Safety culture
4.8 Human behaviour
In attempting to understand how individuals may behave in the workplace, it is important to consider what is termed ‘human factors’. An understanding of human fac-tors will enable organisations to understand and manage the effects that humans have upon risk control systems.
The safety of the employees will always depend, to a greater or lesser degree, on their own skill and ability to work ‘safely’, based on their training, knowledge and experience. Under normal conditions, the competence of individuals makes an essential contribution to workplace
safety. The knowledge, experience and training are often of even greater importance if events take an unexpected turn.
The acceptance of safety issues by people at work, and therefore their contribution to them, depends on the importance placed on safety by the organisation and all of the people within it.
A number of factors affect and impact upon human behaviour in the workplace. The most important of these factors relate to the organisation in which the individual works, the job being done and the person undertaking the work.
The relationship between the individual, the job they perform and the organisation in which they work is both complex and interrelated. An effective safety culture is one that recognises and manages these interdepend-ent spheres of infl uence and manages the interfaces between work and:
➤ The organisational characteristics which have an infl uence on safety-related behaviour at work
➤ The infl uence of equipment and system design on human performance
➤ The perceptual, mental and physical abilities of people and the interaction between them and their job and working environment.
4.8.1 The organisation
Where management fails to take positive action on non-compliance with safety procedures, or worse still actively promote such breaches, the individuals within the organ-isation will perceive that such actions are condoned.
As individuals, our behaviour is infl uenced by the various organisations, or groups, to which we belong.
Where the infl uences are complementary our behaviour, good or bad, is encouraged and reinforced. However, where the infl uences are in confl ict human behaviour will generally follow the strongest infl uence.
Figure 4.11 Consultation with employees increases commitment to safety systems
Figure 4.12 The interrelated job, person and organisa-tional factors that affect the safety culture of an organisation
Organisa-tional
Job
Person
Organisations can be structured or designed in a number of different ways. It is often considered that the form a particular organisation takes is a refl ection of the function of the organisation. For example, the organisa-tion of an academic instituorganisa-tion will normally be a loose confederation of autonomous departments that are coordinated by a fi gurehead. In contrast, an organisation providing a service directly to the end user will tend to be far more hierarchical. Some structures may be referred to as ‘tall’ hierarchies and others as ‘fl at’, with a greater divestment of authority and responsibility at lower levels.
Whichever type of organisational structure is in place it is vital that there are, at all levels of the organ-isation, clearly defi ned responsibilities for safety.
Within the work organisation will be a number of subgroups, each of which will in their turn exert an infl uence on the behaviour of the individuals within the organisation. Some of these groups will be formal groups and under direct control of the organisation, such as the various departments and sections, while others will be informal groups which simply form within the work organisation, such as groups based on rest room relationships or internal club relationships.
Again, the organisation must ensure that the infl uences exerted by the various groups are comple-mentary and supportive of the safety culture. Where this is not the case the pressure brought by a subgroup upon its members can disrupt even the most strict control mechanisms within the formal organisation. Where subgroups do not have the same acceptance of safety goals as the employer, the members of the groups will tend to disregard the organisational safety procedures.
This is often based on differing attitudes to safety within the groups, e.g. there can be a ‘macho’ attitude often displayed in the construction industry, leading to safety measures being sidelined.
Confl ict can exist between the various groups due to a number of reasons, including:
➤ Differing priorities and goals
➤ Differing motivations and acceptance of safety issues
➤ Differing cultures and objectives
➤ Misunderstanding of individual roles
➤ Poor communication between groups.
The nature of the formal and informal organisational structures in a workplace will affect how individuals feel about safety. Some individuals may feel more comfort-able working in a fl at organisation whereas some will prefer the certainty of a rigid hierarchy where the indi-vidual’s role is tightly defi ned and controlled.
