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712 Safety Supervision and Leadership
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Why Employees Don't Comply with Safety Rules

In his book 'Why Employees Don't Do What They're Supposed to Do', Ferdinand F. Fournies identifies the primary reason for employees not meeting performance standards: a lack of understanding of why they should perform certain tasks.

driver using cell phone
We're unsafe because we don't know why the rule is important.

The second most common reason employees don’t comply with safety rules is that they do not know how to do the task correctly.

The Supervisor Is the Key

To best ensure safety education and training is given to all workers, supervisors should be assigned safety training responsibilities. Moreover, considering that potential consequences often drive our actions and behaviors, training without accountability is always ineffective.

Why Supervisors Should be Trainers

This is the rationale: Educators, instructors, and trainers often affirm that with each training session they conduct, their own understanding of the subject deepens. This raises an important question: If one is not capable of teaching safety, how can they effectively supervise it?

When supervisors engage in training, they not only gain deeper insight and expertise in the procedures and processes they are teaching but they also become more adept at overseeing safety and managing accountability. This leads to workers perceiving their supervisors as both competent and knowledgeable in safety matters and other operations. This perception, akin to thinking 'I can't get away with anything,' acts as a powerful motivator in shaping employee behaviors. Isn't this the kind of perceived consequence that influences employee beahaviors?

Knowledge Check Choose the best answer for the question.

4-2. According to Ferdinand F. Fournies, what is the number one reason employees do not follow safety rules?