In our previous post we explored how perceived risk compared to actual risk, and how accurate perceived risk really is. As is shown from the data, perceived risk can be highly inaccurate, as it is influenced by factors such as risk tolerance and risk normalisation. This inaccuracy of perceived risk can have huge trickle-down effects on workplace safety: from which risks are seen by management as a hazard, to likelihood of following safety procedures among workers. 

At its core, the decision to follow risky versus cautious behaviour is cost-benefit analysis. The individual is making a choice based on balancing the expected costs or benefits of both the risk behaviour and the cautious behaviour. This cost and benefit analysis is influenced by individual factors, cultural factors, perceived risk, risk tolerance, and risk normalisation. 

How Perceived Risk Impacts Safety Behaviours

Perceived risk can influence safety both individually and culturally in an organization. Before trying to find a solution to any perceived risk issues, it is important to identify all arrears that could be coming into play. 

On an individual level, mood directly impacts safety behaviour. In the workplace, anxiety and fatigue are shown to increase risky behaviour and happiness is shown to decrease it. If a worker is overconfident in their abilities, they can end up over-estimating their skills and put themselves into a potentially unsafe situation. Outside influences such as time pressure, mental pressure, and distractions can also cause workers to act in unsafe ways. 

Memory also influences safety behaviour. If the worker was distracted during learning, they are less likely to remember and follow safety practices. Over time there will also be natural memory loss that occurs. Finally, humans are built to forget unpleasant events. This means that even if a worker personally experienced an incident, they may not remember the details and continue to engage in the same dangerous behaviours. 

If someone is performing a task that they have previously completed without incident, they may be less inclined to follow safety procedures. This increases if there is any inconvenience or discomfort involved in the safety procedure itself. For example if a quick task a worker has performed many times without incident requires protective gloves, the worker may forgo the gloves if they are not accessible, easy to put on, and comfortable. 

As previously discussed, risk tolerance also comes into play with risk perception. In a study of industrial workers around the use of hearing protection in the workplace, it was found that individual risk perception and the value for hearing preservation (the expected loss) were the most significant predictors of individual hearing protection use. The more value workers put on their hearing, or the higher the perception of the risk, the more likely they were to use hearing protection. 

At the cultural level, group norms and social acceptability can have a powerful influence on risk-taking behaviour of workers. If a worker sees others making risky choices, especially if they are new to an organization or less experienced in a field, they may view the unsafe behaviour as “normal” or fear deviating from the demonstrated norms. Additionally, injuries or losses can be a way of demonstrating “commitment” or act as a “right of passage” in some industries and affirm a worker’s commitment to the job. 

Cultural influences don’t just affect frontline workers; they can also affect management, which leads to an impact on safety implementation and regulation. Groupthink can cause a failure to examine risks, failure to properly gather information, and bias in processing and perception of the information that is collected. That can then lead to less robust safety guidelines and expectations within an organization. 

How to Address Perceived Risk in Your Organization

Once you are aware of how risk is perceived in your organization, and what individual and cultural factors may be influencing safety behaviour, you can begin to formulate a plan to address the concerns. It is likely your plans will have aspects of three main strategies:

• Require behavior change through implementation and enforcement of administrative rules

• Provide automatic protection to workers through product and environmental design

• Persuade at-risk workers to change their behavior

The first two options call upon the use of the Hierarchy of Hazard Control. The third strategy relates to addressing individual and organizational attitudes towards safety and perceived risk

Programs designed to discourage unsafe behaviour address elements of both risk perception and risk tolerance. Perceived risk management side of the program aims to educate individuals on where their perception of risk differs from the actual risk present. When designing a programs to improve risk perception and tolerance among individuals, it is important for an organization's management to consider three elements:

• The possibility of different ways that workers may perceive risk

• Promote experience sharing and accident simulation in any training or program rollout

• Use this as an opportunity for workers to uncover risk information 

When looking to address individual and organizational attitudes, an effective safety program must understand the perspective of participants. For workers, unsafe behaviour is likely perceived as rational, justifiable, and linked to perceived benefits. Workers may experience social approval or enhanced esteem when engaging in risky behaviours (which are viewed as benefits), and may experience costs such as discomfort or inconvenience when performing safe behaviours. This means that when addressing safety behaviours and perceived risk in your workplace, you have to review the cost-benefit analysis for both the risky behaviour and the safe alternative. The easier it is to engage in safe behaviour and the less desirable risky behaviour is made out to be, it then becomes more likely that a worker will engage in safe behaviour.

This cost-benefit analysis also directly impacts risk perception. In a study of people working at heights, researchers found that workers were more likely to perceive a situation as risky if their safety gear was easy to retrieve and put on. Although the risk itself had not changed, because the cost of the safe behaviour was lower the cost of the unsafe behaviour was perceived as higher.

As previously discussed, cultural influences also play a role in safety behaviours. This is not just a negative influence, however; it can also be used to improve safety. For example, workers’ opinions about a company’s safety climate are a predictor of whether the worker will follow safety expectations. If they view the workplace as a safe one, they are more likely to follow the expectations and act in a safe manner. Therefore, creating a culture of safety is an incredibly important step in improving safety behaviour and changing risk perceptions. 

Although the actual actions are in the hands of the worker, the organization is also responsible for safety in the workplace. Addressing how individual and cultural perceptions of risk influence safety behaviours can help create better, safer workplaces for both employees and management.