IQ may be a predictor of who suffers an injury or illness at work. A 68-year population study published in 20171 found that IQ is inversely associated with all major causes of death, including accidents. The study, and others like it2 with statistical power (one million people), find that people with high IQ make better in-the-moment and life-long risk decisions that increase their chance of survival. 

The controversy that dumb people make poor risk decisions and are, therefore, more injury prone has raged for decades. Regardless of the political correctness or complexity, you need to pay more attention to how IQ impacts safety and health programs.

What’s IQ?

IQ, intelligence quotient, has been around since 1904. There are various IQ classifications and nearly all adhere to the Bell-Curve with 100 being the most common score. Beside taking a specific test, IQ can be predicted3. Achieving an MD, JD, or PhD, for example, equates to an IQ of 125. Are you a manager or administrator? Then your IQ is about 104. IQ for high school grads is about 100. Free IQ tests are available online4. 

IQ and work

The U.S. Supreme Court determined in 1971 that direct use of IQ at work is discriminatory, unless needed for the job. Employers have ways around direct use of IQ, such as requiring a HS diploma before hire or use of job specific intelligence tests. Contact your HR department to determine how they measure intelligence of workers.

IQ vs. content knowledge

OSHA requires that employees be trained and knowledgeable about hazards and issues such as PPE, HazCom, LOTO, confined space, fall protection, and many others. OSHA has no pass/fail requirements for end-of-training quizzes that most employers voluntarily provide. Many workplace hazards require that employees demonstrate competency, such as operating mobile equipment or performing HAZWOPER practices. Who is competent to do whatever in the workplace is always an employer’s decision.

OSHA-related content knowledge and competency, somewhat like a GPA, does not reflect an employee’s IQ. IQ is best determined by employees making correct and prompt risk decisions that occur beyond normal job procedures and JSA practices. How an employee reacts to extraordinary risk, beyond OSHA required emergency evacuation training, is where employee IQ comes into play. 

IQ and incident trends?

The required OSHA Form 301 Injury and Illness Incident Report include data such as DOB, date hired, and date and time of injury/illness. Education level, an indicator of IQ, is not recorded on the form. Five Why and other investigation tools don’t record this data either.

Record low unemployment in many parts of the U.S. means there are more job openings than people available to fill those jobs. A HS diploma, often a minimum requirement for most jobs, is being waved as hiring criteria by more employers.  Educational level, however, is but one indicator of IQ. Drug conviction, bankruptcy, prison time, points on driver’s license and other metrics that demonstrate poor risk decisions may reflect low IQ, too. Trending these varied IQ metrics is important but require HR involvement — privacy and other considerations come into play. 

Dumb people?

The linear rise of IQ throughout the 20th century, also known as the Flynn Effect5, reversed in the mid-1990s.  In theory, people now in their 20s and 30s have a lower IQ than their parents.  

Evidence for Flynn effect reversal includes Millennials and younger adults struggling today to write reports. A number can’t do math in their heads. Lower IQ scores may relate to fewer risk-decision skills needed in modern society, too. Young folks today engage in fewer physical risks growing up than their parents. Risk today plays out in online games, not reality. 

Fluid intelligence, the ability to think quick and recall information, diminishes with age. So you might add some old folks to the “dumb” list, too. 

Controversy

This discussion of supposed “dumb” people hints at the controversies surrounding IQ. The basic controversy is how intelligence may segment and discriminate individuals and society. People may dislike IQ, but everyone is impacted by its use.

Intelligence and Accidents: A Multilevel Model6 is a study that found individual intelligence has “…little effect in determining who will be an accident victim in the U.S. Navy enlisted population.”  Interestingly, the report found average group intelligence, through “behavioral contagion,” to be a valid determinate of injury risk. 

I have an IQ around 115 and struggled to understand the results of this study. High IQ people may find it necessary to dumb-down information to engage more people to understand. Also, there is concern that high IQ people engage in greater risks, believing they’re smart enough to avoid failures. 

Summary

Statically powerful studies (see ref. 1 and 2) show that individual IQ is inversely associated with all major causes of death, including accidents. OHS programs need to capture IQ trends and harness individual intelligence to help determine ways to prevent injury and illness. One way this may be accomplished is for employers to voluntarily provide risk scenario measures, with pass/fail scores, along with OSHA-required hazard content training. 

It’s politically incorrect, but workplace conditions must be designed, installed and maintained to protect low IQ workers. It’s reality – we’re all not brain surgeons. If touching energized equipment can cause injury – guard the equipment. This logic goes for all hazards. 

Importantly, if you have a high IQ, don’t outsmart yourself. Like workplace conditions, communicate effectively so that lower IQ people understand. IQ measures and management requires HR involvement. Do not handle IQ management alone. 

References:

1. www.bmj.com/content/357/bmj.j2708
2. www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4170759/
3. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intelligence_quotient
4. www.myiqtested.com/
5. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flynn_effect
6. www.gwern.net/docs/iq/2016-dutton.pdf
7. pdfs.semanticscholar.org/4ff7/962f470c962f004035a76abcb71f51c86a2b.pdf