We Are Failing to Improve Workplace Safety

We have to take a different approach to health and safety in the workplace because what we've been doing is not working. In spite of our best efforts, we have driven health and safety underground by the use of blame and an over-dependence on unreliable statistics.
Fragile Link Between Statistics and Safe Behavior "Safety statistics" are unreliable for a number of reasons. It is possible to work unsafely and not contribute to the statistics, which means that injury numbers and "near hit" figures are not the best indicator of workplace safety. Insurance claims may drop because the pressure is increased not to accept them but safety will not necessarily improve. Where there is reward or punishment for reporting, statistics will fall. For example, if a senior manager has an "at risk portion of salary," based on safety statistics, human nature takes over. A principle of human behavior states that, "Things which get rewarded or recognized--get done." This will lead to a reduction in statistics but safety will not improve.
On the other hand, if the culture of the organization is one where blame is common, then not only is the manager blamed but also the victim. This will also put a downward pressure on statistics.
Our concept of workplace safety Our whole concept of safety in the workplace is totally misguided. The results speak for themselves. We are using slogans like "zero harm," "zero accidents" and "zero injuries" with the pious hope that they will come true. These slogans are promoted by people who have no credibility in the workplace because they are so far removed from the reality of the life of a worker.
Look at it from a logical point of view. If you want to deliver a safety message then you have to identify the people who have the credibility to do so. The only arbiters of credibility are the people who are to receive the message. If they don't trust or believe the messenger, they will ignore the message. Unfortunately, the health and safety industry is full of non-practical people who lack credibility and can only try to achieve results by using accountability. This has created an environment of fear in the workplace because of a not very subtle culture of blame.
Regulatory bodies have determined that if you have risks in the workplace you will have harm. This means that the legislation is designed to remove risk. The problem is that totally removing risk is an impossible task. If it were possible, we would not have the alarming number of fatalities and injuries every week.
We have people writing rules, procedures and regulations who have never operated in the real world. When the experienced operators encounter these new rules, they understand clearly that they have been written by somebody who has no practical knowledge or experience. This immediately erodes any trust that may have existed.
The solution is frighteningly simple. Let the people at risk, design their own safe working practices. Harnessing this knowledge and experience will require a higher standard of leadership but the outcome will be much improved.

Thank you for reading this article. Peter L Mitchell invites you to visit his web site where you will discover a wealth of resources such as free downloads, ideas, articles, information and books. This site is updated nearly every day. Click here http://plmitchell.com/

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The 5 Rules of Workplace Safety Management

There are certain rules of human behavior that must be taken into account when developing a process of safety management. If you violate these rules, you will fail in your objective to develop a safer workplace. The rules themselves are pretty simple, however, don't be deceived because they have a great influence on human behavior.
Repetition To get your message across it is necessary to use repetition. Repetition will ensure that your safety message is at the top of every employees' consciousness. Safety management is a process not an event. One of the ways to create this consciousness about safety is to hold five minute safety briefings at the beginning of each shift. This is very similar to a game plan which is discussed before a sports team takes the field. If you make the safety briefings relevant, interesting and valuable, you will find that staff members will contribute readily.
Consistency The concept of consistency applies to many situations and has a profound effect on human behavior. We trust people who are consistent, we believe their message, in turn we will tend to be more trustworthy and consistent. Consistency is demonstrated. For example, if, at a safety briefing you mention that there will be no blame should an accident occur, the statement has to be backed up by your behavior and the behavior of others in the event of an accident.
Involvement Involvement is the key to safety management. To gain control, you must give control. The people who are ideally situated to develop safe working practices are the people doing the job. This is in contrast to the normal prescriptive safety management process where somebody, somewhere creates rules and regulations without the experience of doing the job. Every single person on any work site should be able to contribute to safe working practices. If you avoid this basic principle, you will find that the imposed "safe working practices" will be ignored.
Positive reinforcement The number one tool in safety management is positive reinforcement. If you are serious about creating a safer workplace, make sure that you recognize safe behavior. Every day, go on a mission to find people who are working safely and tell them that you have noticed what they are doing. This is harder than it sounds. Try it and find out for yourself. But remember, the results are well worth the effort. Catch your people doing it safely and they will continue to do it safely.
Common sense It has been said that sense is not that common. This is relevant when considering workplace safety management. If the safety rules and regulations don't pass the common sense of the people at risk, they will not comply. That's why the involvement of the staff in safety management is so important.

