Workforce risk-taking

And construction operatives do take risks, as evidenced in industry-specific accident models. For example, two of the three root causes of accidents under the construction industry-specific Accident Root Cause Tracing Model (ARCTM) developed by Abdelhamid and Everett (2000) are assigned to deliberate risk taking on the part of operatives. Whether they decided to proceed with work activities once an existing unsafe condition had been identified, or decided to act unsafely regardless of the initial conditions of the work environment, either approach requires the identification of the risk - and its subsequent acceptance on behalf of the workforce. 

The excerpts that follow are taken from the body of the report. They relate specifically to inadequate participation by the hourly workforce, poor motivation, a safety culture that accepted high risk taking, and the failure of senior management to hold people accountable for following the defined processes/procedures. I repeat that all of these factors are acknowledged in an internally produced report by BP personnel ... 

It is often very difficult to get employers, supervisors, and employees to take seriously the exposures in the workplace as a potential risk to the workforce both short- and long-term, especially long-term. It can t be too bad if I feel all right now. This false sense of security is illustrated by the 90,000 occupational illness deaths that are estimated by the Bureau of Labor Statistics to occur each year. This far surpasses the 6000 occupation trauma deaths a year. If both trauma and illness deaths are added together it would be equivalent to the lives lost to a jumbo jet crashing every day of the year. Would an aviation record like this be acceptable to you If not, I doubt that you would be flying. It is time for employers and the workforce to take on-the-job exposures as a potentially serious threat. 

A lack of awareness of the risks was said by respondents to be reflected in a common explanation of non-compliance, namely taking the easiest and most convenient option. This emerged as a major explanation of both managerial and safety representative explanations of workforce non-compliance ... 

Risk corrrmrrrrication is an important aspect of the OHS prograrrrme in ar orgarriza-tion, and in fact is also important in the public arena generally, because rrrar people in the workforce will be irrfluenced by risk corrrmrrrrication taking place in the wider... 

Product migration Downsizing the workforce may result in workers assigned to new or different tasks. As workers move from one job to another, they often take their hand protection with them, even though the product may not provide the protection required. Unless workers are trained and understand when and where the gloves should be used, they may unknowingly place themselves at risk for injury. 

Thank you for your letter of January 16,1997, regarding the Occupational Safety and Health Administration s (OSHA) Methylene Chloride (MC) Standard. We wish to assure you that OSHA is aware of the concerns you raise regarding the impacts of the MC rule and has addressed these concerns in the preamble to the final rule and the Final Economic Analysis. We would like to take this opportunity to clarify some misimpressions being raised about the risks of MC exposure and the methods available to reduce those risks to the U.S. workforce. Please accept our apology for the delay in this response. 

Conduct a workplace violence risk assessment to identify potentially violent situations. Take a look at environmental conditions, such as physical conditions at the work site organizational issues, such as recent restructuring or workforce reductions drug and alcohol use in the workplace and bullying or intimidation. Evaluate each potential risk and develop a plan to address those identified as high risk and those most likely to cause serious injuries. 

---