What number would you call for help in an emergency? Why, 911, right? Johnny knows all about 911. And he’s only 4.
He called 911 when he needed help. But he wasn’t in danger. He just needed help with his math homework.
Recognizing Success http://abbrr.com/FAm
Changes in Behavior http://abbrr.com/FD5
Poll http://abbrr.com/pVp
As we looked at what builds a safety culture, you also need to understand how it will fail. In many cases, a culture fails based on the management style. Every management has a different style that they “rule” with. Douglas McGregor who specialized in human behavior in organizations is famous for his formulation of Theory X (authoritarian management) vs. Theory Y (participative management).
Management has the controls to help reduce the number of on-the-job incidents. If you review OSHA’s proposed Safety & Health Program standard, 29 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) 1900.1, you will note that employee participation is one of the key components of the proposed requirement. The question: how can management get employees involved in safety without tying rewards (recognitions) and punishments to injuries. The bottom line is, no matter how you look at it: injury reduction, for example, reducing the number of employees getting hurt, is what counts for some management, so why should it not be as meaningful to the employees? We will discuss these OSHA voluntary safety and heath program later in this Safety Culture Blog.
Developing Safety Blogs at eMeetingplace.com/safetyblog and Gotsafety.net/safetyblog
These fishermen expected a nice, lazy day on the lake. But a huge air tanker changes that. It swoops down to the lake to fill its tank. Unfortunately, the fishermen are in it’s path.
This is the opening scene from the 1989 movie Always. It featured Richard Dreyfuss and some great stunt flying. Enjoy This is for fun. You may be able to use at a safety meeting.
As a change process continues, personal successes become more apparent. Injuries will decrease and the employee attitudes will become more positive. This is where more employees begin to understand the change. Observable behaviors indicate a change in the norms. Employee participation in safety increases. An organization begins to move from a reactive to a proactive state, with increasing enthusiasm for safety. One important thing to remember is that management needs to be aware that newly developed safety management systems are very fragile and can be damaged easily. Step out of line one time and you will have to prove you self again. Constant attention is needed to make sure that the right values (not priorities) are being promoted and demonstrated. As this new way of thinking and acting about safety takes hold, stronger roots take hold. If nurtured with positive emotions, the safety management system continues to grow, expands, matures, and will outlive many changes, good and bad. All employees and the organization start to become a fixed asset of the organization. The system will begin to sustain itself.
Reference: Covey, Stephen R., The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, Fireside, Simon and Schuster, New York, 1989
The concept of culture had been around long before "In Search of Excellence." was published. Dr. Rensis Likert wrote a book called "The Human Organization," where he described his research on "trying to" understand the difference in "styles" of different companies, and how these "styles" affected the bottom line. Dr. Likert coined the term "Organizational Climate”. We now call it culture.
According to Dan Petersen, Likert believed that participative management was the best kind, and the most likely to produce results. Some of his contemporary management thinkers criticized him for flatly assuming that group discussion was the only way to good decision-making and thereby abandoning or ignoring the search for better techniques of problem solving or decision-making.
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