SafeWork Australia: New report on Australians' attitudes to risk taking and rule...

Source: WorkCover Queensland and SafeWork Australia

Workers are more likely to accept risk taking at work than their bosses, and labourers are generally more accepting of risk taking and rule breaking in comparison with workers in other occupations.

These are the findings of a new Safe Work Australia report which highlights the attitudes of Australian workers towards acceptance of risk taking and rule breaking in the workplace as measured by the Perceptions of Work Health and Safety Survey 2012-13.

The report also found that compared with other priority industries, transport, postal and warehousing industry employers were much more likely to agree that they break safety rules in order to complete work on time and were more accepting of risk taking at work.

The survey provided a baseline measure of work health and safety attitudes, beliefs and actions shortly after the model work health and safety laws were introduced in 2012. It targeted employers, sole traders, health and safety representatives and workers.

Safe Work Australia believes the findings may help explain the high rates of injury and fatality amongst labourers and within the transport, postal and warehousing industry. They suggest that aspects of the economic and social environment, as well as workplace culture, are likely to play a role in the acceptance of risk taking and rule breaking.

Further information

Read the report at safeworkaustralia.gov.au.

Last updated

25 February 2015