Topmost Leadership Role in Achieving “Zero Harm Goal”

Safety comes down to what Topmost leader believes, influence, demonstrate and gauge about it. If the leaders of the Companies/Organizations are willing to make their Company/Organization accident free and if they Set Zero Harm Goal for their Companies/Organizations and if they are willing to achieve it, they must practice transformational leadership. I mean, the leaders will have to take responsibility to encourage, inspire and motivate their employees to innovate and create the change needed to?shape the accident-free working culture. Based on my 25 years of experience on Root causes of the major accidents I have seen and learned from, the following are suggested to be followed by a transformational leader, specifically topmost leaders of the Organization/Company. Other managerial Cadre of middle management leaders can also use these guidelines to make their workplace accident free:

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1.?????? Visibly demonstrate to your people that nothing is more important to you than their health and safety. Direct this commitment in a convincing way by setting a personal example for others to follow. Examples of factors the topmost leaders must act:

·???????? Personally, review the status of occupational health and safety of your organization. If things look spoiling, involve your employees in refreshing it. Then lead an event, like a launch to re-energize your commitment to health & safety.

·???????? Personally, communicate your concept to your people and find opportunities to show them you mean what you say.

·???????? When your team is discussing plant/departmental activities, ask how these fit with the safety vision.

·???????? Commit the necessary time to strengthen safety performance.

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2.?????? Pay a few hours in health and safety. I believe improvements in safety must be led from the top. The key is to take actions that send clear safety messages right across shop floor activities. Instead of just talking about safety, take action to show that you are serious about it. Key actions need to be demonstrated are: ?

·???????? Be visible on the shop floor with your action and discipline. ?

·???????? Lead by example by constantly exhibiting model “health and safety behaviors” all the time.

·???????? Challenge unsafe practices whenever you come across them.

·???????? Seek out opportunities to be involved in safety activities like Toolbox talk, Campaigns, Safety committee meetings, incident investigations, and trainings etc.

·???????? Share personal stories with your subordinates and other employees so they see your commitment to safety is genuine.

·???????? Visit shop floor randomly.

·???????? Ask the person reporting to you for health and safety issues rather than waiting for them to be brought to you.

·???????? Complete regular “safety walks” to talk to your frontline people.

·???????? Meet shop floor workman and contractors on randomly. Make sure any issues they raise with you are dealt with properly and go back to them with the outcome.

·???????? Get personally involved.

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3.?????? Personal involvement. Safety leadership is not that different from any other kind of leadership. It is about setting an example, clarifying expectations, monitoring performance, and holding everyone to account. I believe the only way you can credibly demonstrate a passion for safety is by getting personally involved. Examples of things you can do:

????????? Pay attention, not just to data, but to innovation, encouragement and your own passion to gain “zero harm”.

????????? Personally provide feedback to employees or contractors for a job done safely.

????????? Ensure people are always told what happened in response to any safety issues they raised, and that they are satisfied with this response.

????????? Encourage cooperation on health and safety by getting people from across the business together to discuss a range of key issues including safety performance, risks and safety culture.

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4.?????? Acknowledge the efforts employees put into safety and look for ways to celebrate safety successes. Examples of things you can do:

????????? Take time to talk to people at all levels of the organization about their safety practices and achievements.

????????? Be on the lookout for good safety practices and provide people with immediate, positive feedback.

????????? Personally recognize employees compelling significant contributions to health and safety.

????????? Ensure Safety KPIs are the major area of Annual Performance Review. overcome this reluctance, need to adopt a Just

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5.?????? Culture approach –where anyone who self-reports an unintended mistake isn’t subject to penalties. In fact, we can get positive feedback. You can ensure there are no negative consequences for reporting unintentional mistakes. It will enable us to get a handle on potential problems much, much more quickly. Examples of things you can do:

????????? Question whether all risks are being identified and managed.

????????? Read the outcomes of incident and near-miss investigations and participate in reviews of serious incidents.

????????? Insist that a risk analysis is done on all new initiatives and regularly review the effectiveness of risk mitigations.

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6.?????? Regularly monitor safety process and performance outcomes. This will help you to know the actions being taken and their effectiveness for managing safety & health at work. For this you can :

????????? Monitor performance using Lead indicators (involvement, reporting Near-miss & Unsafe condition, Increased Safety Observation, increased training, increased toolbox talks, involvement in Campaigns, Suggestions, Meetings etc.) and Lag indicators (incidents, not reporting Near miss & Unsafe Action, reduced Safety observation, less participation in Safety trainings etc.). This will help you identify what is the real status of safety culture or your organization. ?

????????? Insist that all incidents are investigated, and that root causes are identified and addressed. Track the time taken to resolve issues and measure the effectiveness of corrective actions implemented.

????????? Set the expectation that keeping people “safety is everyone’s responsibility.

????????? Assign responsibilities and delegate authority, as appropriate, to achieve the Zero Harm Goal.

????????? Reinforce that everyone has the right to stop work that is unsafe. Practice this yourself to demonstrate that it is okay.