A dialogical approach to skill development: The case of safety skills

Exploring Worker Experience as a Predictor of Routine and Non-routine Safety Performance Outcomes in the Mining Industry

In recent years, there has been increasing interest in the role that individual factors play in health and safety (H&S) outcomes in the mining industry. Two surveys, one measuring self-reported routine safety performance and one measuring individual perceived competence in the non-routine knowledge, skills, and abilities (KSAs) critical to emergency response, were administered to two samples of mineworkers in separate research studies over a 2-year period (N = 2,020 and 696, respectively). Eight demographic items were common to both surveys and their associations with each performance outcome were tested in response to a series of exploratory research questions. Significant relationships were found between both safety outcome variables and individual factors, including the length of experience in current job, current mine, and mining industry, as well as participant workgroup and work schedule. Notably, the length of experience in the mining industry was the only variable significantly associated with both routine and non-routine safety performance. This analysis suggests that individual factors such as length of job, industry, and mine experience are predictive of routine and/or non-routine safety performance outcomes in significant and sometimes unexpected ways.

Outcomes of a Safety and Health Educational Intervention in Auto Body and Machine Tool Technologies Vocational College Programs: The Technical Education Curricula for Health and Safety (TECHS) Study

Technical Education Curricula for Health and Safety (TECHS) is a research collaboration between safety and health professionals and vocational instructors in three Minnesota colleges. Curriculum materials, including full and refresher modules with of classroom presentations, lab activities, homework, and quizzes, were developed for auto body collision technology (ABCT) and machine tool technology (MTT) programs. Curricula were implemented during the 2015-2018 academic years. Graduates' safety-related knowledge, skills, work practices, and workplace safety climate were assessed 1 year postgraduation using an electronic survey. Responses were received from 71 ABCT and 115 MTT graduates. Classroom presentations were used consistently throughout the study. Instructors cited a lack of time as the main barrier to using other materials (lab activities, homework, and quizzes). Graduates with TECHS instruction had significantly greater safety-related knowledge overall (both trades) as well as in two topic areas: eye and respiratory protection (ABCT) and hearing protection and machine guarding (MTT). Our data confirm that nearly all graduates consistently engage in practices such as use of safety glasses, hearing protection, and respirators, use of machine guards, material handling strategies. At 1 year postgraduation, MTT graduates' work practices related to machine guarding improved significantly. Graduates with TECHS instruction had improved in about half of the work practices, but statistical significance was not achieved. Graduates' self-reported work practices were not significantly correlated with their knowledge or skills. Work practices variability was best explained by graduates' attitudes toward safety rules and their rating of the workplace safety climate. TECHS findings confirm that classroom instruction alone has little impact on graduates' work practices. We propose institutions formalize their commitment to safety and health education by ear-marking teaching time for this subject and providing assistance to instructors to facilitate curricula integration. Instructors would benefit from learning more about trade-specific safety and health, and adult education teaching methods. Additional research is needed to understand how students' attitudes toward safety change during vocational college attendance and the first year of employment in the trade, explore implementation supports and barriers at institutional and instructor levels, and assess educational effectiveness beyond the end of the academic program. The entire curricula are available on the study website www.votechsafety.net.

The Impact of Job, Site, and Industry Experience on Worker Health and Safety

A debate exists about the impact of mineworker experience on health and safety (H&S). Studies often assert that length of time on the job (tenure) is negatively associated with accidents (i.e., new employees have a higher accident rate). However, inferences are all made based on reported incidents, whereas we know that underreporting is a problem in high-risk occupations. To that end, this study sought to examine how worker experience may impact a variety of H&S outcomes on the job. Comprised of three separate case studies with different H&S outcome variables, researchers broke down the results of several data sets that were collected from 3400 miners who worked in either underground coal, surface sand, stone, and gravel, or metal/non-metal to reveal any underlying trends among differing levels of experience on a specific job, with a specific company, and in the mining industry. Each case study is described in turn, using Kruskall-Wallis tests to determine the impact miners' experience on hazard recognition accuracy (Case 1), self-escape confidence (Case 2), and safety compliance (Case 3). The results show that workers with more job experience possess higher levels of perceived health and safety skills, including the identification of hazards on the job. We discuss the impact of experience on several predictors of incidents, including perceived job knowledge and hazard identification, and perceived compliance on the job. Practitioners can expect to gain a greater understanding of their workforce, including actual differences and similarities to consider, when communicating pieces of their health and safety management system to training workers of all experience levels.

Can Leader-Member Exchange Contribute to Safety Performance in An Italian Warehouse?

Introduction: The research considers safety climate in a warehouse and wants to analyze the Leader–Member Exchange (LMX) role in respect to safety performance. Griffin and Neal’s safety model was adopted and Leader-Member Exchange was inserted as moderator in the relationships between safety climate and proximal antecedents (motivation and knowledge) of safety performance constructs (compliance and participation).

Materials and Methods: Survey data were collected from a sample of 133 full-time employees in an Italian warehouse. The statistical framework of Hayes (2013) was adopted for moderated mediation analysis.

