Simple steps to stay safe
The importance of investing in human factors has been highlighted in a call to stop using “outdated motivational programmes” to improve safety at work. Making “the safer choice the easier choice” is a more effective approach and better at helping people “make the right choice”. Systems must be designed to “work with human limitations, not against them”, according to the article on the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents’ (RoSPA) website.
Author Bridget Leathley, an occupational health and safety consultant, pointed to the persistent belief that “workers are at fault, and all would be well if only we could motivate them to behave more safely”.
She went on: “Workers want to be safe – they want to go home to their families and friends and they want their colleagues to stay well. Focusing only on motivating workers is a dangerous idea. By concentrating on the unsafe act, we miss opportunities to address the real cause of accidents.”
She added: “It is essential to get the motivational environment right for safe behaviours – rewarding people when they stop work because of a safety concern, even if this has a detrimental effect on productivity. But it is even more effective if we design the work so that the safe ways of working are the easiest ways.”
