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At a time where there are ageing populations, global shortages of skilled labour, and migration pathways impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, retaining older workers presents as a vital strategic initiative for organizations globally. This study examines the role of Human Resource Practices (HRPs), which are oriented towards accommodating the needs of an ageing workforce in mitigating psychological distress and turnover intentions. The study collected self-reported survey data from 300 Australian employees over the age of 45, over two time points. Using structural equation modelling, the study analyzed the extent to which Older Worker-oriented Human Resources Practices (OW-HRPs) translate into employee psychological health and retention within organizations, through the mediation of ageism and work–life conflict. The results support our hypothesis that OW-HRPs are associated with lower ageism, better work–life balance; and in combination these reduce psychological distress and help retain older workers in the workforce. We conclude that OW-HRPs can foster work environments conducive to older worker wellbeing, supporting the retention of talent and maintaining effectiveness, in the face of substantial labour supply challenges brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic and an ageing population.

Providing a “safe system of work” is the essence of the general duties that employers have to their employees under workplace health and safety regulations. Despite this, consistent and appropriate definition of what constitutes a safe system of work is almost non-existent. Available definitions tend to confuse a safe system of work with management practices intended to bring about a safe system, or conflate the broad system suggested in general duties clauses with procedures or work methods that are focused on particular hazards or tasks. This article develops a definition of safe systems of work which recognises the broad scope of the concept and includes psychological health and return to work processes. This definition can be used by a range of stakeholders to better communicate the scope of occupational health and safety duties and more consistently assess whether a safe system has been provided both before and after incidents occur.

Objective: The present study examined the predictive validity of a widely used pilot selection test known as COMPASS, in terms of its ability to distinguish between candidates and predict individua...

Background:Mobility and independence of older adults are influenced by age-related capabilities and limitations, as well as environmental factors such as non-optimum design of public seating (e.g., inappropriate seat height, angle, and compressibility as well as armrests). This study was the first part of a multi-stage investigation of the impact of public seating on older adults. Method:One hundred and six older adults (aged 65 and over) completed an online survey regarding difficulties experienced with standing up from public seating (e.g. frequency; location; type of seating; effects). Results:A majority (59.4%) reported experiencing problems, with seat height the most common issue. Shopping malls, cafes and restaurants, doctor's offices, outdoor locations, and public toilets were the most common locations. Effects included inconvenience, embarrassment, discomfort, pain, and needing help from another person to stand. Discussion:Further research is needed to explore the locations and features of seating that can contribute to this problem.

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to examine the critical success factors (CSFs) required for the successful implementation of 11 workplace bullying interventions listed in a taxonomy of workplace bullying interventions.Design/methodology/approachA Delphi approach was used to gather commentary from 51 subject matter experts (SMXs) on factors that contribute to successful implementation of workplace bullying interventions.FindingsA deductive approach to thematic analysis revealed that organisational infrastructure, commitment and engagement of management and competent and resourced professionals were the most consistently raised CSFs across interventions. These are broadly consistent with suggested implementation drivers previously recommended by researchers in the workplace bullying and implementation science fields.Research limitations/implicationsTwo interventions did not receive adequate commentary meaning that key implementation drivers could not be sufficiently identified for them. While harnessing SMX commentary, the paper also develops a model of levels of evidence to guide future research.Practical implicationsThis paper can assist organisations in planning and resourcing the implementation of workplace bullying interventions, to help ensure that interventions are as effective as possible.Originality/valueThis paper has value for researchers, practitioners and organisations as it explores factors critical to successful implementation of interventions and also develops a model for the development of enhanced levels of evidence in workplace bullying intervention research.

Workplace bullying is a serious threat to the health and safety of workers and undermines effective organizational functioning. Evidence from the scholarly literature, and from real-life bullying complaints, suggests that workplace bullying is a product of the organizational system, rather than only an interpersonal issue. Research findings support the conclusion that work and organizational factors are major contributors to employees’ experiences of being bullied, both directly and through the influence of working in a stressful work environment. Prevention efforts must therefore include strategies to identify the work and organizational factors associated with bullying and to address them through effective work and organizational design. Accordingly, in this chapter, we discuss the role of work and organizational design in the prevention of bullying at work. Our fundamental premise is that organizations should provide a safe working environment for workers, free of the risk of mistreatment and the harms that result. Following an overview of the fundamental principles and evidence for work and organizational design as a general approach, we consider the work and organizational risk factors for workplace bullying specifically, the role of organizational climate in understanding and preventing workplace bullying and the implications for workplace bullying prevention.

