NMSA 2015 Annual Meeting June 24-26, 2015 Naples, FL Safety Culture: An Innovative Leadership Approach James Roughton, CSP, Six Sigma Black Belt
Cracking the Safety Culture Puzzle
Discussion Points Insights Opinions Personal and Professional experiences Lessons learned!
Basic Safety Management System Elements Management Leadership Employee Participation Risk/Hazard Identification and Assessment Hazard Prevention and Control Education and Training System Evaluation and Improvement
Many Choices California IIPP OSHA s VPP OHSAS 18001 CSA Z1000-06 ANSI/ASSE Z10-2012 etc.
ANSI Z10 Overview 1. Scope, Purpose, and Application 2. Definitions 3. Management Leadership and Employee Participation 4. Planning 5. Implementation and Operation 6. Evaluation and Corrective Action 7. Management Review 8. Appendices Multiple Program Elements
Key Point "There are no essential pieces or elements to the safety program. Rather, it s the environment and the culture in which those things are placed that determine whether or not they re going to work" Dan Petersen
No Easy Solution
Safety Management Systems and Governmental Regulations tell you what elements to put in place Neither tells you how to implement!!!
The Perception of Safety
Typical Organization Chart
Can You Mandate a Safety Culture?
Montana State Legislature The Safety Culture Act enacted 1993 Montana encourages workers and employers to come together to create and implement a workplace safety philosophy. The responsibility and duty of employers to participate in the development and implementation of safety programs that will meet the specific needs of their workplace; establishing a safety culture that will help create a safe work environment for all future generations of Montanans.
The Problem Safety = Regulation
Perception is Reality The process by which people Select, Organize, Interpret, Retrieve, and Respond to information from the world around them. (Hunt, Osborn, & Schermerhorn, 1997)
Image of the Safety Professional What is your Title? How Many Hats Do you Wear?
Image of the Safety Professional A person who goes through a work environment looking for things wrong Quotes regulations Identifies Personal Protective Equipment and Training or Re-Training Offers little or no solution(s)
Typical Job Description Outlines Safety manager as the primary individual that does everything related to safety Absence of defined authority and leadership role. A lengthy list of skills requirements!
Safety is not Simple
Safety is Complicated
Many Definitions of Safety
Defining Safety Relative freedom from danger, risk, or threat of harm, injury, or loss to personnel and/or property, whether caused deliberately or by accident. (Safety, n.d.) A thing is safe if its risks are judged to be acceptable (Lowrance, 1976)
ANSI/ASSE Z590.3 Safety Freedom from unacceptable risk Risk An estimate of the probability of a hazard-related incident or exposure occurring. Hazard The potential for harm.
Defining Safety Cont. safety is no more and no less than a condition or judgment of acceptable control over hazards and risk inherent to what one is doing at a point in time or chooses to do at some future point. That state of being can be personal or a reflection of the business culture Montante, 2006
What Is Your Personal Mental Model? Unclear safety process which maybe perceived as a conflict with the organization s vision or mission Concerned only about regulatory compliance, rules, or regulations Allowing things to happen with the intent of making change only when necessary No Follow up Established safety management approach mandated from the leadership
Safety - A Multi-Disciplinary Profession Depending on the size and scope of the organization, you may be tasked with a wide range of responsibilities and have to wear many hats.
Potential Solution
Simon Sinek Noted Speaker The Golden Circle
Every single organization on the planet, even our own careers, always function on three levels. What we do, How we do it, Why we do it.
When all those pieces are aligned, it gives us a filter through which to make decisions. It provides a foundation for innovation.
When all three pieces are in balance, others will say, with absolute clarity and certainty, We know who you are, We know what you stand for.
What Every organization on the planet knows WHAT they do. These are products they sell or the services they offer.
How Some organizations know HOW they do it. These are the things that Make them special or set them apart from their competition.
Why Very few organizations know WHY they do what they do. WHY is not about making money. That s a result. It s a purpose, cause or belief. It s the very reason your organization exists.
We communicate from the outside-in, from the clearest thing to the fuzziest thing. We tell people WHAT we do, we tell them HOW we re different or special and then we expect a behavior like a purchase, a vote or support.
The problem is that WHAT and HOW do not inspire action. Facts and figures make rational sense, but we don t make decisions purely based on facts and figures. Leaders inspire Starting with What is what commodities do. Starting with Why is what leaders do.
Leaders and organizations with the capacity to inspire think, act and communicate from the insideout. They start with Why. When we communicate our purpose or cause first, we communicate in a way that drives decision-making and behavior. It taps the part of the brain that inspires behavior.
Analyzing the Organizational Culture
Culture Defined Culture can be defined as holding basic assumptions on how things work The perceived values of the organization What employees believe about how they should Act and Behave, and Work practices
What is Safety Culture and Why is it Important? Culture influences what people See Hear Feel and Say It influences the decisions and actions (behaviors) of people in an organization, and these behaviors ultimately drive safety outcomes and performance. National Energy Board - Canada
Safety is the way things get done around here - Dan Petersen
Levels of Culture
Artifacts What you see Visible structure and processes Inspections
Espoused values What you say! Underlying Assumptions Unspoken rules Real world Day-to-day beliefs
Safety - an Espoused Value The visible communications and expressions about safety Various strategies, goals, and core philosophies that are used by the leadership to guide the organization
Safety - an Espoused Value The espoused values of both safety management and the organization have to be aligned to ensure Values are real and underlay the decisions that establish the priorities that drive the process and organization What does the organization say about itself?
Example Espoused Values Strategies Goals Philosophies Posters Safety slogans Safety mission statements Policies/procedures Other commitments made with regard to safety efforts.
Analyzing and Using Your Network
Three Essential Elements in Culture Development
Communication Is everyone talking to each other Are you speaking the same business language? Positive 2 way conversation Are you on the same side? Politics Understanding the organization, how it operates, and how to get your message out Able to blend and integrate experience, and/or knowledge with resources Networking Is everyone on the same page
Challenges to Communication Figure out who cares! Introduce your concepts to people who will listen They in turn just may tell others You need to tell people WHY not What and How
Networking Complex network of many business and political skills Psychological and scientific interactions Internal and External resources
A social network is an organized set of people that consist of two kinds of elements: Human beings and The connections between them (Christakis & Fowler, 2009)
Who is in your Network? Why are they in your network?
Points To Remember
Organizations are not static and are constantly in flux and change. Therefore, safety is not always static A safety management system requires stability Must have processes that are flexible to meet the new demands of business environments
Is the Safety Culture Resilient? A strong, well-designed, flexible safety management system will enhance the safety culture and Will be resilient and resist being changed by specific events:
Being Resilient? Changes in leadership personalities and attitudes Employee relations and communications Changes in organizational risk and hazards Operational changes Mergers and acquisitions Poor planning and decision-making Technology change
Warning Flags Overconfidence Isolationism Defensive and Adversarial Relationships Informal Operations and Weak Engineering Production Priorities Inadequate Change Management Ineffective Leaders Lack of Self-Criticism
Organizational Traits Points that you can be used to help define a Safety Management System: See what works look at what other people are doing Model it you need to try to imagine what it would be like if you did it Once you have modeled these behaviors then you need to choose one Build what you need Seth Godin Marketer
As Safety Professional we are Educators Sales Marketing Human Relations Researchers Curators
Safety Culture = Organizational Culture
We do not change because it is tradition WHY?