This study explored how workers perceive and rationalise abusive supervision, and how gender influences the relationship. 3 studies were utilised – 2 experimental and 1 field study. For background: · Abusive supervision “may not always be perceived as harmful, as employees’ perceptions of abusive supervision are subjective (Tepper, 2000), including their evaluations of supervisors’ intentions… Continue reading Getting away “Scott” (but not Susan) free: The effects of safety-specific abusive supervision and supervisor gender on follower attributions & safety
Author: Ben Hutchinson
Cooking the books: how injury measures and Executive incentives (can) lead to ruin
Another interesting report from Safe Work Australia, authored by O’Neill, Wolfe & Holley, which explored performance measurement & CEO/executive incentives. Too much to cover, so just a few points on injury measures: · They highlight the limits of a “single injury rate as a generic, all-purpose indicator of WHS performance”, relating to data quality and the… Continue reading Cooking the books: how injury measures and Executive incentives (can) lead to ruin
Workplace health and safety performance at the client-contractor interface: Measurement, management and behaviour
A really interesting paper exploring performance measurement and management (PMM) systems in construction. They looked at: · How do clients measure WHS performance in the delivery of construction projects? · How do clients use this measurement to manage WHS performance? and · How do performance measurement and management practices adopted by construction clients influence contractors’… Continue reading Workplace health and safety performance at the client-contractor interface: Measurement, management and behaviour
Audits, excessive compliance focus and risk blindness
Still genuinely surprised that our last paper on audit failures has generated, relatively speaking, so much interest: now the second-most accessed paper in the Process Safety Progress journal. [* It shows as number 1 but that’s a glitch in the matrix. There’s a study on ‘red squirrels tests’ that has HEAPS more views.] No doubt… Continue reading Audits, excessive compliance focus and risk blindness
The limits and of lost time injury and other injury measures: ‘risk blindness’
This Safe Work Australia report mentioned yesterday, authored by O’Neill & Wolfe, discussed measuring & reporting on WHS. One section dived into the limits of injury measures. Some highlights: · “a single injury number or frequency rate is too aggregated to provide meaningful information to guide business decisions” · “the majority of LTIs have relatively short-term consequences… Continue reading The limits and of lost time injury and other injury measures: ‘risk blindness’
The Illusive Pipedream of Zero Harm: A South African Mining Industry Perspective
Not much to say here – nor anything particularly new to practitioners – just thought this was an interesting extract from a study that unpacked South African mining company OHS annual reports. They highlight: · “where the injury rates and OD rates show a decreasing trend over time, this should not be construed to mean that health… Continue reading The Illusive Pipedream of Zero Harm: A South African Mining Industry Perspective
Poor psychosocial safety climate increases teleworker vulnerability to suicidal ideation
A poor psychosocial safety climate (PSC) increases teleworker vulnerability to suicide ideation, according to a new Japanese study. 1,988 participants were surveyed in a cross-sectional design. Key findings: · “poor PSC had a direct effect on an increase in suicidal ideation, even after controlling for task-level occupational factors in both teleworkers and nonteleworkers” · “the association between… Continue reading Poor psychosocial safety climate increases teleworker vulnerability to suicidal ideation
The ironies of ‘human factors’
This brief book chapter from Hollnagel & Dekker adopts Lisanne Bainbridge’s idea of ironies, in the context of contemporary human factors practice. Can’t cover all the points. Highly recommend you check out Bainbridge’s original paper, though (link in comments). Ironies in this context is a “solution which expands rather than solves or eliminates a problem,… Continue reading The ironies of ‘human factors’
Evaluating the Effectiveness of an Occupational Health and Safety Management System Certification Program on Firm Work Injury Rates in Alberta, Canada
This study explored the effects of Alberta’s Certificate of Recognition (COR) and SECOR program on reported firm-related injuries. (Yes, another that’s relying on incident data…) >14k certified firms were matched with >11k non-certified firms from 2000-2015. They note: “In a systematic review on the effectiveness of OHSMSs, Robson et al. [6] found that although most… Continue reading Evaluating the Effectiveness of an Occupational Health and Safety Management System Certification Program on Firm Work Injury Rates in Alberta, Canada
The Twenty Foot Rule and Safety Leadership
This brief conference paper discussed the ‘twenty foot rule’ of leadership. I’ve only covered a few points, as much of it reads as an instructional piece on key items to set up the process, whereas I’ve focused more on the general gist and rationale (so easier you just read the paper if you’re interested). The… Continue reading The Twenty Foot Rule and Safety Leadership
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