War On Safety Leadership

There are many opinions and viewpoint concerning the topic of Production vs. Safety. There are positive opinions and there are those who say they are positive yet their actions say differently. But I am here to tell you, if safety is not a priority, the lack of it will become a major liability.

The reality is they both must go hand in hand – you cannot have one without the other. If we were to promote ‘production first’, labor standards and life expectancy would be thrown back a 100 years to where the average life expectancy was about 45 years. Australia, and many developed countries have reversed this trend of shortened or painful life spans by legislating “safety responsibility”. We cannot however forget the past or we are doomed to repeat it. 

Safety and production then are both proportional (one to the other). By proportional we mean that if safety begins to decrease, accidents will happen and then the employee will be out of action; therefore, production will decrease as well. If safety is on the rise, then your associate will remain on the job and your production will rise accordingly.

Obviously this is in “Ceteris Paribas” or all else being equal, because there are more factors other than safety that concern production. Once safety is compromised, the company’s insurances (health, life, Workers’ Comp., unemployment, property, casualty, etc.) will take a major bite of any profits and there goes the P from the P&L (plus our experience ratings are affected for years).

But our focus here is Safety Leadership and how to prevent such things from happening by making a change. We first make changes by changing ourselves. If an organization post signs at the workplace that says “Safety First,” how can our team still get the impression that production is more important?

The answer is through ‘other signs’. Sure, no one posts contradictory signs that say, “Production First.” But the signs take other forms such as output graphs, production pressures and reward programs that suggest production is the real No. 1 priority. We must look good on the spreadsheet, right?

Therefore, emphasis should be placed on integrating safety into the production process, not making it more important. As all successful leaders know, unless you produce or sell safety as a product, keeping business viable will always be the priority. When business is difficult, programs that conflict with production will be seen as obstacles or unnecessary cost. Trust me as a consultant, I was always the first to be 'relieved of duty'.

So we need to create safe business practices to where the integration of each is as one. Only when employees understand the proper integration of safety and production are they able to make the right choices to make sure it really is “Safety that Counts” at our company!

So How Do We Get Everyone To Do This?

IT’S ALL ABOUT COMMUNICATION!

It’s clearly not enough to tell them that safety comes first - if that were the case; the signs would be all you need. Employees have to learn how the consequences of their choices can impact the things they value most. Leaders should try speaking to their team in small groups that have structure but provide plenty of time for open discussion. Include supervisors and managers to show all levels of employees are involved in this discussion. This proves true especially in training.

Oh, Yeah… I forgot… TIME is our enemy too … right? But if you don’t manage yourself and take time, someone else will – particularly the government regulators. Are you willing to gamble with your business? Oddly enough, MANY ARE WILLING, even if they don’t admit to it – their actions speak very loud! 

An effective start is to ask workers to talk about current perceptions about workplace challenges such as safety versus production and what drives risk-taking. Then discuss the nature of hazards at your workplace. What are the risks associated with them? What are the potential consequences of these risks? The point is to acknowledge the hazards and how important it is to manage them well, not just by mechanical controls, but also through personal behaviour (choices).

Yet, every business wants Improved Results (IR) in every aspect of the business; in our case safety and production. I mentioned earlier the way to create change was communication but what do we communicate?

We communicate a Positive Behavioral Change (PBC)! The formula for a PBC is:

A  S  K  G = PBC = IR

The process laid out is designed to bring about improved results; Positive Results. Here are the things that must be worked on (taught) or changed:

ATTITUDE (A): As long as people have the same attitude about life and work, the probability of them making a lasting improvement is nil to none. All training will be in vain for the company if this is not done first.

SKILLS (S): This is where the training comes in; to build into the team the skills they need to succeed.

KNOWLEDGE (K): Increasing a person's knowledge is far different than increasing their skills. Knowledge liberates a person to think and because of the knowledge they can think correctly.

GOALS (G): Without goals a company will not succeed. Without Goals the individual person will not succeed. They may get by and do as good as anyone else, but now that they have had an attitude adjustment, added skills and knowledge, they are no longer average.

When you put those four things together you get a PBC (Positive Behavioral Change). Not just a change, not just a behavioral change, but a POSITIVE Change. Now success is part of their thinking and thus part of their life. Let’s place this concept in our Safety Leadership!

Our Mission is Improved Results (IR). Our Goal (G) is Safety Leadership.

If ... IR = A S K G, then....

ATTITUDE = Change the way people think about safety. Ensure Safety is as important as Production. Lead by example.

SKILLS = Ensure all teams have the required training needed to do their job. Ensure each is aware of any possible hazards. Ensure all team are aware how to handle these hazards. Ensure all team are aware of emergency procedures. Ensure all team can and feel free to communicate (Consult) with the Safety Department. Ensure systems are in place to maintain these levels of skill.

KNOWLEDGE = Ensure all teams know the policies and procedures concerning HSE. Ensure all team are informed of changes in these policies and procedures or changes in the workplace. Ensure the employees know the legal implications of Safety. Ensure your team understands the processes of risk management.

GOALS = our goal is Safety Leadership. Our goal is to set the bar high enough to claim and prove we have a world class safety system. WE must set the example and filter our goals down through the ranks.

Now that we have our Goal (G) of Safety Leadership and we give our workers the skills (S) needed to do their jobs correctly and safely while ensuring they all have the required knowledge (K) to maintain their level of skills and responsibilities which begins to change their very thinking processes then we, through example and communication, can change their attitudes (A) toward the business and safety as a whole we have our PBC, or Positive Behavioral change which effectively gives us our Improved Results even with quality and integrity.

Happy People - Safe People,

make for a Loyal and very productive Team.