Thank you for reading this article. Peter L Mitchell invites you to visit his web site where you will discover a wealth of resources such as free downloads, ideas, articles, information and books, This site is updated nearly every day. Click here http://plmitchell.com/.

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How Health and Safety Decisions Made by Head Office Staff Cause Problems

Let me explain about a recent event that illustrates why we have such difficulty creating safer workplaces. No doubt, incidents similar to this occur every day.
This particular company has a large number of trucks and there was an incident that resulted in a driver cutting his head. It seems that he banged his head on part of the truck sustaining a minor injury. Being a good employee, he reported the incident and an investigation took place and a report compiled.
So far, so good. After this it went wrong. A senior health and safety manager who was reading the report decided that the best preventative measure was for the truck drivers to wear hard hats. This decision was sent by e-mail from the manager's office down the chain of command. The instruction was passed down to all truck drivers via managers, supervisors and health and safety officers.
The reaction from the truck drivers was one of derision. It was clear to them that the person who made the decision have never driven a truck. The cab doors in their trucks did not allow sufficient room to get in and out wearing a hard hat without it falling off.
This single act of thoughtlessness, undermined the health and safety process for the business. The drivers lost trust in the organization because they regarded the change as profoundly stupid. All the messengers of this instruction lost a considerable amount of credibility in the minds of the drivers because not one of them questioned the Senior Manager.
This was the unintended consequence of an instruction generated by a person in an office without the necessary contact with reality. How often does this happen?
Any change or safety rule must pass the That Seems Reasonable test of the people who are expected to follow it. If it fails their That Seems Reasonable (TSR) test, they are unlikely to abide by it. However, it gets worse. All subsequent changes and rules were subjected to intense scrutiny and the first reaction was one of non-compliance, "because of what happened last time with the hard hats"
What is even more damaging, is the effect of reporting incidents. Because of the reaction to the report and accident, the workforce rapidly worked out that there was a negative consequence to reporting these incidents. Effectively, they became conditioned not to report but to put on a dressing and carry on working or go home claiming illness.
Poor management in this case

1. Lost the credibility and trust of the organization
2. Lost the credibility of the Senior Health and Safety manager.
3. Lost the credibility of the people who had to pass on bad decision.
4. Created distrust of subsequent changes in safety rules.
5. Strongly discouraged drivers for reporting incidents.

Unless we can educate our managers at all levels to consider the consequences of their decision making process, we are unlikely to advance very far.

Thank you for reading this article. Peter L Mitchell invites you to visit his web site where you will discover a wealth of resources such as free downloads, ideas, articles, information and books, This site is udated nearly every day. Click here http://plmitchell.com/

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Why It Is So Difficult to Change Your Safety Culture

One of the areas which is the subject of a great deal of discussion is the safety culture of an organization. To test the safety culture in your organization can be difficult. If you hold a position of authority, people are likely to give you the answers they think that you want. This means that you could have a totally false impression of the prevailing safety culture.
A safety culture is built up over a long period of time within an organization. It seems to absorb all the negative things that are thought or mentioned about safety. Memories are long and incorrect. Often incidents are misinterpreted and added to the folk lore.
There are some questions you can ask that may reveal information you are seeking. An example is this, "If you were recommending a friend to come and work here, how would you describe how our safety works." If you ask a cross-section of people the same question and note the answers, you may end up with a snapshot of your safety culture.
Another question could be, "If you had a magic wand, what three things would you change about our safety here to improve it?" Again, note the answers and review those comments which are repeated by several people.
The problem arises when you investigate a subject like this and you don't like the answers. What if you discovered a perception that there was a culture of blame? What do you do then? How can you modify the prevailing safety culture so that it is more aligned with what you want?
The difficulties start to arise when you realize that you can't prescribe it, you can't force it, you can't impose or regulate it. You are powerless to urge, press or push for it. A safety culture is organic and develops within the workplace environment. It will grow in the "right" circumstances.
These circumstances include positive reinforcement, gentle encouragement, leading by example and respect for the individual. Respect for the individual includes creating a positive environment where staff members can decide the boundaries of safe and unsafe behavior. It's about allowing them the ability to decide consequences for noncompliance of their safety regime. It includes encouraging staff to draw up the procedures and protocols for safe working.
As you can see, providing this sort of environment is way outside the comfort zone of most people in the workplace, especially those at supervisory and management level. These are the people who need to have a completely open mind to contribute to such a complete change in business philosophy. Without this cooperation at every single level within the organization, the safety culture will gradually deteriorate.

