3 Unit LO2

PRIOR LEARNING - LO2
NEBOSH International Diploma for Occupational Health and Safety Management Professionals
2
Health and Safety Culture and also absorb this good culture and changeover for
the better, while those workers who are reluctant to
Climate
changeover, either leave or are made to leave.
Meaning of the term ‘Health and Safety • his good health and safety culture leads in better
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Culture’: control of the risks, highly motivated and empowered
workforce, a strict adherence to the rules, a thorough
In any organization there is a way in which things get
investigation of incidents thereby leading to good
done. Some organizations take important decisions very
health and safety performance with low accidents
fast and execute client projects in a time bound manner,
and sickness rates.
while in other organizations decision making is slow and
generally clients do not get their projects executed in time.
Negative Culture:
This type of delaying or poor decision-making process is
in built in the companies’ psyche. It is not that only few In an organization with negative culture the following is
people in the organization have this habit of delaying but seen:
it is generally seen that this problem exists throughout the There is poor health and safety leadership from the
entire hierarchy of the organization. management. Managers are generally concerned in
As explained above, organizations, thus build up its own ensuring that the productivity is achieved and sales
values, traditions, customs and informal views. This can targets are met even if it means adopting unsafe practices
also be stated as the ‘culture’ of the organization. or breaking the set procedures. Health and safety issues
are neglected; near misses and worker complaints are
In the same way the organizations can also have a ‘health
either not reported or not adequately investigated. There
and safety culture’. A health and safety culture can be
are no policies or they are poorly implemented.
defined as the product of individual and group values,
attitude, beliefs, perception and competencies related to Workers are poorly trained and the companies’ procedures
health and safety. are not properly communicated to them. They look at the
managers to lead them and follow their poor customs and
Relationship between Health and behaviors. There may be some workers, who are safety
Safety Culture and Health and Safety conscious, but they are too few to make an impact or they
Performance: get absorbed into this negative way of working or they
leave the organization.
A companies’ health and safety performance is
determined by its health and safety culture. A positive This negative culture leads to workers and managers
culture leads to good performance, while in a negative violating the rules, there is poor or no implementation
culture the performance is poor. of risk control measures and there are large number of
unsafe acts and conditions, which neither get reported
Positive Culture: not investigated. This leads to an increase in accidents
In an organization with positive culture the following is and ill health thus impacting the organizations health and
seen: safety performance.
• here is leadership and commitment to health and

T Indicators of an Organisation’s Health and
safety throughout and at all levels of the organization; Safety Culture:
• here is acceptance that high standards of health and
T It is not possible to measure health and safety culture
safety are achievable as part of a long-term strategy directly, but it is possible to come to a conclusion whether
formulated by the organization; an organizations health and safety culture is good or poor
• anagers believe in safety and treat it is an investment,
M by looking at a variety of indicators. The following are the
rather than as a cost. Every action is taken by them indicators:
only after careful assessment of the risks and after
considering the companies’ internal policies. Accidents/Incidents:
• orkers behave in a safe manner because they are
W The number of accidents that are happening in an
well trained and competent and know the importance organization is a good judge of its health and safety
of following the rules and regulations. Those workers culture. But only the number of accidents as a standalone
who do not feel that safety is important are generally itself cannot give a clear picture. Accidents happening in
are in minority, but as time passes by these workers the organization need to be converted into indicators for
e.g. number of accidents per 1000 workers. Once these
PRIOR LEARNING - LO2 3
indicators are generated the companies’ records can be Level of Compliance with Health and Safety
checked for the previous few years to see an increasing Rules and Procedures:
or decreasing trend.
In organizations with positive health and safety culture
A decreasing trend would obviously point out to an audits and routine inspections will point out to high level
improvement in the health and safety culture overall. of compliance with health and safety rules (this obviously
An organizations accident data can be compared to is one of the reasons for good accident records).
similar sized, similar product company which can thus be Conversely in an organization with poor culture there
used as a benchmark to compare with companies having would be rampant violations of rules and regulations to
good health and safety culture. meet the companies’ production targets.
Other way of assessing the culture is to look at the Complaints about the Working Conditions:
standards of investigation that follows the accidents. A
Organizations with poor health and safety culture will
company with positive health and safety culture would
have high number of worker complaints recorded through
obviously carry out a well-structured investigation and
formal consultation processes. Complaints will range
there will be great emphasis placed on reaching out to
from poor quality PPE, to poor work environment like too
the root cause of the incident and bringing out structural
much noise or very dusty workplace. Organizations with
improvements by looking at short comings in the risk
good health and safety culture will find less of workers
assessments and the companies’ policies. While in
complaints because the organization will definitely be
a company with negative health and safety culture,
adhering to minimum legal requirements.
accidents investigations will be carried out superficially,
often with an intention to blame someone rather than
Influence of Peers on Health and Safety
with an intention to prevent such accidents in the future.
Culture:
Absenteeism: In an organization worker form their own groups to
socialize and to make the work life more meaningful.
In a company with poor health and safety culture high
Within this group an informal hierarchy gets formed with
level of worker absenteeism may be seen, this indicates
one or more of the workers becoming their unelected
that workers are not able to come to work or do not want
leader who obviously influence the group due to their
to come to work.
imposing personality and effective communication. A
• orkers are not able to come to work as they may be
W person wishing to become a member of this group needs
suffering from ill health which could get worsened by to comply with the group’s norms. This pressure to comply
continuing to work. is called as peer group pressure.
• orkers do not want to come to work as they feel
W If the group has a positive attitude towards health and
their work is too risky and hence would not like to safety then any new comer would also be required to
suffer any loss of limb or life. follow this norm, even if this new person doesn’t think of
safety as something which is important. The peer group
Sickness Rates:
can also have a negative impact on health and safety
A workplace is full of hazardous substances which can behavior in which the group as such thinks that safety is
cause ill health effects and subsequently cause workers something which is meant only to be followed on paper
to report sick. Sickness rates can be compared in the and those who believe in safety will also tend to overlook
same way as accidents rates are. it so as to comply with the peer group pressure.
Staff Turnover: The only way for the management to overcome this peer
group pressure from imposing negative pressure on the
Workers leave the work and join other organizations.
workmen is to identify the influential persons in the group
One prime reason to leave is to seek a better working
and turn them over to the safe way of behaving. This can
environment. An organization with poor health and safety
be done by training, education and involvement in safety-
culture will have a higher worker turnover because they
related projects. Once these workers are changed, they
don’t feel safe at work or suffering with poor morale.
will influence the others in the group to also change their
behaviour.
LEARNING OUTCOME 2
By end of this element, you will be able to promote a positive health and
safety culture by
• gaining commitment and participation; and
• ngaging, supporting, and influencing leaders (and others) to change
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attitudes and behaviour and make health and safety a priority.
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2.1 Organisational Structures Input Process Output

• D esign and • Routine and • P
roduct
The organization is not just of importance to company
Construction Non-Routine and Service
management, but is also of great significance for each
• Design and Operations Design
person’s work situation, both in health terms and in
relation to his or her short- and long-term opportunities Installation • Maintenance • P
ackaging
for making an effective contribution to work. Thus, it is of • P urchasing • Plant and and labelling
key importance for specialists in the field of occupational Procurement Process • S
torage and
safety and health to be acquainted with the theorizing, • Recruitment Change Transport
conceptualization, and forms of thinking about social and • F
oreseeable • Off-site Risks
reality to which the terms organisation and organisational Selection Emergencies • D
isposal and
development or change refer. • S
election of • Decommission Pollution
Contractors • Demolition Control
Concept of the Organisation as a System
• Acquisitions • Divestments
A systems approach to management is based on
• Information • Information
system theories developed primarily in the natural and
social sciences. A system is a group of interrelated Systems are also classed as being either open systems or
components working together toward a common goal by closed systems;
accepting inputs and producing outputs in an organized • n open system is one where there are identifiable
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transformation process. pathways where the system interacts with the external
Adopting a systems approach addresses the need to environment and is subject to external influences. In
establish and maintain the internal coherence of the health and safety, these influences include legislation,
project and its external requirements. The systems public opinion, and economy.
approach consists of: • losed systems do not interact with the environment,
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• set of concepts that provide a philosophic basis for
A and so their ability to adapt or respond to changing
the approach internal conditions is limited.
• methodology that forms a framework for designing,

A A management system is an open system, and based on
developing, operating the system and managing the following approach:
change
Plan
• set of techniques used within the context of the
A Organize
methodological framework that provides a toolkit for Control
planning, analysis, and design work.
The relationship of these three elements of the systems
Input Process Output
approach is illustrated in Figure.
Concepts & Feedback

Inputs Principles Outputs
Requirements Organisation
Specified System Monitor
Methodology
Review
Including Requirements Operating
Toolbox of Satisfied Environment
Resources
Techniques
LEARNING OUTCOME 2 3
First Stage Controls- Control of Inputs Procedures

Objective: To minimize hazards entering the organisation. It includes the design of jobs and work procedures and all
Risk Control Systems (RCS) are needed to control aspects of the way the work is done.
the flows of resources and information through the
organisation. At the input stage, the goal is to eliminate People
and minimize hazards and risks entering the organisation. It includes the placement of employees, their competence
RCSs may be needed for: for the job and any health surveillance needed when
specifying RCSs it is necessary in each case to consider;
Physical resources
• he operation of the business process in the ‘steady
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• he design, selection, purchase, and construction of
T state,’ including routine and non-routine activities
workplaces
• he business process in the ‘steady state’ during
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• he design, selection, purchase, and installation of
T maintenance, including the maintenance activity
plant and substances used by the organisation itself, whether undertaken by contractors or on-site
• he plant and substances used by others, such as
T staff
contractors on site • lanned changes from the ‘steady state,’ arising from
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• The acquisition of new businesses any change in the organisation structure, premises,
plant, process, substances, procedures, people or
Human resources information
• The recruitment and selection of all employees • oreseeable emergencies giving rise to serious and
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• The selection of contracting organisation imminent danger, such as fire, injuries, ill health,
incidents or the failure of control equipment (including
Information first aid, emergency planning and procedures for the
• Information relating directly to health and safety, such management of emergencies, and identification and
as standards, guidance, and aspects of the law, and control of danger areas)
any revisions • ecommissioning, dismantling, and removal of
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• ther technical and management information relating
O facilities, plant, equipment or substances.
to risk control and the development of a positive
health and safety culture.
Third Stage Controls - Control of Outputs
Objective: To minimize risks outside the organisation
The Second Stage Controls - Control of arising from the business process, products, and services.
Work Activities At the output stage, the goal is to minimize the risks to
Objective: To eliminate and minimize risks within the people outside the organisation whether from work
business process. At the process stage, hazards are activities themselves or from the products or services
created where people interact with their jobs, and the supplied. RCSs may need to cover:
goal is to eliminate or minimize risks arising inside the • Products and services, and include consideration of;
organisation. RCSs may need to cover the four areas
– esign and research on the health and safety
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concerned with work activities and risk creation, namely:
and safe use of products and services, including
surveillance of users to identify evidence of harm
Premises
– he delivery and transport of products including
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It includes the place of work, entrances and exits, the
packaging, labeling, and intermediate storage
general working environment, welfare facilities, and all
plant and facilities which are part of the fixed structure, – he installation, setting up, cleaning and
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such as permanent electrical installations. maintenance of products undertaken by
employees or contractors.
Plant and substances • By-products of the work activities, such as;
It includes the arrangements for their handling, transport,
– ff-site risks which might arise from the
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storage and use.
organisation’s work activities both at fixed or
transient sites
– Outputs to the environment - particularly wastes
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and atmospheric emissions They are frequently divided into productive and non-
– he disposal of plant, equipment, and substances
T productive organisations. Objectives are statements
(including wastes). of what an organisation intends or aims to achieve,
e.g., Quality, Health, and Safety objectives. Policies are
• Information, for example;
statements concerning how the objectives are to be
– he health and safety information provided to
T achieved, e.g. policies on Health and Safety and quality.
those transporting, handling, storing, purchasing,
using or disposing of products Organisation Functions
– he information provided to those who may be
T Organisations play number of functions such as Health
affected by work activities, such as members of and Safety, marketing, production, engineering, personnel,
the public, other employers and their employees, finance, and administration. Line functions are those
the emergency services and planning authorities. with direct responsibility for achieving the organisation’s
objectives. They are concerned with the output of goods
Feedback or services. Production is a pure line function. Staff
Data about the performance of a system functions are necessary for line functions to be carried
out. They assist, advise and facilitate the operation of the
• ffectiveness of the Process = Ability to achieve
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line function. Typical examples of staff functions are the
desired results
HR personnel function and the health and safety advisory
• fficiency of Process = Results Achieved vs.
E function.
Resources Used
The line, staff, and functional relationships set out above
Control are those of the formal organisation. They will be set out
in writing in job descriptions and other documentation
• It Involves monitoring and evaluating feedback to
and will be depicted in organisational charts. Such charts
determine whether a system is moving toward the
show the structure and reporting relationships: job titles,
achievement of its goals.
seniority, who reports to whom. The formal organisation
• he control function then makes necessary
T refers to the planned, documented processes and
adjustments to a system’s input and processing relationships, as designed by management, to designate
components to ensure that it produces proper output. tasks and coordinate activities for the achievement of
In the past organizations put a great deal of emphasis on organisational goals.
safety program. These are different from health and safety
Informal Organisations
management systems in a number of ways:
Alongside the formal organisation, there will be an informal
• rogram are focused on compliance with the
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one. This arises from the day-to-day and spontaneous
standards/regulations within and do not have the
relationships between employees as they interact with
strong or any feedback mechanisms where the
each other in the course of carrying out their jobs. Many
contents are adjusted or modified to accommodate
informal organisations operate within the framework of a
changing circumstances. Systems have this facility.
formal organisation. This can include, for example, groups
• he performance of a program is based on
T of supervisors who exchange information.
compliance with the system and with trailing (or
Advice has to be sought from each other and endeavor to
reactive) indicators such as the number of accidents,
put into operation the demands of senior management.
injuries, etc. In systems, approach performance is also
Similarly, groups of workers, such as machinists,
measured from the input and process components of
maintenance personnel, and drivers, may operate as an
the system.
informal organisation with respect to meeting production
Organisational Structures and targets, quality standards, and safety standards.
Functions Forming of Groups

Member of these informal organisations is often Individual
Formal Organisations
employees who have psychological and social needs, for
These are established to achieve set goals, aims, and example for social contact and interaction. Through this
objectives. They have clearly defined management interaction, they also bring their out-of-work experiences
structures, policies, rules and channels of communication. with them each day their hopes and fears, triumphs and
disappointments. Gossip and grapevines can provide commercial legal entities such as sole trader, partnership,
important sources of information. These gossips induce public or private limited company, cooperative or
develop friendships at work, as well as animosities among corporation.
Employees.
The Classic View
Using this situation groups are formed, and Informal
leaders emerge as well as group norms. The informal The classic view of the corporate structure is a chart
organisation is not planned by management, nor is it showing the arrangement of divisions, units, departments
formally documented, yet it has an important influence and other components of an organisation and the
on the workings of the organisation and the experience hierarchy of the key positions. What is being described is
of working there. There are no formal rules in terms of the division of work and labor, and this is but one view of
membership of the organisation. It can work against the the structure.
formal organisational goals as set out by management or In large international corporations, the structure
it can help to achieve these; it can have a negative effect might be represented geographically on a map of the
on people’s work lives, or it can enhance them. Managers world. However, the classic view of the structure of the
need to understand the workings of both the formal and configuration of the division of work and labor has its
the informal organisation. limitations and should not be thought of as representing
all aspects of the structure.
Hierarchical Vs. Flat management
Structures The Systems View
A function of such organisation is the requirement The essence of any structure is that all parts are
(definitely in those with few workers) for the workers to interconnected so as to form a coherent and functioning
embrace numerous functions. Much of the work is done in whole and that it exists to fulfill a particular purpose. In
groups where a group leader will assist in the work of the the case of an organisation structure, it exists to fulfill
team, running in a collective design rather than through a the mission. Therefore, when looking at an organisation
hierarchical structure. as a system, it means it is about a particular view or
perspective of the organisation. There are many other
Organisation charts & Role of management perspectives that deal with how knowledge is utilized, or
to look at the political forces in the organisation and their
Different Types of Organisational Structure
impact on behavior. A systems view of the organisation
Organisations are set up in specific ways to accomplish could take the form of several models each representing
different goals, and the structure of an organisation a distinct aspect of the organisation’s complexity. These
can help or hinder its progress toward accomplishing models might include:
these goals. Organisations large and small can achieve
• unctional model showing the division of work and
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higher sales and other profit by properly matching their
labor with the lines of responsibility and accountability
needs with the structure they use to operate. Large or
small, every organisation should operate with a defined • rocess model showing the arrangement of business
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organisational structure. A well thought out, and strategic processes and the pathways along which workflows
business configuration clarifies reporting relationships and the corresponding results are produced
and supports good communication – resulting in efficient • ommunications model showing the network of
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and effective work process flow. internal and external communications with the
Senior leadership looks at all functions and determines stakeholders
how they would like work activities to be organized and • ocation model showing the disposition of physical
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carried out. This process also identifies natural reporting resources such as the buildings, plants, and facilities
relationships and chain-of-command. Reporting where the organisation functions
relationships can be both vertical as well as horizontal.
• ultural model showing the factors influencing the
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organisational culture and the way they are channeled
Organisational Structures
through the organisation as values and principles that
The term ‘ Corporate Organisational structure’ refers to impact behavior
the way the various parts of an organisation are arranged
Any model of the organisation that is produced in an
and related as opposed to the arrangement of buildings.
attempt to understand and manage its complexity can be
In contrast, business structures refer to the many forms of
considered as a representation of the corporate structure.
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Functional Organisational Structure induce workers in the new practices?

Functional organisational structures are the most – ew people: Do they need safety and health
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common. A structure of this type groups individuals by training and are they sufficiently competent to do
specific functions performed. Common departments the job safely?
such as human resources, accounting, and purchasing • nly engaging contractors to do new or ongoing
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are organized by separating each of these areas and projects that reinforce rather than damage the
managing them independently of the others. organisation’s safety and health policies
For example, managers of different functional areas • ecognizing their continuing responsibility for safety
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all report up to one director or vice president who and health even when work is contracted out
has responsibility for all of the operational areas. The
• roviding their customers with the necessary safety
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advantage of this type of structure is that functions are
and health precautions when supplying them with
separated by expertise, but the challenges come in when
articles, substances, or services
different functional areas turn into silos that focus only on
their area of responsibility and don’t support the function • eing aware that although safety and health
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of other departments. responsibilities can and should be delegated, legal
responsibility for safety and health still rests with the
Example of an Organisation Chart employer.
Feedback Line Communication Line Potential conflict between

(Bottom Up) (Top Down)
organisational goals and the goals of
the individual
Managing
Director It is important that the organisation and employees
should have their own goals. The goal of the organisation
Director Director Director must be ‘large’, or ‘biggest in the field’ or ‘outstanding
Health and Safety Human Resources Operations quality’. People within organisations are motivated to work
towards organisational goals or objectives that ultimately
result in increased remuneration, promotion, and peer
Signed By: Horizontal recognition. However, in many cases, these individual
Date: Communication Line goals are not aligned with the organisation’s broader
goals. The negative Consequence is that, while people
Role of Management in the organisation strive towards personal motivations,
Senior executive directors or other senior management very few people, if any, are directly concerned with the
controlling body members and executive senior origination’s ultimate objective namely that of producing
managers are primarily responsible for the safety and and delivering products and/or services to their
health management in the organisation. customers. For example, if a worker spends extra hours
in order to achieve the goals of organisation whereas
• he appointment of someone at senior management
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another worker may focus on spending time family and
level with executive responsibility, accountability
avoid working for extra hours. The behaviour of both the
and authority for the development, implementation,
employees may make impact on the achievement of the
periodic review, and evaluation of their safety and
goals of organisation positively and negatively.
health management system
• he safety and health ramifications of investment
T The Integration of the goals of the
in new plant, premises, processes or products. For Organisation with the needs of the
example, such changes could introduce:
individual – authority, responsibility,
– ew materials: Are they toxic or flammable,
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accountability
do they pose new risks to employees, neighbors
or the public, and how will any new risks be When the owner or top manager of business has authority
controlled? or responsibility, their performance is not necessarily
measured. But when they are held accountable, their
– ew work practices: What are the new risks,
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performance is measured in relation to standards or goals
and are managers and supervisors competent to
that result in certain positive or negative consequences.
An owner or top manager of an organisation delegates Summary of Individual Goals and

certain responsibilities to other worksite managers or Organisational Goals
supervisors. The owner must avoid undercutting the
authority of the managers since that will interfere with Individual Goals Organisational Goals
their ability to carry out those responsibilities. At the Customers (sales
same time, the owner wants to demonstrate their own Working environment
planning and budgets)
commitment to reducing safety and health hazards and
Development and Human resources and
protecting employees.
training management
Elements of an Effective Accountability Contractors and business
Job security
System partners
Any accountability system should have the following Resources (economic
Work design
elements to be effective; and financial processes)
• stablished standards in the form of company policies,
E Continual progress
Job satisfaction
procedures or rules that clearly convey standards of processes
performance in safety and health to employees
Service payoffs Innovation and learning
• esources needed to meet the standards, such as a
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Technology and
safe and healthful workplace, effective training, and Participation
development (related
adequate oversight of work operations (democracy)
processes)
• measurement system which specifies acceptable
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Effective relationships Production and
performance
with supervisor & peers technology
• Consequences, both positive and negative
Fair supervision Social responsibility
• Application at all levels.
Work and life balance ---
When managers and employees are held accountable for
Fairness and dignity ---
their safety and health responsibilities, they are more likely
to press for solutions to safety and health problems than Job enhancement path ---
to present barriers. By implementing an accountability
system, positive involvement in the safety and health The Internal influences on health and
program is created. safety within an organisation e.g,
Most people have functional roles. For instance, they may finance, production targets, trade
produce an intermediate product or participate in the unions, organisational goals and
management of a particular section of an organisation’s
operations. However, they never see the final outcome
culture
of the operation; that is the product going to market
1. Finance
for sale. As such, they tend to become locked into their
own particular part of the operation and cannot see ‘the The investment on health and safety must be normally
big picture.’ People have their own particular goals with large but if it is not satisfied correctly, it will cost more
respect to work, such as future promotion, the acceptance loss to the company as a result of safety failures. For
of their ideas and recommendations by the organisation example, annual budget itself reflect commitment of
and the increased remuneration accompanying these the company on safety concerns by allocating required
goals. amount of money; Otherwise, if it is considered as the
urgent budget or temporary budget and any accident/
Integrating the goals of the organisation with those of
incident happened, it will impose the financial burden
the individual entails shared beliefs and attitudes with
on company during the period of difficult financial years.
respect to the core focus of the organisation, such as
Small companies fail to withstand in the industry only
the production of a quality product or the provision of a
because they compromised on the side of health and
service. In particular, it implies authority, responsibility,
safety by allocating minimum investment.
and accountability on the part of all levels of management.
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2. Production Targets • Investigate on the complaints what they received

from the workers
When workers feel the pressure to achieve production
targets, it increases the stress and in turn causes accidents • epresent the potential hazards, complaints and
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in the workplace. Increased rate of competition, longer accidents to the employer
hours of work, increased workloads, new technology and • Inspecting the workplace on account of health and
new work patterns are considered as the occupational safety
stressors. For example, when a slow pace worker is not
• onsults with enforcement agency on behalf of
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able to cope with the speed of the conveyor belt, it leads
workers
to accidents due to mismatch.
• Receives information from HSE inspectors
This problem could be minimised by applying the
following methods. They are; 4. Organisational Goals and Culture
• Increasing the duration of the working hours The organisations have to show the concern on safety
• Increasing the size of the workforce not by merely framing safety policies but forming a
• Providing bonuses to the workforce safety culture in workplace. It will characterize about the
company to the stake holders and community about “the
Even if the above said measures could have been applied,
way they do things” regarding health and safety.
they may have some difficulties. They are;
• onger hours of work will lead to tiredness on workers
L External influences on Health and
and decreases the concentration of them. Safety within an Organisation
• rovision of bonuses to boost productivity may
P e.g. legislation, Parliament/HSE,
disregard the part of safety concerns.
enforcement agencies, courts/
• It causes anxiety to the slow pace worker whenever tribunals, contracts, clients/
he/she involved in a team. This may tend them to
contractors, trade unions, insurance
apply unsafe short-cuts.
companies, public opinion
3. Trade Unions
A safety committee may consist the representative from
1. Legislation
trade union as a member. They may play a dual role by Any changes in the legislation system with respect to
involving in the safety policy - making process along with safety must be adopted into the organisation’s safety
the management and carrying out their primary duty policies as soon as possible after it is published. The
as well. Because of this, they get the chance the play a safety officer of a company must ensure the changes in
significant role to monitor the safety performance in the legislation system with the help of journals or any
workplace. Their duties on safety part are; other sources at the right time.
• Investigate potential hazards and dangers in
2. Parliament/HSE
workplace
Parliament plays a unique and pivotal role in setting out
• E xamines the causes of the accidents happened
the framework for managing and promoting workplace
health and safety through its multiple functions of
representation, oversight and legislation on behalf of their
constituents.
3. Enforcement agencies
Adequately discussed in LO1, section 1.2
4. Tribunals/Courts
Court decisions can make direct impact on companies
and they become a precedent legal binding that can be
applied to all companies for similar circumstances.
5. Contractors/Clients Types of safety leadership, their

The activities carried out by contractors in workplace advantages, disadvantages and likely
may cause additional hazards, which have to be carefully impact on safety performance:
accounted. The employers have to carefully examine the
commitment and competency of the contractors before This section will examine a number of different approaches
they are agreed to make the contract. Contractors are or theories of leadership and how they might be used by
responsible for ensuring safety in the workplace within the effective health and safety leader.
their limits and liable for legal actions if they fail to do so. There are many differing styles of leader and many
theories of leadership, far too many to look in detail at
6. Trade Unions this stage. However, it is important for any aspiring health
They play a major role on the part of health and safety by and safety leader to appreciate at least a small section of
means of; leadership styles, what they compromise of and how they
may be used to influence different groups of people.
• upporting their member’s legal actions and setting
S
precedents and standards. When evaluating the impact of a leader, people sometimes
wrongly believe that they have only one style. While this
• Acting through pressure group to influence legislation
is possible, it is unlikely for an effective leader. One of
• ublishing health and safety matters and court
P the key skills in leadership is recognizing how people
decisions are motivated in a variety of situations and adapting
• Providing courses on health and safety subjects the leadership technique to fit the situation. It would be
challenging and ultimately problematic for a health &
7. Insurance Companies safety leader to adopt a “One size fits all approach”. By
The companies have to bind with insurance companies examining these four approaches we will be able to
legally. This is to cover insurance claims in cases of compare & contrast each method and how each one
workplace accidents. If accident rate increases in a encourages people to follow.
company, then they are subjected to pay the increased
premium amounts and take measures to reduce 1. Transformational Leadership
accidents. In some countries, the insurance companies The transformational leader focuses unsurprisingly on
have the access to carry out workplace safety inspections “transforming people” within an organization to help
and set their minimum standards to cope with. and support each other as well as the organization as a
whole. For this to take place the transformational leader
8. Public Opinion must build respect and loyalty in those who follow. By
Public opinion may seriously induce legislators to create creating a culture based on admiration and trust, this
legislations to be passed or making prosecutions. And theory suggests that people will be willing to work harder,
also, public may sometimes boycott the products of a support one another and give more to the organization
specific company as a result of obtaining poor public than would otherwise be the case.
opinion. In short, the transformational leader will generate
trust, respect and admiration from followers which are
2.2 Leadership considered important facilitators to motivate people to
perform beyond expectations. They can have a positive
The meaning of safety leadership impact on safety by leading by examples and acting as
Safety leadership is defined as the process of interaction safety role models; they will demonstrate a high priority
between leaders and followers, through which leaders can for safety over other organizational goals. In addition, they
exert their influence on followers to achieve organisational encourage workers to work towards higher standards of
safety goals. The feature of this definition that most often safety and to try out new ways of working safely. They
confuses people is the concept of leaders and followers. demonstrate a real concern for the well-being and safety
Safety Leadership is defined as “The process of defining of workers and will demonstrate respect for the views
the desired state, setting up the team to succeed, and and opinions of others. They have a positively influence
engaging in the discretionary efforts that drive the safety on safety by enhancing perceived fairness and worker
value,” which broadly boils down to “engaging in and organizational commitment and creating a positive safety
maintaining behaviors that help others achieve our safety culture. The transformational leader will be a supportive
goals.” presence and is unlikely to be egotistical or self-important
10
as both these attributes will have a negative impact on Transactional Transformational

transformational leadership.
Leadership is responsive A proactive leadership
Here are some of the characteristics of transformational process built on rapport
leaders: Works well within the New ideas from various
• rganised and inspire creativeness from followers/
o organizational culture and sources are implemented
colleagues; hierarchical structure to bring about change to
the organizational culture
• ork well with teams, workers will identify with them
w
and they encourage followers to work together to Workers accomplish Appeals to the workforce’s
achieve the best results; objectives through either moral values or higher
rewards or penalties set ideals to achieve
• r espectful to others and therefore respected by
by the leader organizational and
others;
individual objectives
• t hey will articulate a vision that followers can aspire to Motivation is based on Motivation is based on
and seek to attain; rewards designed to the interest of the group
• t hey challenge assumptions and traditional ways appeal to worker’s self- or the “bigger picture”
of doing things, invite new ideas and encourage interest rather than individual self-
followers to “think outside of the box”; interest.
• c reate a supportive climate and promote learning

3. Authentic Leadership
opportunities to meet the followers’ needs;
Authentic leadership is a relatively new leadership style
• t akes responsibility for actions as well as encouraging built on extremely old theory or principals; these pre-date
others to take responsibility; and many of the more conventional theories by many centuries.
• c reates a culture of respect based on rapport & The roots of authentic leadership are based on ancient
positive relationships. Greek philosophy “know thyself”. Authentic leaders are
defined as those who are self-aware, confident, genuine,
2. Transactional Leadership optimistic, moral/ethical, balanced in terms of decision-
Transactional leadership will, for many people, probably making, and transparent in enacting leadership. Recent
appear familiar and possibly what “conventional” research shows links between authentic leadership and
positive safety climate (Nielsen et al., 2013; Borgensen
leadership has looked like in many organisations. The
et al., 2013 study in the shipping industry in Journal of
transactional leader is all about the “status quo” and the
Leadership and Organisational Studies).
tools here will include:
These are obvious similarities between authentic
• ontingent reward – leaders agree with followers’
c
leadership and transformational leadership. Certainly, the
specific goals with commensurate rewards for effort
key attributes of the authentic leader would be a great
and commitment;
advantage in transformational leadership, these include:
• ctive management – leaders actively monitor the
a
• elf-awareness (“know thyself”). A prerequisite
S
workforce to ensure their behaviours, routines and for being an authentic leader. This is about
processes comply with expected standards and understanding your own strengths and weakness
intervene before problems arise (leaders check that as well as recognizing your values. Authentic
the rules are being followed); and leadership requires that you really know what you
• assive management – the leader will usually only
p stand for, alongside honestly recognizing that you
intervene after a problem has occurred value is critical. Becoming self-aware is the first step
in developing the other components that make up
The transactional leader is more likely to be found in
authentic leadership
established organisations, where the workforce is used
to patterns and tried-and-tested methods of improving • elational transparency or “being genuine”. This is
R
productivity. The motivation here is almost entirely to about being genuine and honest in your relationships
do with self-interest or fear of consequences of under- with others. A straightforward approach with no
concealed agendas or power games. The authentic
performance or non-compliance
leader will ensure that people will know where they
Transactional and transformational leadership theories stand whether they like it or not. Honesty sometimes
are often compared, and the following table will show the means making tough decisions.
main differences.
• alanced processing or “fair-mindedness”.

