Psychology, Risk and Safety: Factors Influencing Risk Perception of Ironworkers

The risk management program in any business, especially in a health care organization is an integral part of its day to day operation. The purpose of the risk management department is summed up by Kavaler & Alexander (2014), “…a program designed to reduce the incidence of preventable accidents and injuries to minimize the financial loss to the institution should any accident or injury occur” (p. 5). Protecting employees, patients, vendors and visitors is an ongoing process and one that needs to be updated when the healthcare organization has deemed necessary. This paper will demonstrate the importance of presenting the risk management program to new employees, compliance with the standards set forth by the American Society of Healthcare Risk Management (ASHRM), propose recommendations or changes needed to further improve the program, as well as examine the administrative process of managing a risk program.

The human resources process has to accompany both the employee and employer in regard to safety issues. An employee wants the assurance of safe and healthy working conditions; anything less exposes danger to their own wellbeing. In addition employees must take heed to precautions design by the organization. However an employer wants to avoid expenditures in overhead by cutting cost or corners often putting their employees at harmful risk. In addition, organizations also have a lawful obligation in which they have to provide a safe workplace by preventing accidents, hazards, serious injuries or accident-related deaths. Negligence on either behalf can result in determination, fines, citations, work-related

The reasons that individuals are ignoring risk are due to personal dread, overconfidence, pleasure and personal gain. The article claims that a person's own dread can overcome the idea of risk. Kluger explains that "the dread factor" is the perception that one certain type of danger is far more harmful than the other despite logic claiming that it isn't. For example, he proceeds to compare the risk between the American epidemic of AIDS versus heart disease.

Accordingly, they found 48 employer safety obligations (e.g., provide personal protective equipment, reward safe working behaviour, and investigates hazards and risks), and 36 employee safety obligation items such as use work equipment properly, report safety incident, and follow safety rules.. However, even though they did not use psychometrically validated measurement, those obligation items can be used in the measuring physical psychological safety. Thus, physical risk psychological safety items will be derived from this measurement.

Due to the high rate of illnesses, accidents and injuries in the industry, the organization further developed a hazard recognition program. This was greatly supported by the directives and the standards the organization drafted. The organization also set a safety and health program. This mainly depended on the credibility of management’s involvement in the program. This program provided for the inclusion of the employees in the program. The program also provided for the inclusion of the employees in the different decision making processes such as the safety and health decisions. The employees were also to be included in the decisions that involved change in the work site practices and conditions. The program addressed hazards despite failure by the government standard to regulate it (Brain Mass, 2010).

Safety is an important function of our daily lives and requires the same attention we give other functions and processes within our daily job routines. Over the years as we continue to do our jobs and the same processes we can become less safe by using short cuts to make a process easier for ourselves. Also, the equipment we use begins to age and breakdown and cause unsafe conditions. Safety professionals use many different types of safety programs to combat safety related issues or problems one may encounter on a job site. Employee involvement is the most important part of any safety program. Without employee involvement safety programs are not as successful, because employees are sometimes not aware of the process and steps in place to protect them.

For many people risk is an accepted part of everyday life. Every day activities such as catching the bus, travelling on holiday, playing football, setting up home and starting a family all carry some element of risk.

This responsibility motivates the HR department and managers to implement stringent policies to prevent work-related injuries to avoid paying for higher workers’ compensation insurance. Moreover, it inspires the company to promote safety by organizing a safety committee to address hazards in the workplace to prevent injuries or deaths. The committee solicits employee suggestions and participation to increase compliance to company policies. It also develops various safety programs to promote employee wellness to improve their quality of life (Gomez-Mejia, et al, 2010).

* There are three (3) schools of thought regarding risk. The first considers the positive and negative aspects of risk, but sees them as separate. The second group believes that there are benefits from treating threats and opportunities together, while the third school does not label uncertainties, but addresses uncertainty as part of “doing the job.” Argue the value of having a risk strategy despite the cost associated with it. Include an example to support

The safety concerns can be resolved through companywide mandatory safety training. There were only about half of the employees whom felt safe and to increase the percentage safety has to be a top priority of the company. Safety training can be done in various ways such as regular session with supervisors, managers, and employees are often coordinated by HR

The theme of the video is the role of the leader in a proactive safety system. It also explains the proactive safety attitude to achieve zero, and links human resource concept with safety initiatives.

to the Model of Risk Perception – Risk Reduction Behavior process as postulated by Bennett and Murphy (1997), efficient and effective disaster preparedness is dependent on risk perception, self – efficacy and the social environment (attitudes and subjective norms). Most often people are of the opinion that they are not at risk for disasters placing themselves and their families in imminent danger.

In the case study, Fastsave is a retail chain store company that was doing quite well, and had more than enough financial resources to make investments. In other words, they are able and they have the capacity to take risks with no significant danger of losses. The real risk here was whether it would be worth it for them in terms of time and effort. The attitude to risk is also based on individuals who personalities vary. In the case study, individuals who are more reserve tend to be more cautious as they are realistic while the others who are more risky or outgoing tend to be more straightforward as they maintained an optimist

The word “risk” means the possibility of suffering a harmful event. Risk taking can bring either positive or negative result because anytime we take risks in life, there is a possibility of loss which can cause tension. There are a lot of people who take big risks and appear not to be affected by them. But, many of us feel very uneasy when faced with risk-taking; we may become worried about the risk. Although some people are content in life by just playing it safe and not courting any

The safety training program should be tailored to the employee’s day to day job. The training reinforces the belief that safety is critical in the accomplishment of jobs within the organization. The safety training needs of the organization will be identified by focusing on the training needs of the job. The employees thus have to learn how to perform their jobs in a safe way after being trained o safety within the work place. The success of any safety training program will largely depend on the employees having the requisite knowledge and skills necessary for them to do their jobs in a safe way. The individual employees, supervisors and the organization as a whole also have to adhere to legal requirements as stipulated by the