Sort of a provocative headline there, huh? It certainly got your attention. We love generalizing to make a point. In this case, we don’t necessarily mean that everyone who does base-jumping as a hobby outside of work is automatically a bad employee and should not be hired for any job that requries workplace safety measures.
However, we are saying that those who have the personality characteristic that is consistent among base-jumpers could be at a higher risk for workplace incidents and injuries, no matter the intensity of the safety program and procedures that are in place. This statement is a result of an interesting series of studies by Canada-based research firm TalentClick which suggest that there are five personality traits or characteristics that seem to have a higher likelihood of being involved in a workplace incident that causes damage to equipment or personal injury. Despite the best efforts of safety managers to develop, implement and execute a comprehensive safety program for workers, lost time due to workplace incidents still results in $51 billion a year in losses for companies. Information about this can be found in the March 2014 issue of Professional Safety magazine (you can find snippets of the mag here).
[Photo courtesy of DVIDSHUB on Flickr via a Creative Commons license]While jumping out of an airplane does not disqualify someone from being a good worker, the personality trait consistent with this behavior can be one that is risky for a company looking to have a good safety record. This is just one of five at-risk personality traits that supervisors should consider among their workers.
Anxiousness: When safety become paramount, does the worker freeze up or panic and show a lack of self-confidence or faith in the safety protocols that are in place? The more anxious a worker gets when safety really matters, the higher the risk of an incident.
Distractibility: Does the worker lose focus easily or is constantly looking for stimulation? This makes sense; a worker who is not focused on the work at hand tends to put himself or herself at risk of doing something wrong or careless.
Impulsiveness: These are the base-jumpers. Does the worker seek excitement, take unnecessary risks and seem to have little concept of the consequences of risky actions? Let’s face it – many safety programs don’t incorporate impulsive behavior; they assume thoughtfulness.
Irritability: Does the worker seem to get annoyed under pressure?Is the worker in a stressful position where he or she seems to rarely be in a good mood? This emotional state can lead to mistakes in safety.
Resistance: Does the worker tend to not accept feedback well? Does he or she seem resistant to authority or rules? Someone who tends to disregard the safety rules or advice frm a safety officer will, naturally, be at higher risk of having a safety incident.
Some smaller workforces may only have one or two workers who display one or more of these characteristics, while larger staffs will have more people that exhibit these at-risk behaviors. The studies seems to indicate that it’s important to identify the personalities of your individual workers, isolate those at-risk behaviors and adjust your workplace safety program so that those individuals’ risks are mitigated in the proper way so as to not only keep the individual workers safe, but also protect any equipment and other workers who are nearby.