Organisational structures themselves have an impact on how safety is managed with a hierarchical structure often providing an effective basis for action but a sometimes more diffi cult environment to achieved employee involvement in decision making. A fl at structure, on the other hand, may be better for allowing individuals to contribute but does not provide the most effective framework for driving forward change.
Common problems associated if ineffective or inappropriate organisational structures include:
➤ Communication failures
➤ They are hierarchical and rigid in nature and there-fore impersonal
➤ They ignore the emotional impact of organisational decisions or procedures
➤ They are often seen as uncaring and lacking com-mitment, especially to safety issues.
4.8.2 Job factors
All work tasks should be designed to take account of the limitations of human performance, both in normal oper-ating circumstances and during any foreseeable emer-gency conditions. Matching the job to the person will ensure they are not overloaded and that they make the most effective contribution to the organisation.
This requires the employer to consider the physical and mental match between the task and the worker.
Mismatches between job requirements and the capabil-ities of the individual increase the likelihood of human error.
Physical match
Employers need to consider the ergonomic design of the whole workplace, working environment and the work equipment within it to ensure the impact on the workers is reduced as much as possible.
Mental match
Employers should also consider the various job demands made on individuals in respect of decision making, the receipt and understanding of information and perception of the requirements of the task – particularly if additional Figure 4.13 Examples of tall and fl at hierarchical
structures
Tall hierarchy Flat hierarchy
Safety culture
responsibilities are added such as an evacuation coord-inator or fi rst responder.
Job design
The design of the job and working environment should be based on task analysis of the activities required of the worker to ensure the correct match between the demands of the job and the abilities of the worker exists.
The main considerations during job design include:
➤ Identifi cation and comprehensive analysis of the tasks expected of the individuals, including any foreseeable errors they may make
➤ Evaluation of the decision-making requirement placed on the individual
➤ The optimum balance between human and auto-matic safety actions
➤ Ergonomic design of all man/machine interfaces, including control devices, panel layouts and infor-mation and warning systems
➤ Design and format of operational instructions or procedures
➤ Provision of correct tools and equipment
➤ Design of work and shift patterns
➤ Arrangements for emergency operations and procedures
➤ Short- and long-term communication procedures.
Job safety analysis
Job safety analysis involves the identifi cation of all the accident prevention measures appropriate to a particular job or area of work activity and the behavioural factors which most signifi cantly infl uence whether or not these measures are taken.
Derived from task analysis, job safety analysis examines the:
➤ Operations incorporated in the job
➤ Hazards which could arise, e.g. fi re explosion
➤ Skills required by operators in terms of knowledge and behaviour
➤ External infl uences on behaviour:
➤ Nature of the infl uence, e.g. noise from a boiler alarm
➤ Source of the infl uence, e.g. machinery, and activ-ities involved – machine loading, procedure
➤ Learning method.
This technique is often used for higher risk or complex tasks enabling the production of safe operating systems or safe systems of work.
4.8.3 Personal factors
Personality – individuals bring to their job their own per-sonal habits, attitudes, skills, perper-sonality and desires, all
of which can affect their individual behaviour, and which may be either a strength or a weakness in relation to the task in hand. Individual characteristics infl uence behav-iour in complex and signifi cant ways.
Some individual characteristics, such as personality, are developed throughout the person’s life and are not generally amenable to change.
Others, such as skills and attitudes, can be modifi ed or enhanced by correct motivation, training and by the infl uence of the organisational culture. It is vital that the employer carefully selects individuals to ensure, as much as possible, that they match the requirements of the job.
Each human can be said to be a unique individual with a unique blend of attributes that characterise him or her. These ‘individual differences’ are often described as an individual’s personality. People’s personalities develop into adulthood and by the time they enter the world of work their personality is often fi xed and tends to become more so as they continue to mature.