Godderis and Luyten1 astutely identified key roles for occupational health professionals amidst the COVID-19 economic downturn. However, in addition to supporting the return to work, and dealing with secondary health effects of the crisis,1 Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) professionals can lead the adaptation of organisations to an altered world of work by focusing on an active agenda with long-term benefits: improving work design. While the lockdowns and growing economic crisis raise challenging employment issues and widening health inequalities for some,1 many others in continuing roles are working in changed conditions: with new technology, in new spaces, with reduced social and physical interaction, and less supervision and support. Changes to work extend beyond white collar workers in …

Recently much has been done to increase our understanding of workplace bullying including its causes, consequences, and prevalence. Although identification of possible interventions has advanced the field, systematic evidence on the efficacy and effectiveness of specific interventions is lacking. At the same time, organizations are under increasing pressure to prevent and manage workplace bullying more effectively. The aim of this study is to develop and refine a taxonomy of workplace bullying intervention types. Although it does not assess the evidence base of interventions per se, the taxonomy is designed to support the development of research into the future and guide organizations in their decision making when implementing interventions. Using a two-round Delphi process, the expertise of international academics and practitioners ( n = 51 and n = 39) was sought to refine the taxonomy, which classified interventions in terms of mode, focus, agent, specificity, and timecourse. Eleven core intervention types were endorsed as appropriate inclusions in the taxonomy of workplace bullying intervention types. A further six, including mediation, failed to reach consensus among the expert panel. The resulting taxonomy forms a framework to guide workplace bullying intervention efficacy and effectiveness research from a common understanding of the definition, scope, and properties of interventions. Once this occurs, the taxonomy can be used by organizations to audit their existing programs, prioritize new interventions, and consider alternate options. Intervention types that did not reach consensus highlight areas of particular research need, which, when undertaken will add to an evidence base and will be included in future versions of the taxonomy.

The WOMBAT pilot selection test is widely used to select candidates for pilot training programs. Despite use in many countries, little information is available regarding the predictive validity of the test. This study was designed to test the ability of the WOMBAT test to predict performance outcomes in a sample of ab-initio pilots. Sixty students commenced the study in 3 cohorts, and completed the WOMBAT test before their performance in the training program was evaluated through flight time to solo, flight time to licence level achievement, and instructor ratings of performance. Higher WOMBAT total scores were significantly related to reduced time to solo, achieving flight licences, as well as some early ratings of performance by flight instructors. Further research now needs to examine the exact nature of the skills and abilities that the test indexes in order to further improve pilot selection and training procedures.

This article develops a “latent elimination” choice model to examine how travelers respond to different levels of safety risk in making decisions about flight choices. We find a pattern of eliminatory and compensatory decision-mix where travelers have varying thresholds of risk acceptance. Below this threshold the options are eliminated, whereas above the threshold the safety attribute can be traded off with other flight attributes. The “safe” versus “unsafe” dichotomy in risk perception is thus a special case where a traveler’s threshold is especially high. Based on a sample of 509 Australians, our stated choice experiment utilized six alternative forms of safety information presentation, and found that they influenced the decision rules adopted by tourists and their willingness to pay. The latent elimination choice model can be used for retrieving elimination behavior in an information-rich online decision context that characterizes many tourism choices, including for understanding how travelers respond to destination safety risk information.

