I think that we, safety professionals, are on the verge of breaking through to our next major shift in building safer, more effective businesses. We can do both of these things at the same time.
The way in which we think about and work with all the people is a key shift that is needed.Leading thinkers like Eric Hollnagel, Tom McDaniel, Beth Lay, Carl Stent, and Ron Gantt are searching for better, more effective ways of engaging with everyone to build on the good things people are doing.
This is not about looking at things through rose-colored glasses but rather a hard-headed, practical, proven shift in how we all work together. Most people want to be treated with respect and be listened to. Most of the people I’ve met want to do a good job and be proud of their work – even the grumpy ones. They want to have the opportunity to have their ideas heard and considered. They want to have the opportunity to explore better ways to do their work. The people working close to the actual physical work know their jobs and often have good ideas about how to do the work to improve the efficiency, effectiveness, and safety of their jobs. It is highly frustrating for them when managers do not listen to them or care about what they are thinking and know. This frustration usually leads to all sorts of counter-productive behaviors that are both unsafe and costly.
What has been you own experience when treated this way? This is not just a problem for the front-line people. This sort of behavior happens at all levels of the organization and is hugely expensive. Frustrated people do not share constructive information together, decisions are avoided, learning is blocked, and opportunities for improvement are lost.
I think that safety professionals are in an ideal place to help their organizations break through to higher levels of performance. We are often called upon to work across many different parts of the organization to provide safety insights, investigations and consulting. We often have access to many people at different levels in our organizations. This gives us a lot of opportunities to engage respectfully with the people and open up the important conversations.
We can model the behavior of asking questions for understanding, of listening deeply, helping to understanding the situations and exploring ideas together. As we engage with the people with respect and consideration, trust builds. As trust builds, people are more willing to open up and discuss their ideas and concerns. Each positive conversation builds on the ones before it. In this process a space for open, honest conversations develops.
The breakthrough comes as more and more people are building on their successes, sharing ideas and insights, testing their thoughts with each other, and seeing what is possible. People find meaning in this way of working; they feel better about themselves and their jobs. More and more focus and clarity develop about how to do their work more safely and better. In addition to the good work you are doing with the safety systems and procedures, with your compliance and training efforts, you are bringing the people into the business. New ideas keep emerging and more good decisions are being made.
Engaging with the people this way takes courage, care, concern, and commitment. This is an ongoing way of working. Getting out of our offices and into the workplaces takes time and effort. When I learned to work this way, I discovered that my job got a lot easier. The gap between work-as-imagined and work-as-done almost disappeared. I found I was working on real challenges and getting out ahead of problems. All of us can engage with people this way. It is a matter of will; just do it!
I feel we are not moving fast enough to get to higher levels of performance. Way too many people are getting hurt and killed. Safety is a part of all we are doing and the whole system needs to be making improvements.
I was given the opportunity to talk about my work on Partner-Centered Leadership and shared information about the Process Enneagram, which is such a powerful tool to help people to come together to solve their complex problems. Partner-Centered Leadership is focused on sharing information, building trust and interdependence, helping everyone see the importance of their work for the success of the whole enterprise and moving into a better future. Everyone at the workshop was seeking ways to actually move into Safety II and make it happen so there was a lot of interest in this work.
A review of the Bureau of Labor Statics summary of fatal occupational injuries for 2011-2017 shows a 1% drop in fatalities from 2016 to 2017 to a total of 5,147 people having lost their lives at work. This is about 9% higher than the 4,693 people killed in 2011. The top three 2017 fatalities categories are roadway accidents totaling 1,299 (up 15% since 2011); slips, trips and falls totaling 887 (up 23% since 2011); and murders and suicides totaling 733 (up by only 2% since 2011).
We need courageous leaders who focus on the people, change and the future. Leaders value sharing information, building trust and interdependence, and helping people to see how their job is important for the success of the whole venture.
Go into your organizations listening to and talking with the people. Share your vision. Build trust and interdependence. Create safe spaces for people to talk with each other, to share and create the future. Everything will change. That is what I experienced at the Belle Plant.
As I travel around and watch things happening, I see so many people in a big hurry. We are coming to the end of the good weather so people are hurrying to get outside jobs finished up. Roofers are really busy and not taking the time to properly use and secure their fall protection. I read of a recent 29-story fall in New York City when a guy on a big construction site fell through an unsecured hole in the floor.
A good, proven approach is to have brief start up meetings to review the hazards of the day’s work, making sure we have the right PPE and other equipment in place and used, asking each other about what might go wrong and working to avoid this. We need to look over the schedules and be sure we have the equipment we need and the right people for the work.
The American Society for Safety Engineers (soon to be The American Society for Safety Professionals) in Denver, Colorado, on June 19-22, 2017, was attended by about 5,000 people. This was a record for attendance. There were lots of papers and a huge trade show exhibit. I never saw so much safety equipment and other offerings.
Each time the construction cycle picks up, more people get killed, mostly from falls. Some falls are the result of poor footing. Some falls result from poor housekeeping and clutter. Some falls result from inadequate barricading of edges or open holes in the floors. Some falls result from poor pre-shift preparations and the work is started before things are ready. Some falls result from people rushing to get the work done quickly. Some falls result from some people being careless.
With all the uncertainties and variable working conditions, all of you need to be looking out for each other – I mean really watching and helping each other. Being ready and willing to stop unsafe work is important. It is critical that information flows freely so that everyone knows what is going on and are able to work closely together.
In many of our newsletters, I have talked about helping organizations co-create their safety future using the 
Eighty (80) pages and counting…that’s how far I got while perusing the numerous pages for the 2015 fatalities logged on OSHA reports – there were still many names and circumstances yet to read.
