Safety Culture Excellence®

Is safety excellence a matter of stopping risks or starting precautions?  Should we focus on the “thou shalt nots” of safety, or encourage positive action?  This topic directly impacts the question we have discussed before, “Is safety excellence a matter of achieving success or avoiding failure?”  But beyond that philosophical point, let’s discuss the tools used for starting and stopping human behavior and their side effects.

The ultimate behavioral stopping tool is punishment.  In the behavioral sciences, anything that tends to stop behavior is consider punishment and what makes it effective is the timing and probability.  Negative consequences for behavior that are certain and timely tend to stop, or “extinguish” the behavior.  But punishment does not automatically start another behavior in its place.  Artificially-imposed punishment can also damage relationships and culture.  It can be important to stop certain behaviors that present unacceptable risks or damage safety culture, and punishment might be the right tool for that job.

Starting tools for behavior include positive reinforcement and motivation.  If the safety challenge is getting workers to identify risks, take precautions or participate in safety activities, these starting tools can be invaluable.  Starting tools also are relationship and culture builders.  Workers who help each other start better practices and improve performance tend to strengthen the bonds between themselves. 

Determining the right tools for safety excellence involves accurately identifying exactly what behaviors need to be stopped or started.  An effective safety strategy should include these distinctions.

-Terry L. Mathis

Terry L. Mathis is the founder and CEO of ProAct Safety, an international safety and performance excellence firm. He is known for his dynamic presentations in the fields of behavioral and cultural safety, leadership, and operational performance, and is a regular speaker at ASSE, NSC, and numerous company and industry conferences. EHS Today listed Terry as a Safety Guru in ‘The 50 People Who Most Influenced EHS in 2010, 2011 and 2012-2013. He has been a frequent contributor to industry magazines for over 15 years and is the coauthor of STEPS to Safety Culture Excellence, 2013, WILEY.

Greetings everyone, this podcast recorded while in Anchorage, Alaska. I’d like to share an article I wrote that was published March 2014 in BIC Magazine. The published article can either be found on the magazine’s website or under Insights at www.ProActSafety.com.

I hope you enjoy the podcast this week. If you would like to download or play on demand our other podcasts, please visit the ProAct Safety’s podcast website at: http://www.safetycultureexcellence.com. If you would like access to archived podcasts (older than 90 days – dating back to January 2008) please visit www.ProActSafety.com/Store. For more detailed strategies to achieve and sustain excellence in performance and culture, pick up a copy of our book, STEPS to Safety Culture Excellence - http://proactsafety.com/insights/steps-to-safety-culture-excellence

Have a great week!


Shawn M. Galloway
ProAct Safety

As more and more leaders and safety professionals realize the limitations of reactive safety, they search for leading indicators to help them manage safety more proactively.  This thinking fueled the concept that lagging indicators alone, are not truly representative of safety performance, nor are they predictive or prescriptive.

 The first round of so-called “leading indicators” was little more than a measurement of safety-related activities: hours of safety training, attendance at safety meetings, participation in safety programs, etc.  OSHA’s crackdown on incentives that could potentially suppress reporting of accidents drove many organizations to base their incentives on these activity metrics rather than simply not having an accident.  

When behavior-based safety became the rage, the measurement of behaviors from observations came to be thought of as a leading indicator. As safety culture became a buzz phrase, perception surveys gained in popularity and came to be considered another potential leading indicator.  The search for meaningful leading indicators goes on because no one of these has proven adequate in predicting and preventing injuries.

Where none of these alone succeed, all of them together potentially can.  A balanced-scorecard approach in which the metrics not only complement, but predict each other has proven quite effective in proactively predicting how to prevent accidents.  When you measure how much activity it takes to change perceptions, how much of a change in perceptions it takes to change behaviors, and how much behavior change it takes to change the lagging indicators, you begin to truly measure the effectiveness of safety efforts.  Just as balanced scorecards have revolutionized strategic management, with our most successful clients, balanced scorecards for safety have proven to have a transformational impact on safety management. How balanced are your measurements? 