Recent research has found that, in general, travellers are significantly underinsured when travelling abroad. Travel is a unique market among insurance products as there are factors that exacerbate the uncertainty from the consumers’ perspective, such as variable time periods of being insured, variable forms of coverage and scale, level of knowledge of the risks at the destination and the activities to be undertaken. We view the current state of the travel insurance market as inefficient as consumers are deemed generally misinformed and unaware of the intricacies of the products on offer and, we argue, behave sub-optimally due to behavioural patterns and perceptions regarding travel. In this commentary, we discuss issues that are unique to travel insurance products which may distort consumer perceptions and highlight a research agenda to address these issues and improve efficiency in the market.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine aspects of how workplace bullying is identified by the Negative Acts Questionnaire-Revised (NAQ-R), with a focus on the appropriateness of its response scale using item response theory (IRT). Design/methodology/approach IRT, in which the probability of a particular item response reflects an underlying latent variable, was used to examine NAQ-R responses from a sample of 1,173 Australian public servants (Study 1), and a representative UK data set (n=3,494; Study 2). Findings Results indicated that problems with the response scale appear to be due to the inclusion of the abstract “now and then” option amongst concrete time options (“never”, “now and then”, “monthly”, “weekly” and “daily”). These results were replicated in Study 2, providing evidence of the robustness of the findings, and suggesting the observations are not sample specific. Research limitations/implications This work has implications for methods employed to identify and measure workplace bullying in research and organisational practice. Inconsistent endorsement of response scale options is a concern when total scores are calculated, or when a number of behaviours being experienced with a particular frequency on the response scale are taken as an indication of bullying having occurred. Originality/value Examining and refining the manner in which workplace bullying is indexed is important for identifying and managing workplace risks to health, safety and well-being.

This paper examines the extent to which safety risk information influences flight choice. Simple stated choice experiments were implemented with four independent samples of college students, young non-college students and older employed people across a 20 months period. Strong consistency in the flight choice behaviour across the samples was observed. In particular, there is evidence that even if potential travellers do not nominate “safety” as a criterion in airline choice, when presented with safety information in a stated choice scenario, the respondents use that information to make decisions. However, there is also a significant variation in the extent to which the respondents are sensitive to the safety information, which was represented in the form of aircraft incidents similar to the way aviation statistics are used by the media. Understanding the reasons for the wide variability could help improve public acceptability and tolerance towards risk control measures in aviation.

Background There is limited evidence on contributing factors and effective interventions for musculoskeletal injuries in aged care workers. Purpose To systematically review the factors that contribute to musculoskeletal disorder risk amongst workers in the aged care industry, and to undertake a qualitative comparison of the interventions designed and implemented to prevent injury within this workforce. Methods A systematic review of the literature was conducted in Web of Science, Scopus, ProQuest, Medline, and PubMed. Relevant grey literature was also examined. Articles that reported factors that contribute to musculoskeletal injuries, or interventions to prevent and manage musculoskeletal injuries in residential aged care workers were included. Findings Of the 864 articles and 35 grey literature publications found, 63 and 29 were included in the review respectively. Results indicate that physical factors such as manual handling of people, use of assistive devices, and physical work environment are most commonly associated with musculoskeletal disorders in this population. Limited evidence of organisational and psychosocial factors considered staffing issues, work schedules, and violence. The heavy emphasis on physical factors is echoed in the grey literature in relevant guidance material and codes of practice focused on assessment and control of risks. There was limited evidence for interventions specific to aged care; existing evidence focused on equipment, training and education, policy and procedure. Interventions incorporating a combination of approaches, such as equipment and training, showed promise while preliminary evidence of the effectiveness of participatory approaches are positive. Discussion Interventions which address multiple types of contributing factors are needed to adequately prevent musculoskeletal injuries in aged care workers. Tweetable abstract Review of contributing factors, interventions, and application of knowledge for work-related musculoskeletal injuries in aged care

This study aimed to identify to what extent Australian organizations have any plans to manage business continuity threats, and the nature and content of these plans. Sixty-four respondents who were risk management professionals were surveyed to explore the Business Continuity Practices within their organizations. The ANOVA analysis showed 39 per cent of the organizations had developed an enterprise-wide plan of which just over half stated that the plan was tested. However, 36 per cent of respondents had no plan, an “informal plan,” were developing a plan, or did not know whether they had a plan. Standardized guidelines for a process to manage risks have been developed across many spheres and countries and are brought together in the international risk management standard ISO31000 (ISO, 2009), which presents a process applicable to all organizations and all risks. Human resource practices that promote consistent communication and an organizational culture that allows business continuity plan values, attitudes and beliefs to become embedded and to move across traditional organizational boundaries are therefore important for gaining the cooperation needed to implement plans in an organization's operational areas pertaining to business continuity.