B about a better future and believe they can attain this and
This means listening to others, including opposing will, therefore, develop an optimistic point of view.
viewpoints that are actively sought by an effective Compassion – helps us to include emotions when
authentic leader. Planning is a key characteristic with thinking, making decisions and taking action. The
discussion of options available before choosing a resonant leader will empathize with others and will try
direction. This is no solitary enterprise and everyone’s to put themselves in another’s position; this will treat
views are important. superiors and subordinates equally with empathy and
• I nternalised moral perspective or “doing the right compassion
thing”. Ethics and fairness are driving forces of the Resonant leaders will be in tune with those around
authentic leader with no room for personal gain at them and the leadership style is based on the emotional
other people’s expense, dishonesty or exploitation. intelligence concept and has championed by amongst
Leadership here will have goals that are not self- others, the U.S. scientist and psychologist Daniel Goleman.
serving and will depend on the authentic leader’s
It is defined on the Institute for Health and Human
moral compass to ensure the right outcome for all
Potential Website. Emotional Intelligence (EQ or EI) is
concerned.
a term created by two researchers – Peter Salavoy and
As you will appreciate, the authentic leader will set John Mayer – and popularized by Dan Goleman in his
ambitious standards for themselves as well as everyone 1996 book of the same name. We define EI as the ability
else. Success will be a team effort and based on the to recognize, understand and manage our emotions.
principal of win-win, not always easy to achieve in many Recognize, understand and influence the emotions of
organisations. However, this style of leadership has others.
gained during the past 30 years in many areas; clearly
In practical terms, this means being aware that emotions
following an authentic leader can be a rewarding and
can drive our behaviour and impact people (positively
satisfying experience.
and negatively) and learning how to manage those
It is challenging to attempt to be an authentic leader, emotions – both our own and others – especially when
it takes strength of character to recognize your own we are under pressure.
shortcomings. You need to really reflect and get to know
You will see obvious parallels with some of the concepts
yourself and develop the courage and strength to do the
discussed earlier in the sections on transformational and
“right” thing. In truth there are many leaders who are far
authentic leadership as emotional intelligence requires
from authentic, and clearly corruption and lack of morality
that a leader understands and has control over their own
are all too common, hence the search for “good” people to
feelings and drives to effectively understand how to best
lead is becoming compelling.
have an impact on the behaviour of those around them
4. Resonant leadership Emotional intelligence is also a key ingredient in resonant
During the past 20 years or so there have been some leadership which Goleman suggests comprises four
very substantial changes in leadership and management styles.
styles as well as organisational and cultural behaviour.
This has included a significant and growing awareness of Behavioral Attributes of an
the usefulness of unconventional tools and techniques in Effective Leader
business and the world of work. Resonant leadership has
The styles of leadership suggest a broad spectrum of the
three dimensions:
two extreme approaches of democratic (i.e., involve others
• Mindfulness in the decision-making process) and autocratic (i.e.,
• Hope; and make all the decisions themselves). However; there are
also leadership behaviors which are regarded as being
• Compassion.
effective and are respected by followers. These include
Mindfulness – leading a life by developing a completed integrity, appreciation of corporate responsibility (the need
and conscious awareness of self, others, environment and to make profit is balanced with wider environmental and
work; being awake and being aware. social responsibilities). The leader must be emotionally
Hope – enable us to believe that our goals are achievable; positive and detached.
this motivates us to inspire others to reach those goals When they need it, they have to Support and back
while striving to achieve them ourselves. They may dream people treating everyone equally and on merit being firm
12
and clear in dealing with bad behaviour, listening to and • s appropriate, the competent authority or authorities
A
understanding people (“ understanding” is different to should, in consultation with the representative
“agreeing”) .They have to always taking responsibility and organisations of employers and workers concerned,
blame for mistakes and giving people credit for successes promote measures in the field of conditions of work
,being decisive and seen to make fair and balanced consistent with the policy referred to in Article 4 of
decisions, asking for views, but remaining objective and the Convention.
neutral, being sensitive but honest in delivering bad news • orkers’ safety delegates, workers’ safety and health
W
or criticism, keeping promises, always accentuating the committees, and joint safety and health committees or,
positive, involving people in thinking and especially in as appropriate, other workers’ representatives should
managing change.
– e consulted when major new safety and health
b
2.3 Consultation measures are envisaged and before they are
carried out, and seek to obtain the support of the
The role of consultation within the workplace workers for such measures;
with reference to principles laid down in ILO – e consulted in planning alterations of work
b
Occupational Safety and Health Convention processes, work content or organisation of work,
(C155), Article 20 and ILO Occupational which may have safety or health implications for
Safety and Health Recommendation (R164) the workers;
Consultation with employees and their representatives in
health and safety matters could pave way for developing
The four stages to consultation (with
a positive health and safety culture and better policies reference to Involving your workforce
and procedure in an organization. in health and safety, HSG263
With reference to ILO Occupational Safety and Health produced by the British Health and
Convention, 1981 (No. 155), the idea of employers and Safety Executive)
employees working jointly to improve health and safety at
work is based on several principles which include: 1. Get started: Prepare
• orkers can contribute to prevention of industrial
W This section is about preparing to involve your workforce.
accidents by spotting and warning about potential It explains:
hazards and giving notice of imminent dangers.
• hy you should talk to your employees about health
w
• Involving employees educates and motivates them to and safety;
cooperate in the promotion of safety.
• hat the law says and how it applies to your
w
• Ideas and experiences of workers are regarded as a workplace; and
useful contribution to safety improvement.
• ow to gain commitment from the business and your
h
• eople have a right to be involved in decisions that
P workforce.
affect their working life, particularly their health and
well-being. Why talk to your employees about health
• ooperation between the two sides of industry,
C and safety?
essential to improve working conditions, should be
The facts*
based on an equal partnership.
Accident rates are lower where employees genuinely feel
In addition, ILO Occupational Safety and Health
they do have a say in health and safety matters than in
Convention 1981 (C155), Article 20, states the
workplaces where employees do not get involved.
• o-operation between management and workers
C
Employee involvement in health and safety management
and/or their representatives within the undertaking
relates to a more positive health and safety climate – 77%
shall be an essential element of organisational and
of employees felt encouraged to raise concerns in a good
other measures taken in pursuance of Articles 16 to
health and safety climate compared to 20% who felt
19 of this Convention.
encouraged to do so in a poor health and safety climate.
Further, principles have been laid down in the ILO In poor health and safety climates, accident rates are
Occupational Safety and Health Recommendation (R164) highest among workplaces where employees do not feel
with respect to consultation include they can have a say.
Stronger employee involvement means better control of and getting them involved in making decisions shows
common workplace risks such as slips and trips – very them that you take their health, safety and wellbeing
effective in 76% of cases where employees felt they were seriously. They not only raise concerns but offer solutions
always consulted but only very effective in 40% of cases if too. There can be an impact far beyond health and safety
they thought they were rarely, or never, consulted. management if the workforce is not engaged on health
Employers can learn about the risks through consultation and safety issues which affect them.
– the risk of stress and slips and trips occur practically
What the law says and how it applies to your
everywhere, but awareness of them is higher where there
workplace?
is employee involvement (62%) compared to where there
is no involvement (28%). All your employees are protected by employment law
against suffering any harm because of any reasonable
Research has also shown that workplaces with health and
actions they take on health and safety grounds. This
safety committees where some members are selected by
applies regardless of their length of service. Employees,
unions have significantly lower rates of work-related injury
including health and safety representatives, should not
than those found in workplaces with no co-operative
suffer harm, for instance by being denied a promotion or
health and safety management.
being dismissed unfairly, because they:
Aside from your legal duty to consult, workplaces where
• c arry out, or propose to carry out, activities that you
employees are involved in taking decisions about health
have assigned to them in connection with preventing
and safety are safer and healthier. Your employees
or reducing health and safety risks;
influence health and safety through their own actions.
They are often the best people to understand the risks in • erform, or propose to perform, functions they have
p
their workplace. Talking, listening and co-operating with as union-appointed or employee-elected health and
each other can help: safety representatives, or health and safety committee
members;
• identify joint solutions to problems;
• s tand as a candidate in an election to be an employee
• evelop a positive health and safety culture where
d
representative or participate in the election by voting;
risks are managed sensibly;
• ring to your attention, by reasonable means, a
b
• r educe accidents and ill health, plus their related
concern about circumstances at work which they
costs to your business;
reasonably believe are harmful, or potentially harmful,
• ring about improvements in overall efficiency, quality
b to health and safety;
and productivity;
• r easonably believe a situation to be of serious and
• eet customer demands and maintain credibility;
m imminent danger and, because they could not
and reasonably be expected to avert it, they leave or
• comply with legal requirements. propose to leave the workplace or any dangerous
part of it, or if they refuse to return while the danger
A workforce that feels valued and involved in decision-
continues; and
making plays a big part in a high-performing workplace.
Empowering your workforce, giving them the right skills, • reasonably believe a situation to be of serious and
14
imminent danger, and take or propose to take • t hey are committed to your business goals, including
appropriate steps to protect themselves and others. the health and safety goals;
This is to be judged by looking at all the circumstances, • they think it is in their interests to participate;
including knowledge, facilities and advice, available
• they trust you and find you approachable; and
at the time.
• your actions match your words.
How do you gain commitment to involving As you demonstrate your commitment to workforce
your workforce? involvement in health and safety, it will develop your
Commitment from all sides is vital for employee workforce’s commitment. This helps to build the trust, co-
involvement to be effective and successful in making operation and communication you need to make it work.
improvements to health and safety. This means you, your
You can train your managers, supervisors and health and
employees, and trade unions where they are recognised,
safety representatives together and clearly identify their
need to gain buy-in to the process.
roles in health and safety, enabling them all to see things
from a shared perspective.
Get commitment from the business
If you are in charge of a business or responsible for 2. Get organised: Plan
managing health and safety, you might need to convince
This section will help you to plan effectively and covers:
others in management to commit. Leadership and
commitment from management is important in making • what affects how you involve your workforce;
involvement successful. Apart from the legal duty to • what you should consult your workforce about;
consult, you can demonstrate why this is something you • hen you should consult so that you do it in good
w
should be doing by building a case in a number of ways: time; and
• ighlight how co-operating with employees in other
h • rrangements for
a training health and safety
areas of the business has led to improvements; representatives.
• demonstrate evidence of the benefits to the business;
What affects how you involve your
• look at current health and safety issues which could
workforce?
be addressed through consultation. For example,
if you see an increase in a particular type of injury, When planning how best to involve your employees, you
discuss the best way to address it with staff; need to consider the following factors about the business,
the workplace and the workforce that will have an impact
• xplain that engaging the workforce is an investment,
e
on how you can engage your employees.
and it may take time to develop trust, but it has been
shown to reduce workplace injuries and accidents; The business
and
• Structure of the business.
• rovide reassurance that it will not diminish effective
p
• Management style.
management because consultation does not mean
you have to agree about every issue, but rather • Organisational and safety cultures.
discuss the areas of disagreement and respect the • Trade union recognition and employment relations.
views of others.
The workplace
Get commitment from your employees
• Size of workplace.
Employees are more likely to engage and believe in
• Location of sites.
consultation when senior managers show personal
and long-term commitment, and listen to the views of • Types of work done.
employees because they want to hear what the workforce • Degree and nature of inherent dangers.
has to say. Real belief in the benefits of involving your
workforce creates co-operation as well as complying with The workforce
your legal duty. • Size of workforce.
Your employees are more likely to communicate with you • Diversity of the workforce.
if:
• Employment structures (eg direct employees, agency
and contract workers). employees and health and safety representatives. It is

• Work patterns such as shift systems, part-time etc. a valuable way of involving the staff that do the work.
They know the risks involved and scope for potentially
• Offsite, remote or mobile workers.
dangerous short cuts and problems. Employees are more
These factors will affect whether you consult individuals likely to understand why procedures are put in place to
or representatives, the methods you use, organisation control risks and follow them if they have been involved
of inspections and investigations, and co-ordination in the process of developing health and safety practices
between committees, among other things. For example, in their workplace.
a high-risk, unionised workplace with a large workforce
This does not mean that formal consultation is required
spread over multiple sites may have union representatives
before every task-specific assessment conducted in
from each site as a member of a site-based health and
workplaces. It simply means that consultation should form
safety committee that meets regularly, and feeds into a
part of the general risk assessment process. In practice,
corporate health and safety committee. A non-unionised,
most employers conduct a general assessment to identify
smaller workplace, located on one small, low-risk site, is
the key risks and control measures, and then a second
more likely to consult directly with employees on a day-
brief assessment of the risks by the employees about to
to-day basis.
embark on the job.
What should you be consulting your
workforce about? Competent Person
The law says that you must consult your workforce You must get help from a competent person to enable
about anything in the workplace that could substantially you to meet the requirements of health and safety law. A
affect their health and safety. The specifics will vary from competent person is someone who has sufficient training
workplace to workplace. and experience or knowledge and other qualities that
allow them to assist you properly. The level of competence
In general, you must consult about:
required will depend on the complexity of the situation
• ny change which may have a substantial affect on
a and the particular help you need.
your workforce’s health and safety. Such changes
When getting help, you should give preference to those in
may include new or different procedures, types of
your own organisation who have the appropriate level of
work, equipment, premises, and ways of working (eg
competence (which can include employers themselves)
new shift patterns);
before looking for help from outside. You are required to
• y our arrangements for getting competent people consult health and safety representatives in good time on
to help you meet your obligations under health and the arrangements for competent help.
safety laws, for example the appointment of a health
Don’t limit the scope of consultation to a pre-set list
and safety manager. For more information about what
because there will be times when you should involve
a competent person is, see paragraphs 59–60;
employees about issues which are not on the list.
• information you must give your workforce on the
Consult and involve employees and health and safety
likely risks in their work and precautions they should
representatives on:
take. Discuss with employees and representatives
the best way for information to be shared. Consider • ccident and investigations reports, risk assessments,
a
issues of language, literacy and learning disabilities and emergency plans;
if appropriate • ccupational health issues including what the
o
• the planning of health and safety training; and provision (for employees) is and how effective it is;
and
• t he health and safety consequences of introducing
new technology. • t he nature of the post, knowledge and experience
suitable for the role of your competent person (eg
Risk assessments health and safety manager).
You have a legal duty to assess the risks to the health It is important to provide feedback to explain decisions
and safety of your employees (and risks to the health and and respond to issues raised by employees or their
safety of people not in your employment) which they are representatives. The appropriate method of responding
exposed to while they are at work. (in writing or verbally), and reasonable timescales for
In carrying out a risk assessment, you should consult providing a response, will depend on the nature and
16
circumstances of the issue and the workplace. The you should be able to resolve differences of opinion by
arrangements should be agreed with your employees or being open, explaining the reasons behind decisions, and
their representatives in advance. following agreed procedures for resolving problems.
Employee involvement is a good way to address work-
Training arrangements for health and safety
related health issues, particularly if you have usually
representatives
involved people more on safety matters in the past. Health
issues, like stress in the workplace or musculoskeletal For health and safety representatives to be able to perform
disorders, are areas where your employees can add value their role, they need to be equipped with appropriate skills
in helping you to address them. and knowledge, so you must plan for their training.
When should you consult? Training for elected health and safety
representatives:
Commit to involving employees and health and safety
representatives promptly and as a matter of routine. It If your workforce has elected health and safety
develops a shared understanding of the key issues and representatives, you must ensure they are provided with
how to address them. time off with pay to undergo training that is reasonable in
all the circumstances.
There is no legal set time limit but you must consult in
good time. This means there has to be enough time to Identify training needs
explain the issues to employees, time for them to consider
It will be helpful for all new health and safety representatives
and get back to you with informed responses, and time
to have training that will cover:
for you to take into account their response before you
make a final decision. • t he role of the representative, including how to
communicate in committee meetings, with colleagues
It is advisable to consult promptly and regularly. Regular
for views, with employers to raise issues, and with
consultation is better than consulting on a case-by-case
health and safety inspectors;
basis as issues come up because it allows you to spot
potential problems early. • health and safety legislation;
How long the consultation process takes will largely • ow to identify and minimise hazards and dangerous
h
depend on the complexity of what you are asking occurrences;
the workforce to consider, how many people you are • health and safety issues of new technology; and
consulting, and methods of consultation. A simple
• ow to carry out a workplace inspection and accident
h
issue where you need to consult a smaller number of
investigation (not required but recommended for
representatives can probably be dealt with in a few
employee elected representatives).
days or addressed routinely through regular channels
of consultation. A technical matter requiring time for 3. Get it done: Consult and involve
consideration, or consulting an entire large workforce, is
likely to require longer. This section provides practical advice on ways to consult
and involve your employees or their representatives. It
Agree to respond to the issues raised by your employees explains:
and their representatives within a certain time frame and
share the reasons for your decisions with them. It will • what your duties are when consulting representatives;
demonstrate that you are committed and how you have • methods of involving your employees;
considered what they say. • ow to involve representatives in investigations and
h
For unexpected issues you will not have had time to plan inspections; and
consultation so consider if the issue can be addressed • ow to set up a health and safety committee and
h
through one of your normal consultation methods, or make it work well.
if you need to do something different like hold a one-
off meeting. The key is to work these matters into your What are your duties when consulting health
consultation process so that you do listen to the views of and safety representatives?
your workforce and the issue is not overlooked.
You have a duty to:
Have procedures in place for settling disagreements about
• llow representatives paid time to perform their role
a
health and safety with employees or their representatives.
and to undertake training;
Consultation will not always result in agreement but
• provide facilities and assistance; You should also allow representatives to have facilities
• provide information; and for investigation of hazards, complaints, and incidents,
including private discussions with employees. This does
• if you recognise trade unions, set up a health and safety
not mean that you or your management representative
committee if two union-appointed representatives
cannot be on the premises at the time of the investigation.
request it in writing.
Provide information
Allow representatives paid time to perform
their role You have to provide any health and safety information
that you have which will let your health and safety
If you have union-appointed health and safety
representatives fulfil their role. You should already have
representatives or representatives elected by employees
relevant health and safety information as part of your
in your workplace, then you have a duty to:
health and safety management system, such as copies
• let them have time with pay as is necessary to carry of risk assessments or accident records. You do not
out their role during their normal working hours; and need to present this information in a different format and
• let them have time with pay as is necessary to provide it as a separate package, or get hold of additional
be trained to perform aspects of their role, as is information specifically for your employee representatives.
reasonable in the circumstances. You should give your employees and representatives
Performing the role of a health and safety representative information that lets them understand:
is a part of their job once they have been appointed or • hat the risks and dangers are for their work, or could
w
elected. You can recognise this by recording it in the be if there are changes to their work which will affect
representatives’ job description, work objectives or health and safety;
performance agreement for the year. In this way, you are
• hat is done, or will be done, to reduce or stop the
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allowing them to build in time to perform their role as part
risks and dangers;
of their paid work, and making sure you are aware of the
contribution they are making to the workplace. • hat they ought to do when they come across a risk
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or dangerous situation; and
It can be mutually beneficial if you involve your elected
health and safety representatives in inspections, • the name of the competent person.
investigations, risk assessments, and health and safety By law, you do not have to give employees or their
committee meetings. representatives any information that:
Training for health and safety representatives is vital to • ould be against the interests of national security or
w
enable them to carry out their roles effectively. against the law;
• is about someone who has not given their permission
Provide facilities and assistance
for it to be shared;
You must provide your representatives with facilities they
• ould harm the business unless it has an effect on
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may reasonably need to carry out their role. Although the
health, safety or welfare; or
needs of health and safety representatives will vary from
workplace to workplace, in general you should make sure • is connected with legal proceedings.
they have access to equipment and assistance such as:
What are the best ways to involve your
• telephone and office area where they can have a private
a employees?
and confidential conversation as part of their role;
The method you use to involve your employees will
• s uitable storage space for paperwork, records or depend on:
reference material, such as a lockable cabinet or desk;
• which regulations apply to your workplace;
• intranet and internet facilities;
• hether you are involving individuals directly or
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• c ommunication and distribution facilities like consulting your employee representatives; and
a photocopier and a notice board to circulate
• t he specific health and safety issue you wish to
information to the employees they represent; and
consult on.
• t ime with you or senior management to discuss health
The different methods of consulting your employees
and safety issues whenever the representative might
include:
reasonably need to.
18
• face to face, directly with individuals; the information updated and draw attention to new
• indirectly with employees; and material so people who do not regularly check it will
know what is happening in their workplace. If some
• with representatives.
staff do not have access to the site, the quality and
You can use a range of methods to suit the circumstances range of views given may be compromised.
and use a combination if a single method is not suitable.
• taff surveys can be useful in consulting your
S
Whatever method you choose, you need to ensure it
workforce, although a lack of trust can undermine
complies with your duties. For example, if you choose
surveys and reduce the return rate. Consider the
to consult with employees directly, you need to make
literacy or language skills of the workers to make sure
sure it is practical, otherwise you must consult with
they can answer questions they understand. You can
representatives. There are various ways you can consult
get an external organisation to run the staff survey
with employees face to face:
so your employees feel they can say what they really
• ne-to-one discussions can be particularly effective
O think.
if you have a small business and have the opportunity
• mployee suggestion schemes can be useful if they
E
to talk to your employees regularly.
are regularly used and acted upon (see the case
• If your business is larger, then you could try regular study on overcoming challenges after paragraph 48).
walkabouts where you get to meet employees face However, they may not work if employees believe they
to face, and they get to share ideas and concerns. If will not make a difference, or because you and your
you are regularly approachable, employees are more employees have already developed a good working
likely to open up about the risks, especially if you then relationship without the need for a suggestion box.
do something about the issues raised.
• otice boards and newsletters can be useful for
N
• ave health and safety as a standing item on
H sharing information as part of the consultation
the agenda of routine team meetings where your process, particularly if used together with other
employees’ views can be fed back to you, and so methods as this increases the chance of getting your
there is always an opportunity for health and safety messages across.
issues to be picked up.
• pecial workforce meetings can be best when
S
Ways you can consult with representatives
you need to call the whole workforce together for • ou can still use some of the same methods to
Y
their views and opinions. This could be in addition consult representatives that you would use to consult
to regular team meetings. At large meetings, the individuals if they are suitable, for example one-to-one
exchange of views and ideas might not be as effective meetings with the relevant representative. However,
as in smaller gatherings where people may feel more consultation with representatives usually works
comfortable sharing their views. better when carried out through a proper forum. You
can do this in a number of ways:
• rrange toolbox talks where you have short talks
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on specific health and safety issues that show the • ave a dedicated health and safety committee.
H
relevance of a topic to particular jobs, for instance a They are particularly effective if you have several
talk about manual handling for those doing jobs that representatives for different groups, larger numbers of
involve lifting heavy goods. It allows you and your employees, both union-appointed representatives and
workers to explore the risks and think about ways to employee-elected representatives, or representatives
deal with them. responsible for more than one site.
• et up work groups to tackle specific health and safety
S • ou may already be consulting your employees
Y
issues and explore ways of making a difference. The about other issues affecting the business and
employees involved in the group should be directly workforce through systems, for example through a
involved with the issues being looked at so they can joint consultative committee or works council. You
really contribute to solutions. may decide these are suitable ways to consult your
employee representatives about health and safety
here are also indirect ways you can involve
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too.
employees:
Health and safety representatives appointed by trade
• ompany intranet sites with health and safety
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unions have prescribed functions that you must involve
information are convenient as they can feature
them in, including:
news and request the views of all your staff. Keep
• investigating accidents, potential hazards and so they should not suffer a loss of pay when they attend
complaints; and meetings or carry out other activities on behalf of the
• inspections of the workplace. committee.
It is usually practical to involve representatives that 4. Get it right: Keep improving

your employees have elected in joint investigations and
This section is about how to make sure your arrangements
inspections too.
for workforce involvement are effective as possible and
Health and safety committees: Setting them covers how you can keep improving by:
up and making them work • monitoring performance;
Setting up a health and safety committee is a legal • reviewing progress; and
requirement in India and other countries around the world. • knowing what to do when things become challenging.
What will the health and safety committee do? Monitor performance
To ensure you cover all relevant issues, it can be useful To keep an eye on how involvement with your employees
for the committee to agree some standing items for is working, you can:
the agenda and allow for other items to be added as
• heck how supportive management are by asking
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necessary. Consider standing items such as:
employees and their representatives if they have
• s tatistics on accident records, ill health and sickness been encouraged to get involved and been given time
absence; to participate.
• accident investigations and subsequent action; • heck that employees know who their representatives
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• inspections of the workplace by enforcing authorities, are and whether they have been asked for their views
management or employee health and safety about health and safety matters.
representatives; • ook into organisational arrangements for involving
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• risk assessments; the workforce in health and safety and whether
• health and safety training; they have changed to allow employees greater
opportunity to be involved in consultation. For
• emergency procedures;
example, have training arrangements improved, or
• c hanges in the workplace affecting the health, safety do representatives have their roles noted on their
and welfare of employees; and performance appraisals?
• dequacy of health and safety communications and
a • ollect information on health and safety issues and
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publicity in the workplace. ideas for addressing them that have been raised as
a result of employee involvement to see if there have
What resources will employee been improvements in how they are managed.
representatives need as committee
• hink about other measures beyond health and
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members?
safety because involving your workforce in health and
Health and safety representatives need to have: safety could result in additional benefits, for example
• t ime to prepare for meetings as management in productivity, as things improve.
representatives would; When you monitor performance, ask yourself if:
• ccess to the same information for the purposes of
a • hat you find is acceptable or if you need to do
w
the discussion at the meetings; and something more;
• t raining that is reasonable in the circumstances • y ou need to address a matter further, how you will do
to allow them to perform their role, which includes this and what your employees think;
attending health and safety committee meetings
• there are any lessons to learn.
for union-appointed representatives. Training for
representatives can help them to contribute equally
Review progress
to the committee’s aims and purpose.
As well as thinking about how well consultation with your
Being a member of the health and safety committee is part
workforce is going, check how far you have progressed
of a person’s role as a health and safety representative,
and consider where there is room for improvement. The
20
review checklist can help you assess how close you are When things become challenging
to moving towards full employee involvement and joint
There may be times when:
problem solving.
• y ou and your employees or their representatives
The statements are essentially goals to aim for, so you can
disagree about health and safety issues; or
consider whether your arrangements are helping you to
achieve those objectives, and where they are not, revisit • ealth and safety issues are sometimes used as
h
areas to improve involvement. Not everything on the list a substitute for other workplace relations issues
will apply to all businesses. There may be other factors not because consulting and involving your employees are
covered that are more relevant for you but the statements linked to wider employment relations.
are general guidelines to help you see how you are doing. You should have agreed processes in place to deal with
disagreements, and wherever possible you should use
Review checklist these procedures to resolve any issues. If you and your
• ain commitment and action from senior management
G employees need more help to reach agreement you can:
to involve employees and their representatives in • involve regional or national trade union officials if you
good time about matters affecting their health and recognise trade unions;
safety.
• pproach your trade association for advice if you
a
• ully involve employees and health and safety
F belong to one; and
representatives in discussions about health and safety
Health and safety inspectors can only advise on health
matters affecting them, and encourage the workforce
and safety matters. They cannot arbitrate in workplace
to generate ideas for health and safety initiatives.
disputes between you and your employees.
• rain managers, employees and health and safety
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representatives together in health and safety matters Behavioural aspects associated with
to enable shared understanding and greater co- consultation – peer group pressures,
operation. danger of tokenism, potential areas of
• se a range of methods to consult and involve
U conflict
employees to appropriately and effectively take into
1. Peer Group Pressures
account the needs of different groups of the workforce
who are affected by health and safety measures. Employees who might be interested in taking a more
active role, as safety representatives, have a number of
• ive health and safety representatives access to the
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hurdles to overcome, such as the attitude of their peers
facilities and training they reasonably need to perform
and fitting in the responsibilities as safety representatives
their role.
alongside their existing job within a group. Becoming a
• nsure the health and safety committee members are
E safety representative entails conforming to stated levels
equal partners, working together to address strategic of safety performance and not doing anything to keep
matters, and day-to-day matters are resolved up the levels of performance due to peer group pressure
elsewhere. which brings disrepute to the role.
• Involve health and safety representatives in joint For example, a representative who witnesses unsafe
accident investigations, workplace inspections and behavior in their peers may be hesitant to consult because
risk assessments. of fear of retaliation or rejection. These ‘peer groups’ put
• xplain the reasons behind management decisions
E pressure on their members whereby membership of the
so the workforce can understand how their views group entails conforming to the group norms or standards.
have been considered in making decisions about In all cases, failure to meet the group norms entails either
managing their health and safety. rejection from the group or the need to prove continuing
commitment to achieving the group norms.
• uild on the success of workforce involvement in
B
some issues by engaging employees in discussions of
2. Dangers of Tokenism
health and safety issues that can be more challenging.
For people to engage in real consultation, they have to feel
• eview progress with involving the workforce in
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it is a genuine process and addresses important issues
health and safety and update consultation processes
that matter to them. The management curtails information
so they are current and effective.
sometimes, which could avoid action on feedback and
fails to follow up a consultation. This is tokenism and this

1. Identify • pply knowledge of relevant
A
type of consultation is designed to meet only regulatory
individuals parts of OHS Acts, regulations,
requirements and to divert the demands of employees and parties codes of practice, policies,
for participation into not detrimental channels (that is, involved in OHS and procedures to identify
channels that are peripheral to centralized decision- consultation and individuals and parties with
making), while providing a ground for presenting the participation roles, duties, rights and
company as progressive to the community and the processes responsibilities regarding OHS
market. consultation and participation
For example, the consultation process does not genuinely • Identify what these roles, duties,
include Young Workers, and they are only consulted in rights and responsibilities are
token or inadequate ways, e.g. Young Workers may be and, in line with own job role
and work area, communicate
included in OHS workgroups, but OHS representatives
this information to individuals
don’t actively seek out their ideas and opinions.
and parties
3. Potential Areas of Conflict 2. Develop • Identify workplace OHS
Many Potential areas of conflict arise between the consultation and consultation and participation
participation processes
employer and the safety representatives on health and
processes • evelop setting up and running
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safety issues during consultation;
these processes, appropriate to
• here is a conflict of interest between workers
T
own job role and work area
(primarily demanding healthy workplaces) and
• Implement and communicate
employers (primarily looking for cost‐efficient
to individuals and parties about
production). Employers often take the cheap and
these processes and promote
easy option to resolve a problem. Cost is a major
& support the participation of
factor taken into consideration by the employer
individuals and parties, which is
when deciding what to do about a problem. This appropriate to own job role and
can lead to conflict between employees and safety work area
representatives
3. Develop • Identify consultation and
• ealth and safety representatives have an
H processes for participation processes for
independent approach to solving health and safety communicating communicating and sharing
problems in the workplace, which often challenges and sharing OHS information and data
the supervisor’s or employer’s view OHS information • evelop and participate in these
D
and data processes appropriate to own
• he ‘Safety representative’ role is compatible with the
T
person’s current role in the workplace. job role and work area
The role of the health and safety profession 4.Identifying and • Identify training requirements
in the consultative process. meeting training for individuals and parties
requirements for necessary for effective OHS
Safety professionals may have the title of Safety Director, effective OHS consultation and participation
Manager, Officer or Adviser. The safety professional’s prime consultation and • nsure the delivery of required
E
duty is to promote health and safety in the workplace. It is participation training, which is appropriate to
important to realise that the safety practitioner does not
own job role and work area
absorb any of the line management responsibilities for
health and safety. 5.Identification • evelop the identification
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and assessment and assessment of barriers
In relation to the health and safety consultative process,
of barriers and to the implementation
following roles are performed by the health and safety effectiveness and effectiveness of OHS
professionals. and review consultation and participation
processes
• Implementation and evaluation
of measures to remove these
barriers and review
22
2.4 Health and safety culture and • sychological Aspects or ‘safety climate’ (individual
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and group attitudes, perceptions, and values)
behavioural change programmes
• ehavioral Aspects (safety-related actions and
B
Meaning of ‘Health and Safety Culture’ and behaviors)
‘Health and Safety Climate’ • ituational
S Aspects (policies, procedures,
A number of definitions have been developed, but one organisational structures and management systems).
that is most widely used is that developed by the Advisory Situational aspects of safety culture can be seen in
Committee on the Safety of Nuclear Installations (ACSNI) the structure of the organisation e.g. policies, working
(HSE 1993), procedures, management systems, etc. Behavioral
“The safety culture of an organisation is the product components can be measured through self-report
of individual and group values, attitudes, perceptions, measures, outcome measures and observations. The
competencies, and patterns of behavior that determine psychological component is most commonly examined
the commitment to, and the style and proficiency of, an by safety climate questionnaires which are devised
organisation’s health and safety management.” to measures people’s norms, values, attitudes, and
perceptions of safety.
The term safety culture can be used to refer to the behavioral
aspects (i.e. ‘what people do’), and the situational aspects Organisations with a positive safety culture are
of the company (i.e. ‘what the organisation has’). characterized by communications founded on mutual
trust, by shared perceptions of the importance of safety
The term safety climate should be used to refer to
and by confidence in the efficacy of preventive measures.
psychological characteristics of employees (i.e. ‘how
A “good” safety culture may reflect and be promoted by
people feel’), corresponding to the values, attitudes, and
four factors: “senior management commitment to safety”;
perceptions of employees with regard to safety within an
realistic and flexible customs and practices for handling
organisation.
both well-defined and ill-defined hazards; continuous
• afety climate is a psychological phenomenon, which
S organisational learning through practices such as
is usually defined as the perceptions of the state of feedback systems, monitoring and analyzing; and a care
safety at a particular time and concern for hazards which is shared across the
• afety climate is closely concerned with intangible
S workforce.
issues such as situational and environmental factors
What is organisational culture; how
• afety climate is a temporal phenomenon, a
S
organizational culture interlinks with health
“snapshot” of safety culture, relatively unstable and
and safety culture
subject to change.
Organizational culture includes an organization’s
Three aspects expectations, experiences, philosophy, as well as the
The safety culture and the safety climate have three values that guide member behavior, and is expressed in
aspects. member self-image, inner workings, interactions with the
physical environment in which the system operates, the

work environment and features of the work management
system it could be said that a ‘place’ has a ‘safety climate.’
To some extent, the safety culture will underpin and
impact upon the safety climate. It is, therefore, important to
measure both and perhaps identify where the underlying
beliefs do not match the prevailing conditions regarding
safety. It is also important to determine what beliefs or
values predispose people to be involved in accidents and
what perceived conditions can lead to unsafe behavior.
Proactive Indicators
It shows how successfully health and safety plans are being
implemented, mainly through the extent of compliance
with systems and procedures. The main means are audits,
outside world, and future expectations. Culture is based inspections, and management presence.
on shared attitudes, beliefs, customs, and written and
‘Safety Management’ Cultural/Social Factors
unwritten rules that have been developed over time and
Factors
are considered valid (The Business Dictionary).
Delegation of safety Empowerment of the
Culture also includes the organization’s vision, values, activities workforce (more general)
norms, systems, symbols, language, assumptions, beliefs,
Conduct of safety audits Good relations between
and habits (Needle, 2004).
management and workers
Simply stated, organizational culture is “the way things Monitoring of unsafe Encouragement of a long-
are done around here” (Deal & Kennedy, 2000). worker behaviors term commitment of the
Any organizations culture is thus dependent upon workforce
the way we do the things and this is highly influenced Safety training - initial and Low turnover and longer
by the management and leadership of that particular continuing seniority
organization. Needless to say, if the leadership supports a Good housekeeping Active role of top
negative culture with a pure focus only on profit- making, management
then the same is also the thinking of a majority of the
employees. Most of the time this so called ‘profit’ is earned Consultation
by compromising on quality, safety and other business A particularly powerful tool is to involve the workforce
ethics. by having consultations with them. This can provide a
An organization’s culture accordingly influences its safety mixture of proactive and reactive means of measurement
culture. Safety is seen as a hindrance to productivity and since the workers are more likely to know what actually
profits. Leadership is more focused in getting things done happens in the workplace.
quickly, rather than safely. There are no risk assessments,
incidents are not investigated and there is hardly any time Reactive Indicators
invested into safety training. It shows the outcomes of breaches of health and safety
systems and procedures, mainly through accidents, etc.
Indicators of health and safety Indicators for a poor health and safety culture
culture and measuring health and
high sickness, ill health, and absentee rate among
A
safety climate the workforce
The safety culture may be defined in terms of underlying • The perception of a blame culture
belief systems about safety which are partly determined by
• igh staff turnover leading to a loss of momentum in
H
group values, norms, and regulatory frameworks. It could
making health and safety improvements
be said that people have a safety culture. Safety climate
refers to the state of a system in terms of perceptions • o resources (in terms of budget, people or facilities)
N
of the current environment or prevailing conditions made available for the effective management of
which impact upon safety. These can be related to the health and safety
24
• lack of compliance with relevant health and safety

