Newswise — Despite certain individuals anticipating that extremely hazardous occupations would correlate with the greatest frequency of workplace mishaps, recent research reveals that accidents are more probable to transpire in work settings that are moderately dangerous.
"Individuals tend to exhibit a significant level of safety behaviors in extremely hazardous environments, which compensates for the likelihood of an accident," stated Dr. James Beck, who is the main author of the study and also serves as a professor of psychology. "In contrast, in work settings that are moderately dangerous, people generally exhibit some safety behaviors; however, the majority of individuals do not exhibit adequate safety behaviors to prevent accidents."
Safety practices are frequently considered as cumbersome and inefficient, leading to a lack of consistent implementation by workers.
Beck explains that in moderately hazardous conditions, individuals tend to undervalue the necessary extent of safety practices. Consequently, they tend to respond to danger in a somewhat proportionate way, resulting in a moderate degree of safety behavior. However, the researchers discovered that this reaction was inadequate, as "reducing the occurrence of accidents necessitates a significant and sudden escalation in safety practices, even in response to a slight increase in danger."
The authors performed four different studies. Two of the studies utilized historical data on workplace injuries to showcase that work settings with a moderate degree of danger were linked to the highest frequency of accidents. The other two studies were experiments where individuals were required to complete work simulations, in which they were informed about the level of danger and the appropriate safety practices to adopt.
The experiments revealed that individuals tend to allocate insufficient time and effort towards ensuring their safety in work environments with a moderate level of danger, even though they were aware of the potential hazards.
Beck commented, "It seems that the extent of safety practices required to counteract moderate dangers is not readily apparent or intuitive."
These findings offer valuable insights into designing workplace safety training programs that prioritize moderately hazardous work settings to assist individuals in avoiding accidents.
The paper Moderation in all things, except when it comes to workplace safety: Accidents are most likely to occur under moderately hazardous work conditions, by Beck, Midori Nishioka, Abigail A. Scholer, and Jeremy M. Beus, was published in the journal Personnel Psychology.
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