Safety: A priority or a value?

Years ago I met a CEO who wanted to upgrade the Safety Culture of his entire organization worldwide.

In my role, it is common to ask ‘Why do you want to improve your Safety Culture?’ Numerous leaders answer that question on a WHAT-level: ‘Because we need to make sure that our workers follow the procedures, wear their PPE, and STOP for safety!’

And of course, the answer is correct.

But this particular CEO’s answer still has an impact on my personal ‘WHY’ of working in the HSE Improvement Field today. His answer to the aforementioned question was:

'... Last year our company was rewarded for being the most successful in our business. We became the fastest-growing company worldwide and with pride we celebrated the achievement. My portrait covered the front page of our national newspaper. Proudly smiling from ear to ear, looking straight into the camera, including the headline ‘Most successful in the business’.

The next day my face was on the front page again. Same portrait. Now the headline shocked me immensely. It said:

‘YOUR BUSINESS KILLS PEOPLE’

My ‘ear-to-ear-smile’ on the photo suddenly felt eerie and inappropriate. This time the article was not about our business success, but about the seven work-related fatalities we’ve had that year worldwide. I was stunned... and deeply ashamed about the article published on the previous day. Because while we celebrated our business success publicly, seven families were still grieving the loss of a family member… I realized I had to redefine the true success of our company.

I made the decision that I don’t want to run the most successful company in the business. I want to run the safest company in the business. The safest ever! Because eventually, it is all about 'taking care of people'.

That’s why I want to improve our Safety Culture. At all levels of the organization. Starting with me…’

I felt the true sense of urgency in how this CEO expressed himself. His story was not only communicated on a WHAT-level but came from a deeper WHY-level.

Improving Safety Culture is not ‘something that you need to do’.

Improving Safety Culture is something that should be part of your DNA.

It is the most important distinction between seeing Safety as a priority or as a value.