A the organisation as to which policies are important and
law and the safety rules and procedures of the which are not. Organisations sometimes state via policy
organisation that health and safety are key values and then construct
• oor selection procedures and management of
P measures and reward structures that promote the
contractors opposite.
• oor levels of communication, cooperation, and

P 3. High Business Profile of Health and
control Safety
• A weak health and safety management structure Safety is a major cost driver for most high-risk businesses,
• Lack or poor levels of health and safety competence and also safety is not only the primary cost driver but also
the absolute goal by which performance, and potential
• High insurance premiums.
survival, is measured. Safety performance, or lack, can
Factors that may promote a Positive easily define the difference between success and failure
for a company. To give High business profile to health and
Health and Safety Culture or Climate safety, businesses should:
1. Management Commitment and • ake a whole-of-business approach to health and

T
Leadership safety, including employee attitudes and workplace
culture
It is crucial to a positive health and safety culture. This
commitment produces higher levels of motivation and • ombine formal business targets with indicators on
C
concern for health and safety throughout the organisation. the welfare and development of staff
It is best indicated by the proportion of resources time, • se a wide range of health and safety improvement
U
money, and people) and support allocated to health and program, rather than narrow prevention measures
safety management and by the status given to health and • Include technical incident innovations and
safety. The active involvement of senior management in organisational improvements as part of their health
the health and safety system is very important. Managers and safety program
need to be seen to lead by example when it comes to
health and safety. • easure, design and evaluate
M initiatives to
demonstrate a return on investment.
2. Leadership
4. Provision of information, involvement,
Management’s commitment to safety is not enough if it consultation and training
is a passive state; only active, visible leadership which
creates a climate for performance which can successfully The general duty requires employers to provide employees
guide a corporation to a safe workplace. Safety leadership with the necessary information, instruction, training and
is seen as fostering a climate, where working safely is supervision to carry out the work safely. All information,
esteemed - a safety climate. training and instruction should be provided in a way
that all employees at the workplace can understand.
Culture is established not by written policy, but rather by Where employees do not speak or are unable to read the
leadership; by day-to-day actions and decisions; and by workplace language, employers should find an alternative
the systems in place that ensure whether safety activities method of providing information and training. This
of managers, supervisors, and work teams are carried would apply to employees with a non-English speaking
out. Culture can be built positively through accountability background in countries (where English is the official
systems that ensure performance and through systems language) and to workers who for physical, intellectual or
that allow, encourage and get worker involvement. cultural reasons are unable to read.
Leadership is crucial to safety results, as leadership The methods must include the following;
forms the culture that determines what will and will not
work in the organisation’s safety efforts. A good leader • rganizing information to be provided for people in
O
makes it clear what is wanted in terms of results, and groups with the same language
also makes it clear exactly what will be done in the • Using interpreters
organisation to achieve the results. Leadership is infinitely • Audio-visual aids
more important than policy, for leaders, through their
• Provision of written information
actions and decisions send clear messages throughout
• Using graphics concerns that relate to the health, safety, and welfare of all
• Using short, simple phrases employees. Consultation helps promote a positive health
and safety culture and ensures that everyone is given an
• Demonstrating points
opportunity to influence health and safety policies and
• ccess to computer-based information through the
A procedures. Without co-operation between employers
internet. and employees, the chances of managing health and
safety effectively are reduced. There are many examples
Information where failure to consult and communicate has led to
Employers are required to provide information to serious accidents.
employees, to alert them to areas where hazards may The nature of worker involvement and participation
exist and to improve their understanding of safe work in an organisation will be determined by the culture
practices. For example, visual warning signs, posters, that emerges from the interaction of the various
booklets, brochures and other written materials could be groups or occupational communities present within
provided under this duty. the organisation. An organisation’s greatest asset is its
Anyone who is affected by what is happening in the workforce. Employees are often best able to spot issues
workplace will need to be given safety information. This and bring about real improvements. They can also
does not only apply to staff but also to visitors, members influence health and safety through their own actions and
of the public and contractors. Information to be provided by accepting personal responsibility. Workplace health
for people in a workplace includes: and safety representatives operating in partnership with
• Who is at risk and why management are an important part of realizing health
and safety benefits.
• How to carry out specific tasks safely
By introducing or developing worker consultation and
• Correct operation of equipment
involvement, the employer will be making significant
• Emergency action improvements to their business outcomes by;
• Accident and hazard reporting procedures • Developing a positive health and safety culture
• The safety responsibilities of individual people. • aining effective input from people closest to the
G
• here to find any additional information they will
W issues - potentially from design stage onwards;
need e.g. Company procedures for particular jobs, Reducing accidents and ill health and the associated
the results of monitoring of hazardous substances, costs) in their business
information for carrying out risk assessments) • Contributing to overall quality management
Comprehensible and usable information communication • Complying with legal requirements
is particularly significant to facilitate a safe culture which
The key development from the consultation process is the
is an informed culture. A better breakdown of the large
full participation of the worker or their representative) to
volume of information and wider collaboration is vital to
actively participate in joint problem-solving of health and
improvement in health and safety performance and that
safety issues. In this manner, health and safety become
the industry must create a trusting environment to build a
a shared issue handled through a process of common
positive safety culture rather than focusing on compliance.
agreement and trust, evolving from the consultation
Poor handovers have contributed to major accidents.
process. This does not mean that health and safety
The face-to-face shift handover might be enhanced management responsibilities can simply be delegated to
by creating a structured logging environment, with log the workforce – managers must still manage health and
books and handover reports. This allows easier sharing safety.
of information, to improve decision making and priority
setting and leaves an audit trail. Over-reliance on oral Promoting the Benefits of Worker
communication may undermine safety as there are too Consultation and Involvement
many opportunities for miscommunication. It is important that managers and workers develop the
best fit for their own organisations. For employers, key
Involvement and Consultation issues are likely to be;
Consultation with employees on health and safety is
• he cost of involving workers in resource and
T
vital to ensure health and safety effectively. It requires
productivity terms
employers to bring to their attention any issues or
26
• n ignorance of the value of worker involvement, and

A to the system. And those who have assigned or designed
a belief that workers will not wish to be involved responsibility should be accountable to the management
• Ignorance of sources of advice and guidance. or staff of the company for safety performance in their
areas of responsibility. To encourage or develop ownership,
For workers, key obstacles have been identified as a belief
managers can foster and maintain the following:
that they will be ‘punished’ for criticizing management
practice. Engaging Employees
• lack of communication skills and a lack of confidence
A • btaining employee input into safety management
O
in dealing with management on a daily basis - not just through OH&S committees
• n ignorance of the value of worker involvement – a
A or other formal means
belief that management will not involve workers, and • educing the ‘us’ versus ‘them’ mentality through
R
that health and safety is a “common sense” matter for building trust
individuals.
• Involving all site management in the planning process
Workforce Involvement and Consultation to be effective,
• Sharing the information with on-site workers.
there needs to be a meaningful participation of the
workers and their representatives. Levels of involvement Building Relationships
depend on independent, protected representation of the
• reating a sense of belonging through team building
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workers on the premises.
and providing opportunities for people to meet
Instruction and Training socially (e.g. BBQs)
Instruction and training should be relevant to the safety • aving regular conversations at a social level (e.g.
H
and health of employees in the workplace and should enquiring about things important in colleagues’ lives)
take the functions of each employee into account. The • enerating conversations about safety - subtle
G
position of employees as managers or supervisors would weaving of safety into general conversation
also affect the nature of the training provided. They may
• roviding good site amenities that promote
P
have management, or control, of some parts of the work
interaction and show that management cares about
process with other employees under their supervision.
the wellbeing of site employees (e.g. clean and tidy
This level of responsibility would require more crib rooms, tea, coffee and hand washing facilities
comprehensive training in the administration of safety and clean toilets).
and health and the organisation of systems of work, so
employees are not exposed to hazards. Demonstrating Support
The type of training that suits each workplace may vary • rusting people’s judgments on safety and opinions
T
from place to place and should be determined following on work matters
consultation with employees and safety and health • aving an open-door policy by encouraging people
H
representatives where they exist). The training and to speak openly about safety breaches
instruction given should include;
• mpowering by rewarding those who raise safety
E
• Safety and health induction training issues and helping them to progress and resolve
• Industry based training i.e., accredited or certificated issues.
courses
6. Setting and meeting Targets
• Hazard specific training
When setting targets for H&S purposes employers have
• “on the job” training
a statutory obligation to consult the workforce, through
• “In-house” programs. trades union safety representatives where unions are
recognized (or, where they exist, representatives of
5. Promotion of Ownership employee safety), for example, via safety committees.
Determining who has ownership in safety and health The important principle here is that the workforce, as
management system should be fairly straightforward. keepers of the knowledge about working conditions
Everyone who works at the company should own at and possibilities for change, needs to be provided with
least part of the system. Everyone has a responsibility to opportunities to participate in discussions about current
contribute, either by assignment, by design or inherently performance levels and possible future targets and to
compare notes with colleagues within and across their using contractors or outsourcing, combining departments
sectors as well as with others outside. Indeed, unless or changes to roles and responsibilities are usually not
targets are developed with workforce involvement and analyzed and controlled as thoroughly as a plant or
‘buy-in,’ it is doubtful whether they will be achieved in process changes. Such changes can, if inadequately
practice. conceived or implemented, have a detrimental effect on
A participatory approach to target setting, however, safety. Even subtle changes to organisations can have
may require new methods of working and new inputs, significant impacts on the management of hazards.
including, for example, a closer partnership between Change is frequently seen as a threat by individuals in
workforce representatives, OS&H professionals and an organisation and can have a significant effect on their
managers and additional resources. Beyond the state of mind, their commitment to the organisation and
workforce, organisations may also wish to consult more to their contribution to safety culture in particular. Those
widely with outside stakeholders, for example, with attributes of a good safety culture such as the reporting of
business partners, with their insurers, with enforcing near misses, maintaining a challenging and questioning
authorities, with unions nationally, with trade associations attitude, and working in teams to identify and achieve
or with benchmarking partners. improvement opportunities are likely to be (and have
been) early casualties if individuals feel that their values
Monitoring and reviewing Progress are no longer congruent with those of the organisation.
While each target needs to have a specific timescale for For example, safety engineers may be less inclined
achievement, it is important that progress towards that to press for a fully acceptable safety case for a design
point is subject to continuous monitoring and review. Change, as they have traditionally done, if a company’s
Targets which are never subject to review and revision actions lead to a perception that cost reduction is more
in the light of on-going performance monitoring are also highly valued than safety, even though company policies
likely to be of limited value. may clearly state otherwise.
Feedback from interim review exercises should also From a series of audits across a range of industries, it
include the possibility of changing or modifying targets. was found that many organisations have embarked on a
If it turns out that the wrong targets have been selected, process of significant change; changing their structure,
then they will need to be changed or adjusted, particularly staffing levels, methods of operation, maintenance
if they are not achieving their objectives or are having a practices, and so on, without carefully considering the
distorting effect on behavior. implications for risk to their operation, even though the
Even those organisations with apparently well-developed organisations appear fully aware of safety management
procedures for OS&H performance target setting and issues.
review should be re-examining their approach - not only The commonest change is to reduce the workforce
to see if there is room for further improvement but to numbers, and this has led, among other things too:
share their knowledge with others. Thus, the reasoning
• Loss of skills and knowledge from the organisation
underpinning targets and how they arrived at in individual,
organisations needs to be more widely shared so that all • verloading remaining personnel and Breakdown of
O
those involved in setting them, whether across a whole morale and culture.
company or sector or at a departmental level within a • Removing of hazard barriers
business, can compare their approach with that adopted
• Increased use of temporary contractors
by others.
• ormal systems in use that do not meet changed
F
Factors that may promote a negative requirements
Health and Safety Culture or Climate 2. Lack of confidence in Organisation’s

objectives and methods
1. Organisational Change
Without trust in the organisation’s performance, its
Many organisations face continuous pressure to change
leadership, and, most important, the immediate supervisor,
in order to meet their business objectives in a competitive
it is impossible for an employee to feel committed to the
marketplace. The industry is undergoing increasing
organisation’s strategic direction. The first element is
change, and there has been and continues to be,
organisational performance. Employees learn to trust the
pressure for organisational change and staff reductions.
leaders of an organisation that performs to expectations.
Organisational changes such as reducing staffing levels,
28
They trust an organisation that is clear and excited about 3. Uncertainty and Management decisions
the organisation’s direction, its place in the community, that prejudice mutual trust or lead to
and its place in the particular industry. confusion regarding commitment
Organisational objectives and methods are only Poorly managed changes may create unnecessarily large
statements -devoid of action. If the objectives and and prolonged uncertainties about future responsibilities
methods are too vague or too broad, unattainable, or and even job security among key technical staff. Such
ignore the role that individuals play in achieving the large and prolonged uncertainties may divert attention
objectives, employees will find it difficult to trust the from safety matters and lead to key staff members leaving
direction in which their organisations are heading. the organisation.
To mitigate this potential loss of confidence, organisations Non-programmed decisions during Organisational
need to develop a clear vision, mission, and values. They changes, to merge with another business or to close a
must also create confidence in staff by having achievable plant are made in unique circumstances, and the result
goals and objectives, which are then monitored; everyone of such decisions is often unpredictable. Managers
is held accountable for the results through a well-thought- face ill- structured problems. These problems require a
out performance management system. custom-made response and are usually handled by the
The first two enemies of confidence are closely top management.
connected. The first is a lack of transparent processes Top management is challenged between informing their
that demonstrate to everyone that the values and employees of the entire truth and holding back certain
standards are being applied in a consistent manner and realities so as not to unnecessarily scare people or lose
that therefore there is no ‘disconnect’ between the stated top talent. More and more Top management is being
and practiced values and standards. placed into uncomfortable moral dilemmas because they
The second is a lack of trust in subordinates. It is difficult are attempting to salvage their own jobs while trying to
to create trust in leadership when leadership, consistently maintain the trust and loyalty of their employees.
through its actions, demonstrates that they do not trust Organisational Change creates uncertainty among
their employees to do the right thing or make the right employees, thereby provoking intense scrutiny of
decisions. If the mission, vision, values and strategic management decisions and intentions and a tendency
objectives are clearly articulated, there is no reason not to to make interpretations that exaggerate management
delegate decision-making to the appropriate level in the decisions and intentions with the end result of reduced
organisation. trust. Management then reacts similarly with negative
There is no reason not to provide staff with scope to interpretations of employee reactions, creating a vicious
create, innovate, and challenge the status quo. In short, cycle of reduced trust.
there should be no reason not to trust the employee to do
the job. The third enemy involves faulty communications
‘Mixed signals’ regarding Commitment
and takes many forms. Of course, falsehoods destroy All too often, staff in frontline roles can be pro-active about
confidence. However, less obvious failings also diminish taking extra precautions and improve their wellbeing. The
confidence. Taking too long to communicate gives rise to potential for smoldering crises to escalate in workplace
rumors, which always take away from truth or accuracy. when management sends mixed messages to employees.
This, in turn, creates a lack of credibility and loss of For example, the company hymn may be “safety first,”
confidence. but when employees start to hear about organisational
Another enemy of confidence is selective communication. changes, market pressures, recruitment freezes, budget
This occurs when only information that makes leadership revisions and ‘doing more with less’, in order to meet a
look good is communicated, while ‘bad news’ is delayed short-term financial goal, safety measures are the first
or avoided altogether or is accompanied by a lot of things to be dropped, and the safety hymn is undermined.
confusing excuses. At this point, people feel manipulated It’s these ‘indirect’ or “mixed” signals or messages that have
and become very skeptical about what they hear. Finally, an impact on safety across the entire organisation because
communication that is not created specifically for staff staffs suddenly begin to hear that the bottom line or market
as an audience can confuse or, worse, come across as share is more important than safety. The internal hierarchy
condescending or manipulative, leading to mistrust and of messages that staff creates depending on the timing
loss of commitment. and number of directions they receive will often have an
unforeseen consequence for organisational safety.
Changing the culture: by strong project management. The formal procedure of

applying a planning process in preparation for change
Rapid or continuous change can also have a detrimental helps organisations to:
effect on health, and poorly managed organisational
• Take stock of their current position
change can increase the workforce’s experience of stress.
Ultimately, the board of directors - must ensure that the • Identify what is to be achieved, and what the future
potential impacts on safety are carefully analyzed. When position following the change is expected to be
organisational changes are proposed and throughout • etail precisely the who, what, when, where, why
D
the period of time that organisational changes are taking and how of achieving and implementing the change
place, and after the changes have occurred, very high objectives
Standards of safety are maintained.
• ssess the impact of the change in the organisation
A
Changes can be made effectively and safely, and gains in and the people within it, as well as other stakeholders
efficiency and competitiveness, as well as safety, can be
• nsure alignment with the organisation’s business
E
realized if changes are introduced carefully and managed
model/strategy.
well. Failure to manage to Change well can significantly
affect the likelihood of an accident, the degree to which the A significant part of establishing the change vision,
assets of the company are put at risk, and the company’s outcome and objectives are to identify and agree on
reputation, must ensure that and that the Change is
managed so as to avoid adverse impacts on safety. The
safety of the workplace also depends on the values and
safety culture of the individuals in the organisation.
the anticipated organisational support required for

the change, e.g. revised business processes/policies,
new infrastructure (including technology) or skills
requirements. This then provides the foundation for the
development of specific actionable strategies to achieve
1. Planning and Communication the change. Together these strategies form the Change
Critical to successful change is good planning. Planning Plan for the organisation. At its most basic level the
involves developing and documenting the objectives to Change Plan should state;
be achieved by the change and the means to achieve • The objectives to be achieved by the change
it. Successfully managing the complexity of change is • he agency’s proposed new direction, core business,
T
virtually impossible without a robust plan that is supported structure and staffing arrangements to accommodate
30
the change shared sense of the way forward. Fundamentally the onus
• ow the change is to be implemented, including how
H is on the organisation’s leaders to change first, motivate
the change will be communicated to the workforce the rest of the organisation, set the example and model
and other stakeholders desired behavior.
• The resources to be used, and the timelines Change efforts need to be “pushed” throughout
the organisation, with leaders delegating both the
• he relevant human resources principles and policies
T
responsibility and authority to make decisions about the
to be applied, particularly in relation to staffing issues
change, grounded in a clear change vision, to managers
• he means by which performance in the changed
T at all levels. This delegation of decision-making authority
environment will be assessed in relation to the stated helps both to reduce blockages and increase buy-in from
objectives; i.e. how the organisation will know when it individuals affected by the change.
has achieved the desired change.
Leaders and managers throughout the organisation
should be expected to support and communicate the
Communicating Plans for Change
benefits of change to their peers and employees - change
The first and most critical step for managing change needs to be “cascaded” through the organisation, with
is ‘to develop and communicate a clear image of the real change happening at each level. This requires more
future. Resistance and confusion frequently develop in than mere buy-in or passive agreement that the direction
organisational change, and people are unclear about what of change is acceptable. It demands ownership by leaders
the future state will like. Thus, the goals and purposes of willing to accept responsibility for making change happen
the change become blurred, and individual expectancies in all of the areas they influence or control.
get formed on the base of information and mixed signal
that is frequently erroneous. Committed Leadership
Communications should describe why change is • Leaders must visibly support the change
necessary, what the changes will look like, how they will
• Ensure continuous engagement regarding the change
be achieved and how people will be affected by them.
The aim is to ensure that unnecessary fears are allayed • ssess readiness for the change and make
A
by keeping people informed using a variety of methods - adjustments accordingly
written communications, the intranet, videos and, best of • Take action to resolve issues
all, face-to-face briefings and discussions.
3. The Need for a Gradualist (step-by-step)
2. Strong Leadership Approach
The role of leadership in any change management effort The one reason for a gradualist (step-by-step) approach
cannot be underestimated and is repeatedly cited as the is that individual, as well as organisations, have a change
number one contributor to change success. The earlier threshold. If change is implemented below the threshold
in the project lifecycle an organisation’s leaders engage general support for most changes can be expected.
in the change, the more useful they can be in building However, when this threshold is exceeded, resistance
acceptance of the change by those who are affected by increases. Studies show the change threshold for
it. Change starts at the top, and an organisation’s leaders individuals and organisations varies, but rates of change
must be the visionaries, champions and role models for up to 10% are normal below the change threshold.
change. Whether change comes easily or proves difficult There are definite limits on the degree of change, the
to achieve depends in part on the atmosphere - the volume of new material or amount of information which
organisational culture and climate – that an organisation’s can be readily absorbed. And, for most of us, the tolerance
leaders create. is approximately 10%. Another reason for this approach
Successful change management requires a large is that Cultural change involves developing a more
commitment from an organisation’s leaders, regardless of appropriate set of the values which influence behavior
whether the change is occurring in one section or across and ensuring that people ‘live the values.’ The problem is
the whole organisation. Change is inherently unsettling that there may be a large difference between the values
for people, and when it is happening all eyes turn to the espoused by an organisation and the ways in which they
organisation’s leaders for support and direction. They are or are not applied values in use.
play a key role in promoting and sustaining the impetus Management may start off with good intentions but
for the change, and in developing and communicating a the realization of them, is often very difficult. This arises
because of contextual and process problems: Direct Action

• Other business priorities A number of tools are available for bringing about direct
• Short-termism action to implement change. A Statement of Health and
Safety Policy is one of the most important tools in this
• Lack of support from line managers
respect. A well-written statement will incorporate, in the
• An inadequate infrastructure of supporting processes section dealing with ‘Organisation and Arrangements for
• Lack of resources Health and Safety,’ a hierarchy of command from the most
senior person in the organisation downwards. This should
• Resistance to change
incorporate a description of the individual role, function,
• he climate in which employees do not trust
T and accountabilities for health and safety of all levels of
management, whatever they say. the hierarchy.
Gradualist approach is the practice of making changes In most cases, people will need the training to ensure they
or achieving goals by degrees, in stages or small steps. fully understand their responsibilities in this respect. Once
This is in contrast to sudden, dramatic or revolutionary people are clear where their responsibilities lie and are
change. The hypothesis is that there are advantages, such aware of the fact that they can personally be taken to task
as reduced resistance, to be gained by implementing for failing to meet them, interest in the subject increases,
changes in small, gradual and incremental steps. But, and there is a greater willingness on their part to take
by and large, the advantages of Gradualist approach direct action to bring about improvements in health and
outweigh the disadvantages as illustrated below: safety.
Merits Safety monitoring activities, such as safety audits and

inspections, inevitably identify the need for change and
• ecisions are more easily understood by the staff and
D
specify a timescale for the improvements necessary to
congregation
implement change. Similarly, the outcome of accident
• Fewer resources are required investigation will identify the need for change in a system
• Goals are more easily attainable of work or the introduction of new methods of safe
working, together with breaches in legal requirements.
• Increases efficiency
Management may need to implement change quickly,
• Reduces resistance
particularly if subject to enforcement action where, for
• Decisions are made more rapidly example, an improvement notice or prohibition notice
• Lowers risk under the Health and Safety law has been served on the
• Helps jump start major initiatives organisation. Finally, for any direct action to be taken and
sustained, the support, demonstration, and commitment
Demerits to senior management to bringing about change must
be clearly visible. Where this is not present, the change
• Takes more time to see results
process can falter.
• Can miss rapidly closing windows of opportunities
• Can suggest a lack of thorough planning Indirect Action
• ails to explain wholly new initiatives to staff and
F Change can take place indirectly in many ways. In many
congregation cases, improvement in health and safety performance
may be associated with the workplace culture of an
4. Direct and Indirect action to promote organisation, the quality of training and supervision and
change (including Cultural benefits from the system for measuring performance.
Risk Assessment)
Cultural Dividends from Risk Assessment
Actually, making things happen in line with
recommendations made is the hardest part of the change The risk assessment process provides an ideal opportunity
management process. Before this process commences, for bringing about cultural change and recommendations.
there must be full support for change from senior and line Risk assessments should examine work activities with a
management. Change can be implemented through both view to identifying the significant hazards, and specify
direct and indirect action. the precautions necessary, together with the need for
information, instruction, and training where appropriate.
32
They should also involve employees in a discussion on

