Guest Commentary

November/December 2007

Avoid Complacency: Create an Injury-Free Workplace

Managers must create a culture where no infractions are overlooked and everyone understands that complacency is dangerous

Carl and Deb Potter, Safety Consultants Carl Potter spent 17 years with one of the largest electrical utility companies in the United States, and since 1993 he has worked with companies to create  safer workplaces. Carl is a Certified Safety Professional and holds a bachelor’s degree in technical management. Deb Potter partners with Carl to help organizations create and manage a culture of safety. Deb holds an MBA from Oklahoma State University and will soon be completing a Ph.D. in organization management and business. www.potterandassociates.com www.SimplySeamlessSafety.com

Fifteen workers in the U.S. on average lose their lives every day as a result of injuries or illnesses related to their work, more than 5,000 people annually.

They leave behind families, friends and co-workers. The single most common cause is complacency, an attitude that “it won’t happen to me.” 

Too often, individuals and companies become complacent when it comes to safety. Managers are satisfied with mediocre safety performance and do not work to improve the environment by raising safety awareness and eliminating the potential for injury.

Employees grow content and inattentive to their work environments. They become convinced that management is not concerned about safety, so they begin to think they’re not responsible for their own safety. Over time, the entire organization gives little meaningful attention to it. 

The result is that employees get in a hurry and take shortcuts on the job. They are more focused on production and getting things done than getting them done safely.

That attitude becomes an organizational norm. Near misses go unreported. No one wants to take the time to fill out forms, and employees don’t understand the connection between sharing information and eliminating injuries.

Managers don’t pay enough attention to reports, the reports they become unimportant. The number of injuries increases and become more severe.

Everyone becomes frustrated. Employees blame management and management blames employees, yet no one is willing to take action to improve the situation.

Unfortunately, it often takes a fatal injury to cause everyone to focus on safety. Don’t let this happen to your organization.

Research shows that many incidents occur because people are distracted and do not pay attention to their environment. Managers often fall into the same trap. They become press issues such as the organization’s need to in­crease productivity, improve quality and raise profits.

They stop paying attention to the importance of safety and lose sight of the fact that safety performance is injuring the organization in the long run. In other words, they become complacent. 

When managers and supervisors do not make safety a top priority in the organization, it is easy for employees to make personal safety a low priority. Incidents and injuries then occur with increasing frequency.

Two things must happen to avoid this potentially deadly situation: Managers must renew their commitment to the safety process, and employees must get involved in meaningful safety activities.  

Management Commitment

It takes more than just saying you are committed to safety; you have to put actions behind your words. Managers can demonstrate their commitment to safety in a number of ways. First and foremost, know and follow the company’s safety rules to the letter, then regularly attend safety meetings. Consider the following actions:

• Take time to walk around and talk to employees about safety. Visit them in their workplaces, whether on the shop floor, in the field or at the office.
• Talk with them about your personal concern for safety, and then listen to their concerns. Take action to correct unsafe situations and follow up to let employees know the outcomes.
• Make it a point to personally review all reports of near misses and injuries. When managers review these reports carefully, it demonstrates the reports’ importance.
• Follow up to ensure that appropriate actions are taken to eliminate the causes of incidents in your organization that could result in bigger problems. Take care to ensure that your follow-up is positive rather than punitive. 
• Integrate safety into all aspects of management planning. During the organizational planning process, include safety goals and objectives, then ensure that the budget includes appropriate items for safety improvement.
• Communicate the organization’s safety expectations and objectives to the senior management level and to employees. To encourage a sustainable change in the safety culture of your organization, make it a point to regularly review progress toward those objectives.
• Enable employees to get involved in the safety process. Identify areas where employees can become actively involved and encourage their participation by allowing work time for appropriate safety activities.
• Ask employees with specific skills or interests to participate in new safety improvement projects, then formally recognize their involvement and efforts.

Managers at all levels of the organization can have a profound effect on the safety culture of an organization by following these suggestions.

Once they see their supervisors and managers taking safety seriously, employees will be more committed than ever. Nothing energizes an organization’s safety-improvement efforts more than employee involvement. 

Tips to Get Employees Involved

Make employees aware of how they can help with the safety process. Involvement comes in many different forms:

• Reporting all unsafe conditions.
• Attending all safety meetings.
• Serving on employee safety committees.
• Planning and leading a safety meeting.
• Participating in incident investigations and facility walk-throughs.
• Engaging in conversations with supervisors and managers to share improvement ideas.

Employees whose ideas and involvement are valued will increase safety performance faster than employees who are just simply following the rules. Create opportunities for employees to contribute ideas and provide information that will lead to safety improvement.

Tips for Managers

• Find ways to pique employees’ interest in making safety improvements.
• Motivate them toward positive change in the organization by believing that it’s possible to have zero injuries and communicating that belief to employees.
• Show employees the importance of working safely for their jobs, careers, paychecks and, most importantly, their families.