Social nocebo1 is a contagious illness that impacts upwards of one-quarter of people who encounter it. Conditions are ripe for a rise of social nocebo in the workplace. The following are key actions that occupational safety and health pros must take to anticipate, recognize, evaluate and control social nocebo.
Robert (Rob) Sams’ recent book, Social Sensemaking – A Reflective Journal; how we make sense of risk, provides new safety and risk thinking when it comes to considering risk in the context of individuals’ behaviors.
When I first entered our profession, safety training was simple. Someone would stand in front of a class, wave an OSHA standard around and say, “This is what you must do to keep your companies from being fined.” Then the instructor would proceed to discuss the standard line by line. What a boring and ineffective method of providing training and education.
