It Won’t Happen to Me!

It won’t happen to me, is a perception that several people have, especially when risk is a factor. It is based on one’s judgment inflicted by self-esteem and often involves decision making. When making decisions under pressure, made by assessing capability to complete a task, many factors influence the level of confidence one has, these factors include external forces, society, culture, gender and family. At the workplace, an employee’s position is often determined by experience on the job and attitude. When the employee brings a lot of experience to the job, he is most often able to work with a high level of efficiency. When the job involves risk, and workplace safety is on the line, this high level of efficiency often leads to complacency towards safety, and the mindset “It won’t happen to me”.

Discussion Points:
• It won’t happen to me is a perception when risk is a factor
• When a high level of efficiency leads to complacency towards safety
• It won’t happen to me is the attitude of most workers today
• Complacency towards safety often leads to employees not following safety rule
• Injury due to complacency can be prevented

Discussion:
It Won’t Happen to Me! is the attitude most workers seem to have today. Optimism bias is when we disregard the reality of a situation and believe we are prone from the potential outcome. Optimism creates success, and helps employees stay motivated. However, the false sense of security associated with believing this and one’s complacency towards safety often leads to employees not following safety rules and putting themselves or others at risk of injury. When injury happens due to this attitude of over confidence, and blindness to reality, just remember that the injury could have prevented, if only you were not caught in the mind set “It won’t happen to me”.

As always, be safe out there!