{"id":112,"date":"2014-06-25T10:00:00","date_gmt":"2014-06-25T10:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/archprofile.com\/archprofile_blog\/?p=112"},"modified":"2026-03-31T16:23:19","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T16:23:19","slug":"high-risk-employees-the-personality-traits-behind-workplace-accidents","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archprofile.com\/archprofile_blog\/?p=112","title":{"rendered":"High-Risk Employees: What Role Does Personality Play?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Accident proneness isn&#8217;t just a harmless &#8220;quirk.&#8221; Sure, some people will laugh it off with a sheepish grin, calling themselves a &#8220;klutz&#8221; and blaming clumsiness on poor coordination or dexterity. But personality can play a role too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Our research with the <a href=\"https:\/\/archprofile.com\/corporate\/tests\/work-accident-likelihood-assessment-revised\" data-type=\"link\" data-id=\"https:\/\/archprofile.com\/corporate\/tests\/work-accident-likelihood-assessment-revised\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">WALA (Work Accident Likelihood Assessment)<\/a> shows that employees most at risk of being fired for unsafe behavior tended to share a combination of traits, including:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Sensation seeking:<\/strong> A strong craving for novelty and thrills. It goes beyond roller-coasters\u2014it&#8217;s the drive behind adrenaline junkies, gamblers, and risk-takers.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Low harm avoidance:<\/strong> A failure to consider consequences. Crossing the street without looking? That&#8217;s the kind of risk a low harm-avoidance person won&#8217;t think twice about.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Low conscientiousness:<\/strong> Linked to carelessness and irresponsibility. Without this trait, success is harder to achieve and accidents easier to cause.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Poor attention span: <\/strong>Distraction is dangerous. True multitasking is a myth\u2014when focus is split, accidents happen.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Disregard for rules: <\/strong>The &#8220;don&#8217;t press the red button&#8221; type. Breaking rules may not cause explosions, but it does raise the chance of injury.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Lack of accountability:<\/strong> Refusing to own mistakes, shifting blame, or ignoring consequences only ensures more accidents down the line.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It&#8217;s important to see these traits as a <strong>profile<\/strong>, not in isolation. Sensation seeking alone isn&#8217;t inherently negative\u2014paired with high conscientiousness, it can produce confident, calculated risk-takers. In fact, jobs like firefighting, rescue work, and policing require some level of sensation seeking, balanced with harm avoidance. The real risk comes when sensation-seeking combines with low conscientiousness and disregard for rules\u2014a dangerous mix in safety-first roles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Here&#8217;s what our study on accident-prone workers revealed:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>64% would pf accident-prone people quit their job without finding a new one first.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>80% will bend safety rules to save time or effort.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>87% believe that rules are made to be broken.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>91% are easily distracted by things happening around them (phones ringing, conversations).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Only 9% would intervene if they saw a colleague breaking an important safety rule.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Only 10% ask for advice from a colleague or supervisor before making risky decisions.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Only 10% wear their seatbelt every time they are in a car.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Only 14% stated that they check their work carefully before considering it done.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Screening for accident-related personality traits should be part of any hiring process where safety is critical. It\u2019s far easier (and cheaper) to screen up front than to deal later with workplace accidents \u2014 along with the injuries, downtime, costs, and the headache of firing unsafe employees after the fact.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Want to see what <span><a href=\"http:\/\/hrtests.archprofile.com\/sample_wala\"><a href=\"https:\/\/archprofile.com\/corporate\/tests\/work-accident-likelihood-assessment-revised\" data-type=\"link\" data-id=\"https:\/\/archprofile.com\/corporate\/tests\/work-accident-likelihood-assessment-revised\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">WALA (Work Accident Likelihood Assessment)<\/a><\/a><\/span> is all about? Request a <a href=\"https:\/\/archprofile.com\/corporate\/freetrial\" data-type=\"link\" data-id=\"https:\/\/archprofile.com\/corporate\/freetrial\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">free trial<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Certain traits can turn workers into accidents waiting to happen.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":290,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-112","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-hiring-talent-retention"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/archprofile.com\/archprofile_blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/112","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/archprofile.com\/archprofile_blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/archprofile.com\/archprofile_blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archprofile.com\/archprofile_blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archprofile.com\/archprofile_blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=112"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/archprofile.com\/archprofile_blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/112\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":806,"href":"https:\/\/archprofile.com\/archprofile_blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/112\/revisions\/806"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archprofile.com\/archprofile_blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/290"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/archprofile.com\/archprofile_blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=112"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archprofile.com\/archprofile_blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=112"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archprofile.com\/archprofile_blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=112"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}