Lea Brovedani* says a safety culture comes down to establishing a deep trust between the organisation and its workers.
Top safety leaders create a safety culture that shifts from a minimum requirement of compliance to a workforce where employees are committed to working safely.
Safety starts and ends with the people.
It’s not about the confusing jargon, acronyms, abbreviations, and piles of paperwork.
It’s about the deep trust that exists between an employer and their workers.
Safety leaders agree that compliance is important, but it all comes down to trust.
Trust is the ability to be open, vulnerable and courageous based on positive expectations.
It’s based on five tenets:
- Caring:Demonstrate genuine care of others. Employees can tell if compliance is about covering assets rather than caring for them as individuals.
- Commitment:Keeping your word or not stopping until your work or task is completed. When you are committed to a safe workplace it becomes a value that is non-negotiable and everyone lives and breathes it.
- Consistency:Words and actions are aligned. The rules apply to everyone.
- Competence:A skill or knowledge that aligns with the task. Everyone should be trained so they have the skills and abilities to do their job safely.
- Communication:Being able to listen and verbalise for complete understanding.
Everything works together and perfect trust is possible when all of the tenets align.
Trust and safety in construction
Earnest Glascock, Director of Corporate Safety at The Lane Construction Corp, said: “There is a big difference between compliance and culture.”
“To build a solid culture and commitment you need to get every part of the organisation involved.”
“That is key to safety success.”
“Every employee needs to take responsibility for their own individual safety.”
“They need to know the purpose behind why they are actually working safe.”
“Why they want to work safe is the difference between compliance and culture.”
“Compliance is: ‘I have to do this.’ Culture means: ‘I want to do this.’”
According to Glascock, trust is aligned with three core principles:
- You have to care for the individual.
- You have to see value in the person and add value to the person.
- Your words and actions must align.
Personal commitment to safety
Fred Barlow, CSO of Reliance Electric, said: “Safety and trust go hand in hand.”
“What is safety?”
“It is to preserve life.”
“If you are preserving or helping to save someone’s life, there has to be a high trust relationship.”
“Trust is vital to a healthy safety culture.”
“No one wants to be hurt at the end of the day.”
Make it easy to work safely
It isn’t a surprise to me that the leaders I spoke to are highly trusted.
To lead the shift from compliance to commitment and to evolve and improve worker health and safety, trust must be there.
What was consistent with all of them was their belief that you hire and train workers and respect their ability to do the right thing.
You show them that the rules and regulations are there because you care for them and it’s not just a CYA (Cover Your Assets).
I heard it again and again: “No one wants to get hurt or killed on the job.”
Make it easy for people to live and work safely.
And show them you genuinely care.
* Lea Brovedani is President of Sagacity Consulting. Her website is leabrovedani.com.
This article first appeared at www.ehstoday.com
