Perceived risk

Why are people generally underwhelmed, or unimpressed by risks or safety hazards at work? After all, the high degree of hazard exposure caused by a large work force and many hours of work makes it quite probable someone will eventually be injured on the job. Of course, the use of appropriate protective clothing or equipment can eliminate the possibility of injury in many cases. But many people don’t appreciate the value of using personal protective equipment or following safe operating procedures. Why? Their perception of risk is generally much lower than actual risk.

The more information and experience we have regarding a risk, the less risk we perceive. Recall how attentive you were to potential hazards when first introduced to the high-tech equipment of your workplace. Remember how quickly your perceived risk was lowered as the situation became more familiar, and you adjusted your behavior accordingly.

A primary challenge of every safety professional is to increase workers’ perceptions of personal risk. This is important because behavior is determined by perceived, rather than actual, risk.