SAFETY COP: The Worst Person for Your Safety Program
You have likely run into this person in a workplace at least once. I sometimes call this person “Self-Appointed Chief Inspector” or “Power Tripper”. My friend Aimee Arsenault calls them “Clipboard Warriors”. Unfortunately, some of these people are part of the safety department at your workplace.
I have served several industries over the years and typically work past the “safety cop” stereotype in the early days of my tenure. It’s not uncommon for workers to complain about the previous safety person to the new safety person.
5 Reasons why Safety Cops are not good for your workplace:
The “wall” created with this type of behavior is a barrier to effective communication and continuous improvement. The Safety Cop legacy is long lasting; workers don’t like when they are around and do not want to speak with them.
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If workers do not speak with safety personnel, safety personnel cannot make the workers’ workplace safer!
People make our workplaces safer (and our employers more productive) when information and ideas are shared and acted upon, where appropriately. Empower your people; don’t beat them down. Safety personnel best serve their employer and the work force when they act as educators, motivators, encouragers, and peers rather than behaving as “wannabe bosses” with clout. A good safety practitioner creates an environment where information about safety hazards, risks, and controls flows freely.
Do you have a Safety Cop at your workplace?
Any other thoughts about what makes a good safety practitioner?
#safety #safetyculture
(Thank you for the tips Jan Wood and Jackie Rafter, MBA )
Sr HSEQ Consultant and Public Speaker
10 个月Safety Cops are throwbacks from the days of OHS inspectors and military police becoming safety people in the early days of safety. They wanted someone who would force you to be safe, as they could not afford the costs of WCB. They now cost more than they are worth, in higher injuries, hidden incidents, and faked statistics just to appease them. Never before have we needed more compassionate, passionate and mentoring safety people than we do today! With Psycho-social hazards looming in the law and the workplace, and WCB reporting the high number of mental health cases in the Alberta WCB case loads, we need to understand and mentor, protecting the workers in a whole new light. There is no where that a Safety Cop can hide anymore. They adapt or get tossed aside. #psychsafety
Safety Professional
11 个月A safety cop is the last person you want on your safety team.?It leads to a breakdown in communication and a culture of fear.?I reported to a safety manager a while back, who took the safety cop approach.?When she attended a job site, the workers would regularly take a break so as to avoid being criticized.??When I visit sites, no one stops working because they have nothing to fear.?I am there to assist and support supervisors and their crews. I remember being in such fear that I didn't report a minor workplace injury.??I cut my finger with a knife.?I put a plaster on it and returned to work.?I was not prepared to face the safety cop, aka my boss. Working in health and safety is about building relationships, listening, and understanding why someone may not be doing work in the safest way possible, following OH&S legal requirements, or company safety policies and rules. Doing this is not mutually exclusive to being assertive and communicating rapidly if there is something that can lead to serious injury or fatality.?See something, say something!
Safety Advocate - Human Consequences | Advocate | Storyweaver | Broker
1 年Safety cops are in my opinion some of the biggest hazards on a worksite, a safety cop can lead to workers hiding injuries. While minor recordable injuries might go down, workers hiding incidents means the learnings that can be discovered from near misses becomes lost. In this way we are not breaking the chain of incidents just ignoring the bottom layer. The hiding of incidents can lead to workers beginning to feel resentful of safety programs, skipping procedures, and taking shortcuts. With time this will lead to far more serious incidents and disabling injuries or deaths. Safety is best when we all work on it together.
Supply Chain Management Professional | Project Lead
1 年This article is on point Bob. Safety culture and risk mitigation are hard enough to change for these exact reasons. Without team support behind the initiatives, the cycle will inevitably continue. Using safety for punitive measures erodes morale and introduces mistrust. This downward spiral will have negative impacts on both people and productivity. The better approach (as you identify) is collaboration and empowerment. Move that needle one person at a time, and watch your safety culture soar!
Retired Operations Technical Specialist at Canada Energy Regulator
1 年It made me laugh about a discussion I had with a party manager a few years back. I told him I hated soap “bars” in camp especially in the shower areas( Not Hygenic). He said come on Rick you’re being that safety cop. I said Brian C. “well here is the way I see it …. When you have a shower what is the first part you wash and then the last part”. He said face then bum and … okay I see you point soap is replaced with gel soap. Always we laugh about that. Better to give example of why rather than because the regs say so. Leaves a better impression and a common understanding. Just my thoughts.