Recruiting Safety Aware Focused Employees

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2 Recruiting Safety Aware Focused Employees Inducting, training or screening personnel before placing them into hazardous environments is critical. UNITED STATES Safety Recruitment Assessments are best utilised to screen large numbers of applic ants quickly, usually for lower or unskilled positions. All managers and employees should be assessed f or s afety awareness as well as skills and experience before placing them into safety sensitive environments and jobs. This is particularly true for the driver of heavy motor vehicles. Psychometric surveys of personal safety awareness have been developed by safety psychologists and can provide insight into likely behaviours onthe-job. R-SAFE, the newest version of the Accident Risk Management (ARM) Survey developed specifically for the heavy motor industry, is the result of more than 15 years research. 51 drivers of a large US national training company completed the ARM Profile. Company driving accidents records on these employees were examined. These records included demographic and driving accident information on each driver, whether each accident was preventable or non-preventable by the driver, and the vehicle damage costs resulting from each accident. Employees scoring below standards on ARM incurred over 4 times the dollar costs to the company per person in preventable driving accidents as those scoring above standards. NEW ZEALAND R-SAFE (ARM) measures the core elements of personal safety awareness that affect safety behaviour and compliance: SAFETY CONTROL AND RESPONSIBILITY Safety Control is about how much control people believe they have over events in their lives. It is not that people s beliefs somehow magically prevent incidents. It is about how their alertnes s, pers onal c ontrol and res ponsibility empowers them to safely manage and avoid them. AUSTRALIA RISK PERCEPTION AND AVOIDANCE The Risk Avoidance Scale measures dangerous and silly risk beliefs. Avoiding dangerous risks is a measure of how committed people are to following proper safety policies and procedures. TOTAL ACCIDENTS ARM RISK LEVEL STRESS TOLERANCE Stress Tolerance is how personally aware and able people believe they can manage and control stress in their lives. W hile most people know stress contributes to many incidents and injuries, few realize that stress can be personally controlled and in many situations avoided. TOTAL LOST TIME INJURIES ARM RISK LEVEL 2

3 PROFESSIONAL OPERATOR DRIVER Skilled O perators and Drivers are aware the potential for inc idents is muc h greater in hazardous environments or when operating heavy vehicles, machinery or equipment. QUALITY ORIENTATION PROFESSIONALS SAVE FUEL Drivers who scored higher in Attitudinal Safety Awareness (ASA) as measured by the ARM are not only regarded as more professional drivers by their managers but demonstrate their abilities with less fuel consumption. In this study drivers computerised fuel consumption (over 25, km) records were recorded and compared to their ARM scores. All fuel consumption records were obtained with identical destinations and vehicles. Drivers who scored Lower Attitudinal Safety Awareness averaged $23 more in fuel costs than those who scored Higher Attitudinal Safety Awareness as measured by the ARM. A professional s orientation is part of their selfimage, a reference point for what they have learned, committed to and now do automatically, almos t without having to think about it! Professionals have a Quality Orientation. They care about quality in their life regardless of what they are doing it is automatic because it is part of who they are! ACCIDENT RISK MANAGEMENT REPORT BENCHMARKING PROJECT TOTAL INJURIES TOTAL ACCIDENTS TOTAL ISICK DAYS ARM RISK LEVEL Four companies representing four separate industries (Chemical, Food Processing-Bakery, Gas Service, Transport-Bricks) participated in an insurance benchmarking project. 3

