When we left Rob in the Summer edition of Training Talk, he and John, the safety program Manager, had made excellent progress on developing a safety plan that was inherent in every employee. John even acknowledged, “I am starting to understand what you meant by culture change by deepening employee understanding, involvement, and ownership.”
“We have a lot of work to do, but it will be worth it,” Rob agreed. “Instead of trying to cover every possible problem, we want to build a strong and deep safety culture that is owned by all and will adjust to any changes or new challenges. When we get this going, we will receive more communication from our employees, and that will be a sign that we are accomplishing our goal.”
Rob thought back to the first team introduction meeting when John asked him to provide some tangible examples of a strong safety culture that goes beyond compliance and makes safety a top priority — a part of every employee’s personal culture. That prompted the question from Pete, the Director of Field Services, asking for a tangible example of what is included in a strong safety culture.
Rob had explained, “Pete, how would the 1,000 employees answer this question: ‘Is your safety program run by management or by the employees?’ How would they answer? If it is run by the employees, you will have 950 safety officers. If it is run by management, you will have five. Does everyone have ownership in the safety culture?”
INITIAL EFFORTS
Rob spent his initial efforts on educating the management staff on what a safety culture should be and confirmed that John was already ahead of the required safety standards, training, and accounting. That part of the program was solid.
His next phase, which we read about in Part 2, was digging down into the front lines to better understand the challenge and begin to share his plan and program. He spent time on the shop floor, traveled with the road crews, and experienced what the employees do every day. When he returned, he sat down with John, walked him through the challenge, and worked over the next few months to integrate the employees into the leaders of safety using the forklift operators as a good example of teaming with the front line vs. just dictating requirements.
They developed modifications to the current safety procedures and took the next step by building a comprehensive communication system. Creating an atmosphere of honest sharing of the results, they involved multiple people from the departments to help create, implement, and develop detailed data collection and management.
KEEPING IT ALIVE
This third and last article looks at the process of maintaining this new safety program procedure: How do we keep it alive and active, not allowing it to grow stale and stagnant? The Safety Team will need to consider the various methods to keep the safety Program alive and real, a constant thought with each employee. This “keep it alive” logic involves two key factors.
Communication from Employees to Management
If employees are communicating on a regular basis, we have an indicator that safety is on their minds. Rob implemented three key methods.
Near-Miss Reporting
A near miss, in a safety context, is an incident where no one was injured or property damaged, but where a slight shift in time or position could have resulted in harm or damage. It’s a close call or a lucky escape that highlights potential hazards and the need for safety improvements. Every employee can see a near miss every day if that is what they are looking for. Rob did several things to maintain near-miss reporting.
- Educate the team on the value of near-miss reporting. Let them know they provide key data and opportunities to identify and address dangers in the workplace before damage is done. Although OSHA does not require these, it does encourage them. Keep them informed by providing valuable data and insights to proactively identify and address workplace hazards, ultimately leading to a safer working environment and reduced risk of accidents and injuries. For OSHA recordkeeping purposes, a minor injury is one that doesn’t meet the criteria for recordability, meaning it doesn’t result in death, days away from work, restricted work, job transfer, medical treatment beyond first aid, or loss of consciousness. Some statistics show that for every employee injury, nearly 10 near misses previously occurred and could have prevented the injury if they were reported, valued, and used.
- Make near-miss reporting easy for all. They should be able to file a near-miss report from the convenience of their phone by logging into the reporting program that is easy to complete and submit. Some companies maximize input by including anonymous reporting for those who may fear conflict and establishing an ombudsman program where a person can submit a safety concern relating to another employee or management.
- Celebrate near-miss reports. If an employee feels they will be looked down on for submitting a near miss, you don’t have a good safety program. Either they aren’t seeing them, or they think they will be thought of as an unsafe person. Implement a system that makes it a positive experience:
- Send a thank-you email from an executive-level position thanking the person for their observation and for sharing the observation.
- Have a monthly drawing with the names of those who submitted a near-miss, using a gift card as a reward.
- Release a monthly near-miss report with what was reported, but excluding the person’s name who submitted it. Share with all employees with a note under each one providing information or statistics on the subject matter.
