Safety, A Core Value?

For months I have been contemplating, and the same thoughts keeps coming back to me as to why we have the incidents we have on our job-sites, and the following is what I have pieced together, I know it looks long, but it is just the tip of the iceberg.

To me, in my observation, education, and experience, we can set back and watch, get a numbers game going of statistics, and try to see trends, or we can really make a strong culture of safety in our company and profession, by making Safety a Core Value. What I have learned is policies, procedures, and good equipment do not make a strong safety culture, it is the people that do!

- Ryan L. Rinehart

Culture is described as the beliefs and behaviors handed down from one generation to the next. In the workplace each new employee and contractor represents the next generation of a company. This can be an opportunity or a continuing challenge, because these new people will adopt the safety behaviors of their coworkers. One of the findings from a major industrial incident was “hazard training was largely passed down by experience from others. Sometimes this guidance was poor, perhaps due to an element of complacency…” Managers need to constantly ask themselves “whose behaviors are our new people adopting and are these behaviors we want being passed along to the next generation of employees?”

There is a significant difference in a safety culture and a culture of safety. A safety culture simply describes the beliefs and behaviors that are demonstrated within an organization. Therefore, a safety culture may be good, focused on reducing incidents and injuries, or it might be poor, tolerating at-risk behaviors that put people at unnecessary risk.

Thinking of incidents, past or even recent, it makes us ask, “What do we need to do different?” and “What can we do better to ensure that people are safe?” And the usual response has been, getting policies created and approved, and a presence in the field and shop locations, along with some training changes. Which is a great step towards a safety culture, yet we do not have the buy in at the personal level that we desire, which would lead towards a culture of safety.

For us to say safety is a priority isn’t actually putting our safety priorities at work. Why? Priorities are the first to change when dealing with say the bottom line, the cost cutting-get it done mentality, operational performance, deadlines, or even customer demands.

To clarify my point, when money becomes tight on a project or operations fall behind schedule the focus becomes getting the job done, no matter what risks or short cuts you have to take. It is sort of a “Mission First” mentality. So since priorities change, safety just took a nose dive to dead last or not even considered anymore.

When Safety is a core value, the only time it becomes “the priority” is when it comes into conflict with anything else, meaning we as a company commit to putting human life above all other demands. We can agree that Priorities change, Core Values remain constant.

Safety as a Core Value is how we can instill a culture of safety in a personal level as well as add moral value in each and every employee. Safety shouldn’t be a policy that people read, remember for a few days and then forget. Safety is something people practice at work and in their personal lives, the safety core value essentially means, every person is responsible for their own safety, as well as the people around them.

Training to this Safety Core Value would include at-risk-behavior identification. Workshops for leaders, managers, supervisors, foreman, and leads across all divisions and departments. If any of those in leadership positions do not support the safety of their personnel, you have to ask, are these people desired to be kept on our team? If someone in a leadership role is turning a blind eye to at-risk-behavior and rewarding short-cuts, then they are not doing the job they were hired to do.  

In order to build and maintain a strong culture of safety, management must not only buy-in, but consistently exemplify this standard by supporting it and making sure it stays relevant as the company evolves. Safety as a priority must be avoided when building a culture of safety. In a strong safety culture, safety is elevated to be a core value within the organization.

Too often, people still rely on ‘compliance with’ safety policies, procedures and equipment in everyday operations rather than a ‘belief in’ safety. In order to create a culture of safety, safety must become a personal value where each employee takes responsibility for recognizing and reducing unnecessary at-risk behaviors. A person’s attitude toward safety is a choice and it is your choice to believe in safety for you, your family and your teammates. In a culture of safety, you are the key to creating an incident-free environment.

When we are building a culture of safety, management must create the environment that enables safety to be a core value of the company and, more importantly, within the hearts or even the souls of the individuals who work there. It should be something everyone practices both at work and in their personal lives. In order to help instill a strong culture of safety in day-to-day operations, management should consider adopting the Core Value of Safety.