Safety instructions in a working environment

Characteristics of safety instructions

Working environments frequently experience accidents (Baker and Dunnington, 1979). The number of workplace accidents is thought to be around 120 million each year. Surprisingly, just 1% of incidents end in fatalities (Bui, et al., 2010). According to the statistics, people should have access to efficient safety programs at their places of employment and in schools. Workers need to feel safe in order to be motivated, and if they are given that assurance, their work performance and, by extension, production, can increase significantly. The categorization of safe and risky behavior in the past has given way to more comprehensive safety guidelines and systematic models developed to manage safety. To enhance the effectiveness of a safety instruction, the instructor must be persistent and repetitive. In the case of a safety manual, it must repeatedly be issued to the workers. This characteristic is meant to help the likelihood that when workers get used to practicing a particular safety instruction, they tend to be careless with it. For example, a beginner operator of a very dangerous machine is cautious, however, after continued use of the machine, they lose the sense of hazard and start to be less careful. Resultantly, an accident occurs when it is least expected.

Based on this observation

Workplace accidents do not necessarily occur because the workers are not aware of the hazard but rather because they get used to the hazards and pay less attention to the safety instructions (Jukes, 2002). Repeatedly reading safety instructions can help the worker to remember that there is a hazard and as such remain cautious. Secondly, safety instructions should be simple and only require manual interventions. Notably, in the changing working environment where automation is starting to be the order of the day, workers tend to be ignorant about what is happening. For example, in a factory using an automated machine, a worker may only be aware of the buttons to press in case of an abnormal event that is feared to result in an accident. The ignorance associated with machines automation makes the machine user not to learn anything else about how the machine works. If an abnormal event cannot be stopped by pressing a button, there is the likelihood that an accident will occur. Executing a safety practice manually involves the worker physically, and this requires that workers acquire more skills about how a machine works.

Safety should be incorporated in the working culture

Eventual safety practice is not effective, and workers are likely to forget about the safety measures required. Incorporating safety practices to the working culture helps the workers to be proactive about preventing accidents but eliminating the hazards. With a working safety culture, the management can always focus developing accidents’ prevention strategies. Workers are hazard conscious and therefore can as well help to brainstorm likely accidents and develop preventative measures (Kelman and Batson, 2009). Lastly, a safety measure or instruction can be easier to understand if it is causative. Accident prevention measures developed from a cause-effect relationship is realistic, and workers can remember it by identifying the factors that cause the risk which translates into an accident. Notable also, safety measures should be simple to read and interpret.

Nature of safety instructions for different audience

In the workplace, the nature and the characteristics of safety instructions depend on the audience. A recruit, an employee who have stayed in the workstation for years, the supervisor and the manager all have a differing sense of hazard consciousness. A beginner is cautious and fearful of any machine. An experienced employee is aware of most of the risks and hazards in a workstation, while a supervisor is more informed about the safety measures. The manager is even more informed about the risks; probably has an experience with most if the accidents that can occur. With this personal experience, the manager is the most hazards conscious and can foresee and prevent risks that may translate into an accident. Based on this observation, safety instruction characteristics vary depending on who is attending a safety program or working in a hazardous environment.

Managers can understand complex risks and anticipate the nature of accident that may result from the risk. Also, a manager is aware of the causal-effect relationship between risk factors and accidents. Thus, when issuing a safety instruction’s manual to a manager, the instructor should involve the manager to participate in developing other possible safety measures. The instruction need not be direct and simple, and the leading party must beware the manager’s nature of work incorporates the safety practice culture. When issuing safety instructions to employees who are also new in the workplace, or in a program, the instructor must not assume any details. Assuming that some things are obvious can result to misinformed employees exposing them to more danger (National Research Council, 1997). The instructions must be as simple as possible, and if they are in a manual, they should be highlighted with the most important points singled out. The instructor must also involve the employee into asking question to ensure that all the points are clear.

References

Baker, E. H., & Dunnington, T. (1979). Safety first!. Lake Forrest, Ill: Zachary’s Workshop.

Bui, V. C., Viscio, R., Rutigliano, K., & Video Education Australasia. (2010). Safety first: OH & S in the office. Bendigo, Vic.: VEA.

Jukes, M. (2002). The guy book: An owner’s manual for teens : safety, maintenance, and operating instructions for teens.

Kelman, M., & Batson, A. (2009). Safety first!. New York: Disney Press.

National Research Council (U.S.). (1997). Aviation safety and pilot control: Understanding and preventing unfavorable pilot-vehicle interactions. Washington, D.C: National Academy Press.