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Safety Systems

By Brie DeLisi In many organizations safety and operational excellence are two separate functions, any overlap is deemed coincidental. However, these two functions are incredibly interrelated when it comes to the actual practice and the related values. At the most foundational level, lean processes and safety culture both rely on the same thing: the employees. The goal of lean manufacturing and operational excellence is simultaneously to minimize waste without sacrificing productivity. This benefits employee safety in a number of ways: 1. The employee is essential to production. You need employees, and not only does an injury impact the employee and their family, it also

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By Eric Johnson One of the biggest challenges to developing a robust safety culture we find is built around the value of safety. Unless you are Apple, corporate resources are often quite limited and have competing interests tugging at them, all while trying to demonstrate the best return on equity. Those projects/processes/activities that are best quantifiable are often the first to receive the benefit of resources. However, it is our position that increasing a focus on safety during economic downtimes can position the organization to gain marketshare when a rebound occurs. It is based on three related observations: 1. Establishing the organization as

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By Eric Johnson “Why can’t my employees just work safer?” is a question we hear again and again when interacting with senior-level and mid-level leadership. “Management simply doesn’t know what we are dealing with” rebuts front-line employees. And indeed, both are partially correct. It’s this middle ground where an established safety culture can take root. Safety focus is not independent of other aspects of the organization, but can enhance or detract the work experience depending on the engagement of the front-line – an engagement that can be supported by management But to get to this point, management must be fully aware of how

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By Josh Williams, Ph.D. Organizational leaders make two common errors when trying to improve safety performance and culture. First, they overemphasize safety statistics to the point that employees believe the safety “numbers” trump genuine caring about their well-being. Second, they stress compliance with rules, to the point that employees may feel like their job is to avoid breaking any rules so they don’t get fired. Clearly, rules compliance and safety statistics are important. However, leaders should spend more time showing genuine caring for employees. This is an investment in your people as well as your culture. Increasing active caring increases the

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By Josh Williams, Ph.D. For years, organizational leaders have used incentives to try and motivate safety. The rationale is that providing financial rewards for not getting hurt will get employees to “try harder” to stay safe. In reality, it simply encourages non-reporting which is why OSHA now frowns upon outcome-based incentives. It can also create other problems. As an example, we worked with a Canadian company where a woman slipped on the ice outside of her building in front of a group of coworkers. The person in charge of clearing the ice hadn’t done it. In addition to her embarrassment, the woman

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By Josh Williams, Ph.D. The manner in which incident analyses are handled in organizations has a significant impact on organizational culture. Empirical research demonstrates effective information sharing and incident analysis practices are significantly related to fewer incidents and injuries (Wachter & Yorio, 2014). In healthy organizations, AARs are viewed within the context of a learning environment to prevent similar incidents in the future. This includes looking at all system factors contributing to incidents. In less healthy cultures, AARs neglect to fully address these factors and may be perceived as blame-oriented by employees. It is critical that executives handle AARs and associated messaging

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