W2: Risk Tolerance

Unsafe acts come from unsafe thinking. If only we can show people in advance, how unsafe their thinking is and how that leads them into danger. NOW WE CAN!

The Safety Improver’s Safety Risk Tolerance Survey and Workshop asks people to weigh-up the best solutions to difficult safety scenarios. People have to think very carefully. This thinking exposes their own attitudes to the scenarios and their likely ways of behaving if faced with similar real-life situations. The very act of thinking about “best solutions” from one’s own common sense experience will often change behaviours for the better.

However, there are three additional and powerful ways to use the information gleaned from a simple risk tolerance survey.

Here’s how the Safety Risk Tolerance Survey works

Managers identify who will take part and distribute the survey with a covering letter (see sample).
Participants are asked to study fifteen scenarios showing unsafe conditions or acts at work, at home and in some social settings. For each, they have to select from four options what they think is the safest course of action. It takes about the 20 minutes to complete the survey.
After completing the survey it is sent in an envelope addressed to Safety Improvers.
The survey is graded by Safety Improvers. The top score is 60.
All results are CONFIDENTIAL. It is a condition of the license that individual scores are not displayed or circulated. Only the supervisor/manager/consultant who’ll have a discussion with each of the participants will see individual results. After the one-to-one discussions the survey forms must be destroyed.
After all surveys are submitted half-day workshops are held to go through each scenario and discuss the “best options”. This discussion in itself results in even more behavioural change. For example, people who score low on the survey – clearly see the error in their thinking after the workshops. Manuals with the “best options” are given out.
One-to-one sessions lasting about 10 minutes are arranged.

Important note

The survey is a behavioural learning tool – NOT a psychological test. Do not be tempted to use this risk tolerance survey or any other survey to try to identify people who are “high risks”. If you try this it will lead to severe difficulty. The score in itself is not important – it is only a snapshot – a starting point. People with low scores very quickly see the best options during the discussion in short workshops and the one-to-one sessions. It is only after extensive discussion that one can judge whether or not an individual has changed.

Feel free to email or telephone Dr Bill for an initial discussion.

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