IS YOUR SAFETY A-PLUS?
Five Steps to High-Performance Safety
By Carl Potter, CSP, CMC, CSP and Deb Potter, Ph.D, CMC
The Big Assumption
Not long ago a manager described a situation where he had announced a safety rule change at a safety meeting. He handed out a copy of the rule, the group discussed it, and everyone acknowledged that they understood the rule. No one had any questions. Yet, about two hours after the safety meeting, he went to the lunch room and he heard several of the employees heatedly discussing the new rule. They weren’t happy with it and some even indicated that they would not follow the new requirement.
“I’m not following that stupid rule.”
“I’m a professional – I don’t need that rule.”
“What do they think; we don’t know how to do our jobs?”
“He won’t know if we’re following it or not – he doesn’t know what we do anyway.”
The manager went on about his business and didn’t say anything to the employees. About a week later, he observed that some workers were doing a task that required the application of the new rules. No surprise - they weren’t following the rule. Again, the manager didn’t say anything to them. He just got more and more frustrated..
Less than a week later, he got a call in the office that one of the workers was injured. No need to guess what happened. The worker failed to apply the new process, injured himself, and now required medical attention.
How often does this kind of situation happen in your organization?
Do you assume that workers accept new rules, work practices, or direction simply because they acknowledged that they heard you?
Perhaps your expectations are that acknowledgement leads directly to application. Unfortunately, that’s not always the case.
From Acknowledgement to Application
No doubt, you know that safety doesn’t “just happen.” It’s important to understand that acknowledgement of new safety rules, changes in work practices, or any new process does not mean people will apply what they’ve heard.
A few steps are often required to get from acknowledgement to application. Consider the following “A’s”:
Step 1: Acknowledgement
Ensure that everyone has heard the information you’ve presented. Were some employees absent from the meeting or distracted from listening? If so, you may need to communicate the information again. Likewise, make sure that you acknowledge and follow up on any concerns or issues that workers raise.
Step 2: Acceptance
Use your formal and informal networks to determine the level of acceptance of a change. After the information has been communicated, wait a day or so then ask several employees their opinions. By simply asking a question such as, “What do you think about the new rule (or change)?” Then listen for responses; you’ll likely learn a lot. If significant issues or barriers are raised, deal with them immediately.
For instance, one company issued new fire retardant clothing to workers without much input from employees. Within days of issuing it, the workers were raising all kinds of concerns about the fit of the shirts. It turned out that the attire wasn’t designed for comfort and wearability. Hence, the new requirement to wear the garments was met with great resistance. Unfortunately, worker concerns weren’t addressed prior to spending the money to purchase the clothing.
Step 3: Ability
Ensure that employees are properly trained in why and how new rules need to be applied, new equipment is to be used, or new processes implemented before they are expected to implement the changes. It’s surprising how many companies skip this step then wonder why workers fail to apply new information. It’s also important to check workers’ fitness for duty if physical requirements change significantly.
Step 4: Assurance
Take steps to assure employees of your personal commitment to follow and implement the new changes and to support them in doing the same. You may have your own concerns or agreement about a new safety policy. Make sure that you don’t undermine the change, but that you work to educate yourself so you can assure workers that you are behind the change.
Step 5: Application
Give appropriate attention to the steps above and lay out your expectations for application of the change, including when you expect the change to go into effect. You may find some resistance to change even after going through these steps. It may be appropriate to ask workers to implement the change for a time to see if their concerns are real or not. Also, remember, when it comes to safety, it may be necessary to require immediate application of a change to ensure worker safety. If this is the case, recognize that you will need to cover the previous steps to ensure that the required change is sustainable.
Get Straight A’s to Ensure Worker Safety
To make sure that workers accept and implement changes to any safety-related practices, follow the five steps outlined above. Sure, it would be ideal if everyone could acknowledge a change and then implement it, however, the only way you can ensure a workplace where nobody gets hurt is to take the time to acknowledge worker concerns so they will accept the new information and apply it. That’s what safety leadership is all about.
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Carl Potter, CSP, CMC, CSP and Deb Potter, PhD, CMC work with organizations that want to create an environment where nobody gets hurt. As advocates of a zero-injury workplace, they are safety speakers, authors, and consultants to industry. For information about their programs and products, see www.potterandassociates.com or contact them at Potter and Associates International, Inc. 800-259-6209 or carl@potterandassociates.com.