- Use Near-Miss Reports. With each near-miss report, sit down with the Safety Team and think through the near miss and how the safety program could grow stronger by using the information. Maybe it will be a topic added to training, or a second handrail on the steps that attach to the rig in the field, or an additional checkbox on the site inspection report. You get the idea; take the wisdom they provide and maximize it. When you do take an action, send a thank-you note to the person who generated it, letting them see the value of keeping their eyes on safety.
- Add some competitive challenges. Put employees into groups and publish the quarterly number of near misses received from each group that quarter and over the past year. The team with the most will be motivated; the team that has none will become motivated.
Communication from Management to Employees
When it comes to communication from management to the employees, here are some key options that can be used to remain effective.
- Report statistical performance. Celebrate near-miss reporting and no recordables. Acknowledgment can be an encourager as well as evidence of safety being a priority. Examples include:
- Direct verbal praise in the hall or on the phone. When the VP of Operations calls, the person knows that their safe performance is valued and communicated.
- Written recognition. Send a thank-you note to a group for their safe performance or good safety input.
- Public acknowledgement in a company newsletter or company email, highlighted in meetings. Display the top people or groups in safety records.
- Rewards for individuals. An employee achieving one year with no recordables and a maximum of two near misses in the last year receives recognition and a plaque, gift card, or a paid day off.
- Rewards for the organization. After each safe year, have a company pizza party or a gift for all employees celebrating the accomplishment.
- Plan Physical Presence with Workers
- The Safety Team and operations management should plan to spend time on the front lines, whether it’s time on the shop floor or traveling to the field crew’s location. It is not a safety audit, but to maintain an understanding of the challenges and possible safety concerns they face. When complete, share anything learned with the entire team.
- Senior management should participate in annual safety training. When they see you join the class and simply listen and learn, they will believe you truly care and have an interest in this part of their life. It also promotes communication when there is a safety topic where there is concern, and the person who has the authority to correct is sitting there.
- Consider assigning safety champions throughout the organization, and work with them to better understand the reality of the day-to-day. They can participate in the planning and review meetings and aid in the delivery of messages from the Safety Team.
- Use case studies in your program. A strong safety program educates employees on preventing accidents and injuries. One step that takes the employee to the next level is to use real case studies that relate to the work they perform. Case studies allow the person to see and think through real accidents. Some basic steps could include:
- For field employees, use the assigned safety champion to deliver the case study to their team. For in-house employees, take 15 minutes once a month to walk them through the case study.
- Give each person a copy of the case study for them to follow along and keep the document when complete.
- Ask each group to discuss one or two key topics, recording their thoughts and feedback. Questions might include:
- Do you believe the people in this study were properly trained?
- What should they have done differently to remain safe in executing their responsibilities?
- What are the similar risks in your job responsibilities?
- Distribute support material. Maintain safety toolbox topics for teams to review for a couple of minutes at the beginning of each shift. For this to work effectively, it is important to:
- Prepare a script for each team leader so there is no pressure on them and the message is clear.
- Make sure it somehow relates to their area of responsibility. This is never difficult, as it can be as simple as trip risks.
- Have the person who delivers the message confirm that they have relayed the message and that it was received, responding with a big “thank you for helping to keep us all safe.”
- Record that this was accomplished.
- Develop a safety slogan. Some people want to maintain a strong safety slogan for a very long time. Others believe it needs to be refreshed periodically, preventing the message from going stale and losing its effectiveness. A good compromise would be to have a two-stage slogan.
- Primary: Smithe Employees are Safety Experts — this would be used long term
- Periodically change the second line to keep it fresh:
Smithe Employees are Safety Experts — Our Goal, Zero Harm
Smithe Employees are Safety Experts — Zero Compromise On Safety
Smithe Employees are Safety Experts — We Need You – Work Safely
CONCLUSION
You get the idea. All employees have the full-time challenge of accomplishing their job, so the challenge of delivering training, encouragement, and maintenance can be tough. The best component of a strong safety program is a dedicated leader with a passion for a perfect safety program. That is followed by a team representing various areas of the company to work up front to look at all options and carefully assemble the program in detail with a plan for implementation and maintenance.
Safety is a tough challenge, but it’s a critical one, and the rewards are great.
Chuck Baker is President of PowerPro 360, a company offering power system reliability assessment and a CMMS designed for the maintenance of a power distribution system. Chuck entered the world of substation and power system maintenance 40 years ago and has spent the majority of his career on the operations side of power and distribution system maintenance and the development of power system maintenance programs.