What is Risky Behaviour
Anything which may put ourselves or others at risk of physical, mental, emotional harm or abuse. This can cover a range of things including abusing drugs or alcohol, criminal or anti-social behaviour, hate or knife crime and also risky sexual behaviour.
In this short video, teenagers talk about what risky behaviour is, how they work out whether a situation or action is risky, and how they react when their friends are doing something that they think is risky. Parents discuss how they deal with their children doing potentially risky things.
Why it is Important for Youth to Have Knowledge about Risky Behaviour
It is important for youth to have knowledge about risky behavior because it promotes informed decision-making, safeguards their health, and enhances their personal safety. Being aware of the potential consequences associated with risky behaviors such as substance abuse, reckless driving, unprotected sex, or unsafe online interactions equips them to make safer choices.
Understanding these risks can deter young people from engaging in such activities, preventing adverse health outcomes like sexually transmitted infections, substance addiction, or mental health issues. Knowledge about risky behaviors also encourages a healthier lifestyle and contributes to personal safety, particularly in the digital world where cyber threats are prevalent.
Moreover, this knowledge can improve mental health awareness, leading to timely help-seeking and reducing associated stigma. Lastly, educated youth can positively influence their peers, fostering a safer community environment.
1. Awareness Leads to Informed Decision-Making
Educating youth about risky behaviors empowers them to make informed decisions. When young people understand the potential consequences of certain actions – such as substance abuse, reckless driving, unprotected sex, or cyber risks – they’re better equipped to evaluate the potential dangers and benefits, which often leads to safer choices.
2. Prevention of Adverse Health Outcomes
Risky behaviors, particularly substance abuse, unprotected sex, poor diet, and lack of exercise, can lead to numerous negative health outcomes. These may include sexually transmitted infections, substance addiction, obesity, mental health issues, or injuries. Having knowledge about these behaviors and their potential consequences can deter youth from engaging in such activities, thereby preventing the associated health risks.
3. Encourages a Healthy Lifestyle
Understanding risky behaviors and their implications often encourages youth to adopt healthier lifestyles. For example, learning about the dangers of poor nutrition and lack of exercise can motivate them to adopt balanced diets and regular physical activity. Similarly, understanding the dangers of substance abuse can discourage the use of illicit substances.
4. Enhances Personal Safety and Security
In the digital age, online safety is a growing concern. Cyberbullying, sharing personal information online, and engaging with strangers on the internet are all risky behaviors that can lead to serious consequences. Equipping young people with knowledge about online safety measures can greatly reduce the likelihood of them falling victim to cybercrime.
5. Promotes Emotional Well-being and Mental Health
Some risky behaviors, such as self-harm or the use of substances, may be linked to mental health issues. Educating young people about these behaviors and the underlying issues that may lead to them, such as stress or depression, can help youth understand the importance of mental health. This knowledge can encourage them to seek help when needed and reduce the stigma associated with mental health issues.
6. Contributes to Community Safety
Educated youth can also influence their peers, creating a ripple effect within their communities. They can advocate for safety, discourage risky behaviors among peers, and contribute to a safer community environment.
Arming youth with knowledge about risky behaviors is not about instilling fear but about empowering them with the information needed to make safer, healthier decisions. It forms the cornerstone of prevention and enables youth to navigate their way towards a healthier future. Schools, parents, and community organizations all play a vital role in ensuring this education is provided effectively and accurately.
Why Do Some People Take More Risks?
There are many reasons why people take risks at work, but usually, employees behave unsafely because they haven’t properly considered the danger. Understanding the reasons these incidents occur is key to creating a safer work environment for all employees. By identifying the root causes, employers can implement targeted solutions to prevent incidents. Some reasons employees may take risks are:
Overconfidence in abilities
One reason people take risks is due to overconfidence in their abilities. This can occur when individuals have been performing a task for an extended period of time and become too familiar with it, believing they are immune to incidents. This overestimation of their capabilities, such as strength or reaction time can also play a role in employees accepting greater risks. Workers may rely on their experience and knowledge to justify taking risks, but unexpected incidents can always arise.
Cutting corners
Health and safety can be associated, by some, with creating extra work. Sometimes employees will forego safety protocols in an attempt to save time. This is especially true for employees working in environments with tight time schedules or pressure to produce a high output.
