Practitioner viewpoint – December 22
There is a high reliance on people based risk controls and in this current economic climate workers can be distracted. Louise Ward looks at how to support workers and reduce errors.
HOW MUCH of the risk control strategy in your business is based on human beings acting and behaving as you expect them to?
Probably quite a lot. Even in businesses with a mature approach to health and safety management, there is often quite a high reliance on people based risk controls, particularly in variable and operational tasks and environments. In these situations the people that we are relying on are often at the lower end of the salary spectrum, and engaged in physically demanding tasks, often in challenging circumstances and environments. There is a focus on ensuring that people are properly trained, competent and supported, but history shows us that things still go wrong. Why? Because people make errors.
The factors which underpin the failure of human based risk controls are well researched. Distraction is one of the key themes identified, and it also features prominently in learning from historical incidents. Many factors can result in distraction including anxiety, fatigue, poor nutrition, workload and environmental factors. So, as we head into winter at the start of what is likely to be the most significant financial crisis for decades, it makes sense to focus our health and safety campaigns in this area.
There are many behavioral safety tools and programmes designed to support businesses in addressing distraction, and other human factors issues. In the current economic climate, organisations may not be able to resource significant change programmes, but the good news is that there is lots you can do to help address common causes of distraction for your operational employees.
The financial crisis is impacting people in many ways, making basics like food, housing, heating and hot water unaffordable to many, causing significant anxiety and driving people to borrow money, reduce their spending and take on additional work.
Many organisations have access to an Employee Asssitance Programme (EAP) which offers staff free of charge and confidential access to specialist legal, and financial advice as well as counselling and support, but uptake is often quite low. It’s important to make sure that the services feel accessible to everyone. For example, a construction company invested in a financial adviser to support operational staff. Uptake was really low, but when they ‘rebranded’ the service as a ‘Money Medic’ the diary filled up immediately. This issue was that construction workers thought of ‘finance’ as the preserve of city bankers. Money management and the idea of a medic to assist in a crisis felt much more accessible and prompted them to engage. The benefits were plain to see in their regular pulse surveys.
Access to mental health support can yield similar benefits, particularly if delivered informally through a network of peers, with a more structured referral route to professional support for more significant issues.
Rest, recovery and nutrition are also important. The London 2012 programme did a lot of work in this area, and their learning is freely downloadable. In one project they offered free porridge to workers for breakfast and saw a direct correlation to a reduction in incidents where distraction or lack of attention were causal factors.
So there is loads you can do to support effective risk management by front line workers. You don’t have to invest in a big programme, just some simple initiatives that help acknowledge and address topical issues in an accessible way.
Remember small things can add up to make a huge positive difference.
Louise Ward is safety & sustainability director at G&W UK – Safety. For more information, visit www.gwrr.co.uk
