Supervisory attitudes

In anECSC/BCC study (Mason et al., 1995) examining the supervisory attitudes to safety two particularly relevant points emerged in relation to deputies perception of their role as the front-line management staff with responsibility for safety inspections ... 

Failure in the style, nature and consistency of supervisory attitudes to rules. 

Mason, S., Talbot, C.F. and Simpson, G.C. ( 995 Assessment of the Supervisory Attitudes to Safety and the Development of Training Materialfor the Promotion of Human Reliability. Final Report on CEC contract 7250-13/060. Eastwood British Coal Corporation Operations Directorate. 

Incidentally, at least one research administrator is currently worrying about a shortage of qualified supervisory personnel for literature-chemistry programs. His concern centers around his theory that too many literature chemists become overly involved with details, an attitude necessary for high-quality individual work but not particularly conducive to developing a broad point of view and the ability to supervise others (and himself be supervised). 

Because an effective safety program in the plant or facility must include training, the ultimate objective of training is to influence the attitudes of employees around the clock. Off-the-job accidents cost industry many times more than on-the-job injuries. Although workers compensation is not involved, absenteeism from off-the-job injuries results in productivity losses and insurance cost increases. Employees injured off the job may, with the assistance of unscrupulous lawyers, sometimes claim the injury occurred during work time. Such fraud can be combatted by effective record keeping and supervisory vigilance. 

Careful observation and analysis of ongoing work practices can pinpoint many potential causes of safe and at-risk behaviors. Those causes external to people—including reward and punishment contingencies, policies, or supervisory behaviors—can often be altered to improve both behavior and attitude. In contrast, internal person factors are difficult to identify, and if defined, they are even more difficult to change directly. So with behavior-based safety the focus is placed on external factors—environmental conditions and behaviors—that can be changed upstream from a potential injury. 

Plant and lab people in the chemical and plastics industries must be hired after a careful screening to ensure that only those who are particularly conscientious in following established operating procedures are hired. Furthermore, these attitudes must be fostered by training and supervisory reinforcement. Willful disobedience of these procedures or a negligent attitude cannot be tolerated and appropriate disciplinary procedures followed, including (if warranted) dismissal. 

One aspect of a major study into the reasons why safety standards aie not complied with (funded by the SIMRAC programme of the RSA Department of Minerals and Energy) compared management, supervisory and workforce attitudes to safety codes, rules and procedttres (Talbot et al., 1996). The sturfy, which coveted two gold, one coal and one platinrrm mine, used questionnaires to assess attitudes to various safety related issues. A total of 326 data sets were obtained (representing a total of over 86,000 responses). 

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