Ten Themes That Should Concern You

Since 2020, workplaces have undergone significant changes, rendering our previous safety strategies ineffective. It is imperative that we swiftly adapt our approach to these new realities. Failure to do so will inevitably lead to broader organizational challenges soon if they haven’t already.

Safety performance is a symptom. Undesirable safety performance is often a symptom of larger issues in the broader workplace and organizational culture. When safety performance continues to trend poorly, we find deviations from expectations also occurring in quality, delivery, reliability, efficiency, or cost. When this becomes the new reality, it is no longer a safety problem; it is an organizational problem that necessitates the active involvement of operational leadership to develop a new game plan to meet the new playing field.

It's crucial to recognize and address indicators of undesirable results. If we're surprised by poor outcomes, it's often because we've overlooked or not given enough attention to these indicators. Here are the themes I've observed in dozens of workplaces across most industries that should concern all of us.

1. Workplace shortages and decreased expertise.?This is seen in attrition, increased attendance issues, and a reduction in average knowledge levels and competencies.
2. Engagement scores decreasing.?Engagement has reached the lowest levels since 2015, and active disengagement is increasing. (1)
3. Oversight is decreasing.?This is observed with first—and second-line supervision and safety professionals not in the field or on the floor as much as needed to observe work as it occurs and proactively seek out deviations to address influences before they result in an unwanted event. Additionally, in several organizations, the experience levels of these leadership groups are also decreasing. This results in less technical or operational knowledge of the standards by which the work should be performed safely.
4. Less training and new employees training new employees.?There is decreased time spent training new employees in their work and new employees training new employees. This creates a culture of decreased understanding of hazards and risks associated with the work.
5. Corrective actions are more paperwork and PPE.?When comparing thousands of corrective actions taken after an injury against the hierarchy of controls, most of them fall into the category of additional administrative controls or PPE. This theme, combined with the reality of newer people entering a company whom other new employees train, creates additional error-like situations.
6. Supply chain disruptions continue.?This results in increasing stress with operational leaders who still need to meet production or productivity targets, leading to workers performing the work without necessary parts, equipment, chemicals, etc., and in several organizations, this is observed in work being performed out-of-scope or out-of-process. (2)
7. Heightened anxiety, stress, and mental health concerns.?The suicide rate has increased over the past 10 years. If that isn't concerning enough, tensions are increasing in the workplace and the broader community, leading to concerns about unintentionally triggering someone, and many operational leaders privately voicing to me their hesitancy to stop a job or talk to an employee about unacceptable, unsafe or at-risk behavior. This can result in a culture losing its capacity to norm people to standards or desired behavior.
8. Normalization of deviance.?The previous seven themes contribute to many operational environments where it is becoming culturally normal to perform work incongruent with the standard or how the work was planned.
9. Production or productivity targets remain or increase.?Despite the reality of the new workplaces and the evidence of the previous eight themes, few organizations have reduced their production or productivity targets, creating additional opportunities for error-likely situations.
10. Fatalities increasing.?Despite the attention being placed on proactively identifying and mitigating potential serious injury or fatality (SIF) exposures, occupational fatality rates are increasing in North America. (3)

Please share these themes with your organization's leaders. Then, see if you can find evidence of their existence within operations. If you detect these issues early, you can respond before reacting to increasing injuries or worse. Many organizations I advise are taking substantive action in response to these themes, which prompted my two latest books,?COACH: A Safety Leadership Fable ?and?Bridge to Excellence: Building Capacity for Sustainable Performance.

With the right strategy, we can get ahead of this. We must. Our employees are worth it.

Reference 1:?https://www.gallup.com/workplace/468233/employee-engagement-needs-rebound-2023.aspx

Reference 2:?https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/consumers-should-brace-for-continued- supply-chain-disorder-in-2023-301736323.html

Reference 3:?https://www.bls.gov/news.release/pdf/cfoi.pdf

"The greatest failure of all is the failure to act when action is needed." — John Wooden

"Early detection, early response. It works." — Dr. Larry Brilliant

"There is some risk involved in action, there always is. But there is far more risk in failure to act." — Harry S. Truman

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At ProAct Safety , we are dedicated to enhancing safety performance and fostering a culture of excellence within organizations. Our safety strategy and culture assessment service is designed to provide a holistic and detailed understanding of your current safety practices and culture and outline specific strategic and tactical recommendations, enabling you to develop a focused strategic plan to elevate safety performance and achieve Safety Culture Excellence?.

Shawn M. Galloway is the CEO of the global consultancy ProAct Safety. With over twenty years of experience in safety systems, strategy, culture, leadership, and employee engagement, he is a trusted advisor, keynote speaker, and expert witness. He is the author of several bestselling books and has multiple regular columns in leading magazines, with over 400 articles and 100 videos to his credit. He also created the first safety podcast, Safety Culture Excellence, with over 800 episodes.

As a leading and globally recognized expert on safety excellence, he has helped hundreds of organizations within every primary industry achieve and sustain excellence in performance and culture. He has been interviewed and a guest on Fox News, EHS Network Radio, Safety and Health Magazine, EHS Today Magazine, ISHN Magazine, Safety Decisions Magazine, EHS Daily Advisor, Faces of EHS, Wild World of Safety Podcast, EHS Daily Advisor Podcast, Utility Safety Podcast, The Case for Safety Podcast, Occupational Safety Leadership Podcast, On the Safe Side Podcast, and many more.

Shawn's passion, dedication, and significant contributions to the safety field have been widely recognized. He has received numerous awards and accolades, including Global Safety Excellence Expert, Power 101 Leaders of the EHS World, Top 50 People Who Most Influenced EHS, Top 40 Rising Stars, and Top 11 Health and Safety Influencers. His influence is felt globally, and his status as an esteemed Avetta Distinguished Fellow further underscores his expertise and makes his perspectives highly sought after.