and effectiveness of safety training; this could make pilots’ situational awareness and safety performance depend less on personal attributes (e.g., EI), which organizations are less able to control. When training capacity is temporarily limited, priority might be given to those with low EI.     

Automatic imitation of risky behavior: a study of simulated driving in china

Objective: Imitation of risky behaviors among drivers is a potentially dangerous threat to driving safety but is infrequently discussed in the existing literature. To enrich the understanding of drivers' imitation behaviors on the road, 2 experiments were designed for a simulated traffic environment. Methods: Safe and risky behaviors were demonstrated by model vehicles separately in the 2 experiments, and imitation behaviors of the participants were observed and analyzed. Results: From experiment 1 it was found that the following distance of participants (measured in time headway) was affected by the distance demonstrated by other vehicles on the road. The influence was stronger when the speed was low, and the participants imitated both risky and safe behavior models. When the speed was high, the participants tended to only learn safe behaviors. In experiment 2, when approaching yellow lights, it was examined whether a driver's decision (pass or stop) would be affected by the behavior of another vehicle (the model vehicle), which was designed to either pass through or stop at the intersection. When the model vehicle ran the yellow light, 65 percent of the participants did the same, even though they were 30?m behind the model vehicle. In contrast, if the model vehicle stopped at the intersection, only 25 percent of the participants decided to pass. Conclusions: It was found that both novice and experienced participants had the tendency to imitate what they saw but were rarely aware of the influence by other drivers in both scenarios.     

Mental models of safety: do managers and employees see eye to eye?

PROBLEM: Disagreements between managers and employees about the causes of accidents and unsafe work behaviors can lead to serious workplace conflicts and distract organizations from the important work of establishing positive safety climate and reducing the incidence of accidents. METHOD AND RESULTS: In this study, the authors examine a model for predicting safe work behaviors and establish the model's consistency across managers and employees in a steel plant setting. Using the model previously described by Brown, Willis, and Prussia (2000), the authors found that when variables influencing safety are considered within a framework of safe work behaviors, managers and employees share a similar mental model. The study then contrasts employees' and managers' specific attributional perceptions. Findings from these more fine-grained analyses suggest the two groups differ in several respects about individual constructs. Most notable were contrasts in attributions based on their perceptions of safety climate. When perceived climate is poor, managers believe employees are responsible and employees believe managers are responsible for workplace safety. However, as perceived safety climate improves, managers and employees converge in their perceptions of who is responsible for safety. IMPACT ON INDUSTRY: It can be concluded from this study that in a highly interdependent work environment, such as a steel mill, where high system reliability is essential and members possess substantial experience working together, managers and employees will share general mental models about the factors that contribute to unsafe behaviors, and, ultimately, to workplace accidents. It is possible that organizations not as tightly coupled as steel mills can use such organizations as benchmarks, seeking ways to create a shared understanding of factors that contribute to a safe work environment. Part of this improvement effort should focus on advancing organizational safety climate. As climate improves, managers and employees are likely to agree more about the causes of safe/unsafe behaviors and workplace accidents, ultimately increasing their ability to work in unison to prevent accidents and to respond appropriately when they do occur. Finally, the survey items included in this study may be useful to organizations wishing to conduct self-assessments.     

Effects of workplace thermal conditions on safe work behavior

The effect of workplace thermal conditions on worker safety has not previously been adequately investigated, due in part to the difficulty of defining a suitable safety performance measure. This report describes a study conducted in two industrial plants to determine if a correlation exists between the safety-related behavior of workers and workplace thermal conditions. Both heat exposure measurements and behavioral observations were taken over a 14-month period, for a total of over 17,000 observations. The results indicate that temperatures below and above those typically preferred by most people have a significantly detrimental effect on the safety-related behavior of workers. This is demonstrated by an index based on the ratio of observed unsafe behaviors to the total number of observed behaviors. The relationship between this index of unsafe behavior and the ambient temperature formed a U-shaped curve. The minimum unsafe behavior index occurred within the zone of preferred temperature (approximately 17°C to 23°C, WBGT). Other factors such as metabolic workload and time during the shift also had significant effects on worker safety-related behavior.     

Enhancing safety competencies of young adults: A randomized field trial (RCT)

IntroductionYoung workers are exposed to various occupational hazards, often with limited experience and skills. In this study, we investigated the effects of the Attitude to Work Program on the safety competencies of young workers. Based on the social cognitive theory, the intervention was developed to help young people adopt an active role in preventing occupational hazards and overcoming barriers to safe work.MethodThe program was implemented in eight upper secondary-level vocational schools in Finland during 2015. A total of 464 students participated in the cluster randomized field trial. Those in the intervention group (n = 229) participated in the Attitude to Work Program. During the program, students identified and practiced behavioral strategies to prevent occupational hazards. Students in the control condition (n = 235) received written material about the same safety-related topics.ResultsThe short-term follow-up showed that the intervention significantly increased safety preparedness and the internal safety locus of control among the students in the intervention condition in comparison to those in the control condition. Students in the intervention condition also showed reduced risk-taking attitudes relative to those in the control condition. Furthermore, those who benefited most from the program were high conscientiousness students. The sensation-seeking level or vocational track did not moderate any of the intervention effects.ConclusionThe results demonstrated that safety competencies can be modified by intervention techniques based on a social-cognitive framework.Practical implicationsThis study provides tools for school-based safety training and future intervention development. Further research is needed to study the relationships between cognitive factors, safety behavior, and accidents.     

