Continuing professional development is the process by which OSH practitioners maintain, develop and improve their skills and knowledge. IOSH CPD is very flexible in its approach to the ways in which CPD can be accrued, and one way is by reflecting on what you have learnt from the information you receive in your professional magazine. By answering the questions below, practitioners can award themselves credits. One, two or three credits can be awarded, depending on what has been learnt – exactly how many you award yourself is up to you, once you have reflected and taken part in the quiz.
QUESTIONS
1. The perception of risk is determined by*:
a. The potential type of death
b. Genetic disposition
c. Statistical calculations
d. The value of other peoples’ lives
2. It is essential to base risk calculations on:
a. Human instinct
b. Verifiable evidence data
c. The local cultural expectations
d. The cost of fatalities
3. Sidney Dekker, in the Field Guide to Human Error, identifies the huge problem of:
a. Lack of foresight
b. Hindsight bias
c. Not recognising different options
d. Only investigating after events
4. High-profile events can lead away from objectivity. Examples of this are*:
a. Driving fatalities on US roads following 9/11
b. People suffering from food poisoning following the street parties at the recent Jubilee celebrations
c. An HIV epidemic in Edinburgh following confiscation of needles from drug users
d. Over-reaction to the SARS epidemic
5. Predicting unintended consequences should form part of assessment of risk. This should be carried out by:
a. A PR expert
b. A risk manager
c. A human-factors expert
d. The workforce
6. An essential part of the learning process is*:
a. Being open-minded
b. Deluding ourselves
c. Following our hearts
d. Learning from occasions when we are wrong
7. Incentives for safety can lead to:
a. Under-reporting
b. Better behaviour long-term
c. Over-reporting
d. A lot of cash for participants
8. People generally tend to view risks with:
a. A negative bias
b. No reference to the past
c. An optimistic bias
d. Bias because of political beliefs
9. Safety issues need to be*:
a. A habit
b. Internalised
c. Drilled in to people
d. A belief in the workforce
10. When it comes to safety issues humans generally are:
a. Subjective
b. Objective
c. Rational
d. Right
ANSWERS:
1. a, d
2. b
3. b
4. a, c, d
5. c
6. a, d
7. a
8. c
9. b, d
10. b
Dr Tim Marsh is managing director of Ryder-Marsh Safety Ltd.
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Very informative and certainly made me reflect on human behaviour.
I found this to be a very interesting with good illustrations. I even bothered to “take the test” to see if I had retained the information and agreed with it. All went well until that final question 10; When it comes to safety issues humans generally are: The answer provided was “objective”. I’m not convinced this is the case. Too often people have made up their minds and do not look at issues objectively, hence “hindsight bias” and a tendency to ignore negative information that doesn’t fit?
Interesting and worthwhile read
Very full and informative article giving an insught into the motivational aspects of behavioural science. Have saved the article to refer to and digest a few times to reinforce the perceptions. Personally had to google unfamilure words for meaning.
Very interesting article. I’d have to disagree with the answer given to Q10 though. We are generally Subjective, that’s the problem, we’re not Objective enough.
“combined with hindsight bias (“well, I certainly wouldn’t have done that!”) can prevent us from genuinely putting ourselves in the shoes of the person in question and objectively analysing events from a ‘Just Culture’ perspective.”
“Recent high-profile events often lead us away from objectivity.”
Very interesting and worthwhile article.
Another excellent article written by Dr. Tim Marsh. I have saved it for future reviews. Very informative and thought-provoking. I disagree with the answer to question 10.
Thanks to Dr. Tim for sharing with us.
I usually spend some time on these CPD items and I always get some benifit from them. This was one of the better ones.
Very informative article and has confirmed my interest in Ergonomics ( Human Factors )as my field of choice for future studies.
Very intresting and informative.
Many thanks to all for the kind comments. I should point out that I didn’t write the questions but if I did I think the answer to 10 would have been either A (Subjective – as that’s the one thing we can’t avoid) or E – ‘all of the above’