Attitude toward safety

Recognizing that external pressures are forcing academic Chemistry departments to abandon their traditional relaxed attitudes toward safety, we have attempted to construct the safest building possible with the available funds. This alone will not guarantee accident- and hazard-free operation, however. The faculty, administration and staff must support and encourage safe practices. In this spirit, the University in 1977 established a campus-wide safety committee to assist and advise departments and the various support services when questions on safety arise. 

Rundmo, T., Hale, A. R. (2003). Managers attitudes towards safety and accidents prevention. 

Burt et al. (1998) developed the considerate and responsible co-worker CARE scale. The CARE scale measures an employee s attitudes toward safety and particularly their attitude toward the safety of their co-workers. As such, the items tend to use the word should. An employee who holds a positive and caring attitude toward safety should tend to agree with the items presented in the scale. A model examining a number of variables which are associated with CARE development is presented in Burt et al. (2008). Burt et al. (1998) reported a coefficients alpha of 0.91, and a test-retest reliability of 0.62 for the original 21 item Care scale (also see Burt 2001). Burt, Chmiel, and Hayes found an acceptable co-efficient alpha... 

Workers that have joined my team have had a positive attitude toward safety Workers that join my team will have a positive attitude toward safety... 

From a new employee safety perspective, there are two key considerations associated with selection processes. First, what abilities do the measures or predictors used have to provide information on the job applicants work related outcomes (e.g., the individual s ability to perform the job safely, their attitude toward safety, and/or risk taking). Second, what assumptions do employees in the workplace hold about the organization s selection processes, and how can these assumptions influence workplace safety. The next two sections examine these two issues in more detail. 

In summary, selection processes can help to ensure new employee safety if they clearly define the knowledge, skills, and abilities that are required to perform a job, and obtain or develop accurate predictors of these. Put simply if an organization selects an individual for a job that does not have the knowledge, skills, and abilities which are necessary to perform the job in a safe manner, there will be an increased chance that the individual (the new employee) will be involved in an accident. Of course, working safely is also partly dependent on the new employee s attitude toward safety and on their personality (see Chap. 5). Unfortunately, attitudes and personality are not easy to measure in an error-free way. In this regard, an organization should not assume that they have very much ability at all to predict safety-related attitudes or to determine much in the way of safety behavior based on personality profiling. 

T]he nuclear industry must dramatically change its attitudes toward safety and regulations. The Commission has recommended that the new regulatory agency prescribe strict standards. At the same time... the industry must also set and police its own standards of excellence to ensure the effective management and safe operation of nuclear power plants. 

The safety culture also concerns people s attitudes towards safety. There are three important basic attitudes ... 

Having employees work in a neat, clean, and orderly work environment constantly impacts their attitudes toward safety, and this pristine workplace becomes the way the organization operates—cleanly, orderly, and safely. No amount of behavior modification or observations can affect the attitudes of employees more than letting than operate in a neat and tidy work area where everything is in its place and there is a place for everything, aU the time. 

Helping foster a positive attitude toward safety Helping set standards for safety elanents and safety equipment Controlling or supervising the lire prevention and protection activities on the site... 

Safe operation of heavy equipment involves seeing the big picture. You must (1) have safe equipment, (2) have the right personal stuff— proper training and an attitude toward safety, and (3) be aware of jobsite activities, including the terrain, other equipment, fellow workers, overhead lines, and many more observations. 

While there is no requirement to provide such overview training on site safety, such training generally makes employees more aware of the potential hazards of the type of site on which they are working, and can improve general awareness of and attitudes toward safety on the construction worksite. 

The company s safety record and the management s attitude toward safety are likely to be something that you consider when you select an employer. Do not hesitate to ask a prospective employer about safety. You may learn something about their attitude and approach to safety that may help you make important judgments. It is important that you take a positive attimde about safety to your new job, and you will want to work for an employer who has a similar interest in safety. 

While you may or may not agree with this quote, we believe that you will find that your attitude toward safety plays a key role in how you do or do not incorporate safety into your life. And it also affects the others around you—a positive attitude can be contagious and is often welcomed by all. It does not take long to learn who merely gives lip service to safety and who actually believes and practices safety. 

In support of a positive attitude toward safety, you must have the skills necessary for the tasks ahead. Remember (How could you forget ) our continuing mantra—RAMP. You must be able to recognize... 

A new job requires that you recognize the importance of a positive and strong attitude toward safety, and a need to bring your knowledge of safety to this new workplace. 

Discrete observation of employees performing ajob taskmay be an indicator of their knowledge of how to perform the job safely, their ability to perform the job properly, and the attitudes toward safety in general. If an employee is observed performing the job task in an unsafe manner, there are several things that need to be investigated. 

Creating an effective safety culture is an ongoing process and is a large commitment on behalf of the entire company, however, the effort results in a positive attitude toward safety and a reduction in accidents and incidents. Here are a couple of tips from OSHA to get you started on building a strong safety culture at your organization ... 

Once we are able to obtain safe worker performance by encouraging a change in behaviors, then, little by little, attitudes toward safety will begin to change. Eventually, safe work performance will become a value for workers. 

Improve attitudes toward safety by maintaining good/safe operating equipment. 

The fact of the drawing up a safety policy document is not sufficient to ensure that the company will be a safe place to work or that the employees will not suffer injury. The successful implementation of the policy depends to a large extent for its success on the degree of the employer s commitment and on his attitude towards safety. Without the commitment and involvement of the employer the policy is not likely to be effective. 

Top management, middle managers, and supervisors express the company s attitude toward safety by their own actions every day. You cannot turn this commitment on and off It must be consistent. 

Figure 16-2 Positive attitudes toward safety go beyond safe behavior at the workstation. Topf, Michaei D., Richard A. Petrino, The Topf Organization, Professional Safety, December 1995, p. 26. Reproduced with permission.

Adopt and institute leadership. Ensure that there is executive level leadership for safety. Once this is in place, upper level managers must then coach and guide employees on what is the proper attitude toward safety. 

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