Only When Employees Feel Supported Will They Step Up and Say or Do Something If They Observe an Unsafe Situation or Behavior

Details

• Personal Author:
  Bohm S ; Haas E ; McGuire J
• Description:
  Developing an understanding of why employees do not speak up, when they see unsafe conditions or behaviors, should encourage companies to develop educational practices aimed at improving employee involvement in workplace safety. Educational sessions, when developed, should focus on providing both front line leaders and employees, with the skills they need to effectively intervene when they observe something that is unsafe in their workplace. Improving employees' knowledge in this area is important because Ragain (2016) found employees have a desire to speak up, but often choose not to intervene because they are not equipped to do so effectively. From what was learned from employees during annual refresher trainings and with NIOSH safety climate research, it seems important to begin the process of growing a strong culture sooner rather than later. Particularly, employees in high-risk industries should feel supported and encouraged to speak up when they see an unsafe situation or unsafe co-worker behavior. As a starting point, companies should consider conducting an evaluation of their safety culture, policies and best practices to see if they need to be updated or changed to allow employees to feel more comfortable speaking up if they observe an unsafe situation. Only when employees feel supported will they step up and say or do something if they observe an unsafe situation or behavior. If employees know they can approach their co-workers or supervisors and freely discuss safety concerns, without fear of retaliation or losing their jobs, positive changes in the culture and proactivity in the workplace will begin. In addition to evaluating their safety culture, policies, best practices and skills of their leaders, companies must take time to evaluate how they educate employees about the need, intent and goals of all safety initiatives in which they expect their employees to participate. This educational process should include not letting our "ego" get in the way; being humble, stepping up and becoming a leader when circumstance require it. Too often programs or initiatives are rolled out with little or no employee education and as a result, they generate minimal participation or just "go by way-side." If employees are not provided with the "why" or given direction, they will not commit to following a program nor will the meet a company's expectations. As Ragain said, "We need to stop assuming that it is only a matter of motivation and start addressing the real factors that keep employees from speaking up and doing so effectively" (2016). [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Behavior Occupational Health Safety Staff Development
• Keywords:
  Behavior Patterns Safety Climate Safety Culture Training
• Series:
  Mining Publications
• ISSN:
  0747-3605
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  OSHA Region 3 ; Pennsylvania
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Division:
  PMRD - Pittsburgh Mining Research Division
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  112-115
• Volume:
  121
• Issue:
  8
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20054621
• Citation:
  Rock Prod 2018 Aug; 121(8):112-115
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2018
• NORA Priority Area:
  Mining
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• Source Full Name:
  Rock Products
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:4b2d7831eeafbb91a0de2eeb1b227aadd387a7668806b3075f659cddcb2ed3e69abdbc32d45fa9554fdd7a800144632cd355c4defed750fceb9a369855ebb134
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/227819/cdc_227819_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 2.19 MB ]