Farewell Fear based Safety Shares

To empower our people, effective leadership and a culture that fosters excellence are essential. Within this environment individuals are recognised, collaboration is encouraged, and our shared purpose of safe production is pursued.

I don’t know about you, but I really question the value of safety shares at the start of every meeting. Yes, it’s an indication that we care about safety. Yes, these stories might carry a cautionary tale for our colleagues about how we shouldn’t mow the lawn in our flip flops or other random ways we could indeed be harmed.

In the realm of safety, we often find ourselves recounting stories that end in harm or injury. This inclination is ingrained in us as humans, as we tend to prioritize discussing negative events. The intention behind sharing these stories is commendable—to warn others and prevent similar incidents from happening to them. However, human nature often leads us to believe that such misfortunes won't befall us. To address this cognitive bias, we could consciously choose a different narrative for safety—one that uncovers and highlights success stories, specific to our organisational practices.

As leaders, we hold a privileged position to shape this experience and influence the safety practices in our organisations. Our core belief is that people are the source of solutions, and safety is about enabling their positive capacities. So is it time to move away from fear-based stories that dominate safety discussions and instead, focus on celebrating and sharing success and learnings?

Sharing success stories is a powerful way to communicate what goes right and the conditions necessary for managing and creating success. Every day, positive events occur, and it's time we shed light on them. By discussing success, we're not promoting naivety or unwarranted optimism. Rather, we are emphasising the learnings derived from managing conditions to achieve favourable outcomes.

These success stories emerge from our daily conversations, work insights, and interactions with our people. When we actively share these stories, we enable others to predict failure, implement controls, safeguards, and defenses, and ultimately be prepared when failure does occur. This shift in focus allows us to celebrate safety success and harness its transformative power.

So, let's make a commitment together. For every negative safety story we find ourselves sharing, let's tell four inspiring stories of safety success. Let's celebrate and recognize the remarkable achievements of our people. Let's acknowledge their ability to predict failure, their innovative safety practices, and the collective safety successes we've accomplished in the past year.

Celebrating safety success may seem simple, but its impact is profound. By consciously shifting our narrative, we create a culture that values and prioritizes positive outcomes. Together, let's foster a safety mindset rooted in celebration, recognition, and the belief that success is achievable.

Let’s celebrate and recognise what our people are doing well… Let's celebrate and recognise when our people successfully predict failure... Let’s celebrate safety innovation.

Consider your safety shares….are they war stories, or stories of safety success? How often do you currently celebrate safety success? When and who can you share safety success stories with?

Kym Bancroft & Tristan Casey

Follow us at New View Safety.

Contact us at [email protected] if you have a safety challenge you would like to partner with us on.