Organizations are required to train their staff, and these efforts should be reflected in their attitudes toward safety. However, many health and safety professionals and trainers struggle with shifting mindsets in order to inspire employees to “own” safety. It’s a training issue that improves knowledge of safety issues but has little effect on behavior.
In this post, we will look at some recent research that looks at how attitudes toward safety alter after employees finish their obligatory site safety training. According to the study, only minimal changes in safety attitudes occur after this form of instruction.
These changes include increased knowledge of safety risks and a stronger intention to behave safely, but no longer caring about safety as a problem. How can we handle this issue if staff do not care about safety after completing mandated training?
What is the importance of adult learning principles?
The construction sector is used as a backdrop in the study to emphasize safety attitudes. Training to improve employees’ attitudes toward safety is a vital aspect and a top concern for construction managers.
There is evidence that adult learning-based training can enhance the safety climate, perceptions, and behavior on construction sites. The most significant component, however, is the use of adult learning methods. Training fails to make a difference when we do not consider how adults learn.
With technology, we can best support adult learning concepts. E-learning, video, virtual reality, and interactive approaches are some of the web-based resources that can be used to improve safety training. Visual resources such as animation and graphics are effective for supporting language skills and literacy.
Using innovative learning strategies fosters engagement with the subject, which can help with knowledge transfer in the workplace. Work-based training that gives workers first-hand experience with workplace operations and safety issues can be a particularly effective strategy to improve safety attitudes.
How important are employee safety attitudes?
Employee attitudes about safety determine not only whether they behave safely on the job but also whether they will accept and follow formal workplace rules. Safety attitudes also determine whether or not they will take the initiative to introduce informal practices to increase safety where necessary.
Older workers are more likely than younger workers to have positive attitudes toward safety because they believe they have no control over how the task is performed, young workers perceive safety concerns as an intrinsic element of the job.
Employee attitudes about safety are influenced by past behavior. When someone completes a construction activity securely, it has a favorable impact on their knowledge of how to properly complete a task, and they are more likely to repeat this behavior.
When an employee takes shortcuts and executes work in a risky manner with little or no repercussions, they are more likely to continue doing so.
Does the level of engagement have an impact on training outcomes?
The study discovered that gender, age, and education all had an impact on safety views. When establishing safety training programs, we must pay greater attention to adapting programs to the demographic features of those being trained. We must also employ new interactive and immersive technologies that are built on adult-learning principles.
The level of involvement and engagement influences learner buy-in and subsequent changes in safety behavior. Good safety training does more than just establish proficiency; it also fosters an emotional connection with the subject.