Edmonton, Alberta — A fear of negative repercussions “appears to be a strong driving force for why someone might hesitate to report a hazard” at work, a recent report out of Canada suggests.
University of Alberta researchers surveyed nearly 4,700 mining workers and contractors while examining thousands of incident reports across five mining operations. Survey respondents were prompted for the top reasons why hazards aren’t identified or reported.
A “novice and developing workforce” – described as a lack of knowledge and hazard awareness among employees – was the leading response at 18%. That was followed by multiple reasons related to fear, including career (15%) and social (12%) repercussions.
Further analysis identified multiple negative consequences sensed by workers:
- Changes in how crew members or supervisors viewed their competency (someone attributing blame or fault for the hazard, for example).
- Losing their job or not being offered future positions or overtime (especially among temporary or contract workers).
- Being shifted to less desirable tasks or pieces of equipment within their crew.
“The predominance of fear shocked us,” Lianne Lefsrud, lead author of the report and professor in the university’s chemicals and materials engineering department, wrote in a report published by The Conversation. “Workers described being more afraid of the social consequences of reporting hazards than of the hazards themselves. As a result, they were putting their own lives at risk.”
In the report, the researchers offer strategies for preventing fears of job insecurity related to hazard reporting:
- Discuss hazards in a supportive and open way.
- Work on hazard solutions as a crew or department.
- Provide positive reinforcement for hazard reporting (verbal encouragement and expressed appreciation, for example).
