A front page story in the Sydney Morning Herald “Injuries Show the Dangers of Childcare” highlighted the serious problems that can arise when employees are unaware of or, do not follow, organisational safety procedures.
One report indicated that there were 13,300 potential health and safety breaches in child care centres in NSW in 2009-10, resulting in 1,000 children requiring medical treatment and one death.
While your business may have nothing in common with a childcare centre, it is important to realise that workplace injuries can happen in any organisation. According to a WorkCover report, across NSW in 2008-09 there were 139 deaths resulting from workplace accidents and over 133,000 employment injuries reported (WorkCover NSW, 2010). These occurred across a range of industries, including ‘low risk’ areas such as administration and insurance.
Screening for safety attitudes and behaviours can be the first step in helping to safeguard your employees against injury. By using a screening tool you can identify and either train, manage or avoid employing individuals most likely to expose the organisation to unsafe or unethical workplace practices. This can lead to decreased accident rates and lower Workers’ Compensation premiums and pay-outs.
Royal Dutch Shell is one major organisation leading the way with safety initiatives, whereby all employees are required to comply with standards, operating procedures and laws, intervene in unsafe situations and respect people and the environment. Compliance is fostered and measured through risk assessment, pledges and training programs. This has resulted in their best ever safety performance in 2010, with the lowest injury rate, down 15 percent from the previous best in 2009. (http://sustainabilityreport.shell.com/)
RightPeople’s Risk Management Profile (RMP) measures integrity, honesty, poor impulse control and stress tolerance. It identifies those individuals who have, or are likely to demonstrate poor safety attitudes and behaviour. It can be used for both staff development and employee selection. The N-Stress Tolerance and Conscientiousness scales of our OCEAN Occupational Personality Assessment be used in conjunction with the RMP to identify those individuals who are likely to panic in an emergency or to be careless and inefficient.
Guard against unsafe practices that jeopardise your employee wellbeing and your business. Contact us today to discuss how our RMP can help safeguard your organisation.
References
Wallace, N. (2011, May 2). Injuries show the dangers of childcare Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved from http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/injuries-show-the-dangers-of-childcare-20110501-1e38c.html#ixzz1TB7JPa3E
Workcover New South Wales. (2010). NSW Workers Compensation Statistical Bulletin 2008/09. Author: NSW