4 Professional Attitudes SAFETY CONTROL The Safety Control scale assesses whether an employee will assume responsibility for job safety and accident prevention. This scale is based on the locus-of-control theory. A person s locusof-control refers to the attitudes or beliefs about who or what controls one s behaviour and consequences. Individuals with an internal locusof-control take personal responsibility for safe behaviour and accident prevention. Individuals with an external locus-of-control tend to blame accidents on external factors such as fate, chance or bad luck. The Safety Control score provides a measure of safety consciousness. ATTITUDE ACCIDENTS INJURIES Higher Safety Control 25% 15% Lower Safety Control 75% 85% The people who scored below average on Safety Control had 75% of all accidents and 85% of all injuries. Participants in the category are more likely to have a higher external locus of control, and place blame on others, fate, chance or luck for accidents at work. These people are also less likely to assume full responsibility for own safety on-the-job. AVOIDING RISKS The Risk Avoidance scale assesses tendencies to engage in high risk, dangerous and thrill-seeking behaviours. This scale measures whether a person is likely to routinely follow company safety rules and regulations or to break these rules due to boredom, carelessness or a desire to engage in risk-taking behaviour. The Risk Avoidance scale also assesses proneness to engage in other counter-productive and dangerous behaviours (eg not using safety equipment) that can result in on-the-job accidents. Participants in the category are more likely to prefer unnecessarily risky, dangerous or thrill seeking behaviours on the job. May engage frequently in "risky" on the job behaviours such as not complying with company safety policies. Often becomes bored and inattentive at work. ATTITUDE ACCIDENTS INJURIES 72% 82% 28% 18% The people who scored below average on Risk Avoidance had 72% of all accidents and 82% of all injuries. STRESS TOLERANCE The Stress Tolerance scale measures an individual s on-going experience with stress and the ability to withstand stress. This scale measures an inability to cope with stress, as opposed to the normal temporary feelings of stress that we all experience. Stress-prone associates are potentially at higher risk to have onthe-job accidents since they are more susceptible to distraction. Stressed associates often become fatigued increasing the probability of over-exertion injuries and careless or reactionary behaviours in their attempts to cut corners. Participants in the category show continuing inability to cope with stress, and may not alertly attend to details of job safety procedures or may cut corners. May also be chronically fatigued during work hours. 1% 92% 8% 6% 4% 2% 8% % The people who scored below average on Stress Tolerance had 92% of all injuries. 4

5 Achieving Safe Results OPERATOR (DRIVER) ATTITUDE The Operator/Driver Attitude scale assesses an individual s likelihood for regularly engaging in safe operations of vehicles and equipment. This scale assesses attitudes toward safe driving practices. It identifies where an individual has unsafe operating or driving attitudes and practices that could lead to and on-the-job accidents and moving violations. Poor scores generally indicate less regard and compliance with rules and company safety practices. ATTITUDE (5 OPERATORS) Lower Professional Driver Attitude (5 OPERATORS) Higher Professional Driver Attitude INJURIES 72% 97% 28% 3% The people who scored below average on Driver Attitude had 72% of all accidents and 97% of all injuries. Participants in the category have driver/equipment operating attitudes that could jeopardise safety. More likely to be involved in driving accidents and may violate rules of the road and have driving violations. 72% ACCIDENTS ACCIDENTS 97% 28% INJURIES 3% QUALITY ORIENTATION The Quality Orientation scale is designed to successfully help identify individuals with strong quality orientations. The QO scale measures four areas resulting in one overall score which can be used to provide insight into an individual s propensity for producing quality goods and services. Quality Locus of Control: The degree to which the individual takes responsibility for providing quality products and services. Quality Skills: Measures the extent to which the individual engages in work habits and behaviours that ensure a high level of quality and excellence in all of his/her pursuits. Error Avoidance: Measures the extent to which the individual is committed to detecting and avoiding errors in his/her work. Continuous Improvement: Measures how much the individual strives to continually improve his/her product and service offerings. Participants in the category are less likely to accept responsibility for providing quality service, and are less likely to double check work for accuracy. These people are also wasteful of materials and have poor equipment maintenance habits. $28,169 per person $26,166 per person LOWER ARM SCORE AVERAGE HIGHER ARM SCORE AVERAGE HIGHER AVERAGE FUEL CONSUMPTION LOWER AVERAGE FUEL CONSUMPTION BASED ON 25, KM Drivers who scored higher in Attitudinal Safety Awareness (ASA) as measured by the ARM are not only regarded as better, more professional drivers by their managers but demonstrate their abilities with less fuel consumption. In this study drivers computerized fuel consumption (over 25, km) records were recorded and compared to their ARM scores.* Drivers who scored Lower Attitudinal Safety Awareness (Figure A) averaged $23 more in fuel costs than those who scored Higher Attitudinal Safety Awareness (Figure B) as measured by the ARM. * (All fuel consumption records were obtained with identical destinations and vehicles). 5