More information about safety is becoming more generally available to travellers, but the extent to which passengers use safety information to make decisions about which airlines to take is relatively unknown. This study attempts to examine the extent to which safety information plays a role in travellers' flight choices. Using the stated choice methodology, we modelled how the choice of a flight option is related to factors, including price, schedule, safety, travel time and airline inflight service quality. The study found that, in the context of a young adult college student population, price and safety information emerge as the most important factors influencing airline choices. Interestingly, the study found that most of the potential travellers surveyed, when asked about the factors they consider when making flight choices, do not nominate safety. However, when specific safety-risk information is introduced in the stated choice conditions, respondents considered this factor in making their choices between flight alternatives. This paper contributes towards a more complete understanding of how passengers use safety information and notes how this can be analytically translated into commercial implications for the aviation industry.

Introduction Driver fatigue is a major road safety problem. While much is known about the effects of fatigue and the factors that contribute to it, fatigue on commuter trips has received comparatively little attention in road safety. Most interventions have focused on longer trips, while investigations of commuting have typically examined particular groups, such as shift workers. Method This study examined the effects of mild sleep deprivation on driving performance in simulated driving tasks in the morning and evening. Three groups of participants with different levels of sleep deprivation (Group 1: no deprivation; Group 2: two-hour deprivation; Group 3: four-hour deprivation) drove in a simulator for 45 min in the morning and evening, following a practice session the previous day. Results Results showed that participants reported feeling more drowsy in the afternoon, and performance impairments (increased lane deviations) were most evident in the morning for those with sleep deprivation. Measurements of eye closure did not reflect drowsiness in participants, despite performance impairments. Practical applications These results suggest that mild levels of sleep deprivation (2 h), which many people regularly experience, can result in poor on-road performance, and that these effects are present in the morning, and on relatively short trips. These results warrant follow-up in naturalistic and on-road studies.

Having learnt about the prevalence, behaviours and impacts of Workplace Bullying, the field is currently moving to focus more on interventions that prevent and manage the phenomenon. Rather than presenting evidence on particular interventions, this chapter introduces a framework that outlines the role of academics and practitioners in advancing this area of research, arguing that only collaboration and the sharing of expertise and perspectives will enable us to improve the design, delivery and refinement of interventions or programmes. Collaboration and the need for different perspectives are vital due to the complexity of the phenomenon. By focusing on scientific principles, the logic underpinning action is strengthened and will help inform the development of emergent practice. Fortunately, the field of Workplace Bullying can learn the lessons of academics and practitioners in the fields of Prevention Science and Implementation Science and the disciplines of Public Health and Human Services. Paying attention to these lessons and building upon their principles can assist in advancing how we in the field of Workplace Bullying respond to this phenomenon, either through prevention or management. This chapter presents an approach to intervention research, including concepts and principles from the fields of Prevention Science and Implementation Science that will guide both academics and practitioners as we move into the latest frontier of Workplace Bullying research.

Even with today’s mobile technology, most work is still undertaken in a physical workplace. Today’s workplaces need to be healthy environments that minimize the risks of illnesses or injuries to occupants to compete in the marketplace. This necessitates the application of good ergonomics design principles to the creation of effective workplaces, and this is the focus of this book. This book will:· Focus on ergonomic design for better health and ergonomic design for better productivity· Presents environments that support new ways of working and alternative workplace strategies, as well as the impacts of new technologies· Covers the role of ergonomics design in creating sustainable workplaces· Includes ergonomics design for a wide variety of workplaces, from offices to hospitals, to hotels to vehicles, etc…· Shows the design principles on how to design and create a healthy and productive workplace The market lacks an ergonomics design book that covers the topics that this book will cover. This book summarizes design principles for practitioners, and applies them to the variety of workplace settings described in the book. No other book currently on the market does that.

Medical error taxonomies are used to report and analyse patient safety incidents. Medical error taxonomies can be generic or domain-specific. In comparing generic and domain-specific medical error taxonomies, the literature compares the information both type of taxonomies classify. There is little evidence the taxonomies have been compared in terms of usability and reliability. Twenty nurses and 21 pharmacists participated in a study comparing the usability and reliability of a generic medical error taxonomy and a medication error taxonomy. The medical error taxonomies utilized were the Patient Safety Event Taxonomy and the NCC MERP Taxonomy of Medication Error. The study found no significant difference in the usability ratings of both taxonomies. The taxonomies required different amount of time to classify patient safety incidents and had significantly different reliability levels. The reliability of the NCC MERP Taxonomy of Medication Error was significantly different when used by nurses and pharmacists. The taxonomy was also preferred by the majority of participants. Some recommendations are made about the design of future medical error taxonomies.

