Introduction to Fire Safety Management

Attitude
is an important facet of personality that has 
a signifi cant impact on managing safety is an individual 
attitude. There have been many defi nitions of attitude, 
including the following:
➤
A predisposition towards a particular response 
in relation to people, objects and situations – not 
evacuating when the alarm sounds
➤
A predetermined set of responses built up as a 
result of experience of similar situations – no fi re last 
time
➤
A shorthand way of responding to a particular 
situation
➤
A preconception of the way a situation is going to 
develop – no fi re – loss of productivity 
less pay.
The factors that affect the development of attitudes at 
work include:
➤
Self image and levels of confi dence
➤
The degree of perceived control over a particular 
situation
➤
The 
infl uence of peer groups and group norms
➤
Superstitious and inaccurate perceptions, e.g. ‘acci-
dents are bound to happen – there is nothing we 
can do to stop them’.
Attitudes at work can be ingrained and built up in an 
entire workforce over a period of years. Changing atti-
tudes can be a diffi cult and lengthy process and is, most 
successfully, undertaken sensitively.
In order to change attitudes it is fi rst necessary to 
convince people that there is a valid reason to change, 
demonstrating to the individual that their attitude is 
based on misperceptions – generating behaviour that 
is disadvantageous to both themselves and the organ-
isation can do this. Once the case for change has been 

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Introduction to Fire Safety Management
78
accepted it is important to identify the benefi ts of 
the new behaviour that is being suggested. Provided 
that individuals still feel that the decision to change is 
theirs they will be motivated to adopt new behaviours 
at work and more likely to view any changes with a 
positive attitude. Finally the new behaviour needs to be 
reinforced by recognising those displaying it and dealing 
with non-compliance.
the apparent chaos. Again, their perception of the 
risk would be inaccurate based on their experience 
of offi ce environments
➤
The perception of a child to the risks associated with 
playing with matches alone in his bedroom while the 
family are asleep will differ from the parents’ percep-
tion of the risks associated with that activity.
How people perceive the risks associated with fi re is 
discussed further in Chapter 10.