Chapter 10—Motivating Safety Behaviour at Work

MULTIPLE CHOICE

1. What are the three types of health and safety program interventions?
a. engineering, psychological, and cultural
b. behavioural, cultural, and physical
c. engineering, administrative, and behavioural
d. psychological, behavioural, and physical

ANS: c
REF: p. 253

2. Which of the following represents a behavioural intervention for improving occupational health
and safety?
a. job rotation
b. skills training
c. workstation redesign
d. forming a safety committee

ANS: b
REF: p. 253

3. Proper hand washing is an example of what category of safety behaviour?

a. proper use of hazard control systems
b. development of safe work habits
c. maintenance of housekeeping standards
d. maintenance of accepted hygiene practices

ANS: d
REF: p. 253

4. What equation defines safety performance?

a. Safety performance = Ability × Motivation × Opportunity
b. Safety performance = Ability + Motivation + Opportunity
c. Safety performance = Skill + Knowledge + Ability
d. Safety performance = Skill × Knowledge × Ability

ANS: a

5. What basic model underlies most applications of behavioural programming in the workplace?
a. Trigger  Behaviour  Reward
 b. Trigger  Consequence Behaviour
c. Antecedent  Behaviour  Consequence
d. Antecedent  Behaviour  Reward

ANS: c

6. Which of the following is a dimension for characterizing behavioural consequences?

a. immediate or delayed
b. short-term or long-term
c. limited or extensive
d. compliance or performance

ANS: a

7. When planning behaviour-based safety programs that include incentives, what do planners need to
ensure?
a. that feedback is not used as an incentive
b. that incentives are used in place of employee training
c. that incentive programs manipulate employees’ behaviour
d. that incentives are tied to behaviours under individual control

ANS: d
REF: p. 257

8. What goal-setting technique explained why a larger proportion of one group of university staff
members attended a health and safety training session, compared to the lower attendance seen in a
second group of staff members?
a. They were given a more difficult goal.
b. They were given a more specific goal.
c. They were more committed to the goal.
d. They received more feedback about their progress.

ANS: c
REF: p. 258–259

9. In the multi-tasking world that we live in today, why is goal setting even more important than
ever?
a. It makes us persist with a task.
b. It directs our attention to a specific task.
c. It helps us mobilize our efforts to achieve a task.
d. It helps to find new strategies to overcome obstacles.

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 ANS: b
REF: p. 258–259

10. What is a contribution that senior management can make to ensure that their organization will have
a strong safety climate?
a. monitoring use of personal protective equipment
b. developing explicit and enacted policies on safety
c. praising new hires for transfer of training
d. reporting employees for unsafe behaviour

ANS: b
REF: p. 261

11. According to research, what is the means through which an organization’s safety promotion
activities produce safer work behaviour?
a. safety compliance
b. safety participation
c. actual safety climate
d. perceived safety climate

ANS: d
REF: p. 264

12. According to self-determination theory, what forms of extrinsic motivation result in more of a self-
directed effort to work in safer ways?
a. external and introjected
b. introjected and identified
c. identified and integrated
d. integrated and external

ANS: c
REF: p. 261

13. Setting and communicating high expectations for safe performance of work tasks is associated
with what dimension of transformational leadership?
a. idealized influence
b. inspirational motivation
c. intellectual stimulation
d. individualized consideration

ANS: b

14. How can HRMs ensure that employees utilize the knowledge and skills gained during training and
consistently perform their work duties in a safe manner?
a. by installing surveillance cameras
b. by providing rewards for reporting unsafe behaviour
c. by building a safety culture and safety leadership
d. by rewarding reductions in incidents and injuries

ANS: c
REF: p. 263–265
15. Elinor has the chance to earn a gift certificate for any Swiss Chalet restaurant if her department has
over 90% use of safety glasses in the last six months. According to motivational theory what type
of reward is this?
a. compliance
b. contingent
c. complementary
d. cooperation

ANS: d
REF: p. 265

16. What two facets of the Canadian Standards Association model for Occupational Health and Safety
Management Systems are reflected in Ontario Power Generation’s safety slogan?
a. Plan, Do
b. Check, Act
c. Plan, Act
d. Check, Do

ANS: a
REF: p. 252 & 268

17. Which of the following categories uses techniques such as job rotation and the scheduling of work
breaks?
a. safety behaviour
b. administrative controls
c. engineering controls
d. behavioural interventions

ANS: b
REF: p. 253

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18. What theory explains how we can motivate safe behaviour by recognizing that people are
motivated by different things?
a. reinforcement theory
b. goal-setting theory
c. self-determination theory
d. transformational leadership theory

ANS: c
REF: p. 259–260

19. According to the reinforcement theory of safety, what do organizations need to do to improve poor
safety behaviour?
a. tailor rewards to workers’ preferences
b. set specific and difficult goals
c. link behaviour to consequences
d. provide lots of feedback to workers

ANS: c
REF: p. 256

20. According to the textbook which employees should be eligible for safety incentives?
a. employees who have a perfect safety record
b. employees who have none or just a few minor safety issues
c. just employees working in production/operations jobs
d. all employees; production workers and office workers

ANS: d
REF: p. 257

NARRBEGIN: Scenario 10-1

Read the following scenario and answer questions 21–25.