班组长领导方式对矿工安全行为的影响 效用研究—基于调整焦点理论*

围绕班组长领导方式和矿工安全行为的内涵,通过文献分析与因子分析,剖析出班组长领导主要包含领导魅力、鼓励性激励、智力激发、个性化关怀、权变性奖励、积极例外管理和消极例外管理七种方式,矿工安全行为主要包含安全遵守与参与一种方式。以班组长七种领导方式为外在潜变量,矿工安全行为一种方式为内在潜变量,基于调整焦点理论下构建班组长领导方式对矿工安全行为的影响效用模型。运用SPASS17.0和AMOS7.0软件,探析班组长各领导方式对矿工安全行为的作用路径及其影响,从而为煤矿安全管理提出新思路。     

The safety observer effect: the effects of conducting safety observations

INTRODUCTION: Some research suggests that conducting safety observations of another's safety performance may serve as an effective tool in increasing the safety performance of the observer. The primary purpose of the present study was to assess the effects of conducting safety observations on the postural safety performance of observers engaging in an assembly task for short time periods. The secondary objectives of the study were: (a) to measure productivity, and (b) to measure the accuracy of participant safety observations. METHOD: An ABC (A: baseline, B: information, C: observation) multiple-baseline design counterbalanced across postural behaviors (back, shoulder, and feet position) was implemented with six participants. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION: Substantial improvements in postural safety occurred after participants conducted safety observations, and these improvements did not appear to negatively affect productivity. Results also suggest that there is no relation between the accuracy of an observer's safety observation and their subsequent safety performance. IMPACT ON INDUSTRY: This research provides evidence that a safety observation process can function to increase safe postural behavior of observers. Thus, the implementation of such a process may contribute to the prevention of musculoskeletal disorders and related costs in the workplace.     

The relationship between the implementation of a Safety Management System and the attitudes of employees towards unsafe acts in aviation

Airports represent highly complex organisations, incorporating such interdependent operations as airlines, ground transport, flight services, ground services, refueling, maintenance, customer services, catering, administration and security. Airports, and especially International Airports, must ensure that their operations are conducted in a safe and efficient manner, as the consequence of any error or failure during operations has the potential for catastrophic outcomes. The international governing body for air transportation, ICAO, requires that airports must implement a Safety Management System as a means of ensuring safe operations and eliminating or reducing the likelihood of low frequency/high consequence incidents. This research project sought to determine the extent to which the implementation of a Safety Management System (SMS) influenced the attitudes of airport employees toward unsafe acts. The hypothesis tested was that the implementation of an SMS into an airport will result in an improvement in attitudes toward safety. A Safety Culture Survey was utilized to measure these attitudes. Two International Airports were chosen to measure the extent to which the introduction of an SMS at one airport would influence the safety attitude and culture of those employees. Sharjah International Airport, UAE, was used as the experimental group, as it did not have a formal SMS in operation, with another English-speaking International Airport (the Second Airport) being used as a control group, as it already had an SMS in operation. A Safety Culture Survey was used as the pre and post-test measure over a 12-month period to determine the extent of influence of the introduction of the SMS at Sharjah Airport. The results of Phase 1 of the survey (June 2008) were compared against the results of Phase 2 of the survey (June 2009). The average score reported by participants at Sharjah Airport increased significantly from pre-test measure to post-test measure in relation to communication, safety rules, supportive environment, personal risk appreciation, work environment, and involvement. At the same time, the average score for personal priorities decreased significantly from Phases 1 to 2. Results indicate that participants at Sharjah Airport recorded a significant positive shift in attitude to the safety factors covered in the Safety Culture Survey, whilst at the same time responses from the Second Airport showed no such shift in attitude. The Second Airport showed neither decline nor improvement in responses. Whilst some methodological issues were identified, the results were of sufficient strength as to conclude that the outcomes reported support the hypothesis that the introduction of an SMS at Sharjah Airport has effected positive changes not observed at the Second Airport. Recommendations for ongoing research were made to further explore the strength of relationship between SMS and safety attitudes, as well as the relationship between safe attitude and safe behaviour.     

