Safety Perception Impacts Risk-Taking

February 2, 2017

Safety professionals address most hazards in a sequential order of thinking:

Engineering solution (get rid of hazard altogether).
Administrative controls (minimize the hazard through improved job process).
Personal protective equipment (protect from the hazard).

Safety guards, interlocks, and other safety devices are often used to engineer out the hazard so that there is no longer danger present. Almost all machinery in industry has some level of safety built into it through various safety devices. Variations of industry safety devices have also made their way into our homes and are used on a daily basis.

When do the safety devices that protect us become a hazard? Problems begin to surface when we rely on safety devices to protect. Have you heard the saying “People compensate for increases in perceived safety by taking more risk”? When we feel safe, we tend to take more risk.

Picture yourself driving with and without a seatbelt. Without the seatbelt, most people feel vulnerable. However, most people do not have that same sense of vulnerability when driving 75 mph with a seatbelt on. We have convinced ourselves that we are safe with the seatbelt, yet injuries from a 75-mph accident could be significant.

A furniture factory I once worked with used an edge-bander to cut the edges off tables. A large guard was on a timed delay that allowed the operator to open it 30 seconds after the machine was shut off, allowing saw blades to come to a complete stop. The operator would tug each day on the guard after the machine was shut off and wait until it opened. The operator did this for years without incident. One afternoon, maintenance was performed on the machine, affecting the delay timer. The next day, the guard released at 25 seconds, rather than 30 seconds, and the operator instinctively reached into the machine. The blades had not yet come to rest and amputated a few of the employee’s fingers. Although the guard may have prevented many previous injuries, it contributed to the employee’s complacency and sense of perceived safety.

Other examples of safety devices include interlocked machine guarding, personal protective equipment (back belts, fall protection harnesses, etc.), automatic shutoff of machinery (often triggered by temperature or time), audible and visual warning devices, smoke and heat detection, and much more.

Please take a moment, with the help of your employees, to identify safety devices throughout your company. Explain the importance of these devices along with the consequences of bypassing safety devices. In closing, remind your employees that these devices are in place to help protect, but should not be relied upon. Safe decision-making prevents far more accidents than safety devices.