What's your strategy for building a strong safety culture in your plant operations team?

1 Lead by example

As a plant operations leader, you have a crucial role in setting the tone and expectations for safety. You need to demonstrate your commitment to safety in your words and deeds, and hold yourself and others accountable for following the best practices. You also need to communicate clearly and frequently about the importance of safety, and provide feedback and recognition to your team members who uphold the safety standards.

2 Involve your team

A strong safety culture is not something that you can impose from the top down. It requires the active participation and input of your team members, who are the ones who face the hazards and challenges on the ground. You need to involve your team in identifying and reporting the potential risks, developing and reviewing the safety policies and procedures, and finding and implementing the solutions. You also need to empower your team to speak up and stop the work if they see any unsafe situations or behaviors.

3 Provide training and resources

Safety is not a one-time event, but a continuous learning process. You need to provide your team with the necessary training and resources to keep their skills and knowledge up to date, and to cope with the changing demands and conditions of the plant operations. You need to ensure that your team has access to the safety manuals, equipment, tools, and personal protective gear that they need to perform their tasks safely and efficiently.

4 Monitor and measure

You can't improve what you don't measure. You need to monitor and measure the safety performance and outcomes of your plant operations team, using both leading and lagging indicators. Leading indicators are proactive measures that track the actions and behaviors that prevent accidents, such as safety audits, inspections, and observations. Lagging indicators are reactive measures that record the results and consequences of accidents, such as injuries, incidents, and near misses. You need to analyze the data and trends, and use them to identify the gaps and opportunities for improvement.

5 Foster a learning culture

A strong safety culture is not afraid of mistakes, but learns from them. You need to foster a learning culture in your plant operations team, where errors and failures are seen as opportunities for growth and innovation, not as sources of blame and punishment. You need to encourage your team to share their experiences and insights, and to seek feedback and support from each other. You also need to celebrate the successes and achievements of your team, and acknowledge their contributions to the safety culture.

6 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?