¿Cómo puedes animar a tu equipo a hablar sobre las preocupaciones de seguridad?

Here is what I have seen. Trust and respect is tied to leadership. I can have trust and respect between me and staff. But, if the leadership doesn't do there part it's not worth the effort. Example: I have one company I provide service for that the owner is always at the safety meetings, trainings, and is always part of the safety team. During one training a need for PPE was talked about. At the end of the two day training the PPE in question was handed out. The culture is very good. Another, company has the same programs and the owner never takes an active role except to enforce punishment. There culture is not good to say the least. This sets the tone for me even before I show up. MHO

Provide a space where team members can express their thoughts without fear of backlash or mockery. This will enhance their psychological safety. Tell them that their problems will be handled in a positive way and promote an open communication.

The last point in the prompt is the most important for continuous communication - make sure you’ve followed up on previous items! If you’ve asked for feedback or participation in the past and never followed up, it will be a tough road for future proactive communication from the workforce about their work environment.

1) Respect team members views and perspectives 2) Act promptly on HSE concerns/risks highlighted by team 3) Provide timely feedback on action taken for risk mitigation 4) Appreciate/ Recognise team members for speaking up 5) Lead by example

STOP, restrain and forbid blame culture, then you will get a teamwork with open speak and a huge contributions towards safety concerns, which will sequentially reduce and even eliminate incidents and unsafe situations. Fight the blame culture and when that succeed, the other motives to speak-up will be in place certainly.

Yes! Until now this step was spoken about but little could be done about it, aside from the odd gift card givaway. Encouragement is a massively underrated element of safety training and management. This is because rewarding lag indicators was found to be categorically ineffective (as it rewards underreporting or even mis-reporting). However, there is a solution! Reward the behaviour, directly. That's what tools like Scratchie do: they provide a supervisor the means to issue on-the-spot, categorised safety rewards. Surveys show a 28% improvement in safe work attitudes, and peer-reviewed papers draw a direct line between this and an improvement in real world safety outcomes.

Rewards tend to become the focus or goal and not the consequence. That is, employees want or feel entitled to the “gift card” or whatever is the reward. Most of the research related to motivation cites recognition as the #1 motivating factor for employees. Certainly that occasional recognition can be connected to a gift card, or other small token. Behavior analysts suggest that intermittent and positive “rewards” are the most powerful in eliciting desired behaviors. Years ago I worked with a large concrete delivery company. We had management occasionally stop a driver and provide feedback on specific driving behaviors. After 12 months, 1) the incidence of mishaps dropped and safe driving practices increased significantly.

Investigate and Address Promptly 🚨: Act promptly on reported safety concerns. Investigate incidents thoroughly and communicate the actions taken to address the issues. This builds trust and reinforces the importance of reporting.

I have found incentivizing hazard reporting to be beneficial. Incentives are only a step. There must be follow-up on the reported hazards for the program to be taken seriously. We have a closed loop process that requires a physical signature of the reporter to verify closure. That has been wildly successful in our program.

Seeing this in real-life within my working experience ...with effective communication channels created that caters for all levels of workforce. We need to understand how our various employees communicate, respond and participate, and with this information we create channels that allow them to share, respond and participate in all ttpes of safety aspects. Thes can vary from toolbox talks, incident investigations, brainstorming new and improved actions to correct and prevent unsafe/unhealthy conditions. Additionally, where employees have confidence to share and participate in OHS matters, they feel important and have a higher level of commitment to improve and maintain a safe working environment.

🔄Establish feedback loops to demonstrate that reported safety concerns are being taken seriously. Communicate the actions taken in response to concerns to show that feedback is valued and leads to improvements.

To promote the culture of talking about safety:- 1. Involve people through mega risk assessment session/week 2. Counter award system for reporting near miss. 3. Made individual development points with 40% weight to safety

I would like to add that timely resolution and feedback to the person providing feedback is of utmost importance. This is a signal of appreciation and that safety is taken seriously.

En muchas organizaciones utilizan las security cards. Son tarjetas que mediante un sencillo formulario cualquier trabajador puede proponer mejoras de seguridad detectadas en su departamento o sección. El departamento de PRL trimestralmente valora estos comentarios de mejora para implementar nuevas medidas de seguridad en los puestos de trabajo seleccionados. Es una buena práctica para promocionar la participación activa de toda la organización.

Es importante generar instancias de diálogo, donde se generen acuerdos, los cuales tengan plazos de cumplimiento y realizar luego su verificación.

From experience in this part of the world, I have seen safety as a tool for justified institutional punishment, rather than a system to foster community contribution and keep people, processes and assets optimized. Safety should be a culture and a culture is not built overnight. It requires empowering the people with the right knowledge, support them in putting this to practice, watch them practice over and over and with time, it becomes part of everyone with evident results in performance and reduced incidents. A production facility ensured a safety personnel in every unit and department of the company. That way, besides general factory safety knowledge, everyone is equipped with knowledge to address their unique work safety concerns.