Terrorism presents a significant risk that is often approached at public policy, infrastructure, or emergency management level. Public perceptions of the likelihood of terrorist events, and how this may relate to individual preparedness, are not always extensively examined. The tendency to think that negative events are less likely to happen to oneself than to the average person is known as optimism bias. Optimism bias is relevant to perceptions of terrorism, because it is thought to be related to a reduction in precaution use. Using an online survey of 164 participants, this study aimed to determine whether Sydney residents thought they had a lower likelihood of experiencing terrorist events than other Australians. Significant optimism bias was observed for witnessing terrorist events, but not for personally experiencing terrorist events. In addition, Sydney residents tended to think that terrorist attacks were more likely to occur in Sydney than another major Australian city in the next five years. At the same time, household and workplace preparedness for terrorism was quite low, as was awareness of emergency strategies in the central business district. Perceptions of high likelihood of terrorism happening in one's own city, yet low preparedness present a challenge for risk communication and emergency management strategies. The diversity of possible terrorist targets, and the simple plans that can moderate the effects of a disaster may need to be emphasized in future anti-terrorism initiatives.

In attempting to explain or deal with negative workplace behaviours such as workplace bullying, the notion of ‘workplace psychopaths’ has recently received much attention. Focusing on individual aspects of negative workplace behaviour is at odds with more systemic approaches that recognise the contribution of individual, organisational and societal influences, without seeking to blame a person(s) for their behaviour or personality disorder. Regarding a coworker as a psychopath is highly stigmatising, and given the relatively low prevalence of psychopathy in the community, is likely to be incorrect. Sources promoting the notion of workplace psychopathy provide lists of diagnostic criteria and appear to encourage the perception that it is common. This research examines how lay persons use behavioural criteria consistent with psychopathy and the label ‘psychopath’ in relation to a coworker. 307 Australian workers completed an online survey concerning their experience of workplace bullying, which also asked them to rate a coworker’s behaviour on a range of scales to assess perceptions of psychopathy. Rates of psychopathy, when using labels and behavioural criteria, were found to be much higher than scientific estimates of prevalence, for both participants who had been bullied and those who had not. A higher proportion of non-bullied participants classified a coworker as a psychopath when using the label ‘psychopath’, compared to when using behavioural criteria. The notion that there are psychopaths in every workplace should be treated with caution to ensure that the potential for ‘misdiagnosis’ and stigmatisation do not cause further harm in situations of unacceptable workplace behaviours.

Although a large number of medical error taxonomies have been published, there is little evidence to suggest that these taxonomies have been systematically compared. This paper describes a study comparing 26 medical error taxonomies using a human factors perspective. The taxonomies were examined to determine if they classified systemic factors of medical errors and if they utilized theoretical error concepts in their classifications. Scope of classification was also examined. It was found that two-thirds of the taxonomies classified systemic factors of medical errors and only a third utilized theoretical error concepts. Medical error taxonomies based on theoretical error concepts were more likely to be generic in applicability and also more likely to classify systemic factors and psychological error mechanisms of medical errors. In addition to terminology, the medical error taxonomies also varied in terms of domain-specificity, granularity, and developmental process. Different medical error taxonomies provide different information; how these differences affect medical error management needs to be investigated.

Measuring the performance of operators, and how they interact with complex systems is a key issue in identifying risks and improving safety. Naturalistic studies in some transport domains, chiefly road driving, have yielded significant advances in our understanding of road user behavior and road safety. Naturalistic studies of flying are only starting to develop around the world. This discussion panel focuses on the challenges and opportunities presented by “naturalistic flying studies”, in which pilot behavior is automatically recorded continuously by video, GPS, accelerometers and other sensors. Data acquisition systems for recording pilot behavior in light aircraft are now available, at reasonable cost. This panel will facilitate the sharing of experiences across road and aviation domains of this relatively new data collection and analysis method, and the building of collaborations with, and learning from, naturalistic human factors investigations in these and other domains. Naturalistic flying studies can provide a unique range of information including: exposure data; quantification of risk; the nature and rate of system violations; accident and incident data; normative data by age, experience and operator state; the opportunity to validate simulator, performance and self-reported data; and the ability to evaluate the relative efficacy of new equipment, procedures and safety interventions (see Regan et al 2013). Considering the capabilities of naturalistic human factors investigations, panelists will reflect on the priority research areas for naturalistic flying studies and the unique opportunities they present for aviation safety. Issues that may distinguish the aviation context from other domains in which naturalistic studies have been conducted will also be considered.