Thank you for reading this article. Peter L Mitchell invites you to visit his web site where you will discover a wealth of resources such as free downloads, ideas, articles, information and books, This site is updated nearly every day. Click here http://plmitchell.com/

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Why Safety Slogans Can Have a Negative Effect in the Workplace

During the course of my work, I go into many different work sites. Many of them have safety slogans posted on notice boards, in reception and sometimes on the main gate. Some businesses go even further and include their safety slogan on their letterhead and in their e-mails. They have been posted around the workplace in the hope that there will be some subliminal effect on the people at risk. If you have a safety slogan, check with a few members of the workforce to discover what they think of it. You may be surprised.
The first thing to remember about slogans on notice boards or posted up around the workplace, is that they become invisible. They become part of the landscape and do not penetrate the minds of people in the workforce. Even important signs such as "exit," are not remembered by people who walk past them every day because their minds are engaged in other more important things.
The second thing about a slogan is that it has to be delivered by somebody with credibility. Credibility is measured by the listener. If that person's credibility is regarded as only average or less, the message will be ignored or will be regarded as totally unimportant. There are plenty of examples of messages delivered by politicians with low credibility failing to arouse and response.
The third thing about a slogan, is firmly in the minds of the people seeing or hearing it. The slogan has to have the ability to pass our T S R test. This is a test that we all apply on a constant basis. It is our That Seems Reasonable test. Any slogan that fails that will also be ignored. If we think a slogan isn't reasonable we will dismiss it and then ignore subsequent messages from the same person.
We have slogans like "Zero Accidents" and "Zero Harm," that fail our TSR test because we know they are unrealistic. We know that you cannot totally exclude accidents and harm from the workplace because they are function of risk and risk is an integral part of human life. Slogans like this give rise to cynicism in the workplace and have a negative effect on a lot of other important messages that may be about safety or quality. They also destroy the credibility of the promoters of these messages which, in turn, can lead to a breakdown in workplace communications.
If your organization is trying to find a slogan to emphasize safety, offer this alternative point of view. Instead of a slogan, lead by example and be the behavior you want in other people. This is much more believable than a slogan.

Thank you for reading this article. Peter L Mitchell invites you to visit his web site where you will discover a wealth of resources such as free downloads, ideas, articles, information and books, This site is updated nearly every day. Click here http://plmitchell.com/

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Barriers to Improving Workplace Safety

The first stage in improving the level of safety in your workplace is to assess exactly where you are. This is your starting point. Then, you have to recognize the culture that exists in your organization and the factors that have created it. The culture is the sum of the experience, history, belief system, work practices of the people within the organization.
Frequently within businesses there are opposing forces that compromise safety. We have to understand the inevitable conflict that arises between safety and output. We have to realize and accept that no organization is just in the business of being safe. Every company tries to meet two objectives. Firstly, keep the risks has low as reasonably practicable. Secondly, stay in business.
To improve the levels of safety, it often becomes necessary to cope with the forces that have a negative effect on safety. These forces may include time pressure, cost cutting, the single-minded pursuit of profits and indifference to hazards. So often, organizations look at the forces that are lined up against them and give up on improving safety or just pay lip service to it. Under these circumstances each organization gets the repeated accidents it deserves. As always, the losers are the members of staff who get injured or killed.
To improve levels of safety, all staff within the organization must be better informed. In other words, they understand and respect the hazards they face and are constantly reminded of the potential dangers in their workplace. This means that they will never forget the dangers around them.. They know the dangers without having to fall victim to them.
An improved level of safety is achieved by creating a safety information system that collects, analyzes and disseminates knowledge from "near hits" and other incidents. Of course, this can only be achieved when there is a reporting culture that promotes the collection of this sort of information. Generally speaking, staff members understand the need for this information in the interests of safety. Unfortunately, it also requires people to report their own mistakes, errors and lapses. Overcoming this barrier requires sound leadership and positive reinforcement for those people who report.
It is possible to institute a system which can include the confidentiality of the people who are reporting the "near hits" and incidents. Within the system it is vital that all aspects of blame are removed. Any blame direct or implied will ensure that reporting will be minimized. Removing the blame barrier can be a challenge.
The single most important component of an improved level of safety within the workplace, is the establishment of a greater degree of trust. Again, this is a substantial barrier for some organizations to overcome.

Thank you for reading this article. Peter L Mitchell invites you to visit his web site where you will discover a wealth of resources such as free downloads, ideas, articles, information and books, This site is updated nearly every day. Click here http://plmitchell.com/.

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