Results: Proximal antecedents partially mediated the relationship between Safety climate and safety participation, but not safety compliance. Moreover, the results from the moderation analysis showed that the Leader–Member Exchange moderated the influence of safety climate on proximal antecedents and the mediation exist only at the higher level of LMX.

Conclusion: The study shows that the different aspects of leadership processes interact in explaining individual proficiency in safety practices.

Practical Implications: Organizations as warehouses should improve the quality of the relationship between a leader and a subordinate based upon the dimensions of respect, trust, and obligation for high level of safety performance.

Is more engaging safety training always better in reducing accidents? Evidence of self-selection from Chilean panel data

INTRODUCTION

The recent events in Chile involving 33 miners who were trapped and rescued in the San José mine led the government to strongly promote occupational safety and health (OSH) training. However, there is an ongoing debate regarding which type of training is the most effective in reducing accidents.

METHOD

The "engagement hypothesis" claims that traditional classrooms are rather ineffective and that only a strong student involvement may generate meaningful results, but the empirical evidence is inconclusive. To contribute to this debate, we claim that the selection of the training method may be contingent on the firm's OSH capabilities and commitment. Firms with fewer (greater) capabilities may optimally self-select less (more) engaging training methods.

RESULTS

Accordingly, based on panel data from 2003 to 2009 for a representative sample of 2,787 Chilean firms, the engagement hypothesis initially appears to be supported; however, after correcting for self-selection bias, it loses most of its significance.

IMPACT ON INDUSTRY

Chilean policymakers are strongly advised to expand OSH training.

The Core Values that Support Health, Safety, and Well-being at Work

Background

Health, safety, and well-being (HSW) at work represent important values in themselves. It seems, however, that other values can contribute to HSW. This is to some extent reflected in the scientific literature in the attention paid to values like trust or justice. However, an overview of what values are important for HSW was not available. Our central research question was: what organizational values are supportive of health, safety, and well-being at work?

Methods

The literature was explored via the snowball approach to identify values and value-laden factors that support HSW. Twenty-nine factors were identified as relevant, including synonyms. In the next step, these were clustered around seven core values. Finally, these core values were structured into three main clusters.

Results

The first value cluster is characterized by a positive attitude toward people and their “being”; it comprises the core values of interconnectedness, participation, and trust. The second value cluster is relevant for the organizational and individual “doing”, for actions planned or undertaken, and comprises justice and responsibility. The third value cluster is relevant for “becoming” and is characterized by the alignment of personal and organizational development; it comprises the values of growth and resilience.

Conclusion

The three clusters of core values identified can be regarded as “basic value assumptions” that underlie both organizational culture and prevention culture. The core values identified form a natural and perhaps necessary aspect of a prevention culture, complementary to the focus on rational and informed behavior when dealing with HSW risks.

The development of managerial skills in MBA programs

Purpose

Business schools have been under fire for their alleged inefficacy in developing students’ managerial skills in MBA programs. On the basis of extant learning theories, the purpose of this paper is to propose a reconsideration of learning goals and assessment procedures for managerial skill development within MBA education.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors review the literatures on stage, experiential, social, and action learning theories to identify pedagogical suggestions for optimal skill development and to highlight the constraints program administrators and teachers face in efforts to advance students’ acquisition of complex managerial skills in MBA classrooms.

Findings

Conceptually, the authors argue that an emphasis on mastering complex managerial skills – as an expected learning outcome – might be an overly ambitious goal that can lead to neglecting early attainments in skill acquisition and create false impressions of MBA program failure. Furthermore, the authors discuss how MBA programs could consider the use of newer evaluation procedures for evaluating skill development.

Originality/value

The paper calls for greater attention to intermediate stages of managerial skill development for establishing learning goals, the consideration of knowledge structures for assessing the degree of skill development, and a focus on managerial skill development as a life‐long process.

Lifting the lid of the "black intervention box" - the systematic development of an action competence programme for people with screen-detected dysglycaemia

Background

The evidence gained from effective self-management interventions is often criticised for the ambiguity of its active components, and consequently the obstruction of their implementation into daily practice.

Our aim is to report how an intervention development model aids the careful selection of active components in an intervention for people with dysglycaemia.

Methods

The first three phases of the UK Medical Research Council's model for developing complex interventions in primary care were used to develop a self-management intervention targeting people with screen-detected dysglycaemia. In the preclinical phase, the expected needs of the target group were assessed by review of empirical literature and theories. In phase I, a preliminary intervention was modelled and in phase II, the preliminary intervention was pilot tested.

Results

In the preclinical phase the achievement of health-related action competence was defined as the overall intervention goal and four learning objectives were identified: motivation, informed decision-making, action experience and social involvement. In Phase I, the educational activities were defined and the pedagogical tools tested. In phase II, the intervention was tested in two different primary healthcare settings and adjusted accordingly. The 18-hour intervention "Ready to Act" ran for 3 months and consisted of two motivational one-to-one sessions conducted by nurses and eight group meetings conducted by multidisciplinary teams.

Conclusions

An intervention aimed at health-related action competence was successfully developed for people with screen-detected dysglycaemia. The systematic and transparent developmental process is expected to facilitate future clinical research. The MRC model provides the necessary steps to inform intervention development but should be prioritised according to existing evidence in order to save time.