Engagement Description
risks arising from current working practices and seek
Category
feedback from them on the way to make things safer.
This level of involvement has a direct effect on the safety Highly Employees feel a strong personal
culture in a workplace and is a powerful tool in bringing Engaged alignment to the mission, vision,
about change. and objectives of the organisation.
With this emotional connection
While the process of changing the safety culture is a slow
comes behavior-namely, active
one, over a period of time these cultural dividends will
pursuit of opportunities to improve
be noticed in terms of increased attention to the detail
operations and/or the general work
of safety procedures, the ‘safe way’ being perceived as
environment.
the ‘correct way’ and a reduction in injuries and lost time
arising from minor accidents in particular. Moderately Employees possess positive
Engaged attitudes towards work and may
Training and Supervision engage in productive behaviors. But
Training and instruction should draw the attention of they are not fully invested in terms
employees to the significant hazards arising from work of commitment and significant
activities with a view to breaking old unsafe habits discretionary behavior.
and introducing employees to safer working practices. Passive Employees simply come to work
Supervision should ensure the newly introduced working and go through the motions without
practices are maintained and praise employees where any particular interest in work. While
they are followed. not as problematic as the actively
disengaged, passive employees do
Performance Measurement not create positive employees do
There are a number of ways of measuring performance, not create a positive environment for
including the use of safety sampling exercises and innovation and progress.
checklist systems. Key performance indicators should be Actively Employees feel disconnected from
established and individual workplaces assessed against Disengaged their jobs and tend to be unsatisfied
these performance indicators. at work. Their poor attitudes and
emotions spread through the
5. Strong Worker Engagement company, which can result in their
Because a large number of organisational change own poor performance and poor
efforts fail to meet their stated objectives, a focus on performance of others.
how employees think, feel and behave during these
Four key enablers of employee engagement identified
transformational periods offers useful insights to
are;
employers. Maintaining employee engagement in the
midst of organisational change is a key element in the • isible empowering leadership: This includes a
V
success of a change initiative. strong strategic narrative of the organisation, including
where it has come from and where it is going.
Worker engagement can be understood as both an
emotional state and a behavioral reaction to a given • ngaging managers: This is defined as managers
E
work environment. As an emotional state, engagement who give focus to their teams and scope of their work.
represents ideas such as focus, motivation, and passion They treat their staff according to their needs as an
for the task at hand. As a behavioral reaction, engagement individual and coach and challenge their people.
goes beyond feelings and attitudes. An engaged employee • he employees: They have the voice represented by
T
can provide significantly more discretionary effort-“doing all spheres of the organisation – Employees are seen
whatever it takes” to complete work tasks-ultimately as central to the solution and participate in finding it.
having a positive impact on business results. In short,
• I ntegrity : There is organisational integrity, and the
engaged employees say good things about working at an
organisational values are alive and recognized within
organisation; they plan to stay in that organisation, and
organisational behaviors
they strive to give extra effort.
Rank Top 5 Drivers of Engagement during Gaps can include the number of resources required; or
Order Times of Change Vs No Change lack of skills. There may be a decreased need for some
competencies and an increased need for others, or new
Change No Change
specialist knowledge and learning may be required. If it
1 Involved in decision- Understand career
is recognized that some staff may move from one area
making path
of specialty to another and will, therefore, be moving
2 Understand career Involved in decision-
into areas of work not fully covered by their training or
path making
recent experience. In these circumstances, appropriate
3 Co-workers make Have the necessary preparatory training, induction and on-the-job supervised
personal sacrifices resources to do job development on the basis of an agreed personal
to help the development plan should be provided.
organisational
This training is a crucial, even pivotal, element of
4 Company provides Company provides
reorganisation without which the success of reorganisation
encouragement for encouragement for
cannot be assured. Competence should also be transferred
development development
along with re-assigned and new roles and responsibilities.
5 Company provides a Provided proper
Training is the cornerstone for building knowledge about
two-way dialogue training to do job
the change and the required skills. Project team members
will develop training requirements based on the skills,
6. Training and Performance Measurements
knowledge, and behaviors necessary to implement the
The impact of organisational change on training should change. These training requirements will be the starting
not be under estimated. Changes which materially point for the training group or the project team to develop
affect individuals’ roles. For example, where they move training programs.
to different jobs or where they take on additional roles,
may require different competencies. Instances where the Training needs arising from Organisational
nature of the work carried out on the facility changes. Change
For example, from construction to commissioning,
The health and safety goal of training needs analysis
from commissioning to operations or from operations
is to ensure that the integrity of equipment, operations
to decommissioning, may also call for changes in staff
and or processes is assured and that operational safety
competencies.
is unimpaired by mismanagement, misoperation, poor
Organisational arrangements should explicitly consider maintenance or poor engineering.
the competencies required during and following an
The approach should;
organisational change and should demonstrate that staffs
affected by the change are competent for any changed • irectors and Managers, who are charged with
D
roles. The objective underlying competence initiatives determining the need for, and agreeing, organisational
are to ensure that competence is transferred along with changes, should be trained to understand and manage
reassigned responsibilities and/or for new roles. The the organisational change process. They should be
approach to assuring competence during organisational made aware of the need to control “organisational
change mirrors the approach commonly applied to the drift” arising from successive changes.
selection and development of all new appointments, • e applied to all grades of personnel, from cleaners
B
transfers, and promotions. through technical and engineering grades to
However, there are a number of differences between supervisory and managerial grades of personnel.
day-to-day competence issues and competence issues • Include general technical, operational, and
associated with the reorganisation. On the one hand, management skills as well as specific health and
the scale of change increases the risk associated with safety skills.
competence. On the other hand, organisational changes • nsure that those people who are assigned widened
E
are often used as an opportunity to improve levels of or greater managerial or supervisory roles are able to
competence. Many organisations devote substantial discharge their managerial tasks.
resources to training needs analysis and training to
The Training needs analysis should have the following;
determine the competencies of the organisation’s current
workforce and identify and address the gaps between • Identify changes in tasks, jobs and or allocation of
future needs and current workforce competencies. duties
34
• Identify changes in core skills, experience and informal sources and can include social media and small
knowledge requirements of the organisation group meetings.
• Assess competence of personnel Feedback is created in many ways, from safety monitoring,
• efine and execute selection, re-training, job
D risk assessments, training exercises, the investigation
definition, and development program of accidents and loss-producing incidents, safety
suggestion schemes and discussions with employees or
• he management of change arrangements should
T
their representatives on changes that have been, or need
include reference to training and assessment
to be, introduced. It may be appropriate, in some cases,
programs as part of this demonstration.
to ask employees to complete a purpose-designed health
and safety questionnaire with a view to getting feedback
Performance Measurements
as to what they feel needs attention.
The goal of performance measurements is to gain an
The health and safety committee is also an important
objective indication of the impact of changes. In selecting
tool for organizing feedback from different parts of the
performance measures, consideration should be given
organisation and recommendations from these meetings
to the possibility that there may be conflicting trends in
should be acted upon promptly. It is important that
the rates of different types or causes of accidents and
feedback issues are properly assessed in terms of their
ill health, with the consequence that a single overall
significance with respect to changes in working practices.
measure of performance may obscure conflicting trends.
Recommendations from, for example, safety suggestion
These measures might provide assurance that the changes schemes should be acknowledged and action taken
had been a success, from a health and safety perspective, within a specific timescale. It should be stressed that the
and helped to identify where additional actions were organisation values feedback from employees.
needed in light of unsatisfactory performance. However,
due to the reactive nature of these measures, they were 7. Positive and negative impacts on
considered to be of limited value in guiding the planning changes to work environment and building
and initial implementation of changes. trust in the workforce
Thus, the measure should; Culture change require workers’ involvement and
• Be sensitive to the impact of changes participation. Making connections with employees and
embedding positive culture throughout the business
• nable review of the pattern of causes of accidents to
E
takes real commitment.
identify whether some causes are increasing whilst
others are falling Employees who care about their work and their
organisation are emotionally engaged. They are not
• e comparable to all parts of the organisation
B
motivated by salary or perks alone, but instead feel
undergoing change.
satisfaction at contributing towards the organisation’s
Importance of Feedback goals. Such engagement feeds raw enthusiasm,
prompting employees to invest a greater amount of time
The major difference between one-way and two-
and energy in the role.
way communication is that two-way communication
creates opportunities for constant feedback during There is, of course, no ‘one size fits all’ answer for every
communication. One-way communication generally does organisation.
not require feedback or feedback is delayed. Advertising Changes to the work environment has different impacts
or speaking to large audiences might be an example of on different employees. Some take it positively and are
one-way communication. happy to contribute in this change. Working in a safe
Many organisations simply tell their staff about change and workplace motivates them further to achieve higher
expecting them to get on with it. One-way communication standards and compliance.
like this is often perceived negatively and can be a major Other employees take the changes negatively and may
contributor to resistance to change. Understanding how look at the changes in the work environment as more rules
change management communication is received and and procedures to follow and perceive it as more work.
understood is critical to the importance of communication They feel that they are been watched for compliance and
during change. Successful change emphasizes the need are subjected to unwanted additional requirements when
for two-way communication and actively encourages they were okay all these years without them.
feedback. This feedback should come from formal and Things start changing when the majority of the workforce
adopt the new culture and are happy to part of this The combination of these factors invariably arouses
initiative. The workers with negative attitude are a minority financial and political resistance from the organisation’s
and have to change or leave. core. This resistance can manifest in a multitude of ways:
Greater impact is achieved when the leadership builds from direct resistance, such as pulling budget, to more
a bond of trust amongst the employees. Employees subtle or passive forms of resistance, such as the refusal
participate in safety related matters and are appreciated of employees and managers to adopt new practices. This
for their suggestions. Certain suggestions of course go resistance to change can be observed anecdotally.
on to be implemented and also have further positive
3. Absence of trust in Communications
impact on the culture. Further trust and bonding and the
presence of a Just Culture ensures equal participation One of the main elements of trust is communication.
amongst the employees as they are not afraid to voice Employees want open and honest communication. They
their opinion. need to receive messages that are timely, honest, clear,
and easy to understand. This type of communication
Problems and Pitfalls will always generate trust and commitment. Clearly, this
entails a carefully thought-out employee communication
1. Attempts to change culture too rapidly strategy to ensure that staff receives the information in a
way that generates credibility, which leads in turn to trust
Moving too fast inevitably increases the chances of error
and commitment.
and making mistakes, regardless of their severity, is risky
for leaders. That’s why many leaders prefer to err on the Many management decisions involving change have
slow side of pace. It is safer, less disruptive, and less subsequently been found to be based on unsound data.
stressful. But unfortunately, it also is more likely to place This has resulted in distrust among the workforce and
the organisation in a non-competitive position and may aggravated the process of change. Decision-making
result in catastrophic organisational failure. Moving slowly processes must be based on sound, reliable and timely
is safer in the short term but can be highly detrimental over data.
the long haul, particularly in today’s highly competitive
global environment. 4. Resistance to change
Researchers have suggested that people are unprepared Resistance to change is an ongoing problem. At both
to cope with the accelerated rate of change. Problems the individual and the organisational levels, resistance to
arise from the superimposition of a new organisational change impairs concerted efforts to improve performance.
culture on an old one. Too much change in too short time Many corporate change efforts have been initiated at
also affects management’s and organisations. tremendous cost only to be halted by resistance among
the organisation’s employees. Organisations as a whole
2. Adopting too broad an approach also manifest behavior similar to that of individuals when
faced with the need to change.
Change occurs all at once, on a large scale and often in
response to the crisis. These approaches assume that people The relationship between individual and organisational
need to be jolted out of complacency to embrace new ideas and resistance to change is important. An organisation is a
practices. To make that happen, senior management creates a complex system of relationships between people, leaders,
sense of urgency or takes dramatic action to trigger change. technologies, and work processes. From this interaction
These approaches are typified by high-profile projects with organisational behavior, culture, and performance
multimillion-dollar budgets, large implementation teams, and emerges. These emergent properties and behaviors
complex multiyear implementation plans. They include large- are tightly linked in two directions to the lower-level
scale Mergers & Acquisitions deals, technology deployments, interactions.
and business strategy overhauls. But despite the resources and Organisational resistance to change is an emergent
attention devoted to these “big bang” approaches, somewhere property, and individual resistance to change can give
between two-thirds to three-quarters of such efforts fail. rise to organisational resistance. A self-reinforcing loop of
Although the reasons for these failures are complex and increasing resistance can develop as individuals create
unique to each effort, at their simplest level, they all share an environment in which resistance to change is the
three factors: norm. That environment, in turn, encourages increased
resistance to change among individual employees. The
• Large financial outlays
self-reinforcing nature of this loop can be tremendously
• Lengthy lead times
powerful, defeating repeated attempts to break out of it.
• The uncertainty of success
36
Changes meet with varying degrees of resistance. The safety culture maturity of an organisation consists of
It is necessary to understand what factors create ten elements, which are described below. An organisation’s
resistance and how they can be effectively dealt with. or installation’s level of maturity is determined on the
Few organisational change efforts tend to be complete basis of their maturity on these elements. It is likely
failures, but few tend to be entirely successful either. that an organisation will be at different levels on the
Most efforts encounter problems; they often take longer ten components of the SCMM. Deciding which level is
than expected or desired, they sometimes take a toll most appropriate will need to be based on the average
on people’s morale, and they often cost a great deal in level achieved by the organisation or installation being
terms of managerial time and emotional upheaval. Some evaluated.
organisations do not even try to initiate needed changes
because the managers involved are afraid that they are Ten elements of the safety culture maturity
simply incapable of successfully implementing them. model
• Management commitment and visibility
Diagnosing Resistance
• Communication
• Technical resistance
• Productivity versus safety
• Political resistance
• Learning organisation
• Cultural resistance
• Safety resources
Selection of Strategy for dealing with resistance to • Participation
change
• Shared perceptions about safety
• Education and communication
• Trust
• Participation and involvement
• Industrial relations and job satisfaction
• Facilitation and support
• Training
• Negotiation and agreement
• Manipulation and cooptation
Five levels of safety culture maturity
The safety culture maturity model presented in Figure
• Explicit and implicit coercion
below is set out in a number of iterative stages. It is
The elements and levels of the British proposed that organisations progress sequentially
through the five levels, by building on the strengths
HSE’s ‘Safety culture maturity model’ and removing the weaknesses of the previous level. It
with reference to OTO 2000/049 is therefore not advisable for an organisation to attempt
report to jump or skip a level. For example, it is important for
organisations to go through the managing level before
Elements of an organisation’s safety culture the involving level as it important that managers develop
The elements that form the safety culture maturity model their commitment to safety and understand the need to
have been adapted from the safety culture components involve frontline employees.
listed by the HSE in HSG48. It is unlikely that these
elements will map exactly onto the factors that companies
have previously measured in safety culture or climate
surveys, because there is considerable variation in the
proposed elements of an organisation’s safety culture.
Some researchers argue that safety culture is composed
of the safety attitudes of an organisation’s employees
and others propose that it is much wider incorporating
systems, attitudes, values, beliefs and organisational
symbols. Safety climate tools tend to measure slightly
different elements of safety culture. The elements used
in the safety culture maturity model (SCMM) contain
the most common components of both theoretical and
measurement models.
Level One: Emerging Non-work accidents are also monitored and a healthy
lifestyle is promoted.
Safety is defined in terms of technical and procedural
solutions and compliance with regulations. Safety is not
Level Five: Continuous improvement
seen as a key business risk and the safety department is
perceived to have primary responsibility for safety. Many The prevention of all injuries or harm to employees
accidents are seen as unavoidable and as part of the job. (both at work and at home) is a core company value.
Most frontline staff are uninterested in safety and may The organisation has had a sustained period (years)
only use safety as the basis for other arguments, such as without a recordable accident or high potential incident,
changes in shift systems. but there is no feeling of complacency. They live with the
paranoia that their next accident is just around the corner.
Level Two: Managing The organisation uses a range of indicators to monitor
performance but it is not performance-driven, as it has
The organisation’s accident rate is average for its industrial
confidence in its safety processes. The organisation is
sector but they tend to have more serious accidents than
constantly striving to be better and find better ways of
average. Safety is seen as a business risk and management
improving hazard control mechanisms. All employees
time and effort is put into accident prevention. Safety is solely
share the belief that health and safety is a critical aspect
defined in terms of adherence to rules and procedures and
of their job and accept that the prevention of non-work
engineering controls. Accidents are seen as preventable.
injuries is important. The company invests considerable
Managers perceive that the majority of accidents are solely
effort in promoting health and safety at home.
caused by the unsafe behaviour of front-line staff. Safety
performance is measured in terms of lagging indicators
such as Lost Time Injuries (LTI) and safety incentives are
The concepts of blame, no-blame and
based on reduced LTI rates. Senior managers are reactive just culture (Dekker)
in their involvement in health and safety (i.e. they use
punishment when accident rates increase). Blame Culture
It is likely you will have encountered the term “blame
Level Three: Involving culture” which should be self-explanatory. A blame culture
Accident rates are relatively low, but they have reached is the default culture due to human beings’ inherent need
a plateau. The organisation is convinced that the to put blame outside of ourselves
involvement of the frontline employee in health and An organization that has a blame culture seeks to find
safety is critical, if future improvements are going to be out who is responsible, then to attribute blame. This
achieved. Managers recognise that a wide range of factors could lead to punishment, possibly disciplinary action,
cause accidents and the root causes often originate maybe dismissal, perhaps some retraining and certainly
from management decisions. A significant proportion of the blame for the incident of accident being place on an
frontline employees are willing to work with management individual or group. You may consider this is fair or not,
to improve health and safety. The majority of staff accept but if the focus is on blaming people this culture will not
personal responsibility for their own health and safety. encourage the sharing of information on actions that led
Safety performance is actively monitored and the data is to errors; people do not want to be blamed! In this culture,
used effectively. people are unlikely to share this knowledge or report
incidents as they are afraid of recriminations; additionally,
Level Four: Cooperating there will be a lack of organisational learning.
The majority of staff in the organisation are convinced
It is, therefore, unlikely that a “blame culture” is going
that health and safety is important from both a moral
to lead to long-term improvement of health & safety.
and economic point of view. Managers and frontline staff
Perhaps, because blaming people often seems to provide
recognise that a wide range of factors cause accidents and
an easy way to show that “justice has been done”, and
the root causes are likely to come back to management
is certainly less complex and time consuming than
decisions. Frontline staff accept personal responsibility for
properly investigating the issue, reviewing and changing
their own and others health and safety. The importance
processes and procedures; this is why “blame culture”
of all employees feeling valued and treated fairly is
seems so prolific,
recognised. The organisation puts significant effort
into proactive measures to prevent accidents. Safety As mentioned earlier, a blame culture is a default “setting”.
performance is actively monitored using all data available. Workers within an organization can believe that their
organization has a blame culture (default setting) when
38
in fact, this is not the case. However, just the belief Behavioural change programmes
in an organizational blame culture can be enough to
stop workers reporting accidents and near misses. It Why behavioural change programmes are used
is, therefore, important that health and safety leaders In recent years there has been an increase in the use
demonstrates a commitment to an alternative culture to of behaviour modification (BMod) or Behaviour Based
change the organization’s default setting of blame culture. Safety (BBS) approaches to safety. These interventions
generally involve the observation and assessment of
No name, no blame
certain behaviours, usually those of front-line personnel.
The opposite of the blame culture is unsurprisingly a “no- The rationale behind behavioural safety approaches is
blame culture”. that accidents are caused by unsafe behaviours. These
This culture is built on the belief that blame is not the approaches are based on behaviourist theories, which can
issue. If a problem occurs, it is investigated to try and find be summarised by ‘behaviour that is strongly reinforced
out why it happened. Workers are encouraged to speak will be maintained’.
openly about problems and mistakes. The workforce and In any incident there are usually two types of causes:
managers are empowered to be honest and open; the
• irect causes that occur immediately prior to the
d
most vital consideration is making things work properly
undesirable event;
and preventing mistakes from happening again. However,
the issue with no name, no blame is that nobody is held • further away, either in time or space, there are
accountable for their actions. underlying causes that contributed to the immediate,
direct event.
Just Culture Historically, many incidents and accidents in all major
A just culture takes the no name no blame idea one stage hazard industries were seen as the ‘fault’ of someone
further to a “just, no blame culture” or “just culture”. A just at the sharp end – the last person who touched the
culture is the balancing point between a blame culture equipment. This view is less common today, particularly
and a no name no blame culture. in incident investigations, although it is still dominant in
Here, blame would only be attributed, when somebody efforts to prevent major accidents. The thinking is that
has been reckless and taken unnecessary and if Unsafe Acts are proactively identified and changed to
unacceptable risks. An effective health and safety leader safe acts, then the incident resulting from such unsafe
will be required to show support for workers when things acts can also be prevented.
genuinely go wrong. This will encourage the reporting Behavioural change programs involves trained champions
of incidents without fear of blame. This in turn will observing fellow employees performing their day to day
mean the organization will benefit from understanding activities for a certain period of time at defined intervals.
why accidents or incidents occurred and how to take The observation is carried out against a well-defined
appropriate action to prevent them happening again. checklist of expected positive behaviours. The observer
However, in just culture leaders must also recognize that records both the unsafe as well as the safe behaviours
they must give recognition for safe behaviour. They must that happen during the course of the observation and
also appreciate that accountability must be delivered at the end provides a team feedback on both the good
in a fair and consistent manner, no matter what level behaviours that were seen and the not so good (at-
the individual is at within the organization. Consistent risk) behaviours. The observer motivates and positively
accountability and recognition are two things that many reinforces the employees into continuing with the positive
organisations do badly. behaviour and at the same time provides them with the
inputs on how the at-risk behaviour can be changed.
Note: Sidney Dekker, professor at Griffith University in
As the process of observations and feedback continues,
Brisbane, Australia, has authored book on Just Culture
organizations see a gradual increase in the number of
concept, which can be referred to gain additional insights
safe behaviours and a decrease in at-risk behaviours. The
about the concept and to create an environment where
organization also see improvements in the number of
learning and accountability are fairly and constructively
incidents as a result of the decrease in at-risk behaviour.
balanced.
The Principles of behavioural change Disadvantages of Behaviour Change

programmes Programmes
• ully engage employees to the significance of
F • BS programs are difficult to maintain: In order to
B
behavioural safety. Set standards for all employees at be effective, a BBS program needs full support from
all levels for participation in safe behaviour. top tier management. It also needs to be consistently
• areless small behaviours lead to the magnitude of
C utilized and evaluated. BBS will not be effective if it’s
accidents and injuries. Targeting specific behaviours just “implemented” but lacks structure, dedication,
and creating a checklist approved by all employees and follow-up.
for input creates workplace involvement in safe • BS programs inadvertently place “blame” on
B
behaviours. employees: While putting “blame” on employees
• raining employees to lead as safety monitors and
T is not the intent of a true BBS program, it’s difficult
active observation and reporting promotes employee to separate it out. After all, behaviour-based safety is
engagement and compliance. supposed to focus on the actions and behaviours of
individuals.
• istorical review of previous injuries and accidents
H
provide data-driven results for decision making for • bservations can get lost in the weeds:
O
change implementation. Management can become too focused on
observations, thinking that a large amount of worker
• Improvement intervention through a systematic
monitoring is the key. The truth is that observations
observation by employees with regular meetings and
are only a piece of the puzzle – what’s more important
brainstorming will incorporate continuity of safety
is how this data is used to change the safety behaviour
based behaviour. Provide evaluations to employees
of a company.
on individual practices and safety behaviour.
• BS takes attention away from technical and
B
• ey leadership commitment is important to provide
K
engineering improvements to safety. This is only if
mentoring and examples for employees to commit to
management thinks a behaviour-based approach to
the idea of working in an environment dedicated to
safety is all that they need. In truth, a BBS program is
safe behaviour.
best paired with a variety of safety initiatives.
Advantages of Behaviour Change
Programmes
Organisational Conditions needed
for Success in Behavioural Change
• anagement may demonstrate their commitment to
M
improving safety;
Programmes
• he workforce and management talking to each other
T A review of the experience with behaviour modification
about safety; programmes has shown that some behavioural
interventions require certain preconditions to be in
• Increased profile of health and safety;
place if they are to be implemented successfully. The
• Increased visibility of management in the workplace; preconditions can be related to different levels of safety
• Employee engagement in safety; culture maturity. The preconditions can be related to
different levels of safety culture maturity.
• anagers/supervisors learn to act promptly on
M
unsafe acts (and have a legitimate mechanism for The term cultural maturity refers to the important safety
doing so); culture elements (e.g. management commitment,
trust, communication) that determine an organisation’s
• Managers/supervisors may improve their safety leadership;
readiness to implement a behavioural safety program.
• anagers/supervisors learn to think about human
M There are a number of ways of assessing cultural maturity,
factors. for example, conducting a safety climate survey or holding
• Improved behaviour at all levels leads to a positive workforce workshops.
culture and better compliance.
Recognize the need for Behavioural
• here is a reduction in number of incidents and the
T
Approaches
organizations performance.
A behaviour modification program is unlikely to be
appropriate if technical failures or a poor Safety
40
Management System is causing the majority of accidents. program, setting up a steering committee, training
It is important to recognize that behavioural approaches personnel, and observers. Once the program is running
to safety improvement are likely to be most effective the observers will require time to make observations,
when technical and systems improvements are failing to analyze data, produce charts and time to feedback the
produce a corresponding reduction in accident rates. results to other employees. In addition, many programs
also involve identifying the conditions that cause
Convince the need to reduce the Current employees to choose unsafe behaviours so that these
Accident Rate conditions can be removed. Employees are likely to
It is important that managers and frontline employees interpret management reluctance to make the suggested
are convinced of the need to reduce the current accident alterations as a lack of commitment and therefore lose
rate, as the success of the program is dependent on their confidence in the program.
continued involvement and commitment. If employees do
not perceive a need to reduce the current accident rate, Nominate Champion of the Program for the
then the effort will initially have to be made to convince Organisation
them that all accidents can and should be prevented. The success of behaviour modification programs appears
to be dependent on someone to drive the program
Empowering Employees and Delegating forward and keep the momentum going at both the site
Authority for Safety to Employees and corporate level. Programs often appear to grind to a
In order for employees to be involved in safety, their halt if the champion of the program leaves. It is, therefore,
managers will need to be willing and able to empower a good idea to have some redundancy in the system by
them to make safety observations and recommend ways having a group of committed individuals to champion the
of improving safety. If managers are likely to respond program.
negatively to workforce empowerment, then they are
likely to cause the program to fail. It is important that Adequate Communication and feedback
managers are aware of and agree to the changes in the systems in place
relationship between managers and employees that One of the positives outcomes of many behaviour
are required. Managers must be willing to release some modification programs is increased communication
control, within defined boundaries. between managers and workers about safety. This,
unfortunately, can mean the program becomes a victim
Employer and Employee Mutual Trust of its own success. There is a danger that managers end
If managers are cynical about the motives behind safety up with communication overload if there are no systems
improvement suggestions made by their employees, then in place to deal with all the information generated by the
they are unlikely to take them on board, and therefore, system. If the organisational structure requires managers
the program will fall into disuse. If there are significant to approve all expenditure, then they may become
levels of cynicism amongst the workforce about the overloaded with the number of suggested improvements
management’s true motivation for implementing the that can be made to the plant. It is critical that increased
program, this may undermine its success. communication is anticipated, and systems are put in
place to cope.
Management involvement in Safety and
Management Structure 2.5 Safety management
Management support for the program is likely to be
inadequate if managers do not see safety as a line Traditional safety (sometimes called
management responsibility. While behaviour modification ‘Safety I’)
programs are designed to involve employees in safety, line Traditional safety as the name suggests is the concept of
managers play a critical role in supporting the program by safety traditionally used to implement safety management
showing their commitment and providing resources. system within any organization.
It can be defined as system which ensures that ‘as few
Ensure adequate Resources available
things as possible go wrong’. In this case the things that
The majority of both in-house and proprietary systems we talk about ‘going wrong’ are the undesirable events
require a significant amount of resources to setup and or incidents leading to injury, ill-health and damage to
maintain. The initial costs will include designing the property.
In Safety I, a system is said to be unsafe if there is more

than the occasional adverse outcome or if the risk is seen
as unacceptable; similarly, it is said to be safe if such
outcomes occur rarely or not at all, or if the risk is seen
as acceptable. This is, however, an indirect definition
because safety is being defined by its opposite, by what
happens when it is absent rather than when it is present.
The focus of the organizations, in Safety I is primarily on
the absence of danger which results in as few as possible
events or actions going wrong. So if an organization has
some success in reducing and controlling the number of
incidents and the fact that there may not have been many
incidents happening could be taken as an evidence that
an organization is doing well in reducing the risks and
keeping the employees safe and healthy.
Reduction in number of incidents or millions of hours
worked without any lost time injury are definitely good
indicators of the success of any organizations safety
management system, but such reactive measurements
in no way can ensure that the trend will continue. One
incident and the number of hours without lost time injury
comes down to zero and then we have to start all over
again.
This way Safety I is reactive and emphasises on the
absence of incidents rather than the presence of safety.
Another curious consequence is that the level of safety is
inversely related to the number of adverse outcomes. If
many things go wrong, the level of safety is said to be low;
but if few things go wrong, the level of safety is said to be
high. In other words, the more manifestations there are,
the less safety there is and vice versa. A perfect level of
safety means that there are no adverse outcomes, hence
nothing to measure. This unfortunately makes it very
difficult, if not impossible, to demonstrate that efforts to
improve safety have worked, hence very difficult to argue
for continued resources.
Assumptions of Safety-I are partly mirrored in efforts
to improve work processes, efficiency, and productivity.
An early example is Scientific Management Theory by
Frederick Taylor. In 1911, Taylor suggested a set of steps to
increase the performance of an organisation:
1) Work analysis: Analyse the best way of doing work.
Workers’ tasks are broken down into elementary steps
and movements. The most effective performance is
determined.
2) Select people to perform the tasks: A best
match is sought between workers’ capabilities and the
requirements to successfully complete a task. Workers
should neither be under- nor overqualified.
42
3) Training: Workers are instructed to exactly apply and not always meticulously execute work as planned or
follow the specified process deemed best in the analysis. imagined by management but sometimes divert from the
People are trained to ensure specific performance and specified processes (work as done). This makes people a
remain within the set boundaries of their tasks and liability, a problem to control, or even a threat to safety. To
activities. avoid negative events, humans thus have to be controlled.
4) Compliance: Line supervisors constantly monitor The replacement of humans with automation is regarded
workers’ performance and compliance. Incentives and a valuable approach to reducing and eliminating human
awards are used to increase productivity. error.
Safety I relies on compliance and on workers following Proactive safety management

