Leadership sets safety improvement in motion #1

Most executives want to achieve safety excellence; however, they are not sure how to get there. When they ask safety professionals for guidance most are not equipped to guide them. Some executives have a strong motivation to lead safety for their organizations many do not understand what they need to do to achieve their goals and create the desired culture.

These are a few of the key points in the "7 Insights into Safety Leadership" by Thomas R Krause and Kristen J. Bell. This a great resource for safety professionals and executives who are committed to safety excellence. The information the authors provide equips the safety professionals with the key information to educate and guide their leaders to drive the required change. Leaders who "Get It" display 7 key attributes. I will summarize some of these insights, in a series of postings, share some personal experiences and show how Human & Organizational Performance can be used to accelerate improvement.

Insight: Leadership sets safety improvement in motion. Worker behaviors are the results of leadership, culture, system, facility design, not the driver. Elevating safety leadership is the single most important thing an organization can do to set improvement in motion. Insufficient attention has been paid to the role the organization plays in contributing to injuries.

Comment: This is an area that integrates well with Human & Organizational Performance. A study of the nuclear power industry indicated that about 80% of all events are attributed to human errors, roughly 20% due to equipment failures. When the 80%is broken down it reveals the majority of the errors, 70% stem from latent organizational weaknesses and about 30% are caused by workers touching the equipment. Thus we need to spend more time on the latent error and organizational weaknesses.

Are you interested in how safety professionals can engage executives?

This is one of the key topics addressed in the "7 Insights into Safety Leadership" by Thomas R Krause and Kristen J. Bell.