Developing a Safety Culture Forum Interactive The Challenge

Developing a Safety Culture Forum Interactive

The Challenge How it often is • People don’t see safety as their responsibility • People don’t feel empowered to challenge unsafe practices • People are task and time focused • Safety is down to a roll of the dice • Blame culture How it needs to be • Engagement of all • Taking personal responsibility • Developing the habit • Focus on quality not quantity • Health and safety as a key organisational value

What needs to happen Examine and improve in areas of: • • Organisational culture and values Leadership & management practice Management systems Process safety systems

What’s missing from traditional approaches? • Focus on technical training • No focus on developing personal motivation and commitment • Disconnected from other areas of the organisation and from the human context • Often H&S training is routinized so people can become complacent and cynical

What do we do? • Focus on human stories • Embed stories in evidence from research and investigation reports • Focus on raising awareness, developing motivation and commitment leading to action • Focus on values, attitudes and behaviours that underpin a positive safety culture • Offer a range of active and experiential learning tools for flexible use across the organisation • Develop a partnership with client organisation

Hearts & Minds: developing employee engagement Ex: “Jim’s Story” A year later: In First Bus Glasgow Depot “I still remember that wee girl!” In Translink Belfast “I’ve still got my hair bobble on my computer!”

Understanding why accidents and injuries happen and how these relate to systems and processes Ex: “Safe as Houses” “You’ve taken a huge technical document and turned it into something that anyone can understand…. You’ve created BP out of a kettle and an empty space. ” Chief Operating Officer, Translink

Quality not Quantity Ex: The safety conversation Safety Tour, Toolbox Talk, Performance management process, disciplinary process, staff induction. “It’s a bit like holding a mirror up to your own behaviour. The scenes encourage us to talk about the issues. You come out thinking `I could do that differently. ’” John Evans, HR Director First Group

Embedding a learning culture Ex: coaching, people management skills Asking questions Listening Exploring options Using the support & expertise of colleagues Focus on learning from mistakes rather than looking for opportunities to blame.

Impact “Drama-based learning has had a significant effect on First Group’s safety record. Since January 2007 we have had a 47% reduction in time lost through injury and a 30% drop in collision and red signal mistakes. Further, our database shows over 500 K injury prevention contacts have been made between employees and managers. ” Naveed Qamar Group Health and Safety Director, First Group

Key Questions • How much do injuries and accidents cost you a year? (e. g. In human cost, LTI’s, claims, damage to equipment etc) • How important is it to you to develop a safety culture?