Attitude is an important facet of personality that has a signifi cant impact on managing safety is an individual attitude. There have been many defi nitions of attitude, including the following:
➤ A predisposition towards a particular response in relation to people, objects and situations – not evacuating when the alarm sounds
➤ A predetermined set of responses built up as a result of experience of similar situations – no fi re last time
➤ A shorthand way of responding to a particular situation
➤ A preconception of the way a situation is going to develop – no fi re – loss of productivity less pay.
The factors that affect the development of attitudes at work include:
➤ Self image and levels of confi dence
➤ The degree of perceived control over a particular situation
➤ The infl uence of peer groups and group norms
➤ Superstitious and inaccurate perceptions, e.g. ‘acci-dents are bound to happen – there is nothing we can do to stop them’.
Attitudes at work can be ingrained and built up in an entire workforce over a period of years. Changing atti-tudes can be a diffi cult and lengthy process and is, most successfully, undertaken sensitively.
In order to change attitudes it is fi rst necessary to convince people that there is a valid reason to change, demonstrating to the individual that their attitude is based on misperceptions – generating behaviour that is disadvantageous to both themselves and the organ-isation can do this. Once the case for change has been
accepted it is important to identify the benefi ts of the new behaviour that is being suggested. Provided that individuals still feel that the decision to change is theirs they will be motivated to adopt new behaviours at work and more likely to view any changes with a positive attitude. Finally the new behaviour needs to be reinforced by recognising those displaying it and dealing with non-compliance.
the apparent chaos. Again, their perception of the risk would be inaccurate based on their experience of offi ce environments
➤ The perception of a child to the risks associated with playing with matches alone in his bedroom while the family are asleep will differ from the parents’ percep-tion of the risks associated with that activity.
How people perceive the risks associated with fi re is discussed further in Chapter 10.
Motivation in its simplest form is considered to be the reaction of humans to stimulus or perceived need.
It has been defi ned as ‘a willingness to exert effort to achieve a desired outcome which satisfi es a need’, which implies that motivation is ‘need satisfaction’. A motivator is therefore said to be something that provides the drive to produce certain behaviour or to change behaviour.
Important factors in motivating people to achieve better safety performance at work have been shown to include:
➤ Involvement in the safety management process through consultation and active participation in planning work organisation
➤ Active involvement in working parties and com-mittees, assisting in defi ning health and safety objectives
➤ Clear demonstration of commitment by manage-ment to safety issues
➤ The attitudes of management and other workers towards safety
➤ Active participation in day-to-day management and monitoring of safety performance
➤ Effective communication of information to and from management
➤ The system for communication within the organisation
➤ The quality of leadership at all levels: management, trade unions, government.
A useful example of changing attitudes of the public relates to the introduction of the mandatory wearing of seat belts in cars.
When compulsory use of belts was fi rst introduced many drivers had never used them. Initially it was found that drivers did not use them, stating that:
➤ They found them uncomfortable
➤ They could not see the need
➤ They cost lives by trapping you in the car after a crash
➤ They had never been hurt in a crash so why did they need a belt.
Most of these objections were based on the general public’s attitude to the imposi-tion of seat belts on them. Over time people have changed their attitudes and, therefore, their behaviour has changed. This has been achieved through various means, such as advertising, law enforcement, provision of information, etc.
Perception – the way in which people interpret or make use of information. For instance, the way people identify risk is dictated by a range of factors, such as their age, individual attitudes, skills, training, experience, personality, memory and their ability to process sensory information.
As a result of this, if there is a mismatch between a person’s ability to perceive the risk accurately, and the real life extent of the risk, the person can be misled into under- or overestimating the level of the risk.
For example:
➤ Most construction workers would perceive offi ces as ‘safe’ work environments based on their experi-ence in a high risk industry and would, therefore, probably feel perfectly comfortable and safe in even the most unsafe offi ce
➤ An offi ce worker, on the other hand, taken to even a
well-run construction site would feel threatened by Figure 4.14 Maslow’s hierarchy of needs
Physiological Needs Self
Actualisation
Self Esteem Social Needs
Safety/Security