6 THE AUSTRALIAN FINANCIAL REVIEW Drivers with attitude shown road to new habits Fleet owners are opting for driver courses, reports Christopher Jay. Major fleet owners have turned to using psychological techniques to identify problem drivers and lower their accident rate. They are responding to recent research suggesting the major cause of accidents is not lack of driver skills but poor driver attitude to personal responsibility and safe driving. At the moment different fleets vary by as much of a factor of 1 in their accident rate, demonstrating the huge scope for improvement which exists in some fleets. The Lumley motor fleet benchmarks, which compare 46 different fleets, reveal that the accident rate per million km varies from as low as 2.2 to as high as 23. In their effort to improve, fleet owners are phasing out advanced driver programs of the type which show 19-year-olds how to broadside at high speeds in the rain, and turning to training designed to foster self-esteem and a more careful approach. Research has shown that two-thirds of all accidents with fleet vehicles are accounted for by only one-third of the drivers, while there is a very sizeable group of responsible drivers who have virtually no accidents at all. In a recent study, 186 drivers from four wellknown companies (George Weston Foods, Boral, AGL and Du Pont) were assessed on personal attitudes through a series of psychological profiles, and sorted into three equal-sized categories following evaluation of their apparent attitudes to personal responsibility. Those considered most at risk went into the high-risk category, the middle one-third into an average group and the safest personalities went into the lowest one-third. Over the following year, the research team collated the number and severity of accidents experienced with the vehicle fleets by each of the risk groups. Of a total of 21 accidents by fleet vehicles, 14, or exactly two-thirds, involved high-risk drivers. The average drivers had 58 accidents, or 27.6 per cent of the total, while those adjudged safer personalities had only 12 accidents, or just 5.7 per cent of the total. The contrast was even more striking when the researchers looked at the relative severity of the accidents, as measured by work hours lost under worker s compensation. The highrisk one-third accounted for 71.8 per cent of time lost (at 2,581 hours) while the low-risk one-third contributed only.4 per cent (at 16 hours lost). The middle one-third was quite consistent between these two extremes, contributing virtually the same percentage for hours lost (27.7 per cent) as for accident numbers (27.6 per cent). To put this in context, if the average drivers and the high-risk drivers had produced the same excellent performance as the safe one-third, then the total number of accidents would have dropped from 21 to 36 and work hours lost from 3,595 to just 48. This particular research was conducted by a psychology consultancy, People and Quality Solutions Pty Ltd (PaQS), with financial assistance from Lumley General Insurance. The predictive sorting of drivers into high-, medium- and low-risk categories was done with a 117-item questionnaire to profile the attitude individuals have to safety as assessed on five separate scales. The scales look at willingness to accept personal responsibility for one s own safety, propensity to avoid dangerous risks, stress tolerance, 6 professional driving attitudes and quality orientation. Faced with these results, organisations have two alternative strategies. One is to use the assessment of safety attitudes as a screening device, to concentrate on selecting likely safe drivers, particularly for fleet vehicles likely to run up high mileages (service and sales vehicles, for instance). The other approach is to try to improve the poor performance of high-risk individuals in particular, through training designed to alter their approach to life and inculcate more appreciation of how to avoid high-risk behaviours and driving attitudes. The first thing you have to recognise is that the cowboy behaves that way to get recognition, said psychologist Carl Reams, of PaQS. If they have belief structures that accidents will happen regardless, that s the way they conduct all their lives. We show them in a skills environment risky elements of their behaviour. You must put people in a place where they re not shown up. We take them through a program where they draw this information out for themselves, without losing face. You have a training facilitator. Working with companies to improve driver attitudes, under the banner of the Accident Risk Management program, has virtually pre-empted the activities of the consultancy in recent times.

