One in three bosses don’t care about safety

Monday, 23 February 2009

One in three bosses place production efficiency ahead of safety or don’t care
about work standards, according to a new survey commissioned by Worksafe
Victoria.

The survey also finds another 9% of work supervisors are in “denial” about
safety standards and do not profess an interest in the subject. The survey
results are compiled from the questionnaires of 1160 Victorian supervisors.
Workplace support and education division manager Jill McCabe says the
results will help create new Worksafe strategies for the future.

"The research has given us food for thought in terms of what we as an
organisation need to do in future to shape attitudes of not just supervisors
but upper management. It also gives food for thought for particular
organisations and the way that they operate. "

McCabe says 33% of supervisors were categorised as “disconnected” or
“disgruntled”, arguing "…workplaces where upper management really don't
seem to care about health and safety”.

"The disconnected supervisor personally cares about health and safety but
their senior management doesn't., so they find it very difficult to raise issues
and get them dealt with in the workplace.

"The other group, the disgruntled, say 'If senior management don't care, why
should we?' and then there's a very small group that ...think ...the worst that
could happen in this workplace is that someone would get a paper cut."