How do you foster Workplace Safety innovation across different teams and departments?

Sometimes people can get lost in setting goals without having had any strategic thinking or system setting to achieve those goals. By managing our systems we can achieve our goals, and simply trying to be 1% better every day will enhance your chances of success exponentially (Clear, 2018). Clear, J. (2018). Atomic Habits. Avery.

Historically, and in my personal experience, I have found that the most successful and safe workplaces were the ones that included every level of team member in the consideration, planning, and execution of the company's safety program/s. Sometimes, as leaders, it's not about what we know, it's about what the people around us know.

Encouraging Experimentation….? One of the greatest experimental tools that was implemented and used with regularity across most all industries was simply called a “Cheater Bar” and the most effective argument for it’s use was, “the cheater bar minimized the force and pressure required to complete the task thus saving the workers back” thus allowing its use over generations. I dare say you would be hard pressed to find a “Cheater Bar” present and or accepted on most work sites today. Although I feel confident most were not destroyed when removed from the workplace. Most went home with an employee to have available when needed. I share this because, opening the door to experimental safety considerations requires commitment to Safe Monitoring.

One thing that shows me that a safety system is healthy and working is when all levels of team members are involved not only with implementation but with the testing and auditing of a safety program that allows for true measurement of the success of that program.

When your leadership team really takes the time to praise the safe behaviors, acts, and accomplishments of the team members you are locking in future successes by showing that management is not trying to "steal" your ideas to make themselves better, but the real leaders are trying to exonerate you and make everyone better by providing a path forward for any ideas to become reality.

When you know where you've been, you can gauge where you are, and plan for the future. Simply put, review the happenings of the recent past, look at where you are now, measure yourself against where you were, identify current gaps, and use strategic planning to put systems in place to achieve your safety goals.

Professional networking is a vital piece of overall safety success. Although we work hard to ensure every level of team member has a say in what safety looks like done right in their respective workspace it never hurts to have an outside look into what you have to further help identify any opportunities you currently have that are not being addressed. I would invite a member from every specialty group or department to join in on the meetings etc. so all stakeholders have a chance to ask questions and be involved in anything identified or outlined by the 3rd party that could help enhance your overall safety management system.

Firstly, IN CASES LIKE THESE WHERE TEAMS AND DEPARTMENTS ARE INVOLVED, we need to SECURE COMMITMENT AND SUPPORT FROM SENIOR LEADERSHIP. Leaders should CHAMPION SAFETY INNOVATION and ALLOCATE RESOURCES for safety improvement projects. Secondly, we need to CREATE CROSS-FUNCTIONAL SAFETY TEAMS that bring together employees from different departments. This will ENCOURAGE COLLABORATION and DIVERSE PERSPECTIVES.

Completing the loop, worked with a company that, posted 'You said, so we did' highlighting the organization had listened and acted. Rather than the ideas, suggestions vanishing down a corporate black hole. Nothing more demoralizing than making the effort to contribute, then seeing that effort vanish into the ether.