1. Christopher D. B. Burt & Racheal Shackleton University of Canterbury
The problem with experience: A multifactorial model of experience and the consequences for employee safety
Christopher D. B. Burt & Racheal Shackleton
University of Canterbury

2. Must have experience!
Very common to hear from grad students that they can not apply for jobs because the advertisement lists an experience requirement.
What are the assumptions behind an experience requirement?
How is experience measured?
How should experience be measured?

3. Safety: What are the assumptions?

4. Equipment similarity?

5. Environment similarity?

6. Road similarity?

7. Load similarity?

8. Load similarity?

9. Load similarity?

10. Percentage of Advertisements
Experience Required: What is asked? SEEK: Plant and machine operator, N= % of advertisements mentioned experience
Experience Request Category
Percentage of Advertisements
Narrative Example
Experience Needed 16
“You must have experience.”
Length of Experience 33
“More than three years experience …”
Type of Experience 51
“… looking for an experienced plaster board fixer who has a commercial fit out background.”

11. Past experience and safety: What does the research say?
Study
Job N=
Experience Measure
Safety Measure
Finding
Leigh (1986)
Sample
4962
Total years of work experience
Job-related Injury
No relationship
Tenny (1998)
Pilot
188
Total hours of flying
Severity of accident
Van der Flier & Schoonman (1988)
Train driver
715
Total years worked
Unsafe behaviour: signal abuse
Li, Baker, Grabowski, Qiang, McCarthy & Rebok (2002)
3306
Total flight time
Crash risk
Found critical point (5000 hours) over which risk reduced

12. Study Sample Possible Source Experience Measure N= Mean SD CV or AB
Possible Source
Experience Measure N=
Mean SD
CV or AB
Cumulative job tenure (years) 58
20.67 years
11.78
Total number of jobs held 57
7.12
4.91
Total number of organizations worked for
5.87
2.85
Interview Question
Number of organization performed the target job in 56
2.78
2.27
Number of work groups performed the target job with 55
5.45
11.06
Number of different work environments performed the target job in 52
4.98
13.80

13. Experience measures: Relationships with similarity (past-present)
Experience Measure
Similarity of present work environment to previous work environments:
10 point scale
Similarity of present work tasks to tasks performed in the past:
Cumulative job tenure
.08
.14
Total Number of jobs held
.09
Total Number of Organizations worked for
.03
.00
Number of organization performed target job in
.38**
.44*
Number of work groups performed target job with
.22
.27*
Number of different work environments performed target job in
-.19
.13

14. ANOVA comparison between participants reporting an accident (minor injury requiring medical treatment or lost time injury) in their current job (n= 29) and those reporting no accident (n= 29).
Measure
Accident Group Mean
N= 29
Safe Group
Mean
N=29
F-ratio
Sig.
Cumulative job tenure
247.0
253.0
.026 ns
Total number of jobs held
6.34
7.92
1.493
Total number of organizations worked for
5.79
5.96
.052
Environment similarity
5.10
6.82
4.258
.05*
Task similarity
5.2
7.0
5.097

15. Prediction from experience measures
Source
Experience Measure
Predictive
CV or AB
Cumulative job tenure
Very limited
Total number of jobs held
Total number of organizations worked for
Interview/AB
Number of organization performed target job in
… of similarity
Number of work groups performed target job with
Number of different work environments performed target job in
Predictive ?

16. Conclusions
1. Past tenure (time), number of jobs, number of organizations worked for are not good predictors of experience or its safety consequences
2. If similarity of the past and present is the desirable aspect of experience, measure it as directly as possible