It's a Cultural Thing
(Taken From : Protection Update, News from the International
Safety Equipment Association, January/February 2001)
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Ken Myerss
International Safety Equipment Association
As a road construction
industry executive, manager or supervisor, you're likely aware of the
considerable financial liabilities and other penalties resulting from
accidents occurring where work zone safety is faulted. In addition, perhaps
you have a personal commitment to worker safety. If either has stimulated
a determined organizational push for work zone safety compliance that
met with surprisingly limited success, probably the 'culture thing' got
you.
Organizational culture,
now one of the factors the National Transportation Safety Board, among
others, investigates at accident sites, can be simply stated as 'the way
things are done around here.' Building a 'culture of safety' is perhaps
one of the toughest things a highway construction organization ever will
attempt. Sometimes rational, always challenging, cultural change can mean
influencing opinion and behavior from top to bottom.
Laboring to make
work zone safety an everyday habit in your organization, from the top
down, consider these general 'change rules' for your action checklist:
- It's hard to
convince anyone of a 'safety culture shift' without actual, visible
top management commitment and funding.
- Safety has to
be a priority with key managers, on par with other 'compensated' priorities,
or it gets squeezed out.
- Culture change
means reeducation and reshaping the reward system top to bottom. You
don't pick up fresh habits or shed old ones without new knowledge¼and
new consequences.
- Policy, training
and organizational action guidelines need to spell out specific safety
requirements, in simple terms.
- Communicate,
communicate and communicate about the safety commitment and expected
new/continuing behavior.
- Unionized? Get
union leadership into the picture early. Work zone safety is a good
place to build/rebuild positive working relationships for the long haul.
Beyond these general
guidelines, also consider working from bottom up as a necessity
for creating safer work zones. Front-line supervisors, the 'leaders of
10' who are physically in the work zone, are the real trendsetters of
culture ¼ 'how things are done around here!' Get these vital change-makers
to make it happen in the field by:
- Communicating
and educating as to what is required, why it is critical to the company's
welfare, and what is in it for them. Key managers also might consider
routinely visiting work zones, discussing/praising safety compliance
with front-line supervisors.
- Holding them
accountable.
- Rewarding for
sustained positive action.
- Creating distinctive
work wear which both signifies their supervisory position and models
state-of-the-art work zone safety gear.
- Incorporating
working field supervisors into existing safety structures and activities.
- Creating/reconstituting
a supervisory safety council and empowering it to act.
Working safer is working
smarter. An organizational culture that pays only lip service to work zone
safety increasingly runs the risk of habitual regulatory inspections, jobsite
shutdowns and varying degrees of financial and other penalties, plus growing
legal staffs to handle what may become routine visits from plaintiff's attorneys
¼ all about as much fun as root-canal procedures.
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