Immature culture
While workplace humour and camaraderie can be beneficial for morale and reducing stress, it’s important to ensure that the joking around doesn’t become reckless or disregard safety. An example of where workplace banter turned dangerous, as addressed by Veritas Consulting (2018), was ‘The Hard Hat Challenge’ which went viral on YouTube and social media. The challenge saw workers attempting to flip hard hats onto their heads. A few less ‘skilled’ attempts ended up striking workers in the face or head which could have caused serious injuries. Whilst it provides an important lesson about the strength of hard hats, it also displays how immature culture can lead to accidents and injuries.
Low risk awareness
Low risk awareness refers to a state of mind where an individual or a group within an organisation fail to recognise and properly respond to potential hazards or risks. It can manifest as a lack of attention or care towards safety procedures, as well as a tendency to take unnecessary risks or shortcuts that increase accidents or injuries. This can be particularly dangerous in industries such as construction or manufacturing where the risk of injury is high. Low risk awareness can be caused by various factors, including complacency, lack of proper training, and a workplace culture that doesn’t prioritise safety.
Complacency
Another reason that people may take risks is due to becoming complacent and having decreased sensitivity to hazards. Workers who have performed a task successfully multiple times may fall into a state of “unconscious competence,” where they can perform the task without much thought. This can lead to a false sense of security, where the worker believes that they have done the task before without incident, so are unlikely to encounter any problems.
However, research suggests that workers in this state may not be aware of potential risks or hazards, as they are operating on autopilot mode and not fully engaged in the task. Complacent workers may take shortcuts, fail to perform at the same level of quality or become unaware of potential hazards in their environment. This can result in accidents and injuries to themselves and others. To prevent complacency, companies and employees must remain vigilant and committed to maintaining a safe work environment and avoid developing bad habits that can lead to dangerous situations.
How to improve safety culture
An organisation’s health and safety culture has a significant impact on how employees perceive and approach health and safety, influencing their behaviours and attitudes towards it. By improving the safety culture, employers can create a healthy work environment, which in turn can lead to increased productivity, improved employee morale, reduced absenteeism and increased turnover.
Perform risk assessments
Businesses should perform regular risk assessments to maintain awareness among staff members of potential hazards in the workplace and ensure that the necessary measures are in place to mitigate these risks.
When conducting risk assessments it can be valuable to involve employees who conduct the tasks on a regular basis. By involving employees, you can also gain valuable insights that help to identify areas for improvement that may have otherwise been missed.
Communicate regularly
Regular communication about risks and safety is essential to maintaining a culture of safety within the workplace. By communicating frequently about potential hazards and safety measures, employers can help to ensure that employees remain aware of the risks associated with their work and are equipped with the knowledge and skills they need to work safely.
Regular communication also provides employees with an opportunity to raise any concerns they may have about workplace safety. By encouraging open and honest communication, employers can identify potential hazards and address them before they lead to accidents or injuries.
Provide resources
Employers have a responsibility to provide their employees with the resources they need to perform their work safely and to ensure safety procedures are being followed. One way to remind employees of the steps they should be taking is though pre-planning checklists. These checklists can help employees to identify potential hazards before beginning a task, giving them time to implement safety measures or call for help if necessary. To be effective, this checklist should include a list of tools and equipment that should be used, protocols that should be followed and any particular hazards to look out for.
TIP: If the checklist is digital, randomise the questions to ensure staff are actually looking at the questions and not simply following a remembered pattern.
Employers could also provide other safety resources such as posters, videos, and online training materials that remind employees of the correct procedures to ensure their safety and can be revisited at any time.
Learn from experiences
When an incident does occur, it’s vital to use this as a learning opportunity. All accidents should be documented, which can be used to reference what went wrong and identify any protocols that weren’t followed. In some cases, it may be found that there was a lack of process in place. In this instance, your existing risk assessments should be revisited and new measures put in place to reduce this risk as far as reasonably practicable.
Implement a personal safety service
It’s important that as an organisation you keep staff motivated to stay safe by encouraging a positive safety culture. Informing and educating employees about the risks associated with their roles through real life examples can be beneficial in making the risk relatable to them. Providing training in areas such as personal safety and conflict resolution will provide them with the necessary skills to have the best chance of dealing with an incident in the best possible way.
Risk takers at work are vulnerable to experiencing incidents, that’s why those working in the most high-risk environments need a robust, reliable system in place to provide them with backup in a time of need.