According to the recent study, more labor accidents could be prevented
if workers received additional interactive, engaging training. The
researchers found that when it comes to acquiring safety knowledge and
demonstrating safe work behaviors in hazardous work environments,
interactive training techniques like hands-on simulations play a
critical role.
The study’s findings qualify the conclusions of a team of researchers
from Canada’s Institute for Work & Health and the U.S.’s National
Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) which reported that
there was insufficient evidence for recommending the adoption of more
interactive training techniques. According to lead author, Michael J.
Burke of Tulane University, “Our research is the most comprehensive to
date to examine the question of how important training engagement is for
informing workers about hazards and how to avoid them, and motivating
workers to practice safe work behaviors.”
The research paper, which appeared in the February issue of the Journal
of Applied Psychology, discusses how engaging and simulating training
triggers a psychological response referred to as the “dread factor”.
This response, particularly when workers are being prepared to deal with
ominous hazards, enhances the ability to learn. For example, the
considerable practice and social interaction involved in high engagement
training in handling ominous hazards instills dread in workers. This
realization of injury/illness vulnerability plays a primary role in
motivating individuals to learn about how to avoid exposure to such
hazards.
“From a practical viewpoint, this study shows that engaging training
does make a difference for workers in highly hazardous conditions,” says
a senior author on the study, Kristin Smith-Crowe of the University of
Utah. “And recent disasters, like the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico
and the Upper Big Branch mine explosion in West Virginia, remind us
that the stakes can be very high.”
The investigation statistically integrated the results from 113 safety
training studies (conducted since the passage of the Occupational Safety
and Health Administration Act in 1971) with a total sample size of
24,694 workers from 16 countries.
The paper’s other co-authors include Rommel O. Salvador of the
University of Washington in Tacoma, Suzanne Chan-Serafin of the
University of New South Wales, and Alexis Smith and Shirley Sonesh of
Tulane University.To read more Feed Forward posts, click here.
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