Optimism bias is the tendency to think that negative events are less likely to happen to oneself than to one's peers. Optimism bias concerning occupational health and safety (OHS) hazards was assessed in 105 postgraduate students and university employees. Significant levels of optimism bias were found for several events (e.g., suffering/causing injury). Though optimism bias was not related to perceived controllability, administration of OHS by management may explain why this observation differs from findings in other domains. While further study is required, the present study demonstrates that people tend to think hazardous events at work are less likely to happen to themselves compared to others doing the same job, which has important implications for management of safety at work.

Identifying the errors that frequently result in the occurrence of rail incidents and accidents can lead to the development of appropriate prevention and/or mitigation strategies. Nineteen rail safety investigation reports were reviewed and two error identification tools, the Human factors analysis and classification system (HFACS) and the Technique for the retrospective and predictive analysis of cognitive errors (TRACEr-rail version), used as the means of identifying and classifying train driver errors associated with rail accidents/incidents in Australia. We aimed to identify the similarities and differences between the techniques in their capacity to identify and classify errors and also to determine how consistently the tools are applied. The HFACS analysis indicated that slips of attention (i.e. ‘skilled based errors’) were the most common ‘unsafe acts’ committed by drivers. The TRACEr-rail analysis indicated that most ‘train driving errors’ were ‘violations’ while most ‘train stopping errors’ were ‘errors of perception’. Both tools identified the underlying factors with the largest impact on driver error to be decreased alertness and incorrect driver expectations/assumptions about upcoming information. Overall, both tools proved useful in categorising driver errors from existing investigation reports, however, each tool appeared to neglect some important and different factors associated with error occurrence. Both tools were found to possess only moderate inter-rater reliability. It is thus recommended that the tools be modified, or a new tool be developed, for complete and consistent error classification.

Much of the human factors contribution in risk assessment and risk management has been focused on systems or product safety; the profession has a much smaller research base regarding risks to do with regulation, certification and public policy, for example. This paper discusses an explicitly human factors contribution to understanding and managing risk for the inspection and export certification of grain and plant products in Australia. Training and awareness workshops, incorporating elements of focus groups, were run for 12 groups of staff and managers from the government department concerned. As well as training in risk management the workshops were used to come to an understanding of the work of the inspectors and other staff, to identify the sources of risk to the successful completion of their work and to develop the basis for a risk assessment framework and tool. The paper is methodological in focus and describes the development and running of the workshops and explains how a human factors oriented risk register was developed on the basis of identification of potential threats and errors in the system. Whilst the contribution of ergonomics is increasingly important as regards safety risk assessment, professionals have been less active as regards business, public policy and even engineering risk. This paper describes an approach within which a new domain was studied and the risks of all kinds identified, preparatory to development of a risk assessment tool.

Workplace bullying is a significant issue in modern workplaces, with potential health consequences for individuals who are exposed, and increasing costs to organisations. This article examines the treatment of workplace bullying in Australian jurisdictions, and considers how health and safety legislation has been applied in such cases, in order to inform regulatory guidelines and regulatory action. The notion that bullying behaviour must be repeated, common to most conceptual definitions and guidelines of safety regulators, is somewhat inconsistent with the precedent and intent of health and safety law. Requiring behaviours to be repeated could actually expose workers to risks to their health and safety. Although there are good reasons for requiring the repetition of behaviours, from both conceptual and practical standpoints, further consideration of how theory, policy and legal practice can learn from one another in preventing and managing workplace psychological hazards is required.