Working for an oil drilling company in the oil sands region of northern Alberta can be very
lucrative, even for workers in entry level jobs. Workers have moved to Fort McMurray and other
northern Alberta towns in the thousands, from all over Canada and even from overseas. However,
the work is demanding and the climate ranges from very hot to extremely cold. Oil drilling crews
need to work as quickly and as efficiently as possible as every hour of operation represents a
sizeable investment in machinery, labour, and land lease costs. Crews have to move regularly from
one site to another site because either the well goes into production or the well comes up dry. Oil
drilling companies tend to be very safety conscious because of the hazardous nature of the work; it
is not uncommon for workers to experience injuries to extremities (arms, legs, hands, and feet) as
well as blows to the head. Fatalities are less common but not unknown.
NARREND
21. Given that engineering interventions are not always possible in this type of work, what would be
the next best way of protecting oil rig workers?
a. keeping the drilling rig as clean as possible to avoid trips and falls
b. responding effectively to emergency situations to get medical aid
c. mandatory use of hard hats and safety goggles to avoid contact injuries
d. developing, teaching, and reinforcing safe work habits for every task

ANS: d
NAR: Scenario 10-1
REF: p. 253

22. What action can management take in the planning stage of their OHSMS to prepare for the worker
training that they will deliver in the subsequent stage?
a. set safety objectives and targets
b. identify the hazards and risks in each oil rig job
c. clarify the legal requirements for safety on oil rigs
d. develop a termination policy for unsafe acts

ANS: d
NAR: Scenario 10-1
REF: p. 257

23. According to research, who will have the most influence on new oil workers’ attitudes about the
safety climate on the rig?
a. senior management
b. their coworkers
c. their immediate supervisor
d. the Alberta Workers’ Compensation Board

ANS: c
NAR: Scenario 10-1
REF: p. 263

24. Dave tries to follow the safety protocols on the rig as much as possible because he knows he
would feel terrible if a coworker was injured due to something stupid that Dave did or forgot to do.
What type of extrinsic motivation is represented in this example?
a. external regulation
b. introjected regulation
c. identified regulation
d. integrated regulation

ANS: b
NAR: Scenario 10-1
REF: p. 260–261

25. As the drilling supervisor, Travis is responsible for getting the rig dismantled, moved, and set up
on a new site as quickly as possible. What dimension of transformational leadership is he
demonstrating when he asks the workers to try to identify safer ways of carrying out the move?
a. idealized influence
b. inspirational motivation

.
 c. intellectual stimulation
d. individualized consideration

ANS: c
NAR: Scenario 10-1
REF: p. 266
TRUE/FALSE
1. Behaviour-based safety programs aim to make the consequences of safe behaviour positive,
immediate, and contingent.

ANS: T

2. Reinforcement theory focuses on the power of internal rewards and punishment in the motivation
of behaviour.

ANS: F

3. A difficult safety goal can undermine the safety program by causing employees to under-report
incidents.

ANS: T

4. Considerable research suggests that noticing and praising safe work behaviour may be sufficient to
sustain that behaviour without the need for tangible incentives.

ANS: T

5. Transactional leadership can be effective in producing safety performance.

ANS: F

6. Safety goals should be set by management based on past records of incidents and injuries.

ANS: F

7. Compliance with CSA Standard Z1000-06 is voluntary in Canada.

ANS: T

8. Senior managers should participate in occupational health and safety training programs as part of
an Occupational Health and Safety Management System.

ANS: T

9. Having a documented Occupational Health and Safety Management System will not reduce civil
or criminal penalties if the company is taken to court on a criminal charge under Bill C-45.

ANS: F
10. Safety climate perceptions are only effective in predicting current behaviour.

ANS: F
SHORT ANSWER
1. List the eight general categories of behaviors that contribute to safe working performance. Share
an example of a training program that targets one of the behaviors.

2. Explain why an organization should have an occupational health and safety policy and describe the
elements of an effective policy statement. List the information that should be covered in an
organizational occupational health and safety policy and describe how to implement the policy.

3. Describe the three conditions necessary for individuals to work safely. How can these conditions
be used to increase safe work behaviors?

4. Define and give an example of engineering interventions, administrative interventions, and

behavioral interventions. Which intervention is most effective?

5. Describe the four stages of the Plan-Do-Check-Act continuous improvement model and how
each contributes to the organization’s Occupational Health and Safety Management System.