Risk awareness and preventative action starts with the mindset of individual employees; therefore, individual employees bear responsibility for adverse events. Discuss, with reference, The Waterfall derailment, and the mental and physical health of train

Work safety and Employees ' Risk Awareness

Introduction

Work and the environment in which people have to carryout their daily duties has been a popular research subject (Alzalabani , 2006 . The popularity of this subject area is arises from the important relations between work environment and human behaviours in every organization . As described by Alzalabani (2006 , work environment subsumes two primary components job characteristics and the work context . While the former describes what the everyday duties of an employee entails , the latter largely describes the circumstances under which these functions must be

carried out . It is a known fact that almost every type of work environment has its potential risks and hazards . While it is conceded that works hazards can be triggered by natural , biological , civil as well as technological factors , Chapman (2005 ) asserts that technological factors can be the most notorious , because they are largely unforeseeable and thus the effects are unprecedented

The unpredictable nature of technological hazards , according to Chapman (2005 ) is borne out of the complex interaction between humans and machines that comprised technological work environments . While mechanical faults and malfunctions play important roles in technological hazards , the human factor can be more important . In this line of argument , this intends to argue that risk awareness on the parts of workers , which entails behaviours , mental models , physical and mental health of the workers , encompass important sources of work hazards , and that by improving on their risk awareness , workers can better improve safety at work . This fact will be adequately illustrated with reference to an Australian case study : the Waterfall train accident (McInerney 2004 2005 , which was a major technological disaster and resulted in loss of several lives

Risk Awareness and Work Hazards

Before any of the effectiveness or otherwise of safety and risk awareness in avoiding work hazards can be carried out , it is pertinent to first look at why the risk of hazards and disasters are present in the first place . In this regard , Chapman (2005 ) explains that technological systems are the foundations of modern economies infrastructures , communities and neighbourhoods as a result , almost every aspect of man 's life has some form of relationship with technology

Placing this argument in perspective , Applebaum (1997 ) referred to such technological systems that define industrial works as socio-technical systems , meaning that they are comprised of two components : the social part made up of humans and the interaction among them , and the technical part consisting of machines , tools and work mechanisms /processes Further , he explains that while these two systems are intertwined , they operate by two different set of laws . While the social aspect obeys psychosocial and biological laws , the technical part operates according to physical and mechanical laws . The train driver and the train control deck is a good example of how and where the social and technical components interface

From the discussion so far , it is obvious that in any work environment risks or potential hazards are likely to emanate from mechanical faults or malfunction of any of...