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Safety-conscious behaviour and attitudes are not qualities that show up in NCEA results or university qualifications. The assessment process can also be muddied by an employer’s personal preferences and experiences.
But that’s no measure of whether their behavioural and attitudinal qualities fit the safety requirements of the role. “Safety-related tendencies aren’t easy to detect up-front at interviews or referee checks and it’s not as if employers can put candidates out on the road and watch them over a period of time to find out.” Selecting the right person for the job when safety is the key criteria requires bringing in a scientific approach – especially in the current tight labour market. “The negative behaviors that often accompany hiring from a shrinking workforce more often than not result in poor safety performance, increased accidents, injuries and ultimately loss of profitability.” This is why safety profiling tools are increasingly being considered a valuable part of the workplace safety equation. They provide employers with effective information that can differentiate a worker with positive qualities such as trainability and commitment versus one who is aggressive, easily distracted and arrogant. Marshall says safety profiling is not just about screening people out, but about identifying behavioural qualities and using that information to manage a workforce. So it has valuable applications for employers struggling against the workforce squeeze. “If you have to take someone who is shown to be by nature more reckless than careful for example, you can put in place structures/training to make sure they perform better, or place them in less risky areas of the workforce,” says Marshall. “Having that information up-front means better safety from the beginning.” This is where a new worker safety profiling tool being introduced this year has a key role. The ‘Hogan Safety Report’ is an assessment tool managers can use as a selection procedure for hiring safer workers and as a tool to determine the extent to which a current workforce is comprised of safe workers. Based on more than 30 years of research into accidents and safe-work behaviour, the safety report can determine a worker’s work style and overall safety orientation. This enables employers to select the right person in advance. The safety report scores candidates on six personality-driven driven scales such as trainability, distractibility, vigilance or confidence. Combined with narrative information on candidate strengths and areas of concern, it can be used to determine why a candidate might engage in behaviour that is inconsistent with best safety practices. “It provides exceptionally valuable management information telling employers how workers will behave,” says Marshall. “Managers can use this not only in the selection process but to put in place targeted training programmes, ensuring workers meet their safety performance requirements. “Basically, the more managers know about an individual’s default behaviours, the better able they are to delegate tasks.” Financially it’s worth the investment. One freight company in the United States found that over two years, drivers hired with the tool were dramatically less likely to be involved in negative incidents than those who weren’t. The company estimated annual savings generated by reducing those negative incidents not only paid for the selection process, but generated significant cost savings by reducing the number of accidents, insurance claims, worker compensation claims and customer-service related claims. Using a safety profiling tool is also in the best interests of the worker, says Marshall. “It’s very important to have people who are going to perform in a certain way working in a role that enhances their own safety, that of others and ultimately that of the whole company.” Marshall, director of Performance Profiles, the agent for the Hogan Safety Report in New Zealand, works with companies using the tool to help them understand what dimensions they need to achieve better safety and assess the report results. Overall, the Safety Report means employers can select safer workers from the start – although just part of the equation it can save operators potentially millions of dollars in the long-term. For more information visit www.performanceprofiles.co.nz
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“We tend to favour people who are like us,” says organisational psychologist Bev Marshall. “For instance we’re more likely to employ someone who went to the same university we did, than a new immigrant who went to Bangalore University.”