Implementing and evaluating novel safety training methods for construction sector workers: Results of a randomized controlled trial

Introduction: The construction industry is regarded as one of the most unsafe occupational fields worldwide. Despite general agreement that safety training is an important factor in preventing accidents in the construction sector, more studies are needed to identify effective training methods. To address the current research gap, this study evaluated the impact of novel, participatory safety training methods on construction workers’ safety competencies. Specifically, we assessed the efficacy of an immersive virtual reality (VR)-based safety training program and a participatory human factors safety training program (HFST) in construction industry workplaces. Method: In 2019, 119 construction sector workers from eight workplaces participated in a randomized controlled trial conducted in Finland. All the study participants were assessed using questionnaires at baseline, immediately after the intervention and at one-month follow-up. We applied generalized linear mixed modeling for statistical analysis. Results: Compared to lecture-based safety training, VR-based safety training showed a stronger impact on safety motivation, self-efficacy and safety-related outcome expectancies. In addition, the construction sector workers who participated in the VR-based safety training showed a greater increase in self-reported safety performance at one-month follow-up. Contrary to our study hypotheses, we found no significant differences between the study outcomes in terms of study participants in the HFST training condition and the comparison condition without HFST training. Conclusion: Our study indicates that VR technology as a safety training tool has potential to increase safety competencies and foster motivational change in terms of the safety performance of construction sector workers. In the future, the efficacy of participatory human factors safety training should be studied further using a version that targets both managerial and employee levels and is implemented in a longer format. Practical implications: Safety training in virtual reality provides a promising alternative to passive learning methods. Its motivating effect complements other safety training activities.     

Stigma at work: The psychological costs and benefits of the pressure to work safely

Introduction: Workplace accidents and injuries can be quite costly to both individual employees and their organizations. While safety climate (i.e., perceptions of policies and procedures related to safety that should reflect an organization's value of safety) has been established as a predictor of safety behaviors, less research has considered the possible negative pressures that could result from an environment that emphasizes safety. Though organizations may intend to create a positive safety climate, concerns about being treated differently if an employee were to be involved in a safety incident may result in unintended, but detrimental safety and health outcomes. Method: This study investigated the stigma associated with being involved in a safety-related incident in relation to self-reported safety behaviors and psychological health outcomes. The data were acquired through a two-wave prospective design, surveying workers from Amazon Mechanical Turk (MTurk; N = 528) who indicated they were exposed to at least one physical work stressor (e.g., heavy lifting; air quality; standing for extended periods) a few times each month or more. Results: When controlling for safety climate, safety stigma was related to decreased safety compliance and poorer psychological health. There was a marginally significant interaction between safety stigma and safety motivation in relation to safety compliance. Conclusions: These findings suggest that experiencing pressure to work safely, for fear of being evaluated negatively, may actually come at the cost of employees' safety compliance and psychological health. Practical applications: These results may be useful in assessing and intervening to improve an organization's safety climate. Organizations should closely examine the climate for safety to ensure that positive aspects of safety are not undermined by a stigmatizing pressure associated with safety in the work environment.     

Two discrete choice experiments on laboratory safety decisions and practices

IntroductionThe path toward enhancing laboratory safety requires a thorough understanding of the factors that influence the safety-related decision making of laboratory personnel. Method: We developed and administered a web-based survey to assess safety-related decision making of laboratory personnel of a government research organization. The survey included two brief discrete choice experiments (DCEs) that allowed for quantitative analysis of specific factors that potentially influence safety-related decisions and practices associated with two different hypothetical laboratory safety scenarios. One scenario related to reporting a laboratory spill, and the other scenario involved changing protective gloves between laboratory rooms. The survey also included several brief self-report measures of attitude, perception, and behavior related to safety practices. Results: Risk perception was the most influential factor in safety-related decision making in both scenarios. Potential negative consequences and effort associated with reporting an incident and the likelihood an incident was detected by others also affected reporting likelihood. Wearing gloves was also affected somewhat by perceived exposure risk, but not by other social or work-related factors included in the scenarios. Conclusions: The study demonstrated the promise of DCEs in quantifying the relative impact of several factors on safety-related choices of laboratory workers in two hypothetical but realistic scenarios. Participants were faced with hypothetical choice scenarios with realistic features instead of traditional scaling techniques that ask about attitudes and perceptions. The methods are suitable for addressing many occupational safety concerns in which workers face tradeoffs in their safety-related decisions and behavior. Practical Application: Safety-related decisions regarding laboratory practices such as incident reporting and use of PPE were influenced primarily by workers’ perceptions of risk of exposure and severity of risks to health and safety. This finding suggests the importance of providing laboratory workers with adequate and effective education and training on the hazards and risks associated with their work. DCEs are a promising research method for better understanding the relative influences of various personal, social, and organizational factors that shape laboratory safety decisions and practices. The information gained from DCEs may lead to more targeted training materials and interventions.     

