Worker involvement training
courses: early evaluation findings
Andrea Broughton
24 March 2011
the institute for employment studies
Evaluation methodology
 “Census” telephone survey aiming to capture
the views of all managers from participating
organisations in the introduction to worker
involvement training course
 Second wave survey after 12 months
 Qualitative telephone interviews with 60
course participants. Three waves:
● first wave almost completed
● second wave after six months
● third wave after 12 months
Results so far: telephone survey
 698 interviews achieved so far in the first wave
 206 interviews achieved so far in the second wave
 interviews are 11 minutes long on average, covering:
● attitudes to worker involvement in health and safety
● practices relating to worker involvement in health and
safety
● reasons for participating in the training
● what organisations would have done if they hadn’t
participated in the training
● any changes that have taken place in attitudes and
practices in the 12 months between the two waves,
the reasons for the change, and barriers to making
change
Results so far: telephone interviews
 42 interviews achieved so far
 Balanced sample in terms of:
● company size
● when they attended the course
● sector
 Questions about:
● the individual rep
● the organisation, including the processes in place
before attending the course
● views of the course
● any impacts from the course in terms of confidence,
understanding of the issues, awareness, influencing,
interaction, implementation of actions and processes
Role of telephone survey participants
What is your job title?
50
39.1
% Respondents
40
30
18.5
18
20
6.9
10
1.2
2.9
2.6
0.9
0
Owner/partner Managing Other equiv Personnel/HR
H&S
Director/MD
snr job
Manager Officer/Risk
Manager
Facilities
Manager
Manager
(unspecified)
Office
Manager
Starting points: effectiveness of WI
arrangements
My organisation's arrangements for consultation on
health and safety are effective
% Respondents
50
42
43.4
40
30
20
10
6
7.3
Neither
agree nor
disagree
Tend to
disagree
1.3
0
Strongly
agree
Tend to
agree
Strongly
disagree
Starting points: frequency at which
workers are consulted / involved
My organisation involves workers when
making decisions about any aspect of
health and safety
19.6
My organisation is receptive to
suggestions from the workforce on
health and safety
44.7
Employees and managers work
together to manage health and safety
risks
28.5
0%
Always
Usually
43.4
Sometimes
20%
Rarely
29.5
34.7
38.1
40%
6
17.7
26.7 6.3
60%
Never
80%
100%
Don't Know
Starting points: formal systems of WI
Thinking about systems your organisation used before you
attended the training, which of the following ways BEST
describes how, if at all, workers were involved in the
management of health and safety issues?
Formal systems for ensuring that
workers were involved in health
and safety management
17%
42%
Workers involved but no formal
mechanisms
Workers not typically involved
41%
Starting points: type of systems currently
in place
Formal systems in place to ensure workers are involved in health and safety
management
Positive responses
N
% (Prev Qn)
% (sample)
Regular meetings between managers and employees or their representatives
164
57.1
23.9
Non-regular or ad hoc meetings between managers & employees or their representatives
34
11.8
5.0
Regular discussions with designated employee health and safety representatives
61
21.3
8.9
A joint committee between managers and employees or their representatives
112
39.0
16.4
Health and safety induction & training courses
78
27.2
11.4
Staff encouraged to report issues
52
18.1
7.6
Written updates or feedback to staff from management
50
17.4
7.3
Staff suggestion scheme
31
10.8
4.5
Having a designated health and safety manager
23
8.0
3.4
Consultation on risk assessments
113
39.4
16.5
Inspections or audits
65
22.6
9.5
Topical talks (i.e. Toolbox Talk)
59
20.6
8.6
Provision of information to assist the rep
14
4.9
2.0
Other (specify)
33
11.5
4.8
Don't Know
6
2.1
0.9
The participants and their experiences
 The participants: often quite sophisticated in terms of health and








safety knowledge, including quite a lot of managers
Many attended due to their organisation overhauling H&S practices
High levels of satisfaction with the course overall: even those who did
not concretely learn anything new valued it as a refresher
People liked the fact that there were participants from different
sectors on the course, although different knowledge levels could cause
difficulties
Some fears about the exam, particularly those who were not expecting
it, although there was a view that it helped to concentrate the mind
Participants liked the communication/soft skills aspects of the course,
the interaction and the practical information
Some were expecting it to be boring and were pleasantly surprised
Participants said they would be happy to recommend the training to
colleagues
Some said it was the best course they had ever been on!
Impacts of the course
 The main impacts seem to be around:
● increased awareness of health and safety: “now when I go around,
I see things that I would have ignored before”
● increased knowledge of health and safety regulation and rights
and responsibilities of workers and employers
● improved communication, including between shop floor and
management
● increased confidence in dealing with health and safety issues,
including in conflict situations (although confidence generally high
at the outset)
● better influencing skills: better able to “sell” health and safety to
colleagues and managers
● better listening and understanding of body language
● some barriers: lack of time, management unwilling to spend
Views on impacts
 “We were able to get back to our managers and feed back new