procedures. There is an agreement that procedures if
followed will always lead to the correct outcomes- and in
(sometimes called ‘Safety II’ and
this case zero incidents. ‘Safety Differently’)
Top management often review the effectiveness of their As the name suggest proactive safety management
management systems by looking at certain measurements focusses on proactively measuring and managing safety
most popularly known as Key Performance Indicators rather than waiting for a negative outcome to conclude
or KPIs. These KPIs are more often than not look at the the safety performance is good or bad.
absence of a negative outcome as a success of their It can be defined as ‘as many things as possible going
safety management system. Most common reactive KPIs right’. Safety II looks at what people do when things go
in any organization could be: well, and tries to increase that activity. The emphasis is
• Number of major accidents. on looking at the positive aspects of the day-to-day life
be it behaviours or processes done well and ensuring
• Number of first aid injuries.
that it continues with the same positive results. Safety II
• Time lost due to incidents etc. is an extension of Safety I but here the focus is not in the
In Safety-I, the principle of safety management is reactive: absence of negatives but on the presence of positives.
Changes are necessary when a negative event has Safety-II defines safety as the presence of positives, such
occurred or when something is deemed an unacceptable as people’s capabilities, capacities, and competencies
risk. Accidents are caused by malfunction and failure. All that make things go right. Hence, safety is present when
causes have an effect, and all effects have a cause. Things as many things as possible go right.
go wrong due to differences between work as imagined
An accident investigation under the scope of Safety-I is
by management and work as done by the workforce. The
to identify the causes of adverse outcomes, while risk
relationship between cause (e.g. an operator’s inadequate
assessment aims to determine their likelihood. On the
decisions) and effect (e.g. an accident) are deemed linear
contrary, accident investigations under Safety-II seek to
and unproblematic. Investigations have to reveal the
understand how things usually go right, as this forms
causes and contributing factors, reasoning backwards
the basis for explaining how things go wrong, while risk
from the negative event. This often means to identify the
assessment aims ‘to understand the conditions where
components, both technical and human, that have failed.
performance variability can become difficult to control’.
The sequence of events leading up to the accident is
traced back in time until a (plausible) root cause is found At a perfect level of safety, there is nothing to measure at all
(or constructed). (until the next accident occurs). At this stage, it becomes
impossible to demonstrate that safety efforts have any
In Safety I, humans are seen as part of the problem or
positive result. Low counts of things that go wrong make
cause of an incident. It is well known that negative human
expenses on safety difficult to justify. Reductions in safety
behaviour can lead to unsafe acts and these unsafe acts
efforts likely follow. Focusing on diminishing numbers is
could be the immediate cause for any incident. Humans
thus a highly questionable measurement of safety, and
are prone to errors and mistakes and many times it is the
the absence of negatives an utterly poor predictor for
organizational and the job factors rather than individual
safe operation in the future. For instance, managers had
factor that influences such poor behaviour.
celebrated the seven-year-absence of a lost-time accident
For work to succeed, people only have to follow the on Deepwater Horizon just days before the rig exploded
specified rules and procedures. They are not supposed on 20 April 2010, killing 11 people. Today, various concepts
to improvise. Variability of human performance is harmful and models are available to measure and determine what
and has to be prevented as good as possible. Yet workers goes wrong (e.g. loss of situational awareness; slips, trips
and falls; inadequate knowledge; poor decision making; caused by error, malfunction, and non-compliance (work
distraction; fatigue). On the contrary, few methods exist to as done diverts from work as planned). Instead, success
identify the presence of positives and why things usually and failure, function and malfunction, are thought of as
go right. the result of everyday work. Both result from identical
Safety-II challenges the prevailing attitude towards processes. The things that go right and wrong have the
humans and organisations. Systems and organisations same mechanism and basically happen in the same way,
are no longer deemed basically safe and undermined regardless of the outcome. The same performance that
by unreliable workers. Instead, humans are seen as a usually leads to success sometimes leads to failure.
valuable and necessary resource for the flexibility and Procedures provide valuable guidance on how to
resilience of an organisation to succeed. Workers are a successfully perform specific tasks. Yet rules and
solution to harness because they know the messy details procedures might not always be complete and specify
of how to get the work done. Only the people know how work in every possible situation. For instance, no
to deal with time pressure, inadequate tools, incomplete procedure existed on how to land a DC-10 aircraft after
system design, and trade-offs, such as being thorough a complete loss of all flight controls due to an engine
and efficient at the same time. Rules and procedures are failure of United Airlines Flight 232 on 19 July 1989. Yet the
no longer regarded as entirely complete and applicable to crew managed to perform an emergency landing at Sioux
any work situation. For work to succeed, people have to City airport, saving 185 out of 296 people on board. The
constantly adapt and adjust their performance to the local survivors of the Piper Alpha rig explosion in 1988 were
circumstances. largely those who risked a 35m-leap into the ocean—
In Safety-II, the principle of safety management is against the procedure of remaining on the platform in
proactive: to continuously try to anticipate developments case of a fire.
and events in an uncertain future. Yet safety efforts
Four varieties of human work:
reach far beyond the assessment of visible risks and
calculations of probability. Paths towards unlikely, Background Understanding and improving human work
unthinkable outcomes are explored and discussed. Voices is relevant to most people in the world, and a number
of minorities are heard, no matter how small or seemingly of professions are dedicated to improving human work.
irrelevant people’s concerns appear at the time. Safety Recently, several notions have gained popular acceptance,
efforts are made and maintained even when adverse helping to demystify the improvement of work. One of
events are absent. Discussions about safety and risks are these is the simple observation that how people think that
kept alive even when everything looks safe. work is (or would be done) done, how work should be
done according to plans and designs, how work is done,
Safety-II questions whether humans and technologies
and how people say work is done are different but related
succeed and fail in the same way. For instance, the
varieties of human work: work-as-imagined; work-as-
stopping of an elevator is performed by a technological
prescribed; work-as-done; and work-as-disclosed. The
mechanism that takes place in a stable environment
Four Varieties of Human Work are:
(e.g. the floors do not move up or down; the weight of
the elevator cannot exceed a certain limit). Technologies 1. Work-as-Imagined: When we think about human
are unable to adapt performance unless programmed to work, we typically think about the things that we
do so. In contrast, humans are capable of adjusting their actually do. But in thinking about what we or others
actions to the situation encountered, where conditions do, we have already uncovered another important
and outcomes might be unknown or only partly known. type of work – the work that we imagine. Work-as
A situation might differ from what was expected or imagined is both the work that we imagine others
previously experienced by the worker, the organisation, do and the work that we imagine we or others did,
colleagues, or management. In order to create safety, do, or would do, in the past, present, or future. The
humans have to adapt performance to the local conditions imagination of human work takes place within
and circumstances. organisations, between organisations, and from
outside of organisations.
Safety-II challenges the bimodality principle of human
work and the assumption that human success and failure 2. Work-as-prescribed: Our imagination of human
have different origins. It is questioned whether success work is not necessarily the same as the way that
(acceptable outcomes) is solely the result of compliance work is prescribed. Work-as-prescribed is the
(in the sense that work as done matches work as formalisation or specification of work-as imagined,
planned), whereas failure (unacceptable outcomes) is or work-as-done, or work-as-disclosed, or some
44
combination of the three. It takes on a number of resources and requirements), improvise when necessary,
forms in organisations, including: laws, regulations, and create safety in a challenging environment. People
rules, procedures, checklists, standards, job can detect and intervene when something is about to go
descriptions, management systems, and so on. Some wrong. They come up with new ideas and improvements.
of these are more task-oriented (e.g., procedures, Workers can apply and interpret the procedures to match
checklists) while others are more job-oriented (e.g., the conditions at work. They can identify and overcome
job descriptions). While there are infinite varieties of problems. People are able to recognise present demands
work-as-imagined, there is a limited variety of work- and adjust their performance accordingly. They can
as-prescribed, with each task having one or a small make trade-offs between multiple, competing goals (e.g.
number of prescribed methods. economic efficiency, timeliness, and safety). Humans
3. Work-as-disclosed: In addition to the way that we do the tasks that machines cannot do. They keep
imagine work, and the way that work is prescribed, organisations and systems working in a complex, rapidly
we can add a third variety of human work: work-as- developing, and partly unpredictable world.
disclosed (or -explained, -expounded, -exemplified,
Limitations of traditional safety
or -espoused). This is what we say or write about
management:
work, and how we talk or write about it. It may be
simply how we explain the nitty-gritty or the detail 1. It is based on the approach that absence of incidents
of work, or espouse or promote a particular view or means presence of safety, which relies on measuring
impression of work (as it is or should be) in official undesirable incidents, which is reactive. Any absence
statements, etc. Work-as-disclosed is typically based of undesirable events will give a false sense of safety.
on a partial version of one or more of the other Organizations may go years without an incidence
varieties of human work: Work-as-imagined, work- and suddenly they may face a major incident.
as-prescribed, and work-as-done. But the message 2. Traditional safety relies on workers complying
(i.e., what is said/written, how it is said/written, when with carefully written procedures by managers
it is said/written, where it is said/written, and who and supervisors and meticulously signed off and
says/writes it) is tailored to the purpose or objective constantly reviewed. This creates a sort of inflexibility
of the message (why it is said/written), and, more or and reduces the range in which workers can perform.
less deliberately, to what is thought to be palatable,
3. It is an authoritarian approach and relies on chain of
expected and understandable to the audience. It
authority and responsibility and workers responding
is often based on what we want and are prepared
to the bureaucratic structure. Any deviations by the
to say in light of what is expected and imagined
workers is considered unacceptable
consequences.
4. Work-as-done: Work-as-done is actual activity Limitations of proactive safety
– what people do. It is characterised by patterns of management:
activity to achieve a particular purpose in a particular 1. It is based on proactive measurement of all things
context. It takes place in an environment that is that went well, but it cannot predict the future and
often not as imagined, with multiple, shifting goals, hence an unforeseen event can still happen.
variable and often unpredictable demands, degraded
2. A proactive approach may require the deployment
resources (e.g., staffing, competency, equipment,
of additional resources in the form of time/people/
procedures and time), and a system of constraints,
money in anticipation of an event. But such predictions
punishments and incentives, which can all have
may not always be right and the resources deployed
unintended consequences.
could be wasted.
In a world that is becoming increasingly complex, the
3. There will be resistance in trying out the new system,
Human Factor is the most valuable asset for system
especially as the organisation has already tried out
safety. Most of today’s systems and organisations do not
the traditional system and do not want to rock the
succeed because they have been perfectly thought out
boat.
and designed. They are successful and reliable because
their people are flexible and able to adjust, at all levels The effects of proactive safety management
of the organisation. In contrast to technologies, people in health and safety culture.
have the ability to adapt performance, adjust work to
the existing conditions and local circumstances (e.g. Proactive safety management can have the following
desirable effects on an organization’s health and safety Hearing • bstructed ear canal, perforated
O
culture: ear drum, middle ear damage,
1. It increases the participation of the workers as it catarrh, ear plugs or muffs altering
focusses on the way things are done correctly rather the sound reaching the ear
than how it is written down in a SOP. Taste and Smell • ack of sensitivity, genetic
L
2. Participation increases ownership and accountability limitations, catarrh, breathing
at all levels leading to a focussed change at all levels. apparatus screening out smells
Touch • evered nerves, genetic defects,
S
3. When organizations focus on things that are done
lack of sensitivity through gloves
right, it leads to workers getting positively motivated
and aprons
in continuing the acceptable behaviour.
Balance • eniere
M disease, alcohol
4. Proactive safety management eliminates Blame
consumption, rapid motion, etc.
Culture where in workers are blamed for all incidents.
Limitations similar to sensory defects can also be
5. Proactive safety management leads to Just Culture
‘imposed’ by some of the equipment or clothing provided
where there is a clear balance on accountability
to protect people against exposure to danger, e.g. safety
and recognition. Workers are empowered to speak
goggles, gloves or ear defenders. These sensory defects
up without fear and their opinions are received
can be overcome by taking more care elsewhere in the
positively.
behavioural model. This means, for example, that people
with poor sight or hearing do not necessarily have more
2.6 Risk Perception
accidents. They often learn to avoid situations which
would be critical in this respect. If that choice is not open,
Human sensory receptors and their
however, they may be caught out.
reaction to stimuli, sensory defects, and
basic screening techniques The sense organs themselves have a limited capacity
for receiving and transmitting information to the brain.
Information gets into the human system through the sense
The environment around us always contains far more
organs. Hazards which are not perceptible to the senses
information than they can accept and transmit. The brain
will not be noticed unless suitable alarms are triggered
classifies information by its source and type. It is capable
by them or warnings were given to them, or people go
of selecting a number of parameters those stimuli that it
intelligently in search of them. Examples are odorless,
will allow through a filter into the system.
colorless gasses such as methane, X-rays, innocuous
looking chemicals which are in fact carcinogens, The setting of the filters on each sensory mode is partly
ultrasound, or hazards in the dark. conscious and partly unconscious. The main visual
attention mechanism is the direction of gaze which
The canary falling off its perch in the mine because of
ensures that the stimulus from the object being looked
its greater sensitivity to methane was an early example
at is directed to the most sensitive part of the retina
of a warning device, subsequently superseded by the
(fovea) where it can be analyzed in detail. The rest of the
color change in a safety lamp flame and now by the
field of view is relegated to the less sensitive parts of the
methanometer. If any of the senses are defective, the
retina. In the normal activity, this center of focus is shifted
necessary information may not arrive at the brain at all or
constantly in a search pattern which ranges over the field
may be so distorted as to be unrecognizable.
of view until an object of interest is picked out.
Some sensory defects are set out in the table that follows;
The senses can be tuned to seek out a particular facet
Senses Natural and ‘Imposed’ Sensory such as a defect in a machine or component, provided
Defects that we know in advance what characteristics to tune it
Sight • olour blindness, astigmatism,
C to. This ability is known as ‘perceptual set.’
long and short-sightedness, People can also tune their hearing sense to pay attention
monocular vision, cataracts, to strange sounds coming from a particular part of a
vision distortion by goggles and machine while ignoring all others. The perceptual set can
face screens also show longer term settings which produce differences
between individuals because of their interests and their
experience. Safety advisers notice hazards because
they are interested in them and used to finding them;
46
motorcycle addicts spot a Bonneville in a crowded street, tendons, and joints, and the pressure of blood in the
where others might not even notice that there was a blood vessels and heart, employ similar stretch-sensitive
motorbike. Inputs which do not vary at all are usually not proteins in their membranes.
particularly useful to the system, e.g., a constant noise or
smell, a clock ticking, the sensation of clothes rubbing on Perception of Danger
the skin. Errors are most likely to be caused by one or more factors
either involving a person’s perceptual capabilities or
The Process of Perception of Danger, involving their mental or physical capabilities. Perceptual
Perceptual Set, and Perceptual capabilities involve the mental interpretation of the
Distortion information gained through the senses conditioned by
prior experience; if a person’s experience is that a given
Perception of risk - Human Sensory action has never involved danger, then the perception
Receptors of danger is reduced and thus the level of care and
concentration. If a person’s mental or physical capabilities
Sensory receptors account for our ability to see, hear, taste,
are exceeded, there may not be a hazardous outcome but
and smell, and to sense touch, pain, temperature, and
the error rate, or likelihood of error resulting in danger, is
body position. They also provide the unconscious ability
dramatically raised. If a reduction of error, and thus danger,
of the body to detect changes in blood volume, blood
is required then these two areas must be investigated on
pressure, and the levels of salts, gasses, and nutrients in
a personal level i.e. generalizations can help - but do not
the blood. These specialized cells are exquisitely adapted
solve the immediate problems.
for the detection of particular physical or chemical events
outside the cell. They are connected to nerve cells or are Perceptual Set
themselves nerve cells.
Perceptual set theory stresses the idea of perception
Many of them are enclosed in sense organs. Others are as an active process involving selection, inference, and
the endings of nerve fibers that ramify within the skin, the interpretation. It is a bias or readiness to perceive certain
muscles, bones and joints and the other organs of the aspects of available sensory data and to ignore others.
body. Yet others are nerve cells within the brain that are This theory stresses the idea of perception as an active
sensitive to temperature, to dissolved gasses, salts, and process involving selection, inference, and interpretation.
other substances in the fluid around them. Thus, perceiving and recognizing depend not only on
In human beings, there are just four basic types of sensory objective qualities / features of the object but also on
receptor sensitive to mechanical stimulation, light, the condition the organism is in, called perceptual set
chemicals, and temperature, but they vary enormously in (perceptual readiness).
their form. The particular kind of stimulus to which they Perceptual set is the easiness with which a given category
respond is largely determined by the structure of the is used for perceiving a given material. It depends on two
sense organ around them or by their location in the body. groups of factors: external and internal.
Their membranes contain particular protein molecules External factors are responsible for learning the probability
that are activated and change their shape when the / likelihood of occurrence of a certain object in a given
appropriate physical force or chemical substance comes category. If one expects a given object to occur, he or she
into contact with them. For instance, light falling on the will recognize it more easily.
retina causes rotation of a small part of molecules called
A typical example of the influence of external factors
photo pigments, which lie within the internal membranes
is the phenomenon of priming: if a man has been
of the rod and cone receptor cells. Olfactory neurons
previously, consciously or subliminally, informed about
in the nose have fine hairs covered in a huge variety of
the kind of stimuli to be exposed, their recognition will
protein molecules to which inhaled odorant molecules
be easier. Internal factors are connected with the internal
attach in a ‘lock-and-key’ fashion.
organisation of categories one uses when perceiving.
Specialized proteins in the membranes of hair cells in
External factors affecting perceptual set include:
the cochlea and the vestibular apparatus of the inner ear
are sensitive to the mechanical forces caused by sound • requency: how often objects of a given category
F
or movements of the head, respectively. Other types of occurred in the past
mechano-receptive nerve endings that detect touch and • ocial consequences: categories used by others
S
vibration of the skin, movements, and stretch of muscles, seem more “ready,” e.g. in ambiguous situations,
this can be confirmed by such social phenomena as Perceptual Capabilities

stereotyping, conformity, or diffusion of responsibility,
How people perceive risk is associated with their attitudes,
• ontext: e.g. ABC / 12, 13, 14 (Minturn and Bruner,
C personality, their ability to process information, memory,
1951), past experience e.g. playing cards with black the extent of training received, the level of arousal and
hearts and red spades on a Tachistoscope would be individual skills available. The principal sensory inputs are
seen as normal cards first. sight, hearing whereas touch, taste and smell.
However, no two people necessarily perceive danger
Internal factors affecting Perceptual Set
in the same way. Perception of risk is affected by past
• onopoly: The number of categories used by an
M experience, the context in which the information or
individual; the fewer categories, the stronger the stimulus is presented, and the extent of training received.
monopoly; this is very evident with black-or-while
perception, and with dogmatic people. The perceptual Stressors
readiness of dogmatic people is extremely high,
Stressors are encountered in almost every aspect of our
which might lead to psychopathology. Paranoia can
lives. Excess stress, or distress, has been identified as an
be defined as having a highly integrated system of
important factor in many types of illness. Heart disease is
illusions of very high perceptual readiness.
one of the health effects that has been linked to excessive
• he Integrity of the system of categories: The more
T stress. Workplace stressors can lead to distress because
connected are the categories with one another, the they are, in many cases, beyond the individual’s control.
more perceptually ready they are. Example - “apple” And the individual may be exposed to the same stressors
category is more ready because it is” fruit / edible / day after day.
plant / organic substance/ etc., while e.g. “alien” is
Occupational stress is often the combined effect of several
only a being from another planet, and therefore is less
stressors. The health effects of different stressors cannot
ready.
be easily separated. Nonetheless, an understanding of
• otivation: Categories connected with the aims of
M the different types of stressors is essential for recognizing,
an individual has are more ready than in different assessing and controlling these potential hazards.
categories. e.g. pictures of food and drink were Workplace stressors include physical and organisational
perceived as brighter than other pictures by subjects factors.
who had been deprived of food and liquid.
• motion: slower recognition threatening signals
E
Physical Stressors
cause the decrease of perceptual readiness The body has automatic mechanisms that attempt to
(perceptual defense) at the same time; those taboo protect it from physical agents such as noise and extreme
words arouse emotionally which might mean that temperature. Physical stressors can be harmful because
emotional recognition and cognitive recognition are they force body systems to continuously compensate for
two separate processes. conditions that are outside the normal range. Exposure
to excessive heat and excessive cold may be workplace
Errors in Perception caused by stressors.
Physical Stressors Other physical agents that cause excessive stress are
high levels of noise and vibration. Workstation design may
Limitations in the human capacity to perceive, attend to,
cause excessive stress. Heavy manual labor may have
remember, process and act on information are all relevant
similar effects. Work on rotating shifts may place the body
in the context of the human error.
under physical stress, because the body’s natural cycles,
Typical human errors are associated with; known as the circadian rhythm, are forced to readjust.
• Lapses of attention Several days may be needed for this adjustment to take
• Mistaken actions place when workers change from one shift to another. In
the meantime, their appetite, sleep, body temperature
• Misperceptions
and blood pressure may be affected.
• Mistaken priorities
Organisational Stressors
• Wilfulness
Organisational stressors result when people face anxiety
or frustration from aspects of their work that they cannot
48
control. Examples include situations where people are not for people in the mining industry who worked in large
able to exercise their full skills and knowledge potential underground silos in the mid-1980s. These silos (called
or may not understand what they produce, and how. bunkers) may be some six to eight meters across and
They may face conflicting demands. Or they may not several hundred meters deep. Accident records showed
receive the respect or recognition they expect for their that their inspection and maintenance had a significantly
accomplishments. Organisational stressors may cause greater accident risk than other jobs in the industry when
specific reactions in the body that can lead to potential the numbers of man-hours of risk exposure were taken
health effects. into consideration. Accidents regularly occurred with
people falling or becoming buried.
Perception and the Assessment of Measurements of how people saw the risks associated
Risk, Perception and the Limitations with many poor working practices were taken both before
of Human Performance, Filtering, and and after safety training courses. In general, specialist
Selectivity as Factors for Perception groups of people who traveled from colliery to colliery to
undertake major repairs in the silos and who worked for
Perceptual Distortion large amounts of time in the silos considered the work to
have much lower risks than:
It is a lack of correspondence between the way a stimulus
is commonly perceived and the way an individual • Staff who infrequently enter silos
perceives it under given conditions. • New recruits
• Trainers
Perception and Assessment of Risk
• Supervisors
Risk perception is the subjective judgment that people
make about the characteristics and severity of a • Mine engineers and managers.
risk. Several theories have been proposed to explain This occurred despite evidence that some shortcuts were
why different people make different estimates of the being taken by this group. Despite safety training which
dangerousness of risks. highlighted the dangers of certain known poor working
How people in the workplace perceive risk will depend on practices, this group did not significantly alter their overall
numerous factors such as: perceptions of the risks. It was, therefore, likely that this
training would not have influenced their behaviour. On
• Their level of the organisation
the other hand, people who had no, or little, experience in
• Time employed in a particular job working in silos generally rated the risks as much higher,
• The time since the last serious accident and the safety training was shown to have a significant
influence on their perception of risk, and hopefully their
• ge and sex (females often see certain behaviours as
A
safety behaviour.
riskier than males)
It was concluded that safety training was most effective
• Their attitudes and motivation.
in influencing behaviour when it was given before people
Supervisors may see the risks differently from the were exposed to seeing experienced workmen adopting
workforce. In many instances, they will have a greater unapproved working practices. The new recruits often
understanding of the consequences of unsafe behaviour saw these people as having more credibility than the
than the workforce and therefore perceive the risks as trainers who had only limited experience of actually
greater. In other instances, they may have insufficient working in the silos.
training and experience to even be aware of certain
Also of significance was the fact that the supervisors
hazards associated with specialist work under their
had a poor understanding of the hazards and risks.
control.
These people had not previously been given any specific
An example of this could be a production supervisor training in the safe working practices in relation to silos.
who has responsibility for an electrician undertaking The following factors influence how an individual will
maintenance work in the area. For an example of how judge risk:
people who have been performing a job for many years
• eople will often see a risk as being lower than it
P
without an accident see the risks as less than somebody
really is if they are confident in their ability to work
who is new to that job.
safely using unapproved methods of work.
Measurements of the perceptions of risk were taken
• The lack of an accident is often seen as ‘proof’ that
their method is safe rather than them simply being Hearing Impairment
‘lucky.’
Exposure to excessive noise can result in hearing
• amiliarity leads to a lower perceived risk. People
F impairment, the condition known as ‘noise-induced
may also see a risk as being lower if they see others hearing loss’ or ‘occupational deafness.’ Where the
not following the rules or procedures. intensity and duration of exposure are sufficient, even
• eople may see a risk as being lower if they
P ‘wanted to sound,’ such as loud music, can lead to hearing
overestimate the effectiveness of measures which are impairment.
in place to control the risk. Occupational deafness is a prescribed occupational
• eople may also see a risk as being lower if the
P disease which is described as the substantial sensory
consequences of their actions are delayed and if the neural hearing loss is amounting to at least 50 dB in
consequences are not certain. each ear, being due in the case of at least one ear to
occupational noise, and being the average of pure tone
• or example, some people see the risks of smoking
F
loss measured by audiometry over the 1, 2 and 3 kHz
as ‘acceptable’ as the specific health consequences
frequencies.
are by no means certain for that individual and for
most people it will be many years before their health For most steady types of industrial noise, intensity and
is noticeably affected. duration of exposure, i.e. the dose of noise, are the principal
factors in the degree of noise-induced hearing loss (socio
The end result of inaccurate perceptions of risk can be
cuspis). The hearing ability also deteriorates with age
a gradual trend towards more and more people not
(presbycusis), and it is sometimes difficult to distinguish
following an increasing number of safety rules and
between the effects of noise exposure and normal age-
procedures. This phenomenon is called ‘rule erosion’ or
related deterioration in hearing. The risk of noise-induced
‘procedural drift.’
hearing loss can be related to the total amount of noise
‘Seeing’ and ‘Perceiving’ energy taken in by the ears over a working lifetime.
Perception is the process of interpreting a stimulus, or a The effects of Noise exposure

series of stimuli, by the brain through one of the sensory
Exposure to noise can affect hearing in three ways:
mechanisms. The perception process is selective in that,
despite the mass of information or stimuli presented to • emporary threshold shift. This is the short-term
T
a person at a given time, that person will select certain effect, that is, a temporary reduction in hearing acuity,
stimuli, reject others and organize the selected stimuli so which may follow exposure to noise.
as to give meaning. The type of stimuli that people select • he condition is reversible, and the effect depends, to
T
is affected by past experience, training, and individual some extent, on an individual’s susceptibility to noise.
personality.
• ermanent threshold shift. This takes place when the
P
limit of tolerance is exceeded in terms of time, the
Auditory Perception
level of noise and individual susceptibility to noise.
This is the process of perceiving sound and, in many cases,
• ecovery from permanent threshold shift will not
R
noise. Noise is defined as ‘unwanted sound.’ Exposure to
proceed to completion, but will effectively cease
noise from machinery and equipment in the workplace
at some particular point in time after the end of the
can result in several forms of hearing impairment. Some
exposure.
industrial noise may be pure tone, but most are highly
complex this type is referred to as broadband noise, • coustic trauma. This condition involves ear damage
A
common examples being that produced by looms, air jets, from short-term intense exposure or even from one
and printing presses. single exposure.
Industrial noise is commonly produced by impact • xplosive pressure rises are often responsible, such as
E
between metal parts. When this features many impacts that from gunfire, major explosions or even fireworks.
per second, as in riveting machines, the noise is generally
treated as broadband noise. However, if the noise is Hearing Loss
produced by widely spaced impacts, as from a drop Symptoms of hearing loss vary according to whether the
hammer or cartridge-operated tool, the noise is referred loss is mild or severe. In the mild form of hearing loss,
to as impulse noise. This presents special difficulties in typical symptoms include a difficulty in conversing with
measurement and in assessing the risk to hearing. people, and the wrong answers may be given occasionally
50
due to the individual missing certain key elements of the the individual interprets incoming information. Moreover,
question. Speech on television and radio seems indistinct. perception is developed to satisfy an individual’s needs
There may also be difficulty in hearing normal domestic in order that he or she can cope with reality. Each
sounds, such as a clock ticking. individual is different, due to factors such as heredity and
In the severe form of hearing loss, there is difficulty in the environment. This is what makes each individual unique
discussion, even when face-to-face with people, as well and each individual’s ‘reality’ unique.
as hearing what is said at public meetings, unless sitting
Human Performance and Accident
right at the front. Generally, people seem to be speaking
Causation (Hale and hale)
indistinctly, and there is an inability to hear the normal
sounds of the home and street. What is important is that it
is often impossible for someone with this level of hearing
loss to tell the actual direction from which a source of
noise is coming and to assess the actual distance from
that noise. This can be a contributory factor in accidents
and, in particular, pedestrian-related road accidents. In
the most severe cases, there is the sensation of whistling
or ringing in the ear (tinnitus).
Tactile Perception
The skin is an important sense organ of the body. Sensory
nerve endings are specialized, and different endings
respond to touch, changes of temperature and air
movement, humidity levels and to pain. The sense of touch
and pain are served by different sets of nerve endings The model of human performance in relation to accident
which are not equally distributed over the body’s surface. causation developed by Hale and Hale (1970) is one of the
Touch endings are denser in the skin of the fingers than most well-known simulations of the accident causation
in the limbs or trunk. The tips of the fingers are the most process. In this model, use is made of a closed loop
sensitive to touch, and it is the way the touch endings are system, which considers the major factors of;
stimulated that the quality of materials is determined, e.g. • The original situation of danger
roughness, softness, smoothness. • Presented, expected and perceived information
Taste Perception • The action
The mucous membranes of the tongue and palate contain • The decision-making process
numerous minute sensory organs, the taste buds. Each • The action required
bud is a round cluster of spindle-shaped cells, from which
• The feedback to the original situation.
nerve fibers lead to the facial and gloss pharyngeal nerves.
Four types of sensation are received from the taste buds Secondary features, such as past experience, stress,
– salty, sweet, sour (acid) and bitter. Of these, only four is sensory defects and motivation contribute to the major
linked to the chemical structure of the substance tested. factors in accident causation. A typical situation involves
Some areas of the tongue are more sensitive to particular the potential accident victim receiving presented
tastes than others, the tip to sweet and salt, the edges to information, which may arise through the design or layout
sour and salt and the back to bitter. of the working area.
Expected information includes that person’s past
Perceptual Processes experience and the presence of codes and symbols. The
Perception is the complex mental function giving meaning presented information and expected information combine
and significance to sensations. An individual is constantly to produce the perceived information which may be
responding in some way to incoming stimuli. These affected by sensory defects, stress, and familiarity with the
stimuli can be accepted, rejected, ignored or distorted. It situation. From this initial perception of the situation, the
all depends on upon whether the stimulus supports or individual decides on a series of possible actions, which
contradicts the individual’s beliefs, values, and attitudes. may be based on his repertoire of skills and a desired goal
This process forms the basis of perception, i.e. the way and plans for reaching that goal.
The level of training, in particular, greatly influences these shortcomings in preventive measures.
two factors. Following this stage, the individual moves • olicy makers in industry and government are
P
into the decision process which entails a consideration deciding whether a level of risk associated with
of the perceived benefit and a subjective estimate of the technology or plant location is to be accepted.
cost, risk, and effort required. Factors such as the quality
• embers of the public assessing whether that policy
M
of supervision, experience, and personality affect these
decision is acceptable to them.
last two factors. From the decision process, the individual
must decide on the action necessary, which can be • lanners are designing emergency plans for reacting
P
affected by his physical state and health. As a result of to disasters.
the action taken and its outcome, the individual receives Such decisions and activities are all largely carried out
feedback which he can apply to future situations of a at the knowledge-based level and the borders with the
similar nature. rule-based level.
Individual Behaviour Perception and Hazard Detection

Hazard detection is important in three situations;
Individual Inter-Individual Activity Scope
Knowledge Individual Organisational • mergency situations where the signals of danger
E
assets: benchmarking: institutions: are so clear and insistent that they lead to an instant,
pre-programmed response to escape or to control the
• Specialisation • Involvement • Rules
danger.
• Experience • Responsibility • Norms
• ther situations in which danger is known to be
O
• A
ge & • Standards
possible, but is not always present.
Opportunity
• ere an obvious warning can alert people to the
H
Individual Behaviour in the Face of Danger, danger and trigger the correct response to keep it
Principles of the Hale & Glendon Model under control.
Hale and Glendon combined the insights from the • In all other situations in which the warnings about
information processing model with the theories of the danger are not obvious, people will only detect danger
three levels of functioning and other sources, into a model if they go looking for it, and we need to know what
of individual behaviour in the face of danger. Their model initiates hazard seeking and what makes it successful.
allows discussion on a number of practical issues of how It starts with some general information about perception
to influence human safety behaviour, e.g. through task and then takes each of the three situations above in turn.
design or training. The danger is always present in the Information gets into the human system through the sense
work situation. organs. Hazards which are not perceptible to the senses
The task of the individual is to keep danger under control, will not be noticed unless suitable alarms are triggered
to avoid errors which provoke an increase in danger and by them or warnings were given to them, or people go
to detect and avoid or recover from danger increasing for intelligently in search of them.
other reasons. Much of this activity occurs by more or Examples are odorless, colorless gasses such as
less routine reaction to warning signals. Only occasionally methane, X-rays, innocuous looking chemicals which are
do people in their normal work situations need actively to in fact carcinogens, ultrasound, or hazards in the dark.
contemplate danger. However, these occasions are vitally The canary falling off its perch in the mine because of
important when they do occur. its greater sensitivity to methane was an early example
Examples of such activities are; of a warning device, subsequently superseded by the
• esigners are making decisions about machine or
D color change in a safety lamp flame and now by the
workplace design, plant layout, work procedures, etc. Methanometer.
They need to predict the actions of the people who If any of the senses are defective, the necessary
will use these products and the hazards which will information may not arrive at the brain at all or may be
arise in use. so distorted as to be unrecognizable. Limitations similar
• perators, safety committees, safety advisers, and
O to sensory defects can also be ‘imposed’ by some of the
inspectors carrying out hazard inspections, safety equipment or clothing provided to protect people against
audits, and surveys, who need to seek out hazards or exposure to danger, e.g. safety goggles, gloves or ear
defenders.
52
These sensory defects can be overcome by taking more leaving, as they routinely do at the end of the working day.
care elsewhere in the behavioural model. This means, Car drivers will tend to brake and steer in an imminent
for example, that people with poor sight or hearing do collision, as they do to avoid more common and less
not necessarily have more accidents. They often learn to serious situations. It takes an enormous amount of
avoid situations which would be critical in this respect. If training and practice to get over these conservative
that choice is not open, however, they may be caught out. responses and give people the full armory of necessary
The sense organs themselves have a limited capacity responses and the capacity to use them appropriately.
for receiving and transmitting information to the brain. An effective response to emergencies in situations where
The environment around us always contains far more a large or shifting population may be present, therefore,
information than they can accept and transmit. We try depends on upon training at least a small number of
to cope with this limited capacity by using a switchable people to that level and making sure they can influence
attention filter. and control those who have not been trained.
The brain classifies information by its source and type. This applies to sports stadia, shops, theaters and discos,
It is capable of selecting a number of parameters those hotels and many workplaces with high staff turnover.
stimuli that it will allow through a filter into the system. Some workplaces, such as textile mills, steel rolling mills
The setting of the filters on each sensory mode is partly or high-rise construction sites have the same effect
conscious and partly unconscious. The main visual on people the first time they see or hear them as the
attention mechanism is the direction of gaze which emergency situations mentioned above. They are scared
ensures that the stimulus from the object being looked at by the noise, heat and fast moving machinery or by the
is directed to the most sensitive part of the retina (fovea) heights. Yet people who have worked there for some time
where it can be analyzed in detail. The rest of the field of are quite happy there and do not regard them as overly
view is relegated to the less sensitive parts of the retina. dangerous.
‘Flight or fight’ Responses This illustrates a learning process, which is vitally important
in understanding hazard detection and recognition. We
can learn that the insistent danger signals do not actually
mean danger. As a person learns where the specific
dangers in such workplaces lie, the general fear response
gets replaced by a much more sophisticated sense of
hazard. The individual learns that it is quite possible to
approach seemingly horrific dangers quite closely as long
as the last vital barriers are not breached. The sense of
danger is tempered by the knowledge of how to control
the danger.
The body has built-in danger detectors, which trigger an Responding to Warnings and Error Signals
instant reaction. All extremes of heat, cold, loud noise, rapid
movement, strong smells, smoke or irritant chemicals in
the lungs are pre-programmed to set off the body’s fight or
flight responses. Whether we respond adequately to such
stimuli depends partly on how extreme they are, but has
everything to do with the programming of the response
and little to do with any perceptual problems. In extreme
danger, such as a large fire, only some 15% of people seem
to respond with rational alertness and rapidity.
Another 15% seem to freeze and become totally passive,
while the rest show impaired alertness and fall back on
well-learned behaviour and routines, which may or may
not be appropriate for the situation. Hence, customers in
a shop or disco will tend to try to find the way back to
the entrance they normally use, ignoring closer fire exit
signs. People may stop to collect their belongings before
If the danger signals are not so insistent that they HSG48 Classification of Human Failure
demand response, the reaction will depend on upon a
more conscious assessment of the warning signs. These Slips of action
may be the learned specific warnings which are already

Skill-based errors
present, or they may be artificially introduced warnings.
These can range from alarms which go off when the
Lapses of memory
danger is present (a fire alarm) to general notices alerting
people to the fact that danger may be present (‘Beware Human error
of the dog’).
Rule-based
The following criteria can be used for the design and mistakes
placing of warnings. They should; Mistakes
• Be present only when and where needed

Knowledge-based
mistakes
• e clearly understandable and stand out from the
B
background in order to attract attention
• Be durable
• Contain clear and realistic instructions about action Routine
• referably indicate what would happen if the warning