Exploring the role of emotional intelligence in behavior-based safety coaching

INTRODUCTION: Safety coaching is an applied behavior analysis technique that involves interpersonal interaction to understand and manipulate environmental conditions that are directing (i.e., antecedent to) and motivating (i.e., consequences of) safety-related behavior. A safety coach must be skilled in interacting with others so as to understand their perspectives, communicate a point clearly, and be persuasive with behavior-based feedback. METHOD: This article discusses the evidence-based "ability model" of emotional intelligence and its relevance to the interpersonal aspect of the safety coaching process. RESULTS: Emotional intelligence has potential for improving safety-related efforts and other aspects of individuals' work and personal lives. Safety researchers and practitioners are therefore encouraged to gain an understanding of emotional intelligence and conduct and support research applying this construct toward injury prevention.     

The perceived compatibility of safety and production expectations in hazardous occupations

INTRODUCTION: Safety hazards are unavoidable in many work environments. Employees must be both productive and safe, however, conflicting safety and production demands can negatively affect safety, production, or both. The employee's perception of the compatibility of management's safety and production expectations is a possible predictor of such consequences. This paper defines "safety-production compatibility" and describes how measures of safety-production compatibility, as well as safety pressure and production pressure, were developed. METHOD: We used LISREL structural equation modeling to test the influences of safety-production compatibility, safety pressure, and production pressure on safe work behavior and interference with performing other work tasks. The 239 study participants were workers employed in diverse but hazardous occupations. RESULTS: Pressure to work safely was positively associated with safe work behavior. The perceived compatibility of safety and production demands positively influenced safe work behavior and reduced the interference of safety hazards performing other tasks. Safety-production compatibility was also found to mediate the relationship between trust in management and safe work behavior. CONCLUSIONS: The results of this field study suggest increased compatibility, and thus less conflict, between safety and production demands influences safe work behavior and the interference of safety hazards with performing other work tasks. More broadly, the worker's reaction to multiple work demands is a safety and performance influence. IMPACT ON INDUSTRY: Safety management efforts that focus only on the hazards fail to eliminate many accidents because accidents arise from many factors including technology, safety climate, social influences, production, and safety demands. This study suggests that workers differ in their perception of the compatibility of safety and production demands. These differences will show up in safe work behavior, influencing the effectiveness of safety management efforts and the trust workers have in management's concern for safety.     

The influence of safety at work on safety at home and during leisure time

It has been argued that the effects of safety programmes extend to safety related behaviour outside the work environment. Data from studies of the behaviour of workers in three industries with a high focus on safety were examined in order to explore this argument. By means of data collected through a questionnaire, safe behaviour and emergency preparedness behaviour at home and during leisure time were measured in a case-control study. The findings indicate that workers in two of the three studies did not transfer safe behaviour from workplaces with a high focus on safety to home and leisure arenas. The safety consciousness acquired by workers at their workplaces in the absence of specially designed home and leisure time intervention projects seems to be insufficiently comprehensive or deep enough to influence safe behaviour in other arenas. While safe behaviour was not transferred, the emergency preparedness behaviour was. This indicates that the contextual and situational aspects of emergency preparedness are shared across risk arenas.     

矿工心理因素、工作压力反应和不安全行为关系研究

为研究在巨大工作压力下，矿工的心理因素与工作压力反应和不安全行为的关系，以问卷的形式调查陕西省2家具代表性煤矿的工人，分别以矿工的心理因素、工作压力反应和作业过程中的不安全行为作为外生变量、中介变量和内生变量，构建心理因素、压力反应和不安全行为的结构方程模型。通过对调研数据处理与分析，得出如下结论:本研究中的4项心理因素，性格因素、心理素质、注意力和工作态度显著影响不安全行为的发生；性格因素、心理素质和注意力对压力反应有显著影响；工作态度与煤矿工人的压力反应的关系不显著；性格因素、心理素质、注意力和工作态度通过影响矿工的压力反应，间接影响矿工的不安全行为。     

基于Multi-agent的矿工情绪稳定性模型构建

为解决由矿工情绪稳定性水平低下引起的不安全行为问题,基于复杂适应系统（CAS）理论和多主体建模与仿真（ABMS）的方法,构建矿工情绪稳定性水平提升模型。通过调节班组协调程度、组织公平程度、安全心理培训水平、受教育程度、个性特征和作业环境舒适度,在NETLOGO仿真平台上分析矿工意志强度、情绪安全倾向度以及管理者领导能力对矿工情绪稳定性水平的影响。研究表明:矿工的情绪稳定性水平提升系统是一种典型的复杂适应系统,矿工情绪稳定性水平是各主体属性相互作用的结果,作用程度存在差异。因此,煤炭企业应考虑各种因素,通过控制和改善各主体的行为以提高矿工情绪稳定性水平。