Always offer positive reinforcement, let your team know you are receptive to there feedback on crucial issues as well as the smaller issues that are always stepping stones to the larger concerns that affect every single person on any job!

In the first instance you need to bring the people, voluntarily, on the journey. There needs to be a real understanding of why self preservation is important - if staff are not on the "train" you're talking to yourself. Once there is acceptance, then the rest follows. In too many cases the equivalent of "close enough is good enough" is part of the accepted work process. Obviously a whole number of issues, already addressed here, follow. There are a number of players in work safety. The two prime participants are: management and staff. I don't wish this to sound like a lecture as all contributors here are experienced. I have been in the workforce, in some form or other, since the late 60's and have watched the evolution.

In my view, this strategy is great because it makes safety a team effort. Giving people roles like safety champions makes them feel important and more “tuned in” about safety. When a team helps set safety goals, they're more likely to follow them since they played a part in creating them. Encouraging team members to lead on safety issues and supporting them with what they need shows that safety is a priority within the business. Also, offering learning opportunities in safety keeps everyone engaged and confident in their roles. This approach creates a robust, positive safety culture where everyone feels involved and responsible, leading to a safer workplace overall.

Catch your team being safe! As a deli manager, I would hand out candy bars when I saw proper PPE usage, safe lifting, etc. This goes beyond a simple reward- it shows your team you're paying attention, and not just to their mistakes.

Cultivating a truly open and communicative team environment requires a deep-seated cultural transformation, a shift in how we think and how we act. Through consistent dialogue and engagement, we can create a space where team members feel safe and valued enough to raise concerns, big or small. Let's instill this principle with an emotional hook: "Silence isn't safety. If you identify a risk, speak up immediately – together, we can take action and make things right."

Demonstrate a commitment to safety by consistently following protocols, openly discussing safety concerns, and highlighting the importance of proactive communication within the team and recognizing those who speak up!

Everyone should be considered as leader who are showing the safe behavior at workplace. They indeed lead the culture development and are the back bone of the organization. Safety Starts with Self! So be the brand ambassador of the safety at the workplace and lead it by own example. For us at Akshatah Consultants; whenever there is a site visit / training at site, we ensure our behavioral and discipline demonstrate the safety message. i.e., Ensure proper attire, Compliance of PPE, Lead by Safe Action at site and report good observation as well as opportunity for improvement. Most importantly communicate and record with team members. Just like driving with a seat belt and make habit of family to do the same at every seat.

By providing training to the team members on what is expected of them through the procedures and making it easier for them to report on safety issues. Reward those who speak up and encourage others to do the same.

Employees come to an understanding of expectations more from what they see than what they read or hear. Managers need to be aware of the message they are sending with how they deal with employees. Smart employees “study” the boss to better understand expectations and to stay 2 steps ahead of the boss. One of the cheapest and yet most effective safety tools is that of setting the right example.

In my experience, few things that trigger such a culture : - Trust that action will be taken on the subject of speak up - No fear of retaliation for speaking up - No fear of public shaming - Senior Managers speaking up sets the tone & culture - Speaking up (informal feedbacks) in smaller formal/informal groups are also recognised, registered and acted upon as appropriate These are some important tenets of building a culture where sharing an adverse feedback/whistleblow is commonly experienced.

Leadership must be supportive in all areas of business. The enterprise must be inclusive, diverse, responsive with visible displays of active caring. Honesty, fairness and transparency build trust. Trust and open communication are the building blocks of an effective safety program.

As I read through most of the contributors, Safety remains the enemy of progress. All of the above articles reflects an ideal company if implemented, we as safety professionals know very well that this remains the biggest Challenge. But, it is not impossible as I have experienced it 1st hand, not only once but multiple times. How? Leadership Commitment and BUDGET. I capitalised on the later because without "justifiable" financial support, fostering a safety culture remains a Challenge.

He visto que lo más importante para tener una cultura de seguridad en la empresa es crear sistemas de reporte de incidentes y empoderar a los colaboradores operativos a participar activamente, esto lo hemos logrado colocando un entrenador que acompañe a los trabajadores durante los procesos de aprendizajes , normalmente del departamento de seguridad, pero entregándole a los colaboradores la responsabilidad del reporte y seguimiento de los indicadores prácticos del sistema de gestión de seguridad

You won’t until it’s too late and someone is injured or killed. Health and safety is a second or even third thought, profit and speed comes before all other issues. If you speak up your threatened with a disciplinary or worse losing your job, then try and get another job when you can’t get a reference !