Employee Perceptions of Close Call Reporting Hotlines

• Importance and Contribution In the present study, a confidential reporting hotline was implemented within an organization to capture employee perceptions about critical safety events. The intent of the hotline is to... [ view full abstract ]

• Importance and Contribution

In the present study, a confidential reporting hotline was implemented within an organization to capture employee perceptions about critical safety events. The intent of the hotline is to capture near misses and safety events in the workplace that would otherwise go unreported. Though many high risk industries have an internal safety reporting system, little research has been conducted on how to monitor or prevent significant safety events from occurring again (Bardon & Mishara, 2015). There is a wealth of information from employee’s perceptions of near misses, but these perceptions are not utilized to increase learning or improve safety culture. As many safety events go unreported, the objective of collecting reports is to further understand the prevalence and nature of close calls in high risk industries. By doing so, management and employees can be provided feedback in order to avert significant safety events from occurring again in the future.

Since establishing the hotline initiative in 2013, a great deal of knowledge has been gained about factors contributing to employee engagement. Insight has also been gained as to why employees would hesitate to utilize the hotline as a resource. Understanding employee perceptions can help further learning about near miss reporting in high risk organizations and shed light on engagement in a safety culture initiative.

• Theoretical Base

Significant safety events or near misses are incidents that almost result in an adverse event but are somehow prevented (Wu & Marks, 2013). Near misses can be sources of learning and knowledge within high risk industries. In particular, close calls provide a unique advantage as no actual harm has occurred, yet they indirectly reflect organizational safety culture and antecedents to hazards found in the workplace. The current safety program is not the first confidential reporting hotline of it’s kind, the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) and National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) have a partnership program called the Confidential Close Call Reporting System (C3RS) that is externally run. The program’s intent is similar, in that it collects reports with a non-punitive approach to help improve safety conditions and gain insight from experienced employees. The hotline is set up so that employees can confidentially call in to report sensitive information about a safety event they may have witnessed or been directly involved in. There are no repercussions for the employee and the report is collected simply to learn and avert future incidents. In general, the guidance is to make safety reporting system safe, easy and effective, but even programs that are designed to meet these criteria are not very successful. This paper explores why employees are reluctant to use these programs.

• Research Questions & method

Interviews and focus groups were conducted to address questions about the functionality of the hotline with managers, supervisors and employees partaking in the project. We conducted 2 focus groups with 10 managers and 17 employees prior to the launch of the program. The employee focus group consisted of employees who were members of joint occupational health and safety committees. The focus groups were facilitated by one researcher and notes were taken by a second researcher. These were recorded to support the transcription of notes.The interviews took place 6 months after the launch. The research questions we sought to answer through the interviews and focus groups were: (1) Perceptions of the hotline prior to launch, including willingness to use the program and management support, (2) How knowledgeable employees were about the initiative six months after launch, (3) How information about the program is shared and (4) Why employees did not use the program. We also intended to capture perceptions of management engagement and perceived awareness /use of the hotline.

• Findings

In the initial focus groups, there was broad support of the program from managers and they were keen to support the program. Some managers were skeptical about employee willingness to participate in the program. Employees were somewhat suspicious about management motives for starting the program and there was concern about the confidentiality of the program. At the end of the focus group participants were supportive of the program.

The level of program use was very limited with only one call being received per month for the next six months. We then conducted interviews with a sample of employees. From the qualitative feedback, several themes emerged from the research questions posed.

The first theme is improvement of educational channels for management and employees. There is limited understanding of the intent of the hotline and many employees reported having little knowledge or comprehension of why certain information was being collected. A large majority of employees reported having little awareness about how the information they report is utilized. They also reported needing greater detail in terms of what is done with the information they report and how the information enables managers to learn from aggregated results. Information relayed to employees could be more in depth and confusion may have stemmed from a number of miscommunications. Employees are wary of reporting sensitive information for fear of identification or potential reprimand, therefore the transparency of the program needs to be conveyed through educational materials as well. There is a limited exposure and awareness of the program stemming from little engagement or information being shared after the initial roll-out. Employees reported that their specific worksites did not engage in the program. There were mixed report on management and supervisor involvement, employees either felt strongly that supervisors did support the program or they did not, while other employees could not comment because they were unaware as to how management was involved.

A large majority of employees reported they had not yet utilized the hotline for reporting a near miss. Disengagement in the hotline seems to stem from a sense of mistrust. Therefore, another theme stemming from the interviews and focus groups was the need to build organizational trust amongst employees. This theme ties in with education as clarification needs to be given by management and supervisors so there mutual understanding of intent and use of information. Further clarification of how information reported is handled would also help to build trust. If employees were able to see how the information put to use, it would confirm that the intent of the program is truly to capitalize on learning from safety events.

The third theme is building and maintaining employee motivation. Having consistent information and feedback being given to employees about the hotline would help to improve motivation. Ensuring that newsletters are given out and important issues are being shared will keep lines of communication open and encourage employees to participate. Not only will consistency help, but also ensuring up to date resources like posters and program pamphlets are available at each work location will increase motivation.

• Implications

Conducting focus groups and interviews with a number of employees provided valuable information as to how the use of the hotline can be progressed. A large majority of participants voiced not knowing enough about the hotline, therefore educational channels and methods could be improved upon. From this qualitative feedback, the hotline program will modify its delivery of resources and continue to increase engagement within employees and managers. Having a local champion or representative at each regional location who has consistent contact with the hotline can help engage employees further. Researchers from the hotline can conduct multiple worksite visits and give brief presentations to small groups of employees. Having regular, consistent exposure to educational information (in the form of posters, pamphlets, learning sessions and information packages) will help to improve and maintain employee motivation.

As the project continues to grow, the data collected will contribute the body of knowledge surrounding safety culture initiatives and will be useful for researchers and practitioners alike. A close call reporting hotline may be useful within other organizations who manage and mitigate safety events throughout their daily tasks. Eliciting employee feedback throughout the initiative can help steer the direction of the program and help practitioners understand why employees may not be as engaged as initially expected. The significance of listening and understanding employee perceptions is undervalued in terms of project implementation. The reporting of close calls is a sensitive subject where other factors such as management trust, fear of reprimand and two-way communication are large influences. Through future research on close call reporting, we can learn how to utilize these perspectives to further engage employees and managers in safety related work initiatives. Future research can advance the use of similar interventions by looking at predictors of employee engagement in close call hotlines. Research design should be rigorous in delivery, consistently collecting and giving feedback to participants through multiple forms of communication.


• References

Bardon, C., & Mishara, B. L. (2015). Development of a comprehensive programme to prevent and reduce the negative impact of railway fatalities, injuries and close calls on railway employees. Journal Of Occupational Rehabilitation, 25(3), 557-568.

Wu, A., and Marks, C. M., (2013). Close calls in patient safety: Should we be paying closer attention? Canadian Medical Association Journal, 185(13), 1119-20.

close call, near miss, significant safety event, reporting, hotline, safety, culture, organizational intervention, employee perception. [ view full abstract ]

close call, near miss, significant safety event, reporting, hotline, safety, culture, organizational intervention, employee perception.