Page 46 - Occupational Health & Safety, October 2017

BEHAVIOR-BASED SAFETY
Social Influences Affect Your New Employee’s Safety Behavior
The why is important for all employees and is a
critical ingredient to all of your safety communications. BY BRIAN DISHMAN
New employees bring their unique person- alities, perspectives, and history to your job site. What is their safety mindset? What was the safety culture of their previous employ-
er? These are worth considering during the onboard- ing process of new employees. You are reading this publication because you have a passion for safety. You promote a safe work environment for your employ- ees. You have a clear vision for your job site’s safety culture. You want new employees to share your vision, embrace your vision, and live by it. How do you influ- ence them?
Typical safety orientation processes include things like:
■ Review of company’s life-saving rules and safety policies
■ Equipment training
■ Personal protective equipment use and compliance
■ OSHA or certification requirements for their jobs
■ Emergency procedures
Each new hire goes through the organization’s
checklist of safety knowledge and compliance re- quirements for their job. This is critical because it pro- vides hires with clear safety expectations in their new position. What many safety professionals may not
have considered are the social influences that affect new employees’ behaviors. There are social and psy- chological factors that have a tremendous influence on employee behaviors. These factors are especially powerful for new employees. These factors are not on a safety orientation checklist, but they may have a greater effect on a new hire’s approach to safety than the formal activities in your safety orientation process.
When in Rome, We Do as the Romans Do
Social Proof is a phenomenon that has been studied extensively by social psychologists. Prominent psy- chologist Robert Cialdini summarized many well- known experiments, studies, and historical examples of social proof in his book “Influence, The Psychology of Persuasion.” Few realize the overpowering effect so- cial proof has on our behaviors. One everyday exam- ple is the laugh tracks that are applied to sitcoms. TV executives add artificial, canned laughter to sitcoms because they influence us to laugh. You may consider laugh tracks fake and corny. You may not like them, but researchers have demonstrated they work (Smyth & Fuller, 1972; Fuller & Sheehy-Skeffinton, 1974; No- sanchuk & Lightstone, 1974). Others laugh, so we feel compelled to laugh. TV executives know what they are doing.
42 Occupational Health & Safety | OCTOBER 2017
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