P
is not heeded.
Violations Situational
Warnings should preferably not be present when the
hazard is absent. Otherwise, people will soon learn that
it is not necessarily dangerous in that area. They will then
look for further confirmatory evidence that something Exceptional
really is a problem before taking preventive action.
Everyone can make errors no matter how well trained
2.7 Human failures and factors & and motivated they are. However, in the workplace, the
Improving human reliability consequences of such human failure can be severe.
Analysis of accidents and incidents shows that human
The classification of human failure with failure contributes to almost all accidents and exposures
reference to HSG48 to substances hazardous to health. Many major accidents
The UK Health and Safety Executive Guidance HSG48 e.g. Texas City, Piper Alpha, Chernobyl, were initiated by
define human factors as: “environmental, organisational human failure. In order to avoid accidents and ill-health,
and job factors, and human and individual characteristics companies need to manage human failure as robustly as
which influence behaviour at work in a way which can the technical and engineering measures they use for that
affect health and safety.” Human Factors is sometimes purpose.
also defined as ‘fitting the work to the worker’ or ‘the
science and practice of designing systems to fit people.’
Types of Human Failure
It is important to be aware that human failure is not
The subject of Human Factors is concerned with
random; understanding why errors occur and the different
understanding the capacities and limitations of people in
factors which make them worse will help to develop more
their jobs, and with using that understanding to design out
effective controls. Human failures are grouped according
or control the effects of human weaknesses and to exploit
to the immediacy of their consequences. Active failures
human strengths. In this context, human weaknesses may
have immediate consequences and usually involve
include a limitation on information processing capabilities,
frontline workers. Examples would include an electrician
whilst human strengths may include adaptability, for
getting a shock after failing to isolate high voltage
example. The role of Human Factors in the potential for
equipment or an operator in a control room pressing the
major incidents was recognized as an important issue
wrong buttons and causing a chemical escape.
following investigation of major incidents.
The second group of failures is termed latent failures.
These failures are made by those further back from the
frontline. Examples include designers failing to design
54
safe equipment or job procedures, and managers failing Lapses cause us to forget to carry out an action, to lose
to provide adequate training or enforce safety standards. our place in a task or even to forget what we had intended
Human failures are also classified by type. The two main to do. They can be reduced by minimizing distractions
types are errors and violations, and these are further sub- and interruptions to tasks and by providing effective
divided according to the details of their nature. Errors are reminders especially for tasks which take some time to
unintentional whereas violations are deliberate. complete or involve periods of waiting. A useful reminder
could be as simple as a partially completed checklist
Errors and Violations placed in a clearly visible location for the person doing
Human error is an action or decision which was not the task.
intended, which involves a deviation from an accepted
standard, and which may lead to an undesirable outcome. Examples of mistakes include:
Errors fall into two categories: skill based and mistakes. Making a poor judgement when overtaking, leaving
Violation is a deliberate deviation from a rule or procedure. insufficient room to complete the manoeuvre
in the face of oncoming traffic; and an operator
Slips and lapses misinterpreting the sound of a machine breakdown
They occur in very familiar tasks which we can carry out and failing to switch off immediately.
without much need for conscious attention. These tasks
are called ‘skill-based’ and are very vulnerable to errors Examples of slips include:
if our attention is diverted, even momentarily. Driving a
• erforming an action too soon in a procedure,
P
car is a typical skill-based task for many of us. Slips and
or leaving it too late, e.g. Not putting your ear
lapses are the errors which are made by even the most
defenders on before starting the drill;
experienced, well-trained and highly motivated people.
They often result in omitted steps in repair, maintenance, • mitting a step or series of steps from a task, e.g.
O
calibration or testing tasks. We need to be aware of these Forgetting to switch the kettle on while making a
types of errors and try to design equipment and tasks cup of tea;
to avoid or reduce their occurrence. We can also try to • arrying out an action with too much or too little
C
increase the opportunities to detect and correct such strength, e.g. Over-torquing a bolt;
errors. It can be useful to make everyone aware that slips
• erforming an action in the wrong direction, e.g.
P
and lapses exist and to consider them during the accident
A MEWP operator pushing the joystick to the left
investigation.
instead of the right;
They are failures in carrying out the actions of a task.
• oing the right thing but on the wrong object, e.g.
D
They are described as ‘actions-not-as-planned.’ Examples
Selecting the wrong size nail for the job; and
would be: picking up the wrong component from a mixed
box, operating the wrong switch, transposing digits • arrying out the wrong check but on the right
C
when copying out numbers and disordering steps in a item, e.g. checking a dial but for the wrong value.
procedure.
Typical slips might include; Examples of lapses include:
• erforming an action too soon in a procedure or

P • Forget to indicate at a road junction
leaving it too late • Medical implement left in patient after surgery
• Omitting a step or series of steps from a task • iss crucial step, or lose place, in a safety-critical
M
• arrying out an action with too much or too little
C procedure
strength (e.g. over-torqueing a bolt)
• erforming the action in the wrong direction (e.g.
P Mistakes
turning a control knob to the right rather than the left, They are a more complex type of human error where we
or moving a switch up rather than down) do the wrong thing believing it to be right. The failure
• oing the right thing but on the wrong object (e.g.
D involves our mental processes which control how we
switching the wrong switch) plan, assess information, and make intentions and judge
consequences. Two types of mistakes exist, rule-based
• arrying out the wrong check but on the right item
C
and knowledge-based.
(e.g. checking a deal but read a wrong value).
Rule-based mistakes occur when our behaviour is based • hecking that job aids such as procedures and
C
on remembered rules or familiar procedures. We have a instructions are clear, concise, available, up-to-date
strong tendency to use familiar rules or solutions even and accepted by users
when these are not the most convenient or efficient. • onsidering the possibility of human error when
C
Knowledge-based mistakes result from ‘trial and error.’ undertaking risk assessments
Actions which are intended but do not achieve the • hinking about the different causes of human errors
T
intended outcome due to knowledge deficits. In these during incident investigations in order to introduce
cases, insufficient knowledge about how to perform task measures to reduce the risk of a repeat incident
results in the development of a solution that is incorrectly
• onitoring those measures taken to reduce error are
M
expected to work.
effective.
Reducing errors
Violations
Errors are more likely to occur under certain circumstances
Violations are any deliberate deviations from rules,
including:
procedures, instructions, and regulations. The breaching
• ork environment stressors, e.g. extremes of heat,
W or violating of health and safety rules or procedures is a
humidity, noise, vibration, poor lighting, restricted significant cause of many accidents and injuries at work.
workspace Removing the guard on dangerous machinery or driving
• xtreme task demands, e.g. high workload, tasks
E too fast will clearly increase the risk of an accident. Health
demanding high levels of alertness, jobs which are risks are also increased by rule breaking. For example,
very monotonous and repetitive, situations with many a worker in a noisy workplace who breaks the site rules
distractions and interruptions about wearing ear defenders increases their risk of
• ocial and organisational stressors, e.g. insufficient
S occupational deafness.
staffing levels, inflexible or over-demanding work In the workplace rules are broken for many different
schedules, conflicts with work colleagues, peer reasons. Most violations are motivated by a desire to carry
pressure and conflicting attitudes to health and safety out the job despite the prevailing constraints, goals, and
• Individual stressors, e.g. inadequate training, and expectations. Very rarely are their willful acts of sabotage
experience, high levels of fatigue, reduced alertness, or vandalism. Violations are divided into three categories:
family problems, ill-health, misuse of alcohol and routine, situational and exceptional.
drugs; With a routine violation, breaking the rule or procedure
• quipment stressors, e.g. poorly designed displays
E has become a normal way of working within the work
and controls, inaccurate and confusing instructions group. This can be due to:
and procedures. • The desire to cut corners to save time and energy
Error control and reduction need to consider these • The perception that the rules are too restrictive
influences on peoples’ behaviour and performance. Steps • The belief that the rules no longer apply
to reduce human errors include:
• Lack of enforcement of the rule
• ddressing the conditions and reducing the stressors
A
• ew workers are starting a job where routine
N
which increase the frequency of errors
violations are the norm and not realizing that this is
• esigning plant and equipment to prevent slips
D not the correct way of working.
and lapses occurring or to increase the chance of
To reduce routine violations managers could:
detecting and correcting them
• ake steps to increase the chances of violations being
T
• esigning jobs to avoid the need for tasks which
D
detected, e.g. by routine monitoring;
involve very complex decisions, diagnoses or
calculations, e.g. by writing procedures for rare events • Think about whether there are any unnecessary rules;
requiring decisions and actions and making certain • Make rules and procedures relevant and practical;
that arrangements for training are effective
– xplain the reasons behind certain rules or
E
• nsuring proper supervision particularly for
E procedures and their relevance
inexperienced staff, or for tasks where there is a need
– Improve design factors that affect the likelihood
for independent checking
of corner cutting
56
• Involve the workforce in drawing up rules to try to what form the knowledge used in the processing is stored
increase acceptance. and how it can be accessed.
In the case of situational violations breaking the rule is For an individual to act in a certain situation, he must be
due to pressures from the job such as being under time capable of interpreting and processing the information
pressure, insufficient staff for the workload, the right which, in most cases, represents a range of stimuli
equipment not being available or even extreme weather presented at that point in time. In fact, the relative speed
conditions. It may be very difficult to comply with the rule with which people process information is a precondition
in a particular situation or staff may think that the rule of many accidents. Generally, people can only process one
is unsafe under the circumstances. Risk assessments stimulus at a time, and subsequent stimuli arriving have
may help to identify the potential for such violations. to wait until the first stimulus has been processed (Single
Encouraging reporting of job pressures through open Channel Theory). This aspect of human performance is,
communication will also be helpful. therefore, very important in the design of tasks where
To reduce these situational violations, managers need to people need to make quick decisions as to the next
consider: course of action.
• Improving the working environment It is generally agreed within cognitive neuroscience and
psychology that there are two fundamentally different
• Providing appropriate supervision
modes of cognition; on-line and off-line. On-line cognition
• Improving job design and planning is concerned with “immediate input” from the local
• Establishing a positive health and safety culture. environment and deals with “here-and-now” tasks that
require fast moment-by-moment processing. Everyday
Exceptional violations rarely happen and only then when
activity and conversations use predominantly on-line
something has gone wrong. To minimize exceptional
cognition, as does the reading, but when the usual flow is
violations:
interrupted one switch to off-line processing.
• rovide more training for abnormal and emergency
P
situations The Skills, Rules, Knowledge (SRK)
• uring risk assessments think about the possibility
D Framework
of violations
• ry to reduce the time pressure on staff to act quickly
T
in novel situations.
Organisational and managerial role in

violations
Organisational culture and managerial goals and priorities
can influence whether health and safety rules are broken.
If the wrong messages about health and safety are
received, rule breaking can be encouraged. A lack of
visible communication from management can be seen
as somehow condoning violations of health and safety
SRK taxonomy defines three types of behavior or
rules. Managers and supervisors need to send positive
psychological processes present in operator information
messages about health and safety.
processing. The SRK framework was developed by
The application of cognitive Rasmussen (1983) to help designers combine information
requirements for a system and aspects of human
processing: knowledge-based, rule- cognition. The SRK framework is used to determine how
based and skill-based behaviour information should be displayed to take advantage of
(Rasmussen) and the potential for human perception and psychomotor abilities.
human failure. By supporting skill- and rule-based behaviors in familiar
tasks, more cognitive resources may be devoted to
Cognitive processing is the processing of new information
knowledge-based behaviors, which are important for
in the human brain based on previously acquired
managing unanticipated events. The three categories
knowledge. The effectiveness of the processing depends
essentially describe the possible ways in which
on how the new information is perceived, as well as in
information, for example, from a human-machine interface • eople can make disastrous decisions even when
P
is extracted and understood. they are aware of the risks. We can also misinterpret
a situation and act inappropriately as a result. Both of
Skill-based level these can lead to the escalation of an incident.
A skill-based behavior represents a type of behavior that • n the other hand, we can intervene to stop
O
requires very little or no conscious control to perform or potential accidents. Many companies have their own
execute an action once an intention is formed; also known anecdotes about recovery from a potential incident
as a sensory-motor behavior. Performance is smooth, through the timely actions of individuals. Mitigation
automated, and consists of highly integrated patterns of of the possible effects of an incident can result from
behavior in most skill-based control. human resourcefulness and ingenuity.
For example, bicycle riding is considered a skill-based • he degree of loss of life can be reduced by the
T
behavior in which very little attention is required for emergency response of operators and crew.
control once the skill is acquired. This automaticity allows Emergency planning and response including
operators to free up cognitive resources, which can appropriate training can significantly improve rescue
then be used for higher cognitive functions like problem situations.
solving.
The consequences of human failures can be immediate
Rule-based level or delayed.
A rule-based behavior is characterized by the use of rules Active failures have an immediate consequence and are
and procedures to select a course of action in a familiar usually made by frontline people such as drivers, control
work situation. The rules can be a set of instructions room staff or machine operators. In a situation where
acquired by the operator through experience or given there is no room for error these active failures have an
by supervisors and former operators. Operators are not immediate impact on health and safety.
required to know the underlying principles of a system, to Latent failures are made by people whose tasks are
perform a rule-based control. removed in time and space from operational activities, eg
For example, hospitals have highly-proceduralist designers, decision makers and managers. Latent failures
instructions for fire emergencies. Therefore, when one are typically failures in health and safety management
sees a fire, one can follow the necessary steps to ensure systems (design, implementation or monitoring).
the safety of the patients without any knowledge of fire Examples of latent failures are:
behavior. • poor design of plant and equipment;
• ineffective training;
Knowledge-based level
• inadequate supervision;
A knowledge-based behavior represents a more advanced
level of reasoning. This type of control must be employed • ineffective communications; and
when the situation is novel and unexpected. Operators • uncertainties in roles and responsibilities.
are required to know the fundamental principles and laws
Latent failures provide as great, if not a greater, potential
by which the system is governed. Since operators need to
danger to health and safety as active failures. Latent
form explicit goals based on their current analysis of the
failures are usually hidden within an organisation until
system, the cognitive workload is typically greater than
they are triggered by an event likely to have serious
when using skill- or rule-based behaviors.
consequences.
Potential for human failure
Human factors
People can cause or contribute to accidents (or mitigate
the consequences) in a number of ways: What are human factors
• hrough a failure a person can directly cause an
T (with reference to HSG48)
accident. However, people tend not to make errors The HSE definition is: ‘Human factors refer to
deliberately. We are often ‘set up to fail’ by the way our environmental, organisational and job factors, and human
brain processes information, by our training, through and individual characteristics which influence behaviour
the design of equipment and procedures and even at work in a way which can affect health and safety’. A
through the culture of the organisation we work for. simple way to view human factors is to think about three
58
aspects: the job, the individual and the organisation and accordance with human factors will have to be matched
how they impact on people’s health and safety-related to the needs of the individuals. The physical and mental
behaviour. capabilities of the workforce need to be considered when
The job - Tasks should be designed in accordance with designing jobs.
ergonomic principles to take into account limitations
Job, Equipment and Environment Focus
and strengths in human performance. Matching the job
to the person will ensure that they are not overloaded The way jobs are designed has a direct effect on the
and that the most effective contribution to the business health and safety of workers. People will usually try to
results. Physical match includes the design of the whole adapt to poor job, equipment or environment design, but
workplace and working environment. Mental match this can impact on their health and safety and the overall
involves the individual’s information and decision-making safety of the work system (e.g. in safety critical or major
requirements, as well as their perception of the tasks and hazard industries).
risks. Mismatches between job requirements and people’s The timing of shifts, the length, and frequency of breaks,
capabilities provide the potential for human error. the workload, the physical and mental demands due to
The individual - People bring to their job personal the design of the task, equipment and environment are
attitudes, skills, habits and personalities which can be all important factors to consider and can affect both the
strengths or weaknesses depending on the task demands. individual and the integrity of the whole work system.
Individual characteristics influence behaviour in complex These factors are outlined below and are covered in other
and significant ways. Their effects on task performance parts of this study material, and include:
may be negative and may not always be mitigated by
• Musculoskeletal disorders and manual handling
job design. Some characteristics such as personality are
fixed and cannot be changed. Others, such as skills and • Work-related stress
attitudes, may be changed or enhanced. • atigue from working patterns e.g. shifts work and
F
The organisation - Organisational factors have the overtime
greatest influence on individual and group behaviour, • Human factors in design
yet they are often overlooked during the design of work • Alarm handling
and during investigation of accidents and incidents.
• Interfaces
Organisations need to establish their own positive
health and safety culture. The culture needs to promote • Procedures.
employee involvement and commitment at all levels,
emphasising that deviation from established health and Human Reliability Assessment - HRA
safety standards is not acceptable. Human reliability is the probability that a task will be
successfully completed within a required minimum
Job factors time. Human reliability is the opposite of human error. It
is the probability of successfully performing a task. The
The Role of Ergonomics in Job Design
reliability of a system depends on hardware, software,
and human reliability. It is important to be able to assess
Influence of Process and Equipment Design
human reliability, particularly in a complex high-hazard
on Human Reliability
system.
It is important that the physical and mental requirements
Human Reliability Assessment (HRA) is a structured and
of a job or task match the capabilities and expectations
systematic way of estimating the probability of human
of the people who are to undertake the work. Serious
errors in specific tasks. HRA is used in the nuclear,
mismatches between the job and the job holder can
offshore and chemical processing industries as part of the
introduce stress and ill-health, safety problems as a result
risk assessment process. The overall method is generally
of an increase in human error, and poor job satisfaction
applicable and can be used in other industrial sectors.
and morale.
There are three main reasons for the use of HRA:
This match of job factors to the individual’s capabilities
must include considerations of the work hours and • o give a benchmark for safety cases and design
T
shift work, team working, workload, pressure, and also briefs
factors relating to the design of the workplace and the • o enable comparison of alternative designs or
T
work environment. Jobs which have been designed in organisational solutions
• o identify the weaker human links in a system so that

T processing fails. The human factor causes of accidents
appropriate control measures can be introduced. can be classified according to which part of the system
An HRA is usually carried out by a trained risk assessor failed.
or a human reliability analyst. Representatives of the
Elementary Physiology and Anthropometry
workforce need to be involved in the process to contribute
specific task knowledge and experience. Differences Elementary Physiology
between assessors can occur and, for tasks where human
Physiology is the study of life. It helps us understand how
reliability is critical, independent assessments are useful.
the body works, from the smallest part (cells) all the way
Analysts should be trained to increase their awareness of to the whole body and to understand how different parts
possible human errors, improve familiarity with data values of the body work together. For example, the heart, lungs,
and with available quantification methods. Feedback to and muscles must all work together perfectly to allow
assessors can help to improve their accuracy. the person to run and jump. It also helps us understand
how our body reacts to different conditions outside.
Steps in a Human Reliability Assessment
Whether the weather is very hot or very cold, the body
The following steps are usually part of an HRA. has ways to help the inside of the body stay at just the
• Determine scope of assessment right temperature.
• Gather information
Elementary Anthropometry
• Describe the tasks
Anthropometry is the science of measurement of
• Identify any human errors physical aspects of the human body. These include size,
• Estimate human error probabilities shape, and body composition. Using data obtained from
anthropometry tools, equipment and workstations can
• Give information to system analysts
be designed in such a way as to ensure the maximum
• Develop control measures comfort, safety, and efficiency for individuals using them.
• Estimation of Human Error Probabilities Some anthropometric data is given in EN standards and
well as being available via an ILO publication.
• Designing jobs for mental well-being.
Anthropometrics is the science, which is used to describe
The Worker and the Workstation as a System the “user” or “target” population for a product. There
are considerable data available, gathered from taking
The human being as a System
measurements of large numbers of people in standard
A common model used in behavioural science, and in positions, which provide designers with the information
the biological and engineering sciences, is the ‘systems’
they need. Basic statistical techniques are used to help
model. Systems are defined as organized entities
interpret these data. It is important to use the appropriate
which are separated by distinct boundaries from the
anthropometric information for the population who will be
environment in which they operate. They import things
across those boundaries, such as energy and information; using the eventual design.
they transform those inputs inside the system and export
some form of output back across the boundaries. The Degradation of Human Performance
resulting from Poorly Designed
Open systems are entities which have goals or objectives Workstations
which they pursue by organizing and regulating
their internal activity and their interchange with their Ergonomic Design
environment. They use the feedback from the environment
Ergonomics is about ensuring a good ‘fit’ for people
to check constantly whether they are getting nearer to or
and the things they use. People vary enormously in
further away from their objectives. Such models can be
height and weight, in physical strength, in the ability to
applied to a single cell in the body, to the individual as a
handle information and in many other ways. Ergonomics
whole, to a group of individuals who are working together,
uses information about human abilities, attributes, and
and to an organisation such as a company.
limitations to ensure that our equipment, work, and
The system objective we consider here is the avoidance workplaces allow for such variations.
of harm to the person or to others. Accidents and ill-
For example, a car built for only ‘average’ sized drivers
health can then be conceived as damage which occurs
might require larger people to crouch while smaller
to the system when one or other part of this information
60
people may be unable to reach the pedals. This is clearly Although helpful, attempts to deal with difficulties on an
unacceptable, so designers use information about individual basis are ultimately only ‘sticking plasters’ and
variations in size, reach and so on to produce cars that the problems will tend to recur.
most people can operate comfortably, conveniently and Many jobs are designed to minimize skill requirements,
safely. Designing tasks, equipment, and workstations to maximize management control and minimize the time
suit the user can reduce human error, accidents, and ill required to perform a task. Labs designed like this have
health. Failure to observe ergonomic principles can have a human cost in terms of negative attitudes to the job,
serious consequences for individuals and for the whole and poor mental and physical health and attempts have
organisation. been made to redesign such work to improve the quality
Effective use of ergonomics will make work safer, healthier of working life.
and more productive. The people who do a particular job Such redesign is based on increasing one or more of the
are in a good position to identify especially awkward or following job characteristics;
difficult tasks. Remember that they may also have become
• Variety of tasks or skills (increased use of capabilities)
used to a poor design. Some jobs may be extremely tiring
or liable to cause aches and pains. Observation of how • utonomy (higher control over when and how tasks
A
people actually use equipment can highlight ergonomic are done)
problems. • ompleteness (whether a job produces an identifiable
C
Makeshift adaptations to machines such as lengthened end result which makes the task more significant and
levers, extra labels on switches, blocks of wood or meaningful for the worker)
cushions used to alter working positions, can be a • eedback from the job (improved knowledge of the
F
sign that the design of the equipment or the job needs results of the work activities)
attention. Medical and sickness absence records may
Other characteristics of work which are also thought to be
reveal patterns of injury or complaint that could be
important for job satisfaction are the amount and quality
associated with particular jobs.
of social interaction with co-workers, responsibility for
Problems which Ergonomics can address technology and output, and the mental demands of a job
including the need to pay close, constant attention to a
Good ergonomic design can help with a range of
task and the need to diagnose and solve problems.
problems. Some of the most obvious are to do with body
size; e.g. work surfaces that are uncomfortable to sit at Typical ways of work redesign are;
because they don’t allow sufficient clearance for users’ • J ob Rotation: Here people rotate through a small
legs. The layout of controls and displays can influence the number of different but typically similar jobs.
safety of a system. – The rotation is often frequent, e.g. weekly.
Typical problems include; – his can increase task variety, but as it does not
T
• witches which can be inadvertently knocked on or
S improve other job factors, it is of limited value in
off improving job satisfaction.
• Control panel layouts which are difficult to understand – he company benefits by having more people
T
• isplays which force the user to bend or stretch to
D who can carry out a particular job.
read them properly – ffective task training is needed especially if a job
E
• ritical displays which are not in the operator’s normal
C requires a high degree of skill or if there is the
field of view potential for error with serious consequences.
• oorly identified controls which the operator could

P • utonomous Work Groups: The aim here is to
A
select by mistake provide a job which is complete; the group sees
it from start to finish and has the responsibility for
• Emergency stops buttons which are difficult to reach.
planning, coordinating and evaluating its own work
activities.
Improving Job Design
Job redesign usually has a positive impact on job
When thinking about improving job satisfaction and
satisfaction, motivation, employee mental health, and
reducing stress levels organisations often focus on
performance as long as it is not restricted to just increasing
the individual worker through the provision of stress
job variety. Such redesign usually occurs in combination
management courses and employee assistance programs.
with other changes such as staffing levels, pay rates, or In response to this information energy then passes from
management style which are likely to also affect these the pilot to the machine via the controls. This example is
outcomes. the basic model for the interaction between humans and
machines. It has been described as a closed-loop system.
Ergonomically Designed Control Systems in
The human receives the information from the machine,
Relation to Human Reliability
processes the information and responds by operating
Design and Human Reliability controls as appropriate. The machine responds to the
controls and then sends information to the human via a
Ergonomically designed work systems enhance safety,
display. The ergonomic design of the interface (e.g. the
improve human working and living conditions and
controls and panel display) is very important. It has to fit
counteract adverse effects on human health. Also,
the individual’s physical and mental capabilities.
they usually improve the operator-machine system
performance and reliability. Applying ergonomics to the Displays
design of work systems, especially where the design of
The type of display must meet the needs of the human
machinery is concerned ensures that human capabilities,
operating the machine or equipment, and the display
skills, limitations, and needs are taken into account.
itself must be as clear and as easy to read as possible.
The work system includes operators, job design, It should not overload the operator with too much data
work equipment (e.g. machinery), work space, work but must take into account the information needed and
environment, work process and the interactions between how quickly it needs to be assimilated. The importance
them. It can vary in complexity from a workshop with a of getting this right is underlined by the fact that poor
single operator using handheld equipment to a process display design was a contributory factor to the nuclear
plant and its operators. power station incident at Three Mile Island.
Good design takes into account how the operator is The type of display should be appropriate to the data
expected to interact with the work equipment and how displayed. For example, analog displays are better for
the work equipment fits into the system as a whole. This showing rates of change. A needle on a dial or even a
is particularly important the more the work equipment is column of mercury in a thermometer gives a human
interdependent on other components of the system. operator a very clear picture of the rate of change of
In its whole complexity, the working system is described temperature. This will be much better than a digital
in generic standards (e.g. EN ISO 6385). Compliance display which will simply show a changing number. This
with harmonized standards prepared by CEN / can be very confusing especially if the rate of change is
CENELEC enables manufacturers and suppliers to meet rapid. Analog displays are also very good at indicating
requirements of European legislation. EN ISO 12100-1 whether the temperature remains within a desired range,
and EN ISO 12100-2 contain the concepts and general especially if that range is marked on the gauge.
principles to guide designers in achieving safety for A digital display, on the other hand, is very good where
machinery for occupational and private purposes. more precise readings are required. For example, provided
Ergonomic principles can be incorporated into the design the temperature is not varying too quickly, it is much easier
process by following this standard. In this way, both the to get an accurate reading from a digital display than from
technical design and ergonomic principles are considered an analog display. A visual display may not be the most
at the same time. The aim to enhance the health, safety important way to present data. Using the example above,
and well-being of workers are reached by systematically there may be serious consequences if the temperature
minimizing the risks according to EN 1050. EN 13861 strays from a pre-defined range. In this case, an audible
provides information concerning applicable ergonomic alarm might be needed to draw immediate attention to
B-type standards related to specific hazards. the divergent condition. Much has been written about the
relative merits of different types of displays and how they
Human/Machine Interface should be fitted to the needs of the operator.
The human - machine interface is an imaginary boundary Ergonomists use the term ‘coding’ when referring to
between the individual and the machine or equipment. the specific way the information is represented. Letters
When humans operate tools or machinery, information or numbers can be used to represent elements within a
and energy have to cross this boundary. Consider a system. The size of a symbol on a screen can be used
helicopter pilot. Information passes across the interface to represent magnitude. Brightness could be used to
from the machine to the pilot via the control panel display. represent temperature and color could be used to help
62
classify data. However, the color should only be used as • orce: It should not be necessary to have to use
F
‘redundant code.’ In other words, the color should not be excessive force in order to operate controls. On
the only means of displaying the information. the other hand, a certain amount of force may be
Another coding, e.g. letters or pictograms should be the necessary to prevent a control being accidentally
primary code. Relying on color alone could introduce tripped.
the possibility of error, for example under certain lighting • opulation stereotypes: This term refers to the
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conditions or cases of color blindness. Before changes expectations that control work in certain ways.
resulting from an EU directive, UK fire extinguishers were For example, we expect to have to turn the steering
color coded according to type. However, reliance was wheel of a car clockwise to go right and anticlockwise to
not placed on the color coding alone, and the type of go left. We expect the effect exercised by vertical levels
extinguisher was also indicated by text on the extinguisher. to increase as we pull them towards the body and to
decrease when pushed away. These stereotypes are the
Text Clarity
expectations of most of the population.
A large amount of time is spent reading (or in some
When a dial is used to alter a display, the direction
cases deciphering) text. It is surprising that writing style
of movement on display conventionally moves in the
has been relatively neglected as an ergonomic issue.
direction of the nearest point of the dial to the display.
The text is a very important interface, not only between
Dials are normally located below the display to leave the
operators and machines and equipment (e.g. operating
display in view when the dial is being operated. Therefore,
manuals) but also between humans and the organisation
clockwise movement of a dial would be expected to move
in which they work (e.g. work procedures, conditions of
a pointer on display to the right. There is always the danger
employment, policies, etc.). At a more fundamental level,
that controls which do not conform may inadvertently be
the text is the interface between workers and the subject
turned the wrong way. Population stereotypes also exist
knowledge necessary for their jobs. But this relatively
for displays. For example, red signifies danger while green
neglected area is beginning to find its rightful place in
signifies that it’s safe to go.
texts on ergonomics.
Poor Design and Alarm handling
Controls
Optimizing alarm system design is important to facilitate
Controls e.g. levers, buttons, switches, foot pedals
accurate and timely fault prompting and diagnosis to
represent the other half of the man / machine interface.
operators, and hence more effective plant management.
To optimize a design, it is necessary to take into account There is a great deal of evidence relating to the role of
factors such as; poorly design alarm systems in major incidents, for
• peed: where a fast response is required the control
S example, the staff at Milford Haven Refinery were faced
should be designed so that it can be operated by the with a barrage of alarms for five hours preceding the
finger or the hand. The reason for this is that the hand incident.
and finger give the greatest speed and dexterity with
the least effort. Key Principles of Alarm Handling and
Management
• ccuracy: Using a mouse to select icons on a screen
A
is an example of an operation where accuracy may Alarms should direct the operator’s attention towards
be required. plant conditions requiring timely assessment or action.
Alarms should alert, inform and guide required operator
For such operations, it is important to get the control/
action. Every alarm should be useful and relevant to the
display ratio (C/D ratio) right. This is the ratio between the
operator, and have a defined response. Alarm levels should
amount of movement of the control device to the degree
be set such that the operators have sufficient time to carry
of effect. In the case of a mouse, it would be the ratio of
out their defined response before the plant condition
the distance required to move the mouse to the resulting
escalates. The alarm system designed to accommodate
distance moved by the cursor on the screen.
human capabilities and limitations.
Where the C/D ratio is low, a large movement of the
mouse is required to achieve a relatively small movement Interfaces
of the cursor on the screen. This results in a slower but Human-system interactions have frequently been
more accurate operation. identified as major contributors to poor operator
performance.
Matching the job to the person Hierarchical Task Analysis (HTA)

Physical match
Ergonomics is about ensuring a good ‘fit’ between
people and the things they use. People vary enormously
in height and weight, in physical strength, in ability to
handle information and in many other ways. Ergonomics
uses information about human abilities, attributes and
limitations to ensure that our equipment, work and
workplaces allow for such variations. For example, a car
built for only ‘average’ sized drivers might require larger
people to crouch, while smaller people may be unable
to reach the pedals. This is clearly unacceptable, so
designers use information about variations in size, reach
and so on to produce cars that most people can operate
comfortably, conveniently and safely. Designing tasks,
One of the most commonly used forms of task analysis
equipment and workstations to suit the user can reduce
is hierarchical task analysis (HTA). This is a simple yet
human error, accidents and ill health. Failure to observe
rigorous process which starts by stating the overall goal
ergonomic principles can have serious consequences for
to be achieved and then by describing, in increasing
individuals and for the whole organisation. Effective use
detail, each of the operational actions (sub-tasks) that are
of ergonomics will make work safer, healthier and more
required to achieve that goal. This creates a hierarchy of
productive.
tasks and subs-tasks which can be examined for possible
Mental match sources of error at each stage. Where the errors and
hazards are known it then becomes possible to design
Problems with mental well-being are one of the major
the safe system of work so that it is error free and covers
causes of time off work. Depression and anxiety stem
all the risks involved.
from causes both outside and inside work. They affect not
only the mental well-being of staff but also organisational HTA is a highly efficient and effective tool for analyzing
performance through increased staff turnover, poor work work tasks and activities to identify potential problem
performance and accidents at work. When jobs are areas. These include both human and engineering errors
designed it tends to be the technology or the equipment and can involve an assessment of ergonomic factors. The
which determines the content of the job. However, it is overview provided by HTA can be presented as a chart
also desirable to design jobs in ways which improve levels or series of charts where each task is defined, and its
of job satisfaction for the workforce. Feeling satisfied with association with other tasks is indicated.
your job has been shown to improve your performance The general stages of task analysis carried out in this way
at work, reduce your feelings of being under stress, and involve the following processes;
generally lead to a sense of mental well-being.
Information Collection
Application of Task Analysis in predicting • his should involve the workforce, supervisors,
T
the Probability and Prevention of Error and managers (including designers, operators and
The analysis of the work to be carried out can be achieved other interested parties who can contribute) and
in a number of ways. These are all concerned with includes documentation, expert discussion, and work
analyzing the tasks to be carried out and to integrate the observation.
machine and human components of the system of work. • are has to be taken to ensure human and financial
C
They include; resources are efficiently used.
1. Hierarchical Task Analysis (HTA)
Task Description
2. Design Task Analysis (DTA)
• he collected information is used to draw up a detailed
T
3. Job Safety Analysis (JSA). list of the tasks involved.
64
Task Analysis • Personal protective equipment

• nalyze the various tasks and their interactions and
A • Organisation of the work
determine at what level the analysis should get to. • Listing the tasks involved.
This will depend on the aim of the analyses, whether
From this list, a more detailed analysis can be undertaken
it is to review a safe system of work, create a new one
relating the various tasks to the hazards and job skills
or investigate why errors are occurring.
required. A useful way to present a job analysis is to create
• A chart (hierarchical diagram) a table listing the various tasks; the hazards involved
• his then created which provides a visual description
T the skills and knowledge required, factors which may
of the tasks, and their inter-relationships. influence the task and the training required.
Design Task Analysis (DTA) Training Needs Analysis

A design task is one of a range of identified events likely An effective training program must be based on the
to be encountered by an organisation to which a planned real training needs of the individual and work groups.
outcome is required. It can be used as an approach to Only when the training needs have been identified
identify hazards and control measures with each activity systematically, it can be directed towards choosing the
undertaken in order to provide both training and control best means of delivering the training. It is vital that training
requirements. reflects the real needs of a job. This may not always be the
case when training comprises attendance at a selected
Stages in Design Task number of ‘set’ courses intended to cover a wide range of
The following steps are required; skills and knowledge.
• ist the range of outcomes to be achieved by the

L Risk assessments form a valuable source of information for
work being examined. This can be taken from a the trainer. They identify the specific skills or actions where
competencies framework where one exists, for errors can lead to critical incidents. These need to be fully
example, a National Vocational Qualification role map addressed in any training. The risk assessor may, however,
have overestimated the effectiveness of the current training
• Identify the activities that lead to the outcomes
in these areas. It is therefore up to the professional trainer to
required
review the training to ensure that it achieves the necessary
• or each activity identify the tasks that will be done
F standards. Alternatively, if training cannot reliably ensure
in this activity that level of performance, then this fact must be passed
• Identify the hazards likely to be encountered when back to the risk assessor so that the risk ratings can be
doing the activity readjusted and other controls considered.
• evelop the appropriate control measures, including

D ‘Task analysis’ methods can also be used. They break a
training requirements. job down into its hierarchy of small components and then
assess the consequences and likelihood (i.e. the risk) of
Job Safety Analysis (JSA) inadequate performances at each element. Where the
A more traditional approach is that of job safety analysis consequences of inadequate performance of a task
(JSA), the principles of which have largely been integrated element are high, then, irrespective of the likelihood of an
into risk assessment techniques. It is not dissimilar to the error, high standards of performance must be ensured.
design task approach. Training is addressing that task element is, therefore,
critical. These task elements are then systematically
This process begins with an overview of the job in terms
broken further down into more and more detailed sub-
of;
elements until the consequences of the performance of
• he job description (either as a specific job or as a set
T the sub-elements become low.
of activities)
It is only at this level that it becomes less critical if
• Location performance is not optimum. Training at that task sub-
• Materials to be used element level is then less critical. Using this systematic
and detailed hierarchical approach, those task elements
• Equipment and machinery involved
requiring an especially high level of training are identified.
• The hazards Less critical task elements are also determined where the
• The risks training needs are less critical.
Individual factors loss and / or disruption of the internal clock.