7 THE AUSTRALIAN FINANCIAL REVIEW Good Work Safety is No Accident: Study Christopher Jay A third of employees in Australian industry account for a disproportionate number of industrial accidents, and an even larger percentage of serious injuries and workers compensation costs. While it is obvious that safety-conscious employees will have fewer accidents than careless ones, research highlights just how huge the difference is. In addition, it suggests that more safetyconscious employees also have a much better track record in areas such as quality assurance, alcohol and substance abuse and productivity. They even have lower fuel consumption on company vehicles. The primary problem for the high risk third is not lack of training, systems failure or equipment defects, but attitude problems, summed up as unwillingness to take responsibility for the management of their lives. In one research study, partly funded by Lumley General Insurance, the personnel being assessed were divided into three equal-sized groups, labelled as higher risk, moderate risk and lower risk. The worst third accounted for 72 per cent of hours lost through injuries, the middle third accounted for 28 per cent of lost time and the lower risk third accounted for just.45 per cent of the lost time injuries. In other words, if the higher risk and moderate risk employees were able to match the safety performance of the lower risk category, injury time lost would plummet to 1.35 per cent of the previous level. Behavioural modification approaches based on this research are being promoted by a husband and wife psychology consulting firm, People and Quality Solutions Pty Ltd. Trading as PaQS, it operates through a network of affiliates around Australia and in several overseas countries such as New Zealand and America. US-born psychologists Carl and Donna Reams, who settled in Australia in 198, operate from premises at Thornton, near Sydney. PaQS markets an accident risk management approach, the ARM system, which can be used either to screen out high risk job applicants - mainly used in the US - or to guide training programs to improve the performance of existing employees - the Australian preference. Carl and Donna Reams first encountered the system at a psychology conference in 1992, during a return visit to America. A form with 117 questions is used to profile employee attitudes on five individual scales to measure the way individuals think about safety. The scales look at willingness to accept personal responsibility for one s own safety, propensity to avoid dangerous risks, stress tolerance, professional driving attitudes and quality orientation. While results are generally similar around the world, there is one difference on distortion measurements inserted in psychological questionnaires to check internal consistency of answers. Australians have less of a failure rate on the distortion scale than Americans, Mr Reams said. Americans are trained to put their best foot forward, whereas Australians don t tend to exaggerate their positive characteristics so much. More than 3 companies in Australia are using the ARM profiles. Some are using it to guide attitude modification programs designed to build up self-esteem and encourage individuals to recognise the advantages of taking more personal responsibility. After a decision a few years ago to rely on networking, PaQS markets its training services through various training and occupational health and safety organisations. PaQS provides a comprehensive 12-day course in two parts to train trainers, with material customised to each industry, and provides questionnaire assessment and monitoring of implementation. Training results to date suggest an average improvement of about 25 per cent in safety awareness. 7

8 PaQS: Your Safety Culture Support Team Carl Reams Managing Director Safety Culture Support Team Leader Carl is an organisational psychologist, co-owner and Managing Director of PaQS People and Quality Solutions Pty Ltd. Carl has worked as a psychologist for 3 years specialising exclusively for the past 15 years in safety psychology and advising and assisting organisations with safety culture strategies and solutions. Author and developer of the Australian nationally recognised Course in Advanced Safety & Quality Awareness (AS&QA) and the Australian Safety Awareness Training Survey (A-SATS). Pete Grzywacz Director Training, RTO Compliance Pete has been involved with training since 1995 as a contract trainer and consultant to a number of companies, private training companies and Registered Training Organisations. As PaQS RTO Compliance Officer, Pete is responsible for the coordination and monitoring of training projects, the Registered Training Organisation (RTO) and company compliance. Professor Gerard Fogarty Research Advisor and Consulting Psychometrician Professor Gerard Fogarty is Pro Vice-Chancellor (Research) and Professor of Psychology at the University of Southern Queensland. Professor Fogarty has published in journals such as Journal of Vocational Behaviour, Intelligence, and Personality and Individual Differences. He is the recipient of institutional awards for individual research excellence and also research supervision. Kate Olsen Consultant An experienced safety professional with a degree in behavioural science majoring in occupational health and safety and psychology with post graduate qualifications in risk management. More than 1 years experience applying these skills in safety management primarily in a number of organisations. Highly skilled at initiating and driving organisational improvements and specialises in the application of psychological principles to motivate and create genuine cultural change. Kate is a PaQS accredited Safety Coach and can coach the Course in Advanced Safety and Quality Awareness. 8