Leadership is a key element of the human factor-oriented approach to health and safety. It is leadership’s words and actions that establish behavioural expectations of employees. One can generally determine the extent of management’s leadership in health and safety by observing how workers behave on the job. If employees demonstrate a lack of commitment to health and safety it is because management has not led the health and safety charge. In order to influence employees, leaders must demonstrate unwavering support for health and safety regardless of the business climate of the day.
Leaders must always “walk the talk.” They can never make exceptions and allow operations to take priority over employee safety. For example, if a manager, despite operational costs, shuts a job down to ensure worker safety, he or she is a leader who will be believed when he/she proclaims that safety is number one. When exceptions are made to allow production to continue at the expense of safety, the leadership sends a strong message that production is really the number one priority. Under these circumstances, any attempts to convince employees that safety is management’s number one priority are simply not believable.
Caring
When companies demonstrate to employees they truly care, they benefit from the hard work performed by satisfied employees. They are also rewarded with employees who are more committed to the company. This generally translates into improved safety, productivity, quality, and/or service. Here is one small but powerful example of caring. Some companies send flowers to employees and their family members who are seriously ill in the hospital. This act represents very little in terms of investment in time or money and goes a long way towards increasing employees’ sense of security, compliance, satisfaction, and loyalty to the company.
Hiring/Orientation/Socialization
Newly hired employees come to employers with their own pre-conceived health and safety attitudes and expectations. If their attitudes are closely aligned with the company’s and their peers’, their attitudes will be reinforced. If this is not the case, the new employee will have difficulties fitting in. For example, an employee who does not accept the need to follow all safety rules, procedures, etc. will not likely follow them when the boss is away. If he or she hasn’t in the past, why start now? One way to avoid these types of issues is to improve the hiring/screening process. Hire employees whose values and attitudes are aligned with those of the organization. Put simply, make sure they are a proper fit for the company.
Many companies focus their new employee orientation efforts on the content of the new employee orientation program. As important as the content is, the orientation process is equally important. Most employees get their real orientation when they begin working with their peers. Peers inform new employees on “how things are really done around here.” If the new employee is orientated by a peer or peer group that feels a few safety exceptions are okay, the new employee will be orientated with the wrong messages. New employee orientations should be conducted by experienced employees who are aligned with the company health and safety values and principles.
Band-aid Bob Jr. recalls employers commenting on some of the stupid things employees do. His response is, “Do you hire them stupid or make them stupid after you hire them?”
Legends/Folklore
Identify and dispense with folklore or legends of renowned past employees or heroes that do not reinforce the behaviours that are currently desired. For example, Angus MacTavish was a gas utility employee. Legend has it he once performed a rescue by jumping into to a bell hole full of leaking gas. First he minimized the gas flow by bending over the steel gas line and then he hoisted an unconscious worker over his shoulder and climbed out of the six-foot-deep bell hole to safety. With another deep breath, Angus apparently went down and saved a second employee. This legend suggests Angus was superhuman. The reality is that there are very few people strong enough to actually do what Angus is rumored to have done-especially under conditions of little oxygen and blowing gas. If this company now has procedures in place to ensure this type of rescue is never attempted, legends such as this will work against compliance with the new procedure.
In order to attain full compliance, conflicting legends must be dispelled, otherwise they may be modelled. One way to dispel the legend in the above case is to conduct mock exercises to practise removing unconscious employees from a bell hole. No employee will be able to perform Alex’s rescue and that will help reinforce the new more time-consuming but safe rescue procedure.
Fairness
Employees must believe the environment they are working in is fair and free from bias or injustice. Few employees complain about a system in which the standards and consequences of compliance are laid out clearly and are consistently enforced. If discipline is warranted, it must be perceived to be fairly administered. On the other hand, workers become frustrated when they have been held accountable for something others have been allowed to get away with. One of the worst exceptions in this regard is when workers are disciplined for non-compliance but exceptions are made for supervisors or managers. Companies should always strive to create a just and fair culture.
Employee Satisfaction
It is a well-known fact that satisfied employees are more productive, take fewer days off for illness, stay with the company longer and have fewer incident/accidents. The deeply hidden benefits of implementing an effective health and safety program are that it opens the door to good two-way communication and fosters employee participation and trust. In this environment, employee satisfaction improves. Satisfied employees benefit companies not only by improving health and safety in the company, but also by improving all other aspects of the business. Companies that view health and safety from this perspective understand that health and safety adds value to an organization.
Culture Influences Behaviour
There are many factors affecting why individuals behave the way that they do. The factors influencing employee behaviour are varied and complex. Supervisors and managers cannot be counted on to understand them all. However, some of the factors that affect behaviour are well known and understood and therefore are useful tools for management and supervisors.
For example, behavioural science tells us that if supervisors and management provide positive recognition for any desirable behaviour, the behaviour is more likely to be repeated. If an undesirable behaviour is condoned or overlooked because the supervisor or manager chooses not to address it, the undesirable behavior will be reinforced and repeated. All supervisors and managers should be aware of these simple behavioural truths that all supervisors and managers should be aware of.
Another, and perhaps less-known, factor influencing employee behaviour is the company’s health and safety culture. A generally accepted description of workplace culture is “the way things are around here.” Here is an example. Band-aid Bob recalls a time years ago when he was auditing a company’s health and safety management system. While interviewing an older but new employee, he asked about compliance to wearing PPE and following health and safety procedures. The interviewee responded positively and went on to say that if he saw someone not complying, he felt comfortable with and compelled to say something to them. Then he revealed his recent non-compliant history. In the company where he had previously worked for over twenty years, he had commonly disregarded the rules. When asked why the sudden change in behaviour, his response was short and to the point: “Because that’s the way we do things around here.”
Safety excellent companies are well aware of the influences that a positive health and safety culture can have on employee behaviour. Many of them conduct safety perception surveys to access employee perceptions so that they can work on improving negative employee perceptions.
Conclusion
We have come a long way since the early stages of health and safety. Each new era has brought new improvements to health and safety management systems. The new elements discovered by Band-aid Bob Jr. (and real-life health and safety professionals) are proclaiming a new and exciting era where “health and safety” is no longer viewed as just another program, but as a key contributor to success in business. The move towards these more human-oriented elements promises to help bring about improvements to corporate health and safety culture that will have positive effects on all other aspects of a business. Some companies have already discovered these cascading benefits and have evolved into health and safety leaders and, not surprisingly, leaders in their respective businesses.