The aim of this study was to compare the usability and reliability of two human error identification tools: TRACEr-Rail (developed by the Rail Safety and Standards Board in the UK) and TRACEr-RAV (an Australian specific version of the tool). Following an attempt to modify TRACEr-Rail to more appropriately suit the Australian rail context, it was predicted that TRACEr-RAV would be rated as more usable and be applied more consistently by Australian users than TRACEr-Rail. In Experiment 1, twenty-five rail employees used either TRACEr-Rail or TRACEr-RAV1 to extract and classify errors from six Australian rail incident reports. In Experiment 2, eleven university students used both TRACEr-Rail and TRACEr-RAV2 to extract and classify errors from three incident summaries. The results revealed that although modification of TRACEr-Rail to become TRACEr-RAV1 and TRACEr-RAV2 did not result in improved inter-rater reliability, modification resulted in improved ratings of usability in Experiment 2. Most participants in Experiment 2 preferred TRACEr-RAV2 to TRACEr-Rail. The poor inter-rater reliability observed was most likely the result of inadequate training, limited practice in using the tools, and insufficient human factors knowledge.

Introduction The importance of risk perception for workplace safety has been highlighted by the inclusion of risk appraisals in contemporary models of precautionary behavior at work. Optimism bias is the tendency to think that negative events are less likely to happen to oneself than to the average person, and is proposed to be related to the reduced use of precautions. Method Building on studies of optimism bias for workplace hazards using samples with heterogenous risk profiles, the current study aimed to investigate whether optimism bias is present in a sample of workers exposed to similar workplace hazards. 175 Australian construction workers completed a brief survey that asked them to rate the likelihood of common construction industry hazards occurring to them and to the average worker of the same age doing the same job. Significant levels of optimism bias were found for many hazards (including being electrocuted, being trapped in a confined space, falling from heights, and causing someone else to have an injury). Results Optimism bias was not related to perceived controllability, contrary to findings in other domains, yet consistent with findings of optimism bias for workplace hazards. Optimism bias was not found to be related to a reduction in safe work behaviors, though this may be due to difficulties in measuring safe or precautionary behavior, such as social desirability. Impact on industry That most workers think that hazards are less likely to happen to them than to the average worker presents a significant problem because it may ameliorate the efficacy of safety programs, yet constitutes a largely unexplored opportunity for improving workplace safety performance.

The objective of this study was to compare risk levels, based on reported railway occurrences, across Australian states. A secondary aim was to use these numbers to assess the impact of a new reporting system, ON-S1, introduced in 2004, on the calculated risk levels. The Australian nationwide standard, ON-S1, defines how to categorize occurrences and their consequences, but it has not been consistently applied in all states. For example, New South Wales and Victoria use broader definitions of 'serious injury' than specified in ON-S1. This paper outlines challenges related to ON-SI's use and the appropriateness of calculating risks based on reported occurrences. Railway occurrence data from five Australian states/territories from 2001 to 2007 were reviewed. Data on fatalities, serious injuries and train kilometres were obtained from the Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) and The Independent Transport Safety and reliability Regulator's (ITSRR) safety reports. We used these data to calculate an index of Fatalities and Weighted Injuries (FWI), normalized for train kilometres. The results showed that the average annual risk per million train kilometres for the entire period (2001-2007) was highest in New South Wales (FWI 1.28), followed by Victoria (FWI 0.89), South Australia (FWI 0.77), Queensland (FWI 0.34) and Western Australia (FWI 0.26). Following the introduction of ON-S1, the FWI in New South Wales and Victoria doubled from 2004 to 2006. These trends continued into the first half of 2007. The other states showed a stable or decreasing trend. The highest risk appeared to be in the states with the largest populations containing Australia's largest cities. The use of train kilometres to normalize occurrence rates may be inappropriate because this measure does not take into account the number of people travelling on each train. The sharp increase in reported occurrences in New South Wales and Victoria may reflect the misuse of ON-S1, because a similar increase was not observed in the other states. The large difference in risk level between states highlights a need for consistent application of the national reporting regime in Australia to enable valid comparisons of occurrence rates between states. (6 pages)

Difficulties in interpreting probabilities can impede the progress of risk analyses and impair the communication of risk information to stakeholders. This review examines how people have problems in interpreting probability information, leading to several strategies for improved understanding. The inconsistent translation of probability terms to numerical expressions, and the biases that influence their interpretation, highlight the need to improve the communication of probabilities wherever possible. Current probability communication strategies from medicine and behavioural science, such as natural frequencies and systematic ovals, are reviewed. Practical complications presented by large-scale risk analyses may be solved by conveying key probabilities graphically, providing recurrent guide material throughout documentation, or using stakeholder workshops. While various disciplines can guide the development of improved communication tools for probabilities, research specific to their use in risk management applications needs to be conducted.