Building safety
culture & safety awareness
Need a robust Safety
Management System
The exact form of the
S.M.S. will be determined by consultation with the stake-holders but it is
likely to include most of the following
*Compliance with
statute law
*Compliance with
common law principles
*Senior management
commitment
*OHS policy
*Safety committees
*Safety meetings
*Safety as part of
performance appraisal
*Supervisors and
employees trained and held accountable for safety
*Hazard Identification
/ Risk Assessment / Hazard Control
*Incident
investigation
*Safety inspections
*Good housekeeping
*Comprehensive
induction programme
*Goals
*Auditing
*Emergency response
plans
*Management of low
probability/ high consequence risk
*OHS management plans
*Core objectives
*Role of the health
& safety professional
*Benchmarking
*Safety procedures
*Communications
*Focus on class 1
damage
*Leadership
*Employee Assistance
Programmes (E.A.P.)
*Claims management /
Rehabilitation
* Internal standards
of OHS excellence
Safety Culture / Awareness
Ways to build safety
culture / safety awareness
Advertisements for
positions with you have a safety requirement, P.D.’s have safety stipulations, performance appraisal assesses safety performance and
responsibilities.
A safety committee
that is trained in their role and an effective safety committee
Safety
representatives that are trained and play an active role in the S.M.S.
Comprehensive
induction programme-Probably need separate programmes for offices and outside
work.
Based on my time with
Risk assessment is a
fundamental requirement of the Workplace Health & Safety Act and many
larger companies approach to safety, those who interact with clients need to
understand how to carry out this function. Recommend training in hazard
identification / risk assessment / hazard control
Involvement of
employees in developing safe working procedures using the job safety analysis
technique also has a place
Active involvement of
employees in the safety programme eg. By involving them in safety inspections
is a good idea.
Promotion
of safety in corporate publications and the web-site.
Encouraging and
publicly rewarding safety innovations and good performance
Regular safety
meetings
Safety as the first
agenda item on management meetings
Special emphasis
programmes-skin cancer awareness, cholesterol testing, drink driving etc,
promotional materials are available free of charge from various bodies.
Practice of emergency
procedures
Regular audits
involving the workforce and feeding back audit results to them
Safety expectations of
clients are widely circulated to relevant personnel
C.E.O. publicises he
has an open-door policy on safety matters
Safety person who
prods, promotes, follow-ups on issues raised, demands a high standard and
harasses when the standard is not maintained.
Sounds a bit corny but
the big companies have a safety motto, eg.
“Safety
First-Production will follow”
Involvement /
participation in the safety programme by employees
Many big employers
have a “Safety Charter” that employees and management sign off on when
employees start.
Companies with high
performing safety programmes often have off-the-job safety promotions
The area of providing
alcohol at company functions is fraught with danger. I enjoy a beer as much as
the next bloke but it is a risky area for employers. Some companies make a
public statement about their policies in this area, only provide light beer (yes
I know this will not go over well always but you are making a statement),
restrict availability of wine, ensure no spirits are available and ensure
snacks are always available, have lots of ice water available and encourage its
use, cab vouchers available should they be needed, people are harangued about
drink driving at every function. Just need to ensure the team building benefits
of such sessions are greater than the risks of liability should someone be
injured in a car prang after a company function. Need defined policies in place
to limit your liability in case anything goes wrong.
Suppliers
of safety equipment eg.
Fire extinguishers, first-aid kits often have promotions whereby products can
be purchased for employees at a discounted rate.
Safety leadership in practice
Quotable quote
“The people are
fashioned according to the example of their king and edicts are less powerful
than the life (example) of the king”
Claudian, c. 365,
Egyptian epic poet
Krause describes what
excellent safety leadership looks like
1 Vision
The most senior
executive must “see” what safety excellence looks like. The leader must convey
his vision in a compelling manner through action.
2
Credibility
When an excellent
safety leader says something others believe it and do not question his motives.
3
Collaboration
Collaboration
encompasses working well with others, encouraging input, helping others,
expressing confidence in others support others decisions and gaining
commitment.
4 Feedback &
Recognition
An excellent safety
leader provides effective feedback and recognises people for their
accomplishments.
