What are the relationships between leader humility, psychological safety and employee engagement? A study to be posted soon explored these links via survey of 140 workers. Leader humility is “an interpersonal characteristic that emerges in social contexts that connotes (a) a manifested willingness to view oneself accurately, (b) a displayed appreciation of others’ strengths and… Continue reading Links between leader humility, psychological safety and follower/employee engagement

What is the relationship between the magnitude and intensity of energy in workplace sources on fatal and non-fatal accidents? A 2017 study to be posted soon explored these links based on 500 injury reports. Various energy sources exist in workplaces, e.g. gravitational, kinetic, radiation, chemical etc., hence different means are needed to calculate energy magnitudes.… Continue reading Relationships between workplace hazardous energy and fatal vs non-fatal injury

This studied the extent to which psychosocial hazards (categorised under mental health disorders, MHD) and physical hazards (under musculoskeletal disorders, MSD) are covered under work-related MHD & MSD risk management practices across 3 industries and the extent of a disparity towards physical hazards. Procedures from 3 high risk industry sectors along with interviews with 25… Continue reading Work-related musculoskeletal and mental health disorders: Are workplace policies and practices based on contemporary evidence?

I found this an interesting study that systematically reviewed the evidence on the physical and psychological hazards in the gig economy system. Findings were framed via Rasmussen’s risk framework. It’s open access, so you can freely read the full paper. The gig economy is an economic model “where companies temporarily hire individuals as independent contractors… Continue reading Physical and psychological hazards in the gig economy system: A systematic review

I found these three extracts from major accident reports pretty apt – they featured in our latest study on audit failures in high hazard industries. The first two examples came from coronial reports in mining. It’s a shame that such important findings are so frequently ‘written in blood’. 1. 2. They highlight the false assurance… Continue reading The false safety of interlocking management systems of audits, reports and rules

This systematic review evaluated the evidence between psychosocial factors and safety in high-risk industries. I think it’s more of a reference paper (one you look up or refer to the tables), than one I can summarise, since most of the findings are captured in tables, but I’ll give it a shot. 40 studies met inclusion… Continue reading Psychosocial factors and safety in high-risk industries: A systematic literature review

Happy to share our latest study on audit failures. It is full open access. This study focused on the mechanisms of how safety audits fail, according to accident investigations. After screening thousands of accident reports, we were left with a sample of 44 reports for evaluation (primarily from the US and the CSB). We were… Continue reading My latest paper on audit failures: a counterfactual analysis based on 44 major accident reports

Do perceptions of individual blame and error contribute to nursing aide (caregiver henceforth) assault and lack of reporting? Yes, according to a study to be posted shortly. This study explored the beliefs and organizational contexts of caregiver assaults due to aggressive residents. Although the cohort is pretty specific (caregivers in rural nursing homes), the social… Continue reading Attributions of blame and individual error in workplace assault and aggression mask the underlying issues

This study examined the malleable nature of safety compliance activities (adherence to procedures etc.) and how this can change on a daily basis with the impact of Passive Avoidant Leadership (PAL) styles. Laissez-faire leadership & management-by-exception are often referred to as PAL. Also studied was the effects of moral disengagement (where people disengage from humane… Continue reading Passive avoidant leadership and safety non-compliance: A 30 days diary study among naval cadets

This may interest people – it comes from a paper that systematically reviewed the literature on the antecedents of safety cognition in construction workers. Cognition is “all processes by which … sensory inputs is transformed, reduced, elaborated, stored, recovered, and used”. It’s great that they broadened cognition from just an individual process to the broader… Continue reading Systematic review of the antecedents involved in construction worker cognition and risk perception