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This study surveyed 385 OHS Professionals (OHSP) to explore which influence tactics they use and the perceived efficacy of the tactics. First they covered the literature on influence tactics. They highlighted previous research showing that a OHSPs role & practices are organisationally and socially complex and often lacking in positional power. Females reported more frequent use of legitimating and less use of pressure than males. It’s said that while both of these tactics are considered “hard” influencing tactics (which they define as tactics that elicit behavioural compliance without changing a person’s attitudes), previous research interestingly enough “literature suggests that some “hard” influencing tactics are considered more acceptable when used by men” (p502). Less experienced OHSP used greater pressure, collaboration, ingratiation and personal appeals – suggesting less experienced have to work harder to influence, and resort to a fuller spectrum of tactics. Little difference with age of OHSP was found. Although younger (<35) persons preferred more collaboration tactics OHSP in companies with low safety maturity reported more use of ingratiation, collaboration and legitimating compared to high maturity. Inexperienced OHSP are reasoned to be working hard to influence stakeholders and are thus more likely to use a fuller spectrum of tactics. Also regarding age and experience, younger (under 35 years) professionals reported a higher use of collaboration tactic, which is said to be “an unsurprising finding given that younger workers (particularly millennials) prefer collaboration, team-based work projects, and an unstructured flow of information at all levels (p503). Professionals with >10 years’ experience are more likely to be in senior positions, which may allow them different opportunities to be influential. Higher organisational safety maturity was significantly related to OHSP perceived influencing effectiveness; such that they believe they have more opportunities to influence. Professionals in companies with a perceived low organisational safety maturity were more likely to draw on ingratiation, collaboration and legitimating compared to those in higher maturity organisations. Further, based on other research it’s said that OHS professionals with less organisational support are more likely to draw on a fuller spectrum of influencing tactics. Quoting the paper, “the increased use of the legitimating tactic may reflect the current view that OHS professionals working in organizations with pathological and reactive levels of safety maturity may be limited to fulfilling and enforcing legal requirements differences in behaviors used to exert influence in organizations” Company size (>500 workers) was found to impact OHSP perceived influencing effectiveness, perhaps due to the difficulty of building effective interpersonal relationships amongst a large workforce. Rational persuasion is the most frequently used tactic – suggesting the knowledge approach to influence is favoured. This and inspirational appeal are positively associated with effectiveness, and legitimating and exchange are negatively associated. While inspirational appeal was positively associated with perceived influencing effectiveness, which aligns with other research, OHS professionals were found to draw on this tactic less than rational appeal, consultation, collaboration and legitimating. This was also found in the environmental management field “where it was hypothesised that agents tend to avoid value-based appeals due to the fear that this type of behavior may stigmatise or marginalise them” (p503). Legitimating was negatively associated with effectiveness – suggesting this hard tactic with potential for sanctions and non-compliance may not be effective, leading to resistance and non-commitment. For the exchange tactic (implicit or explicit offers or rewards), this was also found to be negatively associated with perceived ability to influence organisational decision makers. They speculate that offering rewards etc. necessitates the agent to have control over the rewards; but the OHS professionals that “lacks positional power and formal authority may have less control of rewards that are perceived as beneficial to organizational decision-makers” (p504). Exchange tactic is more regularly used when other methods haven’t worked well enough or the stakeholder is unwilling to support the OHS professionals request without benefits or enticements. Interestingly, OHS professionals have been observed to draw on the exchange tactic more regularly than other occupational groups, which the authors speculate could indicate that OHS professionals draw on this tactic to overcome the initial resistance they may face. Authors: Cassandra Madigan, Kïrsten Way, Mike Capra, Kelly Johnstone, 2020, Safety Science Study link: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssci.2019.09.028 Link to the LinkedIn article: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/influencing-organizational-decision-makers-what-ohs-using-hutchinson