The Safety of Work

Ep.10 What helps and hinders stopping work for safety?

Jan 19, 2020

Workers often hesitate to stop unsafe tasks despite evident risks. The podcast delves into how focus groups can reveal these complexities while also wrestling with challenges like groupthink. It emphasizes the crucial role of supervisors in fostering a supportive safety culture. Empowering workers through open communication is key to navigating safety decisions. Additionally, it highlights the need for flexible work planning to adapt to dynamic situations, ensuring safety remains a priority in high-pressure environments.

42:27

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Quick takeaways

Workers are more likely to stop unsafe work when they feel supported by their immediate supervisors and colleagues rather than distant management.

Creating a culture that encourages open discussions about safety and provides clear guidelines significantly enhances workers' ability to halt unsafe tasks.

Deep dives

The Importance of Stopping Work for Safety

The capacity for workers to stop unsafe work is recognized as essential across various safety management theories, including behavioral safety and safety culture. This practice acts as a last line of defense against potential accidents, emphasizing that recognizing and halting unsafe situations is crucial. However, it is often oversimplified, with a belief that workers should easily discern when to stop based solely on obvious dangers. Recommendations frequently include training to enhance hazard awareness and establishing organizational processes, such as the authority to stop work, to support this behavioral change.

Intro

3min

Empowering Workers for Safety

7min

Exploring Focus Groups: Insights and Challenges

7min

Navigating Safety Decisions at Work

10min

Navigating Safety in Uncertain Conditions

11min

The Importance of Flexible Work Planning

2min

Navigating Social Challenges for Safety Compliance

2min

The paper we use to frame today’s discussion is We Can Stop Work, but Then Nothing Gets Done.

Topics:

Why do workers not stop when risk is obvious?
The purpose of focus groups as a data collection method.
The pitfalls of the focus group method.
Turning focus groups transcripts into research findings.
How supervisors can support workers in making good decisions.
Why it’s hard for workers to turn down unsafe work.+

Quotes:

“You can see the finished product, but you don’t see how the sausage is made.”

“What matters with those immediate supervisors and the co-workers, is not what they say they’ll do, but what they’ll...actually do.”

“You help local management be able to have these conversations with their workforce, so that they can...understand that people have different views of what’s safe and what’s unsafe…”

Resources:

Weber, D. E., MacGregor, S. C., Provan, D. J., & Rae, A. (2018). “We can stop work, but then nothing gets done.” Factors that support and hinder a workforce to discontinue work for safety. Safety science, 108, 149-160.

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