Employee Silence and Safety Voice

If exiting employees are not voicing safety concerns, then the organization may not have the necessary knowledge required to prompt corrective action, and the new employee (even those with realistic expectations of the normal safety risk profile for the job type) may be about to enter a job with an unacceptable level of safety risk (beyond those normally associated with the type of work). Thus, new employee safety will be enhanced if a workplace has a safety voicing culture, where employees freely share safety information, and this is supported and reinforced by both management and co-workers. In contrast, a new employee that enters a workplace which has a silence culture, or has employees that want to voice about safety but feel they cannot for some reason, can be exposed to more safety risk than is necessary. 

Equipment safety issues Are new employees operating the safest available equipment Equipment allocation is controlled by management 

Task assignment Is there a procedure in place to stop new employees being given tasks which other employees see as undesirable and which could potentially be risky Task allocation is controlled by management 

Workload and performance expectations Is there a procedure in place to control the new employee s workload and performance expectations Policy where workload and performance expectations are relaxed during new employee s initial period of employment 

Working hours and Scheduling Is there a procedure in place to consider safety when scheduling the new employees working hours If possible restrict a new employee to a maximum of 8-h shift during their initial period of employment 

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Figure 4.1 illustrates the nature of a job s safety risk profile, and what an employee can potentially encounter when they begin a new job. Education, experience, and training can prepare a new employee for normal and known safety risks. However, a number of other factors can add safety risks to a job. Figure 4.1 shows a number of these factors equipment safety issues, task assignment, workload and performance requirements, scheduling and work hours, environmental variance, co-worker behavior, supervision, and employee silence and safety voice. These... 

Employee silence and safety voicing Does the organization have a safety voicing culture Regularly assess safety voicing... 

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