It is also related to workload; In these workers are more
The Relationship between Physical easily fatigued if their work is machine-paced, complex
Stressors and Human Reliability or monotonous. If workers are fatigued, they will be
The body has automatic mechanisms that attempt to less alert; their reaction time will be slower, they will
protect it from physical agents such as noise and extreme find it less easy to concentrate and may make ill-judged
temperature. Physical stressors can be harmful because decisions. As a result, they may make more errors, which
they force body systems to continuously compensate for can lead to accidents and injuries. It is important not to
conditions that are outside the normal range. Exposure underestimate the risks of fatigue.
to excessive heat and excessive cold may be workplace For example, the incidence of accidents and injuries
stressors. Other physical agents that cause excessive has been found to be higher on night shifts, after a
stress are high levels of noise and vibration. Workstation succession of shifts, when shifts are long and when there
design may cause excessive stress. are inadequate breaks. Fatigue has also been implicated
Heavy manual labor may have similar effects. Work on in 20 % of accidents on major roads. Stress and more
rotating shifts may place the body under physical stress, accurately fatigue has been identified as a contributory
because the body’s natural cycles, known as the circadian factor in many major incidents including Challenger,
rhythm, are forced to readjust. Several days may be Chernobyl, Clapham Junction, and Exxon Valdez and is
needed for this adjustment to take place when workers said to cost the UK alone £115 - £240 million per year in
change from one shift to another. In the meantime, their terms of work accidents alone, think about what the figure
appetite, sleep, body temperature and blood pressure is or could be worldwide.
may be affected. Reducing the risks associated with shift work and fatigue
can improve the health and safety of workers and may
The effects of under-stimulation, fatigue and also financially benefit business and society in general
stress on human reliability by reducing sickness, injuries, and accidents, and by
increasing work efficiency and product quality.
Fatigue and Shift Work
More than 3.5 million people are employed as shift Assessing and Managing the Health and
workers in the UK. As in other parts of the world these Safety risks of Shift Work
people work in a wide variety of industries including the There are many different shift work schedules, and each
emergency services, healthcare, the utilities, transport, schedule has different features. This sheer diversity of
manufacturing (including oil, gas and chemical industries), work and workplaces means that there is no single optimal
entertainment and retail. Poorly designed shift-working shift system that suits everyone. However, a planned and
arrangements and long working hours that do not balance systematic approach to assessing and managing the
the demands of work with time for rest and recovery can risks of shift work can improve the health and safety of
result in fatigue, accidents, injuries and ill health. workers.
The key Issues There are a number of key risk factors in shift schedule
design, which must be considered when assessing and
Research has shown that there can be undesirable
managing the risks of shift work. These are the workload,
consequences for those working shifts, particularly night
the work activity, shift timing and duration, direction of
and early morning shifts. These include disruption of the
rotation and the number and length of breaks during
internal body clock, sleeping difficulties, and fatigue, which
and between shifts. Other features of the workplace
in turn can affect performance, increase the likelihood of
environment such as the physical environment,
errors and accidents at work and may affect health and
management issues, and employee welfare can also
well-being in the long-term.
contribute to the risks associated with shift work.
Sleep disturbances can lead to a ‘sleep debt’ and fatigue.
Night workers are particularly at risk of fatigue because Work-Related Stress
their day sleep is often lighter, shorter and more easily Work-related stress can lead to ill health, accidents,
disturbed because of daytime noise and a natural and injuries and is currently one of the major causes of
reluctance to sleep during daylight. Fatigue is generally occupational ill health, in the developed as well as the
considered to be a decline in mental and/or physical developing world. Stress is ‘the adverse reaction people
performance that results from prolonged exertion, sleep have, to excessive pressure or other types of demand
66
placed on them and has become a common feature of and so can lead to an increase in mistakes or errors.
modern working life. Stress has implications for other Stress also seems to be linked to the development of
human factors issues. Typically, a stress response can musculoskeletal disorders and some fatigue. Some
occur whenever we feel threatened or unable to cope e.g. influences on workers will be outside an employer’s direct
when there is an imbalance between the requirements of control. Individual workers vary in how well they cope
a job and a worker’s capability to meet those demands. with stressful work situations depending on a range of
Frequent or prolonged exposures can be harmful to the personal factors such as their personality, their approach
individual and may lead to workers developing physical to life, their social and domestic arrangements and other
and mental symptoms of stress such as headaches, external pressures.
gastrointestinal disorders, cardiovascular disease, Work-life balance is an important consideration. There
musculoskeletal problems, insomnia, anxiety, and are, however, certain features of job design and working
depression. While occasional pressure or challenges can conditions that can contribute to work-related stress and
sometimes motivate workers and make them perform a human factors/ergonomics approach can be useful in
better in the short-term, under certain circumstances addressing this work life balance.
(e.g. safety critical), too much pressure, particularly when
coupled with poor design, can lead to errors, accidents or How a Human factors / Ergonomics
injuries. In addition to the damage to the health of workers, approach can help reduce Work-related
stress can adversely affect performance, productivity, and Stress
safety, all of which are bad for business. Therefore taking Human factor considerations are about designing work
steps to reduce or eliminate work-related stress makes and workplaces so that people can carry out their duties
good business and financial sense. effectively and efficiently, without experiencing discomfort,
As well as improving the health, safety, and welfare of becoming ill or making mistakes due to a poor job or
workers, organisations may also benefit from increased equipment design, or negative organisational influences.
efficiency and/or productivity, reduced sickness and The nature of the job, the organisational context and the
absence levels, better staff retention and reduced risk of individual characteristics required all influence individual
accidents and injuries. performance.
A systematic human factors / ergonomics approach
Legislation and Stress would involve an analysis of the job design (tasks to be
Around the world, employers have general health and done) and how it relates to the other jobs and tasks. This
safety responsibilities (e.g. a duty of care in law) for their includes looking at workload (physical and mental), work
employees and others. This includes assessing and patterns, information and communication needs, job
managing the risks of psychological and emotional harm role and the amount of personal discretion, equipment
to employees from work-related stress. It also means design, and the workplace environment. Getting these
identifying those activities that are safety critical and aspects right can be especially important where the work
likely to be adversely affected by the effects of employee is safety-critical or involves safety-critical decisions.
stress or unplanned pressure/challenges. Differences in competence can, to some extent, be
Having identified such risks, the duty of care then requires minimized through appropriate selection and subsequent
the planning and organizing of work activities to minimize training. Other individual differences such as personality,
the risks. health status, and domestic circumstances are more often
addressed through appropriate management.
Stress and Human Factors
As stress can affect both behaviour and performance, The Organisational Context within which
it has the potential to contribute to accidents and other work takes place
incidents at work. A “systems” approach (which takes Much of this relates to the organisational culture and takes
account of the whole picture), such as ergonomics, offers into account working relationships between relevant
an effective approach to tackling work-related stress. workers, teams and managers. Another aspect concerns
This is particularly important since stress can impact on whether the right level of practical support is available
or combine with, some of the other human factor issues in the form of resources and management sponsorship,
that are highlighted within this study material. for example. Also, since few organisations remain static
For example, stress can affect human reliability and the for very long, then whether the change is planned and
ability of people to make sound and accurate judgments managed effectively is also important.
the effect of personal attitudes (including work conversations. This flows from ownership
risk perception), skills, habits and - the encouragement of personal responsibility
personality on task demands and participation by everyone in health and safety
measures.
People bring to their job personal attitudes, including risk
perception, skills, habits and personalities which can be • balance of health and safety and production
A
strengths or weaknesses depending on the task demands. goals - People may believe that high standards of
Individual characteristics influence behaviour in complex health and safety inevitably mean slower work rates.
and significant ways. Their effects on task performance In contrast, production may be seen to be increased
may be negative and may not always be mitigated by through ‘cutting corners’. Excessive production
job design. Some characteristics such as personality are pressure creates an atmosphere of distraction and
fixed and cannot be changed. Others, such as skills and a shortage of time which makes human errors more
attitudes, may be changed or enhanced. likely. Excessive pressure may give rise to physical or
mental health effects in some employees, and to a
Organizational factors higher rate of ‘violations’ of health and safety rules.
In a positive culture health and safety is regarded as
the effects of organizational factors important, is promoted, and is not compromised.
on health and safety culture including
leadership and commitment at all levels organisational factors that affect human
reliability: patterns of employment, payment
An effective health and safety management system is
systems, shift work
the basis for a good health and safety culture. There are
certain key aspects of an organisation which will influence What is human reliability:
its culture. These factors tend to be intangible and often
Human reliability is the opposite of human error. It is
difficult to change and include:
the probability of successfully performing a task. The
• enior management commitment - crucial to a
S reliability of a system depends on hardware, software and
positive health and safety culture. This commitment human reliability.
produces higher levels of motivation and concern
Some of the organizational factors that affect human
for health and safety throughout the organisation.
reliability are:
It is best indicated by the proportion of resources
(time, money, people) and support allocated to health 1. Patterns of employment: there are different patterns
and safety management and by the status given to of employment emerging across the world to aid to
health and safety. The active involvement of senior the change in the business needs. Following are the
management in the health and safety system is very main types:
important. Managers need to be seen to lead by • ermanent full time employment: these work for the
P
example when it comes to health and safety. organization on a full time basis and the organization
• anagement style - influential. A ‘humanistic’
M has great control on their recruitment, training and
approach to management involving more regard by retention. Such employees are well versed with the
managers for individuals’ personal and work problems organizations policies and procedures and are actively
is likely to be effective. This assumes direct and rapid consulted. They may be part of safety related work
action to identify and resolve individual problems in like workplace inspection, risk assessment, incident
an appropriately caring and concerned manner. investigations, safety committee etc. Primarily these
employees pick up the culture of the organization and
• isible management - very important for a health
V
are influenced by it because they are working in it for
and safety culture. Good managers appear regularly
long and also expect to continue working for more
on the ‘shop floor’ and talk about health and safety.
years to come. Because of this their behaviour and
Staff need to believe that all their managers are
their reliability is something that can be predicted by
committed to health and safety.
the organization and the employee also has a huge
• ood communications between all levels of
G interest in ensuring compliance as it meets his long
employee - An ‘open door’ policy may be helpful term needs.
with direct access to the management hierarchy
• hort term or temporary employment: these
S
where appropriate. In a positive culture questions
employees are recruited for short term to augment
about health and safety should be part of everyday
for the increased load conditions. These employees
68
may get repeated short term employment contract severe fatigue at work. This can lead to poorer
with the same organization or may be offered only performance on tasks which require attention,
a one time short term contract. Such employees do decision-making or high levels of skill. For safety-
not receive the same level of training as a full time critical work the effects of fatigue can give rise to
employee may have as organizations restrict the increased risks. However, all too often, fatigue is
amount of investment done on them to build safety seen as a familiar and acceptable part of everyday
and other work related skills. Organizations in fact life. Working long hours may even be accepted in
expect the employees themselves to invest in such the culture of a workplace as ‘the thing to do’. Some
additional skills. Such employees pick up behavioral organisations are starting to look carefully at three
patterns from the various organizations in which aspects of shift work:
they work and sometimes get confused as to what • risks to health;
is an acceptable behaviour, because safety standards
• possible impact on safety; and
and procedures may differ from one organization to
the other. This can lead sometimes to poor human • effects on shift workers’ social and family lives.
reliability from such employees.
Health effects
• gency workers: these workers are contracted by
A
agencies who pay them for the hours worked at any Shift work, especially night work, can lead to the following
of the different clients for which such agencies may health problems:
have a contract with. The training of such workers are • ifficulty in falling asleep and staying asleep, difficulty
D
in many cases the sole responsibility of the agency in staying alert and awake at work, reduced quality
and hence organizations maintain a tight contractual and quantity of sleep, increased use of sleeping pills.
control on them to ensure that their workers are There may be a gradual build-up of sleep loss into a
provided with the minimum required competence ‘sleep debt’.
levels. But such agencies tend to change/ move their • astrointestinal disorders. These may be linked to an
G
workers from one site to other and subsequently the increased tendency to eat snack meals at work.
workers do not get well settled in their workplaces.
• espiratory problems. Asthma attacks may be worse
R
This leads to disruptions in their understanding of
at night. Allergic reactions may become worse. Lung
the organizations safety requirement and can lead to
function declines at night especially for those with
behavioral issues
chronic respiratory conditions.
• reelancers: these workers have high level of expertise
F
• Individuals taking regular medication may have
in certain fields and organizations only require them
problems with shift work. Dosages may need to
for a certain amount of time. They work on time bound
be altered to take account of variations of drug
projects and most of the times are highly experienced
effectiveness due to the time of day.
and have worked for many top organizations. Rarely
do we find behavioral issues with such freelancers. • proportion of people find that they cannot cope with
A
But there may be exceptions. working shifts. They may experience health problems
which become acute only weeks after starting shift
2. Payment systems: workers may get paid in various
work and they may need to move to other duties.
ways, some may get a fixed pay irrespective of the
units produced; others get payment based on their
Possible effects on safety
productivity. Having a fixed payment leads to a more
unhurried and compliant behaviour, while payment Job performance may be poorer on shift work especially
that is connected to productivity may lead to when working night shifts. Tasks tend to be completed
shortcuts and even longer working hours to generate more slowly at night, although this can be balanced by
more income contributing to fatigue. altering the workload. In general the early hours of the
morning, eg between 02.00am and 05.00am present the
3. Shift work including fatigue: individuals work shift
highest risk for fatigue-related accidents. Sleep loss can
systems, work at night, or work very extended hours.
lead to lowered levels of alertness. Cumulative sleep loss
Such working patterns can lead to adverse effects
over a number of days can result in a ‘sleep debt’ with
upon health, particularly for night workers. Reduced
much reduced levels of productivity and attention. Such
levels of performance have been associated with
sleep loss results not only from working night shifts but
night working which can also increase the likelihood
also on morning shifts with very early start times and from
of accidents and ill health. Some people experience
‘on call’ situations where it may be difficult to plan when or very repetitive.
to sleep. Amount of sleep. The daily rest between shifts needs
to be adequate to enable shift workers to return to work
Social and family life
fully rested. An adult typically needs about seven to
Shift work, especially working rotating shifts, may have eight hours of sleep each night. Rest days are valuable
an impact on the social life of shift workers. However, this in allowing people to ‘recharge their batteries’ and to
depends on the shift schedule as well as the age, sex, maintain their work performance. The planning of rest
number of children and perhaps the personality of the days needs to take account of their frequency and the
shift worker. The quality of family life for the worker and length of ‘recovery’ time available after blocks of shifts.
the ability to take part in leisure activities may be affected Shift workers, especially night workers, benefit from
by shift work. regular recovery periods of at least 48 hours. This is
because shortened or interrupted sleep over a period
What causes these negative effects? of time can result in their spending part of their rest day
There are a number of important influences including: sleeping.
Biological rhythms. We have built-in body clocks to Shift rotation. A shift pattern which changes about
regulate all important body functions. These clocks tell once a week is likely to be more difficult to adjust to than
us when to be active and when to rest. They also govern either a more rapidly or a more slowly changing pattern.
other physiological functions such as body temperature, Current thinking suggests that starting a shift later than
hormones, digestion and blood pressure. The 24-hour the previous one (forward rotation) may create less of
biological rhythms from these clocks do not disappear a problem than starting a shift earlier than the last one
even if there are changes to the environment (lighting, (backward rotation). A typical forward rotation roster
noise, temperature) and your routine (no sleep, changes would be mornings, afternoons then night shifts. Some
of meal routine). Even if you are working nights your body shift patterns can result in a short daily rest interval of
clock will still reduce your body temperature in the early perhaps only eight hours. This is particularly likely to lead
hours of the morning, reduce your blood pressure and to fatigue through reduced sleep.
stop digestion. This will make you more sleepy and less
Managing the impact of shift work
alert. A night worker trying to sleep during the daytime
will find it harder to get to sleep because their body clock There is no one solution to the potential health and
is telling them they should be awake. The reduced quality safety impact of fatigue and shift work. The ‘best practice’
and quantity of sleep will lead to more fatigue as a ‘sleep management approach, which will go beyond what is
debt’ builds up. required by health and safety legislation, is through a
multi-component approach which includes:
Time at work. Human performance tends to deteriorate
significantly when people have been at work for more • c areful planning of shift rostering taking into account
than 12 hours. Below 12 hours the evidence is less clear, knowledge of the effects of biological rhythms;
and the extent to which fatigue occurs may depend on • r eviewing maximum hours of duty and time for
aspects such as the adequacy of rest breaks, the nature recovery;
of the work, and the working environment. The effects of • education of shift workers on sleep routines, nutrition,
fatigue tend to be more marked if the task is monotonous
70
effects on family and social life, exercise; Inadequacies in the Setting of Standards
• nvironmental design changes, especially those
e Setting the safety standards is a safety cultural
aspects which can improve alertness such as requirement borne out of alignment with the core values of
temperature, lighting, and comfort levels; the organisation. If the organisation and senior leadership
• r educing the number of safety-critical tasks planned support health and safety of the workforce as core values
for the night shift; demonstrated through their actions and behaviours, then
automatically high safety standards are established, and
• rotating jobs to reduce levels of boredom; and
frontline supervisors steward toward them.
• roviding medical advice for shift workers, especially
p
Setting the standards for safety is perhaps one of the
for those with existing medical conditions.
most important outputs of health and safety planning.
The effect of weaknesses in the safety Standards are the absolute minimum that organisations
management system on the probability of require from their workers regarding various business
human failure activities in the organisation. Standards stand above
SOPs and reflect the way work is done for the particular
In an inspection program process, one should expect
business activity in the organisation. Standards are also
certain components or steps. If an inspection program
designed to meet or surpass regulatory requirements and
is designed, the procedure was written and inspectors
will often define the success of the business.
trained, yet there is no tracking of issues to closure, it
indicates severe weaknesses in the overall effectiveness When organisations develop standards that exceed
of the inspection program. Issues such as frustration on regulatory requirements, they are sending a clear message
the part of inspectors and workers, numerous repeat to workers that the health and safety of its workers are
findings, with some even contributing to incidents will paramount to organisational success, and this cannot be
probably result. compromised. On the other hand, if there are inadequacies
in the setting of standards or the organisation sets low
In a system, each element needs to have a consistent
safety standards due to various reasons, then one should
set of guiding principles or standards. For example, to
expect poor safety performance.
maximize the chance for success, one would expect an
inspection program to have: The Disasters – such as the sinking of the Herald of Free
Enterprise, the train crash at Clapham Junction and the
• A written procedure
fire and explosion on Piper Alpha – provide vivid examples
• Communication of this procedure of the effect of inadequacies in the setting of standards.
• A training program for inspectors • nrealistic timescales for implementing plans, which
U
• Tailored forms to use put pressure on people to cut corners and reduce
supervision
• Analytical skill on the part of inspectors
• ork scheduling and rosters which failed to take
W
• A system to record, track and close findings
account of the problems of fatigue
• ome system of measurement and feedback to
S
• Inadequate resources allocated to training
monitor if the system is meeting expectations.
• rganisational restructuring which placed people in
O
As a collection of systems, the success of one element
positions for which they had insufficient experience
influences the success of the others and vice versa. For
example, an incident investigation procedure that is • J obs and control systems which failed to recognize or
constantly pointing fingers at employees for “not being allow for the fact that people would be likely to make
careful” typically means that safe work procedures and mistakes and might have difficulties communicating
hazard controls are more administrative or verbal, rather with each other.
than truly documented or analysed as part of a Job Policy inadequacies include very well drafted Health and
Hazard Analysis (JHA). It means hazards are not likely Safety policies and also sometimes fail to achieve the
to be abated, thus, without good hazard analysis and intended outcomes. The most common reasons are;
clearly identified safe work procedures; an investigation
• he statements in the policy and the health and
T
program may not be very effective in preventing repeat
safety priorities not understood by or properly
occurrences.
communicated to the workforce
• Minimal resources made available for the
implementation of the policy • ailing to determine targets that will enable them to
F
• oo much emphasis on rules for employees and too
T track their own performance.
little on management policy • ailing to implement performance management
F
• lack of parity with other activities of the organisation
A processes for workers that specify health and safety
such as finance and quality control due to mistaken expectations, and provide feedback on performance.
concerns about the costs of health and safety and
Inadequacies in Information
the effect of those costs on overall performance. This
Responsibilities
attitude produces a poor health and safety culture
The success of the Information Management responsibility
• ack of senior management involvement in health
L
relies on staff recognizing data and information as an
and safety, particularly at board level
asset of strategic, operational and administrative value,
• mployee concerns that their health and safety issues
E and handling it in a manner that is transparent and
are not being addressed or that they are not receiving accountable. Policies or procedures on information
adequate health and safety information. This can lead responsibilities can specify tasks, but unless responsibility
to low morale among the workforce and, possibly, is assigned and individuals are held accountable for
high absenteeism; High labor turnover carrying them out, implementation will be ineffective.
• Inadequate or no PPE provision The inability to share important information that is timely
• nsafe and poorly maintained machinery and
U and accurate is a common denominator in every known
equipment disaster. In each instance, this risk factor either caused
the event to occur or contributed to the severity of the
• Lack of health and safety monitoring procedures.
outcome. Communication failure is a complex problem
Inadequacies in Planning because it involves man and machine. Failure can be
attributed solely to an equipment problem such as system
Effective planning involves defining the organisation’s
overload, poor reception, inter-operability of different
objectives or goals, establishing an overall strategy for
communication devices, or lack of technology.
achieving those goals and developing a comprehensive
hierarchy of plans to integrate and coordinate activities. In other situations, failure can occur because certain
Planning is based on the consideration of who has to do individuals neglect to pass along vital information or do
what and what is to be done (ends) as well as how it is to not think it is important to do so. Failure can occur within
be done (means) and preparedness in anticipating what an organisation, between organisations, or between
might go wrong, the likelihood of its occurrence, and the authorities and the general public.
potential consequences. Risk-mitigation strategies than
can be devised to address these scenarios.
Inadequacies in Responsibilities
By developing specific task lists for each position at a
Some of the inadequacies in planning for health and
site, an organisation exhibits a high level of operational
safety are;
discipline to both teams and individuals. Job roles and
• ailing to determine the board’s charter and structure
F responsibilities are well defined and clear. Tasks and
for leading health and safety. procedures need to be carefully coordinated to avoid
• ailing to determine high-level health and safety
F incidents. Coordination of roles and responsibilities helps
strategy and policy, including providing a statement ensure that we allocate all tasks in terms of content,
of vision, beliefs, and policy. quality, and timing (correct sequence) without duplication
• ailing to hold management
F to account for or overlap. Without coordination, workers can make
implementing the strategy. incorrect judgments in the field.
• ailing to specify targets that will enable them to

F A well-intended worker may inadvertently do alter
track the organisation’s performance in implementing or correct a situation desired by another worker. It is
board strategy and policy. possible to omit, overlook, or perform important tasks in
the wrong order. The result of improper job coordination
• ailing to manage the health and safety performance
F
can be human error, which has been a contributing factor
of the CEO, including specifying expectations and
in many serious incidents.
providing feedback.
• ailing to determine and implement business and
F
action plans to give effect to board strategy.
72
Inadequacies in Monitoring Stages of Group Development

Dr. Bruce Tuckman published his Forming Storming
Norming Performing model in 1965 and a modified
model in 1975. Whether one is part of a formal work
unit, a temporary task force, or a virtual team, the group
itself passes through different stages of its life cycle.
Furthermore, depending on the stage the group has
reached, the leader and members can face very different
challenges.
There are five stages of group development;
• Forming
• Storming
• Norming
Employers should measure what they are doing to
implement their health and safety policy, to assess how • Performing
effectively they are controlling risks, and how well they • Adjourning
are developing a positive health and safety culture.
Some of the inadequacies in Monitoring for health and
Forming
safety are; In this stage, personal relations are characterized by
dependence. Group members rely on safe, patterned
• Inadequate plan and lack of routine inspections and
behaviour and look to the group leader for guidance and
checks to ensure that preventive and protective
direction. Group members have a desire for acceptance
measures are in place and effective.
by the group and need to know that the group is safe.
• Insufficient data to justify proposed action plan They set about gathering impressions and data about
• Monitored risk inadequately described the similarities and differences among them and forming
• Inadequate data analysis procedures or descriptions preferences for future sub-grouping.
• onitoring documentation requirements inadequate

M Rules of behaviour seem to be to keep things simple
per the safety management system and to avoid controversy. Serious topics and feelings
are avoided. The major task functions also concern
• dverse event reporting methods/procedures are
A
orientation. Members attempt to become oriented to the
inadequate or absent
tasks as well as to one another. Discussion centers on
• efinitions of adverse events and
D reporting defining the scope of the task, how to approach it, and
procedures are inadequate or absent similar concerns. To grow from this stage to the next, each
• Likely adverse events poorly described or absent member must relinquish the comfort of non-threatening
topics and risk the possibility of conflict.
• Follow-up actions or monitoring absent or inadequate
• Risk-benefit analysis inadequate or absent. Storming
The next stage, which Tuckman calls Storming, is
The influence of Formal and Informal
characterized by competition and conflict in the personal
Groups within an Organisation
relations dimension an organisation in the task functions
Groups dimension. As the group members attempt to organize
for the task, conflict inevitably results in their personal
A group may be defined as a collection of two or more
relations. Individuals have to bend and mould their
people who work with one another regularly to achieve
feelings, ideas, attitudes, and beliefs to suit the group
common goals. In a true group, members are mutually
organisation. Because of “fear of exposure” or “fear of
dependent on one another to achieve common goals, and
failure,” there will be an increased desire for structural
they interact with one another regularly to pursue those
clarification and commitment.
goals over a sustained period of time.
Although conflicts may or may not surface as group
issues, they do exist. Questions will arise about who is
going to be responsible for what, what the rules are, what
the reward system is, and what criteria for evaluation are. and problem solving in the realm of task functions. By
These reflect conflicts over leadership, structure, power, now, the group should be most productive.
and authority. There may be wide swings in members’ Individual members have become self-assuring, and the
behaviour based on emerging issues of competition and need for group approval is passed. Members are both
hostilities. Because of the discomfort generated during highly task oriented and highly people oriented. There is
this stage, some members may remain completely silent unity: group identity is complete, group morale is high,
while others attempt to dominate. and group loyalty is intense. The task function becomes
In order to progress to the next stage, group members genuine problem solving, leading toward optimal solutions
must move from a “testing and prove” mentality to a and optimum group development. There is support for
problem-solving mentality. The most important trait in experimentation in solving problems and an emphasis
helping groups to move on to the next stage seems to be on achievement. The overall goal is productivity through
the ability to listen. problem solving and work.
Norming Adjourning
In Tuckman’s Norming stage, interpersonal relations Tuckman’s final stage, adjourning, involves the termination
are characterized by cohesion. Group members are of task behaviours and disengagement from relationships.
engaged in active acknowledgment of all members’ A planned conclusion usually includes recognition for
contributions, community building, and maintenance, participation and achievement and an opportunity for
and solving of group issues. Members are willing to members to say personal goodbyes. Concluding a group
change their preconceived ideas or opinions on the basis can create some apprehension in effect, a minor crisis.
of facts presented by other members, and they actively The termination of the group is a regressive movement
ask questions of one another. Leadership is shared, and from giving up control to giving up inclusion in the group.
cliques dissolve. The most effective interventions in this stage are those
When members begin to know and identify with one that facilitate task termination and the disengagement
another, the level of trust in their personal relations process.
contributes to the development of group cohesion. It is
The effect of Peer Group Pressure and
during this stage of development (assuming the group
Norms
gets this far) that people begin to experience a sense
of group belonging and a feeling of relief as a result of Peer pressure is the pressure one feels to do what his/
resolving interpersonal conflicts. her group or peers expect of him/her. Peer pressure is
closely linked to organisational norms and culture. As
The major task function of stage three is the data flow
with organisational culture, peer pressure or conformity
between group members: They share feelings and ideas,
can work for or against safety. An organisation with a
solicit and give feedback to one another, and explore
positive safety culture, for example, will exert pressure on
actions related to the task. Creativity is high. If this stage of
newcomers to operate with a professional and positive
data flow and cohesion is attained by the group members,
attitude to safety. However, an organisation where
their interactions are characterized by openness and
shortcuts and non-compliance (violations) to achieve
sharing of information on both a personal and task level.
unrealistic goals are commonplace will have a negative
They feel good about being part of an effective group. The
influence on the behaviour of individuals.
major drawback of the norming stage is that members
may begin to fear the inevitable future breakup of the If individuals are expected to cut corners to get the
group; they may resist change of any sort. job done, peer pressure can influence others to do the
same. Groups generally develop social norms, which are
Performing informally accepted ways of thinking, feeling or behaving
The Performing stage is not reached by all groups. If that most people in a group agree on. Two types of norms
group members are able to evolve to stage four, their often described are;
capacity, range, and depth of personal relations expand • Injunctive norms - what people believe ought to be
to true interdependence. In this stage, people can work done
independently, in subgroups, or as a total unit with equal • Descriptive norms - what most people actually do.
facility. Their roles and authorities dynamically adjust to
Individuals tend to be influenced by norms either as
the changing needs of the group and individuals. Stage
information about ways to belong and feel mastery or
four is marked by interdependence in personal relations
74
by feeling pressure to conform. Researchers had found Influence of Groups

that the descriptive norms related to what co-workers
• roups help shape the work pattern of organisations
G
do predict proactive safety behaviours a year later,
and the attitudes and behaviour of members of their
particularly when a norm was generally held among co-
jobs. The formation and operation of work groups and
workers. However, norms of supervisors and injunctive
the behaviour of their members have an important
(what ‘should’ be done) norms of co-workers were not
significance for the manager.
predictive. The findings suggested that consistently
observed co-worker behaviours influenced safety • roup forces are important not only in influencing
G
behaviours, such as workers feeling free to suggest ways the behaviour of individual work groups with regard
improve safety, to a greater extent than supervisory to productivity, waste, absence and the like; they also
requirements or behaviour of supervisors. affect the behaviour of entire organisations.
• embership of a work group carries with its
M
Formal Groups obligations in the form of pressure to conform as well
Formal groups are created to achieve specific as the benefit of rewards. The need to remain within
organisational objectives and are concerned with the a work group stimulates a desire to conform to group
coordination of work activities. People are brought norms that can be so strong as to change individual
together on the basis of defined roles within the structure attitudes and beliefs.
of the organisation. The nature of the tasks to be
• he group itself may determine its own boundaries
T
undertaken is a predominant feature of the formal groups.
Goals are identified by management, and certain rules, and membership often through an informally
relationships and norms of behaviour established. recognized leader or leaders.
A formal group is officially designated to serve a specific • here the work group is management-organised,
W
organisational purpose. An example is the work unit there is a risk of the inclusion of an informally
headed by a manager and consisting of one or more unacceptable member, a sort of bad apple in the
direct reports. The organisation creates such a group to barrel that can disrupt the whole group.
perform a specific task, which typically involves the use of
• onsultation with informal work groups by
C
resources to create a product such as a report, decision,
management in order to gain acceptance of
service, or commodity. However, temporary formal groups
may also be created by management, for example, the changing work patterns has become a recognized
use of project teams in a matrix organisation. work practice. As such, work groups have been
trained in risk assessment techniques in the hope of
Formal work groups can be differentiated into team
stimulating group as well as the individual action. A
groups’ which are fairly autonomous groups with broad
typical example of this practice is the establishment
terms of reference and limited supervisions; task groups
could include many administrative or clerical workers, and of Quality Circles.
technological groups are people working on assembly • hanges devised or approved by the group have
C
line operations. been found to have more ready acceptance among
members.
Informal Groups
Informal groups emerge without being officially designated Organisational Communication Mechanisms
by the organisation. They form spontaneously and are and their impact on Human Failure
based on personal relationships or special interests, and Probability
not on any specific organisational endorsement. They are The risk factor of Communication failure is present in
commonly found within most formal groups. Friendship nearly every historical disaster, contributing to either the
groups, for example, consist of persons with natural cause or the consequence of the event. Communication
affinities for one another. They tend to work together, failures can occur at various stages, altering an outcome
sit together, take breaks together, and even do things in different ways. One common form of communication
together outside of the workplace. failure occurs between members of the same organisation.
Interest groups consist of persons who share common In these instances, the probability of human failure is;
interests. These may be job-related interests, such as an
• ritical information is not shared, such as when one
C
intense desire to learn more about computers, or non-
group decides to shut down a critical protection
work interests, such as community service, sports, or
system for maintenance while another group is
religion.
carrying out a dangerous experiment.
• oor communication between organisations is also

