10 vital signs of a good safety culture
Is your safety culture dying or going into shock? Act now before it's too late.
Resuscitate your organization's safety culture and check for these 10 vital signs:
1. Hazards and incidents are promptly reported, acted on and feedback given
2. Safety performance does not depend on constant supervision. People work safely by habit or choice and not because someone is or could be watching
3. Mistakes or errors are openly discussed without fear or favor
4. Management prioritizes visibility out in the field. Visible felt leadership is planned, asserted and measured
5. Everyone in the organization accepts responsibility for actions or omissions under their control or in their scope of work
6. At risk behaviors are not tolerated in the workgroup at all times, regardless of whether management is aware of them or not.
7. Mates look after mates. There is genuine and heart felt concern for not only the safety but also the welfare of others in the team
8. Safety is considered at every stage in the works process- design, planning , task activity and completion
9. There is an unwritten rule that work will never commence or continue if there are uncontrolled risks
10. There is a shared value throughout the organization that incidents and uncontrolled hazards are not acceptable
I admire your work and agree with most your embedded sentiments Andrew, but one underlying issue causes me concern. All must remember that the habits you speak of in # 2 are NOT natural. Habits are learned. And learning GOOD habits takes significant amounts of time and resources. With much supervision. Good quality supervision. Undertaken by experienced leaders. Supervison on site by site personnel and external authorities. The reality is that without good supervision, some (perhaps most) individuals will fall back on bad habits, whether by conscious choice or simple forgetfulness. Workplace safety and culture requires good habits of course but in order to maintain standards they need to be scrutinised and policed. What good are laws and policies without people to enforce them? With the transient nature of construction workers on limited life projects, varying levels of experience, skills and knowledge are always to be found around us. It is to be expected. I'm finding more and more superficial exhibitions of safety performance and control on site, albeit with elaborate compliance document trails and submissive safety management personnel in control. With no one wanting to be "the bad guy"... or deliver "bad" news. Its often demanded in senior management meetings. Too often these types of issues obfuscate the "quick and dirty" reality of the day. Too often I hear safety personnel are NOT supposed to be the "police" of site safety. "It's the supervisors job". Really? Self regulation is limited in its effectiveness. (read: a lack of supervision) Our road laws and extensive traffic police are testimony to the need for constant supervision if we are serious about minimising injury and fatality statistics. Just how many "safety" cameras did we drive through to get to work today? In my view there are far too few regulators with appropriate knowledge and practical experience examining sites within the construction industry. Sure the flagship projects receive lots of visits, often for political or statistical purposes and/or the essential training of new/inexperienced inspectors, but what about the others? There seems a vast majority who are left entirely to their own devices. I document many for a living. Couple the lack of necessary regulator input on site with submissive safety personnel and our safety outcomes can NEVER be as good as they should be. This translates into numbers of people that are dying or are permanently disabled through work UNNECESSARILY each year. We still see too much complacency, poor attitudes and poor safety cultures amongst many individuals and work groups. Too often these turn to contempt for proper procedure and law in mixed company without proper scrutiny and sanction. Bottom line? Unless people are properly informed, trained AND appropriately supervised it will be highly unlikely that workplace safety risks will be thoroughly duly recognised and treated with the utmost respect they so critically deserve. Supervision is an integral part of work.
Group Safety Leader | Aus, Sth Africa, Nth & Sth America
9 年I agree with all the above! But I feel that when numbers 1 & 10 are embedded, many of the other points come naturally. Great work.
General Manager HSEQ - Built Environs Pty Ltd (McConnell Dowell)
9 年Great work, Andrew. Well written and very true!