strategies. Before the course, we were dealing with issues with a
punishment approach. But afterwards, we thought, well maybe this
isn’t the solution.”
“We are not telling people, you should wear safety glasses, we are
explaining why. By asking them why they were not wearing the safety
glasses and listening to their reasons, we were able to change things.
This is most valuable lesson learnt in the course.”
“It’s important to make sure that PPE is actually worn. Even for those
who occasionally walk through the workshop, such as the office staff. I
now make sure that they are properly kitted out. I wouldn’t have done
that before”.
“I’m not going to use things that I don’t think are safe. If they fail,
there will be a serious accident and that’s not a risk I’m prepared to
take.”
“I used to be nervous about discussing health and safety with
managers, but now I feel that managers take me more seriously”
Practical impacts
 Introduction of new processes or actions such as:
● toolbox talks
● risk assessments
● staff suggestion boxes
● recording near misses
● better use of PPE
● introducing new safety equipment (for working at height)
● sending employees on targeted H&S courses
● putting guards on machinery
● replacing old equipment
● identifying and removing hazards
 A minority have tried to change how they approach the rep role in
a pro-active way
 Not many interviewees had formulated an action plan
Who gets the most out of the course?
 Those with the least prior experience and
knowledge of H&S appear to benefit most from
the course
 People who directly manage or have
responsibility for workers (eg shift managers) –
increased confidence in dealing with
colleagues, including upper management
 Managers benefit to a lesser extent,
particularly if their role is particularly in H&S
Alternative actions
What would your organisation have done to involve workers
more in H&S if the training offer had not been available?
% Respondents
50
46.1
40
33.3
30
20
10
16.6
6.1
0
Sought other
Involved
Something else
paid
workers in other
advice/training
way
Nothing
Some data from wave 2 of the survey


57.8% of respondents had formal systems in place for involving workers in health
and safety
Putting into place new systems:
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
regular meetings between managers and employees (19)
ad hoc meetings between managers and employees (8)
regular discussions with designated employees (11)
joint manager/employee committee (14)
H&S induction and training courses (4)
encouraging staff to report issues (9)
written feedback from management to staff (11)
staff suggestion scheme (8)
designating H&S manager (2)
consultation on risk assessments (9)
inspections or audits (4)
toolbox talks (8)
provision of information to assist the rep (8)
noticeboards/bulletin boards (13)
Progress in 6 months
 54% said that activities related to their systems to involve
workers in H&S occur more often than 6 months ago (41% said as
often)
 59% said their H&S worker involvement systems had become
more effective in the past 6 months (40% said they were as
effective)
 have the skills of their H&S reps who attended the course
improved over the past 6 months?
● 75% said that their communication skills had improved
● 58% said that their negotiation skills had improved
● 72% said that the quality of their H&S suggestions had
improved
● 80% said that their overall contribution to H&S had improved
Main changes to H&S policies and
practices
What changes, if any, do you think that there have been to health
and safety policies and practices in your organisation over the
past 6 months?
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
New arrangements for consultation
New personal protective equipment (PPE)
New policies (eg fork lift truck policy)
New procedures
New equipment purchased
Review of risk assessments
New method of risk assessment
Base = 206
20.4%
4.9%
17.5%
39.3%
4.9%
18.4%
9.7%
Barriers to change








costs (18%)
time (23%)
business pressures/workload (25%)
lack of worker participation (15%)
lack of manager support (13%)
issues around PPE (0%)
communication channels breaking down (1%)
working patterns, eg communication difficult
due to shift working (2%)
Some conclusions
 Views of the training are very favourable
 Starting points are quite high in terms of
knowledge and procedures in place: very few
starting from scratch
 Subtle impacts: formalising or refining existing
procedures
 Increase in ‘soft skills’: confidence,
communication, interaction, awareness
 Some progress over six months in terms of new
processes and procedures
Next steps





Second wave of telephone survey now underway
Second wave of interviews due to start imminently
Third wave of interviews to start in six months
6 case studies
Evaluation of the joint training:
● interviews with course facilitators
● 3 waves of telephone interviews
● 6 case studies
 Analysis of survey and interview data will measure
impact of the training
 Interim report due at the end of November 2011
 Final report due at the end of May 2012
… thank you
www.employment-studies.co.uk