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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