How can you build a culture of safety and reliability in high-risk industries?

Safety culture can be enhanced by the adherence of the following; - Robust induction system, where company policy, goals, procdures clearly defined. - Monitoring and Survelliance of the site. - Promoting for reporting unsafe acts, conditions, near misses & accidents in easy way and "no blame" - Visible Leadership. - Training and education to enhance skills specific focus on BBS safety. - Development & implementation of incentive and disciplinary program. - Workers consultation on regular basis. - Regular TBT & awarness sessions

In my perspective, building a culture of safety and reliability in high-risk industries requires a strong emphasis on clear expectations, effective communication, and a continuous learning environment. It's crucial to define and communicate safety standards and procedures to all employees, while also providing the necessary training and resources to meet those expectations. By prioritizing safety and reliability, we can create a work environment that promotes the well-being of all team members and ensures the success of the organization.

While communicating, also make sure to compare the organisation’s policies with the governing compliances and industry standards and showcase where we are and where we are aspiring to go. Ex: you can compare the industry TFIFR score to inculcate the safety conversations as part of company culture.

Yes, communicate all of this! But don't forget to, as Simon Sinek says, "Start With Why." Why is this important? What results have we seen? What are we trying to prevent or achieve? Once you communicate that, move to the "how" part of the conversation.

In my perspective, encouraging reporting and learning is essential in building a culture of safety and reliability in high-risk industries. By creating an environment where employees feel comfortable reporting near misses and incidents, and promoting a culture of learning from mistakes, we can identify areas for improvement and prevent future accidents.

A great step is to create a team who will be involved in training from the front line. These should not be just knowledge-based training though. This team would be involved in the "show me" part of the training. This is where they would take a fellow frontline team member and have them physically show the safety method being discussed. It's not enough to just know how to say the right thing, you have to know how to actually DO it.

Create an open safety log (employee safety incident report) which can be viewed by all employees. Record every slip and fall to any and all major incidents. Record the employee’s explanation of events, incident description including any events leading to immediately following the incident, resulting action executed, planned and recommended. This will create accountability in workplace.

Quantify the reports in various formats 1) near miss reports - record learnings 2) injury and lost time incident report 3) exposure incident report 4) sentinel event report This will create ownership, reliability and enhance safety

Try to create mixed teams with different profiles with a safety / security officer integrated. Having someone dedicated to regulations can help to increase quality and share knowledge between team members throughout the process. When quality control is in a silo during a project or in the organisational structure, you will run into many difficulties at the end.

In my perspective, there are a few more points to consider: 1. Leadership commitment: Leadership should set the example by consistently demonstrating a commitment to safety and reliability. 2. Employee involvement: Engage employees at all levels in the decision-making process and encourage their active participation in safety committees, hazard identification, and continuous improvement efforts. 3. Training and education: Provide comprehensive training programs on safety procedures, protocols, and industry best practices. 4. Continuous improvement: Foster a culture of continuous improvement by regularly reviewing and analyzing safety data, near-miss reports, and lessons learned from incidents.

Adaptation is more bound to stricter review processes. However, you can look at the overall process in a more cyclic way. Something doesn′t work? Go back and forth in your iterative process, including QA along the way.

Emulate the culture from the top management / leadership. There is no better way to demonstrate culture than coming from the top, or even the immediate manager. Employees are motivated to work with managers who demonstrate the behaviours they personally want to model. If my manager diligently reports breach of safety and reliability standards, I will do the same. It's as simple as that!