Barb Semeniuk- Participation in HS Program

Comments

I have just audited a Company that appeared very committed towards health and safety until I went out  into the field and observed the workers working at their locations.  Not one crew was following the Health and Safety procedures for warning signs or wearing their Personal Protective Equipment.  When I talked to them about it  the attitude was overwhelming negative: "Hard Hats are Hot",  " The only Danger is a Low flying Bird",  " There's no one here anyways"  " Safety takes too much time" "There's too much paper work"  " There's too much safety around here, anyways".

How do you build the ownership, the commitment towards  a Health and Safety culture?  

First, watch your language.  That's right.  How do you communicate to your staff about safety: do you unconsciously communicate that you have to do safety and that it interferes with production and is a waste of time.  That it is imposed by the government, or by the client.  What's your self talk about safety as a manager or worker?  You can talk yourself into utilizing safe work practices.  As well, safety must be a value in your organization, not a priority. Priorities are affected by circumstance: a push to finish a job, weather concerns, etc.  Values remain constant and show that you believe that safety is not an extra or separate aspect of the job.. it is essential and integrated into every component of your operation.  This means that working safely is part of being a competent worker and if the worker takes safety shortcuts  they have done their job incorrectly  and require constructive feedback on how to correct this.  When administering feedback always focus on the behavior, not the person, as this type of feedback is objective and impersonal : it is constructive rather than being destructive.

Constructive feedback can be delivered through one on one coaching, through periodic performance appraisals and through group data graphs that display a work team's level of specific performance and should always be instructional, motivational, and positive.  Make sure that people feel their work is appreciated and that the feedback will promote their ability to be more competent and valuable in their job.

Set goals that force people to stretch their abilities, and the goals should be SMART:  Specific, Motivational, Attainable, Relevant, and Trackable and if the staff is working in teams they should be Shared.  Talk about your goal as a purpose or a vision.  The staff should be able to achieve small steps that enable them to reach their goals...it is a process, a vision.  When setting goals talk about what has occurred in the past, and what you would like to attain in the future.  Then talk about the present: where, as a Company you are now....then talk about the activities, the steps, the process that you can do now, working together, to achieve these goals.

Next, you have to sell your workers on achieving the goals: often, people are motivated then decide that the goal is not worthwhile because no one they know has been injured.  In this case, talk about the Company or the industry you are in and some of the incidents that have happened and could happen to them.  Don't use scare tactics but appeal to their sense of compassion: use individual case studies to show that some people have been hurt and without the involvement of the people in your Company more will suffer personal injury.  In fact injuries are certain without the support of your staff and their involvement in safety activities...encourage personal testimonies wherever possible as they are very powerful.  Work on building ownership of the process and trust so people know management cares about them and they are personally responsible to prevent incidents.

Lastly, diagnose carefully before intervening...if a worker fails to follow a safety procedure and rule ask if it makes sense and is it attainable.  Is a change called for?  Can the task be simplified?  Are the expectations clear?  Is performance feedback available?  Is there a lack of skill, a lack of training, is this person right for the job?  What corrective action is most effective in terms of cost and result?  Use retraining and disciplinary action as a last resort because if workers are not following Health and Safety procedures this is a system problem.  The management system is not holding people accountable for safe behavior, it is not measuring it actively, it is not giving recognition well. In short always resort to discipline and re-training as a last resort...build in ownership of the process, of reaching the goal of " zero incidents".  Celebrate the process: the steps instrumental in reaching a safety milestone so workers know how to achieve it again and again and when you do achieve your goal: let all know of the difficulties, the failures encountered in achieving your safety milestone and the fact that no person is an island, we are all responsible for safety...we are all interdependent and this is the only way to gain the necessary momentum to enhance participation in a Health and Safety program and achieve the goals you and your team aspire to. Communicate well, listen to your workers, support their efforts, find their barriers to safe behaviors, overcome them and create a world class Health and Safety program and gain active worker participation in the process!