New Employee Accident Rates

At its broadest level, there are three different bodies of research that have addressed new employees occupational accident rate. All three literatures clearly show that an employee is more likely to have an accident at work in their initial period of employment in a job. The larger two bodies of literature are those which have examined the relationship between job tenure and accidents, and the relationship between age and accidents. The age literature has tended to focus on young or youth worker, and these workers are often new employees (have relatively short job tenure), but this is not always the case. Generally, the research on the relationship between age and accidents has not attempted to disentangle the relationship between age and job tenure. Nevertheless, and despite some interpretation difficulties, I will examine this literature. Finally, there is a small literature which has looked at the relationship between employee turnover rates and accidents, which is also suggestive of safety issues associated with new employees. OveraU, it seems clear that new employees are a safety risk and may even be classified as a safety hazard. 

A new employee is defined as any individual that has recently started a job. Some research has used the term newcomer to describe a new employee (e.g., MoUeman and van der Vegt 2007). As will be discussed below, a new employee may also be relatively young (e.g., a youth worker entering their first job), but this is not always the case. The label of new employee equally applies to an individual that has previously worked in another job, or in other jobs They are new to job they enter irrespective of their past employment history. Chapter 3 discusses the relationship between experience and accidents, and describes how even an experienced new employee is stiU initially a safety risk. 

Finally, the research examined below tends to link variables within cases for example, data on accidents, age, and job tenure are collected from the same employee (sample of employees) and correlated. While this research clearly shows that new employees suffer accidents, it potentially misses the impact of new employees on their co-workers safety. It is also very likely that some of the accidents suffered by employees that have been working for an organization for some time (what might be termed seiuor employees) may involve a new employee as part of the causal mechanism. Indeed, responsibiUly for industrial fatalities/ accidents has been associated with the fellow worker for over 100 years (see Eastman 1910 Swuste et al. 2010). Thus, overall, new employees are both a safety risk to themselves and potentially a safety risk to all employees in an organization. 

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Chapter 2 examines the extensive literature which documents the high accident rate associated with new employees. Research on the relationship between job tenure and accidents, on the relationship between age and accidents, and on the relationship between employee turnover rates and accidents is reviewed. All of the research evidence points to safety issues associated with new employees. Smdies from around the world, and conducted in many different industries, have consistently shown higher accident rates associated with new employees. Furthermore, it is very likely that many of the accidents where the injured person is a senior employee (an individual that has worked for the organization for sometime) have in fact been directly caused by a new employee or by factors associated with new employees. Targeting new employee accidents is thus not only necessary to help reduce, and hopefully eliminate, accidents where new employees are injured, but should also help reduce the overall accident rate in an organization. 

New Employees Accidents occur frequently to employees who are new on the job. Usually, accident rates decrease with job experience. It is essential to train new employees on safety in general and in safety of their job functions. New employees have much to learn, including workplace safety. A session will orient a worker to his new company or new job. Orientation sessions deal with general matters. Most new employees will remember how and when they get paid. They may not recall other details from an orientation session. For safety, it is important to know how important safety is for the employer in protecting its workers. New workers should learn about general procedures in case of an accident. 

The way towards a zero-accident culture is long and diflicult in the constmction industry. Parallel to declining accident rates, the improvement gets more challenging, and from time to time there may appear increasing of losses. Prevention is first and foremost a human affair. Both managers and employees need to be continuously awakened and aware of the hazards and develop new ways to improve... 

The second lesson follows on from the first. There is a strong inference from the most successful, in terms of predicting accident rate, questions in the FHWA audits that the safest carriers are those whose senior management are seen to be concerned with safety, and communicate that concern to employees. Any certification procedure of new railroads by the FRA might be well advised to look for evidence of such a commitment by senior management. 

To determine which jobs should be analyzed first, review your job injury and illness reports. Obviously, a JELA should be conducted first for jobs with the highest rates of accidents and disabling injuries. Also, jobs where close calls have occurred should be given priority. Analyses of new jobs and jobs where changes have been made should follow. Eventually, a JHA should be conducted and made available to employees for all jobs in the workplace. 

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