This looked at how production pressure was related to workers experiencing more accidents & how often they reported them. It surveyed 212 copper mining workers in the US.
Results found that around 80% of all experienced accidents as indicated by workers went unreported (this is supported by other research from the authors).
Production pressure, as expected, was related to more negative reporting attitudes and thus, under-reporting.
Workers who experienced greater production pressure indicated greater injury frequency & reported fewer of them.
Workers who had positive reporting attitudes were injured less frequently & were more likely to report when it happened.
Certain incidents were more likely to be reported than others – e.g. vehicle events at 73% reported or caught between objects at 28%; compared to slips, trips & falls at 18-20% or contact with HAZMAT at 9.4%. The authors suggest that visibility (and of course, severity) may be a factor in reporting differences.
The authors relate the findings to psychological safety & how workers perceive the environment may influence their decisions of a “noisy fix”, allowing others to learn about the incident vs a “quiet fix” that lets them move on quickly.
Authors: Tahira M.Probst, Maja Graso, 2013, Accident Analysis & Prevention
Link to the study: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.aap.2013.07.020
Link to the LinkedIn article:
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/pressure-produce-reduce-accident-reporting-ben-hutchinson
SafetyInsights.org 