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The Safety of WorkAuthor: David Provan
Do you know the science behind what works and doesnt work when it comes to keeping people safe in your organisation? Each week join Dr Drew Rae and Dr David Provan from the Safety Science Innovation Lab at Griffith University as they break down the latest safety research and provide you with practical management tips. Language: en Genres: Business, Management, Science, Social Sciences Contact email: Get it Feed URL: Get it iTunes ID: Get it |
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Ep 136: What is the symbolic purpose of injury rates?
Episode 136
Wednesday, 29 April, 2026
David and Drew unpack six organizational uses of injury metrics — from controlling work and motivating the workforce to self-promotion and risk signaling — before distilling these into four broad symbolic meanings: management control, image management, risk management, and trust in leadership. The episode reveals that injury rates are unstable signs whose meaning shifts depending on context, observer, and organizational culture. Understanding the emotional and symbolic dimensions of these metrics is shown to be essential for any safety professional seeking to challenge, replace, or engage more honestly with the measurement systems that shape how safety is understood and acted upon in their organization. Discussion Points: (00:00) The intersection of safety measurement and social safety research (03:26) The paper — Interpreting injury metrics (06:57) Known limitations and critiques of injury rate metrics (09:03) The puzzle of why injury rates persist despite their well-documented flaws (10:46) Semiotics as an analytical lens for understanding safety indicators as symbols (14:00) Research methodology — 20 interviews with experienced OHS professionals (16:18) Six organizational uses of injury metrics (26:40) Four broad symbolic meanings of injury metrics (36:45) Safety activities as anxiety reduction and the central role of emotion (38:56) Practical takeaways for safety professionals and researchers Like and follow, send us your comments and suggestions for future show topics! Quotes: Drew Rae: "People are not dumb. These criticisms are fairly easy to understand, and there are so many of them from so many different directions that people know these criticisms and believe some of them. But injury rates still happen. That puzzle needs to be understood." Drew Rae: "Something could be a bad measure of whether you're actually safe, but a good measure of how your injuries are affecting these other types of risks that you're facing." Drew Rae: "Safety activities are driven by affect — emotion matters. We do things in safety because we are afraid, or because we are uncertain, because we are anxious. And our safety activities change those emotions." Drew Rae: "We've now got both pieces of the puzzle. We know that they don't work objectively, and we know that people keep using them because of these symbolic meanings. That's pretty much the full story about injury rates." David Provan: "Be curious about the meaning that's being ascribed to the injury rates in your own organization." Resources: Primary paper discussed: Pomeroy, J. & Pilbeam, C. (2025). Signs of safety: An investigation of how OHS professionals interpret injury metrics. Journal of Safety Research. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0022437525001410 Related papers referenced in the episode: Rae, A., Provan, D., Weber, D. & Dekker, S. (2018). Safety clutter: the accumulation and persistence of 'safety' work that does not contribute to operational safety. Policy and Practice in Health and Safety. https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/Safety-clutter:-the-accumulation-and-persistence-of-Rae-Provan/5bef7afb671b32977f688afbffe328407cf48039 Hayes, J., Slotsvik, T.N., Macrae, C. & Pettersen Gould, K.A. (2023). Tracking the right path: Safety performance indicators as boundary objects in air ambulance services. Safety Science. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0925753523000814 The Safety of Work Podcast The Safety of Work on LinkedIn Feedback@safetyofwork
