Don’t Touch That: Manufacturing Management And Employee Risk Perceptions Directing Safety Strategies

Risk perception describes the extent managers and employees perceive workplace safety hazards and risk. Managers’ risk perception may influence whether they will take action to mitigate these hazards. Employee risk perception may influence how they behave around these hazards and whether they report hazards and/or incidents. This study further hypothesizes that the risk perceptions of managers moderate the relationship between employee risk perceptions and reporting behaviors. To assess risk perception, a new Management Perceived Job Risk Scale (MPJR) was developed and partially validated. Hypotheses were tested by administering risk perceptions assessments, an annual audit of manager actions, and employee safety reporting data from a textile manufacturing organization. Manager risk perceptions were found to be related to their safety actions especially in what they communicate to employees. Employee risk perceptions were also significantly related to their reporting behaviors. Manager risk perceptions did not moderate employee risk perceptions’ relationship with reporting behaviors. Limitations of the findings are discussed, along with their implications for future research on manufacturing employee and manager risk perceptions.