It Won't Happen to Me: An Investigation of Optimism Bias in Occupational Health and Safety

Optimism bias is the tendency to think that negative events are less likely to happen to oneself than to one's peers. Optimism bias concerning occupational health and safety (OHS) hazards was assessed in 105 postgraduate students and university employees. Significant levels of optimism bias were found for several events (e.g., suffering/causing injury). Though optimism bias was not related to perceived controllability, administration of OHS by management may explain why this observation differs from findings in other domains. While further study is required, the present study demonstrates that people tend to think hazardous events at work are less likely to happen to themselves compared to others doing the same job, which has important implications for management of safety at work.