Rethinking Health and Safety: A Call for Real Change
Clay Kruger
Managing Director Safety Consulting Group - Getting Safety Right by focusing on what matters.
In today's business world, the approach to health and safety is missing the mark. The health and safety profession is stuck in a cycle where academic theories dominate, but practical, people-centric solutions are overlooked. Here’s why the current and increasing academic approach to health and safety isn’t working, and why it must change.
1. People-Centric, Not Science-Centric
Health and safety isn’t a science; it's not technical, it's not medicine, engineering, aviation or law, it’s about people, their values, their behaviours, their worth. It’s about understanding these values, and behaviours, and the human aspect of safeguarding them at work. Yet, our education system and the profession primarily focus on theories rather than teaching real-world interaction skills crucial for effective leadership in this field. Connecting with human values and performance doesn't come from a textbook.
2. Lack of On-the-Ground Experience
Many academics shaping the health and safety policies and approaches today have never worked in environments that demand hands-on experience. The gap between theory and practice is stark, leading to disconnected strategies that often fail to resonate with those on the front lines (the unspoken 'resistance' to health and safety - that is ignored). Business leaders seek academic qualifications when employing health and safety professionals, not the skills that make a real difference in how workers embrace and engage with health and safety.
3. Image Over Influence
The health and safety "profession" prioritises accolades and appearances over its core mission: safeguarding people from harm, not all, but most. Thousands of annual conferences, seminars, congresses, summits etc., serve as a 'stage' for professionals to showcase themselves (just look at the LinkedIn posts during and after any HS event), while meaningful safety improvements where it matters, are ellusive and stagnant.
4. Fear-Based Regulation
Regulatory bodies too often resort to punitive measures instead of fostering collaboration. Increased penalties and consequences create a compliance-driven culture that alienates workers, breeding resistance rather than fostering genuine safety commitment and cooperation. This demands that business leaders focus their attention on compliance, rather than meaningful or collaborative safety. 85% of business leaders recently surveyed, confirmed the role of their health and safety teams, is primarily compliance.
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5. Complexity Breeds Confusion
More rules, more demands—more noise. Businesses today drown in a sea of regulatory requirements that don’t translate to safer workplaces. The sheer volume of administrative burden detracts from any meaningful safety initiative. Read any piece of health and safety legislation today (if you can understand it), and show me where, it promotes leadership, culture, care or collaboration! Even systems and procedures written today, are written to appease regulations and standards, rather than being written to 'connect' with those it's designed to safeguard.
Moving Forward: A Call to Action
It’s time for a shift. Health and safety must return to its roots: a time when it made a real difference in workplaces. In the 70s and 80s, when there was no noise or bullshit, we made that difference, today, is a very different story. We need leaders who understand people as much as policies, who bridge the gap between theory and practice, and who prioritise engagement and connection over accolades, or a bigger salary or office.
Business leaders need to demand a health and safety approach that works for everyone, from the boardroom to the shop floor. Cutting through the noise and the bullshit and stripping away the unnecessary narrative, and refocusing on what truly matters: protecting people at work.
It’s not only about compliance—it’s about connection. It’s about real change, and it starts with the “establishment” taking a long hard look at itself and how it defines and delivers health and safety in today’s world.
What the health and safety “establishment” is doing today, is NO longer working, and yet it continues to repeat the same approach over and over and expecting different results, sounds like the definition of something to me!
Director at Ray Wyld Safety Link Pty Ltd
3 周The Capture of the JSA to become a due diligence tool instead of a reminder for the worker to have one last look to see if there may be any Real time hazards that were not in the procedures (how to do the job safely) Now we need to Tick Boxes to prove we did something BUT the tick just tells us the pen is working. Have been trying to get a debate going about the JSA as I believe it is now the cause of accidents > Any Views ?
Health and Safety
3 个月Well Said Clay, we have abandoned our stakeholders (the frontline workers) to sit in offices, develop policies, develop procedures ensure compliance that protects the company, attend meetings or zoom calls and wonder why the front line workers don't follow what we tell them to do. I agree it's time to get back to basic safety.
EHS Professional striving for the ultimate goal of zero incidents and zero harm.
4 个月So true, the focus on Health and Safety has been lost over the years. All we do now is generate paperwork and tick boxes. I forwarded your article on an internal company group chat and hope the relevant people read this, and put it into practice.
Owner Blair Safety Services Inc.
4 个月A genuine and thought provoking article. 10 years of OTJ experience, mixed with whatever professional accolades one has is a baseline for expertise. The complexities of performing this work, without a people first understanding is nothing more than another disservice to the very humans who are the focus of this profession. This conversation must continue and be prioritized.
THERMAL POWER PLANT PROJECT EHS DIRECTOR * CSP * at NS2PC - KEPCO/MARUBENI/TOHOKU EPC
4 个月These 5 Rethinking Health and Safety: A Call for Real Change resonate so true.