P Organisational Communication Routes
problematic. A typical scenario is two agencies
engaged in a response effort, each of which is
unaware of what the other is doing.
Type of Communication
Moreover, lack of communication with the public or the

provision of inaccurate information can place people at
risk either because they do not know the hazards they
are facing or because they are not properly advised on External External
how to protect themselves. Recent major accidents have
highlighted the need for increased focus on Human
Factors. The US Chemical Safety Board (CSB) cited Communication
human factor deficiencies as one of the main contributors Formal Informal to External
world
of the catastrophic accident at the BP Texas City Refinery
in March 2005.
Vertical
Grapevine
Shift Handover Communication Horizontal
Management can use one or more channels or routes

to communicate with his employees and obtain
feedback. Some experts prefer to use the phrase “lines of
communication” instead of channels of communication.
Vertical Communication
Vertical communication occurs between hierarchically
positioned persons and can involve both downward and
upward communication flows. Downward communication
is more prevalent than upward communication.
The human factor deficiencies included lack of control
of worker fatigue, poor human-system-interface design,
poor communication by radio/phone, out-of-date
and inaccurate operating procedures, and poor (no)
communication between workers at shift handover.
Another area where human failure probability exists
is Shift handover communication. Shift handover is
regarded as important in many shift-working occupations.
Discontinuity of tasks and personnel give rise to a risk
of non-transmission or miscommunication of critical
information. The importance of shift handover is confirmed
by a number of recent industrial accidents where failures
of communication or misunderstanding at shift handover
have been identified as causal or contributory factors.
76
Upward Communication It is a kind of horizontal communication, and it consists

of a complex network of informal contacts that occur
Upward communication provides managers with
all day long on the job, spontaneous channels through
information about current problems, updates on
which facts, half-truths, and rumors pass.” It is possible
employees’ progress toward goals, suggestions for
for such rumors to result in upward and downward
improvement, and proposals for innovations, employee
communication but the general direction is horizontal as
grievances, and feedback about employee attitudes.
such communication takes place between persons who
Upward communication can take the forms of employee
know and trust each other.
surveys, suggestion boxes, face-to-face encounters,
open-door policies, or required reports.
External Communication
Downward Communication The external communication of a business organisation
takes two forms: Outward and Inward. A business
Downward communication is used by managers to
organisation has to communicate with numerous people
assign goals. It provides job instructions. It inform
and parties that are outside, namely, customers, banks,
about policies, procedures, and practices. It provides
government officials, post office, insurance companies,
performance feedback. It points out problems. Downward
police, municipality, etc.
communication can take many forms; speeches, memos,
company newsletters, bulletin boards and policy and The communication takes place in the form of letters,
procedure manuals. telegrams, phone calls or the company may use mass
media such as newspapers, radio, and television.
Horizontal Communication Advertising is the most structured form of external
communication. Inward communication is said to take
place when the organisation receives letters, telegrams,
phone calls and visits from outside parties. All these are
carefully attended to since they are the feedback that the
company receives to all that it has been doing or saying.
Horizontal communication takes place among peers and
can cut across departments and work groups. These
Complexity, Reliability and Degree of
lateral communications benefit the organisation by more
Formality
efficiently providing support, coordination, and information A common assumption is that the target group will be
than could vertical channels. Some organisations form aware of, and understand how to comply with a rule or
task forces and committees to facilitate information procedure when it is published. However, rapid increases
exchange and coordination between departments. in the complexity and volume of new regulations, and
operational requirements can make this basic assumption
Informal Channels unrealistic. The responsibility of policymakers does
Informal channels spring up because of the common not end with the publication of the rule. New rules may
interests of people in organisations. These interests may need to be accompanied by information campaigns to
have something to do with the work and social or outside ensure that they are brought to the notice of and made
of relationships. These informal channels are known comprehensible to the target groups.
by the interesting term “grapevine” and an intelligent
Formal communication concerning risk and vulnerability
management will not attempt to curb or suppress the
analyses typically means producing, sending and reading
grapevine but will try to use the grapevine to achieve
better communication with its employees and thereby written reports. When discussing communication, it
fulfill its own objectives. is essential to differentiate between data, information,
and knowledge. Data are distinct facts, which require
Grapevine reliability. Information is packaged data, a message with
a sender and a receiver, processed with the intention
Grapevine is an informal channel of communication. The
to have an impact. Knowledge is a mix of experience,
Grapevine: Dictionary meaning says “means of secret
values, contextual information, and expert insight, and
communication” Just like the plant grapevine spreads
provides a framework for evaluating and incorporating
horizontally and rapidly to every part of the organisation
new experiences and information.
and it is a secret communication in the sense that
information is supposed to spread without the knowledge Where communications act as a barrier to failure it is
of the authorities. necessary to take steps to ensure that the communication
is effective, in order to ensure the reliability of Flixborough and the Seveso incidents are landmark
communication, there is a need for a considerable accidents that led to the introduction of the chemical
degree of formality in the communication procedures. industry’s most stringent safety legislation.
In certain fields, such as air traffic control, this is normal
practice. In the process industries, the degree of formality 3. Chernobyl 1986 (Nuclear Industry)
in communication tends to be variable. Two important 1000 MW Reactor exploded releasing radioactivity over
features include the shift handover procedures and much of Europe at environmental and human cost.
permit-to-work systems. Other aspects of communication Causes are much debated, but Soviet investigative team
may be less formal. admitted ‘deliberate, systematic and numerous violations’
One of the features prominent in many major incidents is of safety procedures by operators.
the ambiguous or incomplete messages occurring within
a formal system. The existence of a formal system such as
4.Bhopal
handover with associated logbooks may not be sufficient Widely considered the greatest tragedy in chemical
if in practice the quality, complexity, reliability and degree industry history, the Bhopal Disaster was a gas leak
of formality of communication within it are poor. incident in India that occurred on Dec. 2, 1984, at the
Union Carbide India Limited (UCIL) pesticide plant in
Contribution of human failure and Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, India. During the night of Dec.
human factors to incidents. 2-3, water entered a tank containing 42 tons of MIC. The
resulting exothermic reaction increased the temperature
Contribution of human failure to serious inside the tank to more than 392°F (200°C) and raised the
incidents, e.g., Seveso, Chernobyl, Three- pressure. The tank vented, releasing toxic gasses into the
Mile Island, Bhopal Gas. Texas city atmosphere. The gasses were blown by north-westerly
winds over Bhopal.
1. Three Mile Island 1979 (Nuclear industry) Theories differ on how water entered the tank. Operators
- Serious damage to core of Nuclear assumed that bad maintenance and leaking valves made
Reactor it possible for the water to leak into the tank. Some suggest
The operators were getting erroneous signals from sabotage by a disgruntled employee via a connection to
instrumentation that developed a mindset in them that the a missing pressure gauge on the top of the tank. A leak
reactor core was covered. Operators failed to diagnose of Methyl Isocyanides gas and other chemicals from the
a stuck open valve due to poor design of control panel, plant resulted in the exposure of hundreds of thousands
the distraction of alarms activating, inadequate operator of people. A government affidavit in 2006 stated the leak
training. Maintenance failures had occurred before, but caused as many as 25,000 deaths, as well as 558,125
no steps had been taken to prevent from recurring. injuries (3,900 severely).
The leak was caused by a discharge of water into a storage
2. Seveso
tank. This was the result of a combination of operator
On Saturday, July 10, 1976, a bursting disc on a chemical error, poor maintenance, and failed safety systems and
reactor ruptured. Maintenance staff heard a whistling poor safety management.
sound, and a cloud of vapor was seen to issue from a
vent on the roof. A dense white cloud of considerable 5. Texas City
altitude drifted offsite. The release lasted for roughly 20 On March 23, 2005, a fire and explosion occurred at
minutes. About an hour after the release, the operators BP’s Texas City refinery in Texas City, Texas, killing 15
were able to admit cooling water to the reactor. Among workers and injuring more than 170 others. The explosion
the substances of the white cloud released was a small occurred in an isomerization unit at the site, resulting in
deposit of TetraChloroDibenzoDioxin (TCDD), a highly the deaths and injuries. According to a report issued after
toxic material. The nearby town of Seveso, located 15 the accident, actions taken or not taken led to overfilling
miles from Milan, had roughly 17,000 inhabitants. Over the raffinate splitter with liquid, overheating of the liquid,
the next few days following the release, there was a lot of and the subsequent over pressurization and pressure
confusion due to the lack of communication between the relief. Hydrocarbon flow to the blowdown drum and
company and the authorities in dealing with this type of stack overwhelmed it, resulting in liquids carrying over
situation. No human deaths were attributed to TCCD, but and out of the top of the stack, flowing down the stack,
many individuals fell ill. accumulating on the ground, and causing a vapour cloud,
78
which was ignited by a contractor’s pickup truck as the in an area that receives a bonus for no incidents
engine was left running. • mpowering the workers involved in particular tasks
E
The report identified numerous failings in equipment, risk to take ownership of their own safety management
management, staff management, working culture at the by giving them authority to effect change where
site, maintenance, and inspection, and general health and problems occur
safety assessments. The U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard • nsuring that sufficient and adequate training is
E
Investigation Board found that BP had failed to implement available, both on the workers’ immediate task but
safety recommendations made before the blast. OSHA also to develop their potential for other work or
ultimately found more than 300 safety violations and fined responsibility
BP $21 billion, the largest fine in OSHA history at the time.
• egular safety meetings during team briefings will
R
The Texas City disaster emphasized the need to enforce reinforce the message that safety is part of the work,
safety culture in the industry and increase risk management not a ‘bolt-on’ extra
and the use of performance indicators. The formal inquiry
• ffective joint consultation and safety committee
E
found a number of technical and organisational failures.
meetings to ensure that concerns and good ideas
Maintenance error that eventually led to the leak was the
may be aired productively
result of inexperience, poor maintenance procedures and
poor learning by the organisation. There was a breakdown • ood communication systems enabling the workforce
G
in communications and the permit-to-work system at shift to be kept informed of changes in technology,
changeover, and safety procedures were not practiced production aims, legislation and potential problems
sufficiently. • iscipline is necessary - although it does not always
D
need to be heavy handed.
Improving human reliability
There is clearly an interaction between an individual’s
personality, motivation and their attitudes towards safety.
Initiatives for improving individual human
This interaction is complex, and many factors have only
reliability in the workplace:
limited practical relevance for managers seeking to more
Motivation and Reinforcement; Workplace effectively influence workforce behaviour.
Incentive Schemes
Safety Incentive and Award Schemes
Providing suitable motivation is a particularly effective
Opinions vary considerably as to the desirability or value
way of affecting the safety culture within an organisation. If
of incentives to encourage workers to consider their own
this is done visibly and the benefits adequately explained,
safety. However, the principal philosophy behind safety
the positive effect on the organisational culture can most
incentive schemes is exactly the same as that of other
often ensure that any risk control measures in place are
incentive schemes for production, sales or marketing, i.e.
effective and that where problems occur, they are quickly
to motivate people to perform better.
identified allowing remedial action to be taken.
The ways of securing motivation are based on;
Aspects of management that are likely to produce worker
motivation include: • Identifying targets, for which a reward can be given if
the target is reached
• ecognition of the worker or team and indicating
R
their value to the organisation by praise and • aking the reward meaningful and desirable to the
M
encouragement people concerned.
• general improvement of the safety culture by visible
A Essentially these schemes are concerned with two
management commitment, particularly where this is aspects of human behaviour and performance, viz.
backed up by demonstration, i.e. leading by example motivation and attitude. People should be motivated
to perform or behave in a particular way and, in many
• Involvement of the whole workforce in the risk
cases, attitude changes should be brought about so that
management process, particularly in areas of hazard
they will behave more safely, thereby bringing about a
identification, risk assessments and the development
reduction in accidents.
of practicable, safe systems of work
The most successful safety incentive schemes are those
• ewards of some form or other can provide motivation,
R
which are linked to a program of safety inspections or
but care must be taken that they do not distort the
safety audits of the workplace. To be effective, inspections
process - for example by inhibiting incident reporting
should be undertaken on an irregular basis. Otherwise, Job Satisfaction

there is the danger that workers will become ‘conditioned’
Herzberg’s original hypothesis followed the notion that the
to the system and not behave as they normally would.
opposite of dissatisfaction is not satisfaction, but simply no
The most common system is that of awarding points for
dissatisfaction, and that the absence of satisfaction is not
areas of health and safety performance, e.g. systems of
dissatisfaction but no satisfaction. His postulation of these
work, procedures, housekeeping.
factors as being different in character caused the theory to
Inspections should be carried out by a mixed team e.g. be called the ‘Herzberg two-factor theory of job satisfaction.’
safety specialist, personnel officer, trade union safety The following is a list of the basic factors which he referred
representative and the line manager concerned in order to as ‘satisfiers’ and ‘dissatisfiers.’ It illustrates the basic
to maintain a degree of fairness. The establishment difference between the two. Further analysis suggests that
of the correct targets is important in such schemes. the satisfiers are all integral to the performance of the job,
Everyone must fully understand the scheme, and there and are referred to as ‘job content factors.’
must be total support from senior and line management
Herzberg further called the satisfiers ‘motivators’ and
if the scheme is to work. Many existing safety incentive
the dissatisfiers ‘hygiene factors.’ He referred to the
schemes, however, have serious deficiencies. If the
dissatisfiers as ‘replenishment needs’ since provision
rewards are directly related to the number of accidents in
must always be made for them, but their importance is
a department, this can reduce the incidence of accident
realized only when they are inadequate or absent. In other
reporting in order to attain the target. They can alter
words, people expect their replenishment needs to be met
the threshold at which accidents are reported and, in
at all times. The motivators, on the other hand, he called
many cases, injured persons may be discouraged from
‘growth needs’ since they are the work elements that
obtaining first aid treatment if all treatments are reported
provide real motivation in this theory of job satisfaction,
as part of the scheme. It does not affect serious accidents
which must be reported anyway. One of the principal
criticisms of safety incentive schemes is that they tend to
Fulfilment
be short-lived. There have been accusations of gimmickry, Employee Employee
Commitment
Dissatisfaction Satisfaction
‘nine-day wonders’ and lack of organisation and control. Engagement
They can also shift responsibility from management to
worker for the general control of health and safety and,
over a relatively short period of time, serious situations Factors leading to Factors leading to
dissatisfaction: Satisfaction:
can develop over accidents that have not been reported.
Poor Pay Good leadership
People may even disclaim knowledge of an accident ever Poor compensation practices
taking place, due to the desire to earn the rewards offered Poor work Good manager
in the scheme. conditions relationship
Lack of promotions Recognition
Generally, however, safety incentive schemes have much Poor benefits Advancement
to offer in terms of improved operator behaviour and offering Personal Growth
Feedback and
performance, and this should result in a reduction in accidents. support
When these
These schemes are probably most effective where people conditions are Clear direction and
optimal job objectives
are restricted to one area of activity, e.g. driving commercial
dissatisfaction
vehicles or forklift trucks, and the operation of machinery will be eliminated
or well-controlled processes where it is relatively simple However, these When these factors
factors do not are optimal, job
to measure and demonstrate safety performance. satisfaction will be
increase job
They do, however, need regular stimulation and satisfaction. increased
rejuvenation, and must have management and trade
union support. Additionally, they should be supported Reward and Recognition
adequately by safety propaganda. To finish, various forms
It is important that an established reward and recognition
of planned motivation directed at rewarding good safety
program is in place and that everyone understands it.
behaviour on the basis of formally agreed objectives and
There is often an assumption that recognition and rewards
criteria have proved successful. Safety incentive schemes
equate to money and budget, but this need not always
should not be based on a reduction in accident rates,
be the case. Recognition can be a certificate, a name
however, as this can reduce or restrict accident reporting
on a ‘wall of honor,’ helium balloons on the desk or even
by employees.
80
t-shirts. The key factor is that individual call handlers or • 360 Degree appraisal
even all the members of the team are publicly recognized • Behavioural Observation Scale
by their manager and by their peers - and this is a very
• Behaviourally Anchored Rating Scale.
powerful motivator indeed.
Trait based systems, which rely on factors such as
It is important that rewards focus on behaviour and not
integrity and conscientiousness, are also commonly used
simply performance results. One of the best morale
by businesses. The scientific literature on the subject
boosters is to receive a letter of praise from a customer.
provides evidence that is assessing employees on factors
These should be displayed in the call center as they will
such as these should be avoided.
not only motivate those involved but will also reinforce the
organisation’s commitment to maintaining high standards The reasons for this are two-fold;
of quality customer service. Finally, create and maintain • ecause trait-based systems are by definition based
B
a culture where people want to have fun. People spend on personality traits, they make it difficult for a
more of their life at work than anywhere else, so make it manager to provide feedback that can cause positive
fun. change in employee performance.
Appraisal Schemes • his is caused by the fact that personality dimensions

T
are for the most part static, and while an employee
Performance appraisal, also known as employee appraisal,
can change a specific behaviour, they cannot change
is a method by which the job performance of an employee
their personality.
is evaluated (generally in terms of quality, quantity,
cost, and time). More and more today the individual’s • or example, a person who lacks integrity may stop
F
performance relating to health and safety is being lying to a manager because they have been caught,
considered in such appraisal reviews. This is particularly but they still have low integrity and are likely to lie
so when one examines performance appraisals of Senior again when the threat of being caught is gone.
and Departmental Managers. Performance appraisal is • rait based systems, because they are vague, are
T
often seen as part of career development. more easily influenced by office politics, causing
Performance appraisals are regular reviews of employee them to be less reliable as a source of information on
performance within organisations. Generally, the aims of an employee’s true performance.
a performance appraisal are to; • he vagueness of these instruments allows managers
T
• Give feedback on performance to employees to fill them out based on who they want to/feel
should get a raise, rather than basing scores on
• Identify employee training needs
specific behaviours employees should / should not
• ocument criteria used to allocate organisational
D be engaging in.
rewards
• hese systems are also more likely to leave a company
T
• orm a basis for personnel decisions: salary increases,
F open to discrimination claims because a manager can
promotions, disciplinary actions, etc make biased decisions without having to back them
• rovide the opportunity for organisational diagnosis
P up with specific behavioural information.
and development
Selection of Individuals - Matching Skills
• acilitate communication between employee and
F and Aptitudes
administrator.
A common approach to assessing performance is to use Interviewing and Selection - Recruitment
a numerical or scalar rating system whereby managers As the industry becomes more sophisticated, it is of
are asked to score an individual against a number of vital significance that workers should be physically
objectives / attributes. In some companies, employees and mentally suited for the tasks they are required to
receive assessments from their manager, peers, undertake. The pre-employment medical examination for
subordinates and customers while also performing a self- restricted groups of people has been common practice
assessment. This is known as 360° appraisal. for many years, but over the last quarter of a century,
The most popular methods that are being used as the more prudent employer has extended this form of
performance appraisal process are; examination to all grades of staff.
• Management objectives In many cases, the examination is undertaken by a

registered medical practitioner paid on a retainer basis,
or by an appointed factory doctor. However, in recent Applicant Research

years, the concept of health screening by a trained
Applicants must be researched before the interview.
occupational health nurse has found favor with many
The most common methods of receiving candidate
organisations, and such a pre-employment health screen
information are the resume and cover letter, generated by
for prospective employees is a standard feature of their
the applicant, or the employment application, generated
recruitment policies.
by the company. These records can be very informative.
This is particularly appropriate in the food and catering Not only do they provide basic background/historical
industries where not only the health of the worker is information, but the presentation can also provide
important, but the potential for his contaminating the glimpses into the applicant’s suitability for employment.
product must be given considerable prominence. Pre- A manager, for instance, should watch for such problems
employment screening activities now include not only as typographical errors, spelling errors, or incomplete
an assessment of general fitness for the job but specific information about the applicant. Likewise, pay attention to
aspects of it such as vision screening of drivers, VDU- the length of time an applicant has spent at a position, the
Visual Display Units operators and people engaged in fine responsibilities they were given in successive positions,
assembly work, the assessment of disability levels where and the chronological information on the resume.
heavy work is involved, certain tests for suitability as food Frequent job changes, declining responsibility, or gaps
handlers and aptitude testing for a wide range of tasks. in employment are all items that should be pursued for
clarification. None of these call for immediate rejection
Interviewing of a candidate, but any could signal a potential area of
Interviewing is an integral part of the hiring process. exploration.
It provides small business owners with their primary
opportunity to learn about a candidate’s: Selection of Candidates
• Work experience Not all people who apply will be qualified for the position.
The manager selects candidates for the position from
• Education
the entire group of applicants, choosing individuals who
• Interpersonal abilities demonstrate the best skills for the open position in their
• haracteristics such as enthusiasm that are rarely
C written presentation. When putting together an interview
conveyed in resumes. schedule, a manager needs to balance the desire to
interview all qualified people with the practical necessity
Similarly, the interview process often provides would-be
of concluding the search in a timely fashion. Consider
employees with their best opportunity to inquire about
the time frame for the hiring decision, the amount of time
various aspects of company operations and expectations.
available to interview, and select candidates carefully.
Before the Interview A good rule of thumb is to allow 30 to 60 minutes per
interview; then add 15 minutes in between interviews,
Before beginning the interview, the manager must define
to prevent back-to-back interviews. Small business
the skills needed to fill the position. This, along with
consultants caution that a day of back-to-back interviews
careful applicant research and candidate selection, helps
can tire the interviewer and hinder his or her ability to
to ensure a smooth interview process.
make a well-reasoned decision.
Critical Skills
The Interview
To secure the right person for a job, the manager must
Time well spent in the interviewing process can prevent a
define the necessary skills for the job, often called the
poor hiring decision. Preparation is the key to a successful
critical skills. These describe exactly the skills a person
interview. Don’t scrimp on time during the interview, and
needs to successfully perform the tasks. Sample critical
be sure to let the candidate do the majority of the talking.
skills could be phrased as “facility with communication,
The space for the interview should be ready, and the
“high degree of organisation,” or “ability to work well
interviewer should have already prepared questions for
independently.”
the discussion.
Critical skills are expanded upon in the job description
and help guide the manager during the selection process Environment
and then provide structure for the position throughout The interviewer can make the candidate feel at ease, or
employment. an interviewer can make the candidate uncomfortable. In
82
short, the interviewer sets the tone for the meeting. To Methods of Training Delivery
ensure a successful interview, be sure that space is free of
There are a number of methods of delivering the training,
distractions and interruptions such as telephones or other
and each has different merits - no one method is correct
employees; allow for minimal barriers between employer
in all circumstances.
and the candidate (desks or tables); and always offer
the candidate coffee, soda, or water. Be courteous and The main methods include lectures, on-the-job training,
professional without presenting an environment which is mentoring, off-the-job training, computer based learning,
too formal. interactive learning, distance learning, workshops and
learning centers.
Behavioural Interviewing
Lectures
Though there are many kinds of interviewing techniques,
behavioural interviewing allows the interviewer to focus These can be efficient in that a number of people can
on likely future performance based on past behaviour. be taught at one time but suffer from potential lack of
This is one of the most popular interviewing techniques, interaction causing attention to wander. However, good
and it is effective precisely because it focuses on specific lecture techniques that promote participant interaction
situations and examples, not hypothetical situations. can overcome this problem.
It requires that candidates draw on past experience to
On-the-job Training
describe what they actually did in specific work situations,
and this discourages “made up” answers or hypothetical This is another form of the lecture but in a real working
exaggerations. It thus provides potentially valuable environment. This has the advantage of potentially being
insights into the candidate’s likely approach to issues and more stimulating for the participants but can also cause
problems he or she may face in your company’s work problems particularly if the group is large in that it can
environment. disrupt the work area and can expose the participants to
uncontrolled risks caused by the group being in a space
Types of Questions too small for them.
Interview questions are designed to explore the
Mentoring
candidate’s previous work experience, education, and
other areas which will enable the interviewer to determine This is a form of on-the-job training that involves the
if the candidate has the best match of critical skills for the trainee being supervised - closely at first, then more
position. There are many types of questions. The biggest relaxed as they progress - by an experienced person.
mistake interviewers make is to ask only factual questions However, the experienced person may well be too busy
during an interview. or unable to undertake their teaching role properly.
Closing the Interview Off the Job Training

When closing the interview, first offer to answer any Off the job training relates to training that a person takes
questions the candidate may have. The basic factual away from the workplace. The locations of such training
information about the company and position must be may well be in an ‘on-site’ training center of a company,
readily available. Make the follow-up process clear to the a dedicated training area for job specific tasks (skill
candidate. If there are other candidates to interview, be center) or even away from the company altogether e.g.
sure that the candidate knows this and knows when to college, training institute, hotel training classroom, etc.The
expect your decision. importance of such training is that the trainee is taken
away from their natural working environment and all of
Training and Competence Assessment the distractions that it may have. This is allowing for better
Training refers to the acquisition of knowledge, skills, and concentration and more focused learning.
competencies as a result of the teaching of vocational
Computer Based Training (CBT)
or practical skills and knowledge that relates to specific
useful skills. It forms the core of apprenticeships and This involves a training course on a computer that the
provides the backbone of content at technical colleges and trainee uses to learn some or all of the aspects of the
polytechnics. Today it is often referred to as professional task. This can be effective if there are sufficient resources
development. In the workplace, it is important to have the (computers) for the participants but can suffer from being
right person skills mix for safety-critical jobs and is a top a little too divorced from the reality of the information
priority in other positions in the workplace being passed on.
Interactive Training
This involves the interaction of the participant with some
form of training provider - it can be a person, a book or a
computer. This often involves the participant reacting to
given situations requiring them to apply learned solutions
or devise their own but in the ‘safety’ of a learning
environment. However, it can suffer from poorly designed
situations having no relevance to the participant.
Distance Learning
It involves the use of material prepared elsewhere, often
in book form, but with the advantage of some form of
tutor support to help the trainee through difficulties.
This can be effective as it is often undertaken in short
‘bursts’ by the trainee but can suffer from the remoteness
of the assistance and potential lack of motivation of the
participant.
Workshops
These can be very effective as they bring together people
to learn a subject that usually has practical application to
their work. They also allow the participants to share ideas
and techniques from their own experience or to draw on
those from the facilitator of the workshop. However if
not carefully controlled they can degrade into unhelpful
general conversations.
Learning Centres
Are often a special ‘exhibition’ set up in a convenient
place that has the necessary resources, models, practical,
interactive ‘exhibits,’ publications and advice to enable a
trainee to obtain the necessary information to achieve the
required learning objectives. These are not to be confused
with off the job training arrangements.

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PRIOR LEARNING - LO2

•  here is leadership and commitment to health and

2.1 Organisational Structures Input Process Output

•  methodology that forms a framework for designing,

Concepts & Feedback

First Stage Controls- Control of Inputs Procedures

Functions Forming of Groups

Functional Organisational Structure induce workers in the new practices?

Feedback Line Communication Line Potential conflict between

An owner or top manager of an organisation delegates Summary of Individual Goals and

2. Production Targets • Investigate on the complaints what they received

5. Contractors/Clients Types of safety leadership, their

as both these attributes will have a negative impact on Transactional Transformational

• c reate a supportive climate and promote learning

•  alanced processing or “fair-mindedness”.

and contract workers). employees and health and safety representatives. It is

It is usually practical to involve representatives that 4. Get it right: Keep improving

fails to follow up a consultation. This is tokenism and this

physical environment in which the system operates, the

•  lack of compliance with relevant health and safety

•  oor levels of communication, cooperation, and

1. Management Commitment and •  ake a whole-of-business approach to health and

•  n ignorance of the value of worker involvement, and

Health and Safety Culture or Climate 2. Lack of confidence in Organisation’s

Changing the culture: by strong project management. The formal procedure of

the anticipated organisational support required for

because of contextual and process problems: Direct Action

Merits Safety monitoring activities, such as safety audits and

They should also involve employees in a discussion on

The Principles of behavioural change Disadvantages of Behaviour Change

In Safety I, a system is said to be unsafe if there is more

Safety I relies on compliance and on workers following Proactive safety management

this can be confirmed by such social phenomena as Perceptual Capabilities

Perception is the process of interpreting a stimulus, or a The effects of Noise exposure

Taste Perception • The action

Individual Behaviour Perception and Hazard Detection

may be the learned specific warnings which are already

placing of warnings. They should; Mistakes

• Be present only when and where needed

•  referably indicate what would happen if the warning

•  erforming an action too soon in a procedure or

Organisational and managerial role in

•  o identify the weaker human links in a system so that

•  oorly identified controls which the operator could

Matching the job to the person Hierarchical Task Analysis (HTA)

Task Analysis • Personal protective equipment

Design Task Analysis (DTA) Training Needs Analysis

•  ist the range of outcomes to be achieved by the

•  evelop the appropriate control measures, including

Individual factors loss and / or disruption of the internal clock.

•  ailing to specify targets that will enable them to

Inadequacies in Monitoring Stages of Group Development

•  onitoring documentation requirements inadequate

by feeling pressure to conform. Researchers had found Influence of Groups

•  oor communication between organisations is also

Moreover, lack of communication with the public or the

Management can use one or more channels or routes

Upward Communication It is a kind of horizontal communication, and it consists

should be undertaken on an irregular basis. Otherwise, Job Satisfaction

• here is leadership and commitment to health and

• methodology that forms a framework for designing,

2. Production Targets • Investigate on the complaints what they received

• c reate a supportive climate and promote learning

• alanced processing or “fair-mindedness”.

• lack of compliance with relevant health and safety

• oor levels of communication, cooperation, and

1. Management Commitment and • ake a whole-of-business approach to health and

• n ignorance of the value of worker involvement, and

• referably indicate what would happen if the warning

• erforming an action too soon in a procedure or

• o identify the weaker human links in a system so that

• oorly identified controls which the operator could

• ist the range of outcomes to be achieved by the

• evelop the appropriate control measures, including

• ailing to specify targets that will enable them to

• onitoring documentation requirements inadequate

• oor communication between organisations is also

Appraisal Schemes • his is caused by the fact that personality dimensions