5
Accountability
An excellent safety
leader gives workers a fair appraisal of safety efforts and results, clearly
communicates people’s roles in safety and fosters the sense that people are
responsible for the level of safety in their organisational unit.
6 Communication
As a great
communicator the leader encourages people to deliver honest, complete
information about safety (even if unfavourable), keeps people informed and
communicates frequently and effectively up, down and across the organisation.
7 Values safety
An excellent safety
leader acts to support safety values and principles. He leads by example and
clearly communicates that safe behaviour is expected.
8 Action-oriented
An excellent safety
leader is proactive rather than reactive in addressing safety issues. He gives
timely, considered responses to safety concerns, demonstrates a sense of
personal energy and urgency to achieve safety results and demonstrates a
performance driven focus by delivering results with speed and excellence.
Schein relates how
leaders embed and transmit change
The most powerful
mechanisms for culture embedding and reinforcement are-
What leaders pay
attention to, measure and control
Leader reactions to
critical incidents and organisational crises
Deliberate role
modelling, teaching and coaching by leaders
Criteria for
allocation of rewards and status
Criteria for
recruitment, selection, promotion, retirement and ex-communication
What leaders pay
attention to, measure and control
One of the best
mechanisms leaders have for communicating what they believe in or care about is
what they pay attention to (What is noticed and commented upon, to what is
measured, controlled, rewarded and in other ways systematically dealt with)
Even casual remarks and questions that are consistently geared to a certain
area can be as potent as formal control mechanisms and measurements. Other
powerful signals that subordinates interpret for evidence of the leaders
assumptions are what they observe does not get reacted to.
Leader reactions to
critical incidents and crises
When an organisation
faces a crisis the manner in which leaders deal with it creates new norms,
values and working procedures and reveals important underlying assumptions.
A good time to observe
an organisation is when an act of insubordination occurs. No better opportunity
exists for leaders to send signals about their own assumptions about human
nature and relationships than when they themselves are challenged.
Criteria for
recruitment, selection etc
Leaders who are trying
to ensure that their values and assumptions will be learned they must create a
reward, promotion and status system that is consistent with those assumptions.
Whereas the message initially gets across in the daily behaviour of the leader
it is judged in the long run by whether the important rewards are allocated
consistently with daily behaviour. One of the most subtle ways culture gets embedded
is in the initial selection of new members. Basic assumptions are further
reinforced through criteria of who does or does not get promoted, who is
retired early and who is excommunicated.
Design of physical
space, facades, buildings
This category is
intended to encompass all the visible features of the organisation that
clients, customers, vendors, new employees and visitors would encounter.
Stories about
important events and people
As a group develops
and accumulates a history, some of this history becomes embodied in stories
about events and leadership behaviour. The storey reinforces assumptions and
teaches assumptions to newcomers. Leaders cannot always control what will be
said about them in stories; though they can certainly reinforce stories they
feel good about and launch stories that carry the desired messages.
Formal statements
about organisational philosophy, values
The formal statement
is an attempt by leaders to state explicitly what their values and assumptions
are.
Let me tell you about
the most inspirational leader I have worked with
John Grubb
Quiet, unassuming,humble,high
expectations of himself & others
Manager Operations
2 purple hearts from
being shot in his role as an infantry commander in
Mormon preacher but he
did not ram his religious beliefs down others throats
Exceptional work ethic
John used a pencil
instead of a biro because pencils are cheaper, John flew economy class when he
was entitled to first class, other managers drove Fairlaines, Statesmen & Volvos John drove a Magna.
Mining engineer
For about a year this
author worked with John Grubb who could best be described as a charismatic
leader who had an overriding commitment to safety This
individual would turn up at operating sites in the middle of the night to see
how safety was being managed. He would jump on a haultruck and go with the
operator while the truck was loaded, the manager would question the operators
about safety and tell them that he expected safety to be their top priority.
This manager let his subordinates know he expected nothing less than 100%
commitment to safety; those who did not comply were not around long. Word
quickly got around about the manager’s safety expectations, single-handley he
raised the profile of safety in the organisation.
References
Krause,T.,2004,Influencing the behaviour of senior
leadership, Professional Safety, June 2004,American Society of Safety
Engineers, Des Plains, Illinois
Schein, E., 1992,Organisational culture and leadership,2nd. Edn., Josey Bass,