-Terry L. Mathis

Terry L. Mathis is the founder and CEO of ProAct Safety, an international safety and performance excellence firm. He is known for his dynamic presentations in the fields of behavioral and cultural safety, leadership, and operational performance, and is a regular speaker at ASSE, NSC, and numerous company and industry conferences. EHS Today listed Terry as a Safety Guru in ‘The 50 People Who Most Influenced EHS in 2010, 2011 and 2012-2013. He has been a frequent contributor to industry magazines for over 15 years and is the coauthor of STEPS to Safety Culture Excellence, 2013, WILEY.

Greetings everyone, this podcast recorded while in Decatur, AL. I’d like to share an article I wrote, published September 2013 in OH&S Magazine. The published article can either be found on the magazine’s website or under Insights at www.ProActSafety.com.

I hope you enjoy the podcast this week. If you would like to download or play on demand our other podcasts, please visit the ProAct Safety’s podcast website at: http://www.safetycultureexcellence.com. If you would like access to archived podcasts (older than 90 days – dating back to January 2008) please visit www.ProActSafety.com/Store. For more detailed strategies to achieve and sustain excellence in performance and culture, pick up a copy of our book, STEPS to Safety Culture Excellence - http://proactsafety.com/insights/steps-to-safety-culture-excellence

Have a great week!

Shawn M. Galloway
ProAct Safety

Greetings everyone, this podcast recorded while in Baku, Azerbaijan. I’d like to share an article I wrote that was published December 2012 in Occupational Health & Safety Magazine.  It was titled, Understanding the Roles of Behavior in Safety. The published article can either be found on the magazine’s website or under Insights at www.ProActSafety.com. I hope you enjoy the podcast this week. If you would like to download or play on demand our other podcasts, please visit the ProAct Safety’s podcast website at: http://www.safetycultureexcellence.com. If you would like access to archived podcasts (older than 90 days – dating back to January 2008) please visit www.ProActSafety.com/Store. For more detailed strategies to achieve and sustain excellence in performance and culture, pick up a copy of our book, STEPS to Safety Culture Excellence, available through WILEY (publisher), Amazon or Barnes and Noble. Have a great week! Shawn M. Galloway ProAct Safety, Inc

Greetings everyone, this podcast recorded while in Billings, MT. I’d like to share an article I wrote that was published December 2012 in BIC Magazine.  It was titled, Avoiding the 10 Common Pitfalls of Behavior-Based Safety. The published article can either be found on the magazine’s website or under Insights at www.ProActSafety.com. I hope you enjoy the podcast this week. If you would like to download or play on demand our other podcasts, please visit the ProAct Safety’s podcast website at: http://www.safetycultureexcellence.com. If you would like access to archived podcasts (older than 90 days – dating back to January 2008) please visit www.ProActSafety.com/Store. For more detailed strategies to achieve and sustain excellence in performance and culture, pick up a copy of our book, STEPS to Safety Culture Excellence, available through WILEY (publisher), Amazon or Barnes and Noble. Have a great week! Shawn M. Galloway ProAct Safety, Inc

Greetings everyone, this podcast recorded while in Memphis, TN. I’d like to share an article I wrote that was published November 2012 in my column BIC Magazine. It was titled, A.W.A.R.E. – Five Steps To A Successful Safety Observation. The published article can either be found at www.BICAlliance.com or under Insights at www.ProActSafety.com.

I hope you enjoy the podcast this week. If you would like to download or play on demand our other podcasts, please visit the ProAct Safety’s podcast website at: http://www.safetycultureexcellence.com. If you would like access to archived podcasts (older than 90 days – dating back to January 2008) please visit www.ProActSafety.com/Store.

Have a great week!

Shawn M. Galloway

ProAct Safety, Inc

This session is designed to be an introduction to the rationale and practice of BBS for newcomers and a thorough review for participants at the workforce and management levels.

The supporting roles of management and supervisors will be discussed. The support roles in BBS are less active than the participants' roles, yet more critical for success and sustainability. In addition to understanding what BBS is and how it works, managers and supervisors need to know the rationale for having a process and the strategies for ensuring it is successful.

Being well grounded in the principles and practices is a basic need for success to both those who are implementing or renewing BBS processes. The course will cover every major facet of BBS including the following:

• The philosophy and science behind BBS

• The rationale and ROI (return on investment) of BBS
• What leads to union resistance and how to involve unions for support
• Selection criteria and functions of a BBS Steering Team/Committee
• Time-away-from-work requirements of Steering Team members and Observers
• Key roles, responsibilities and expectations (RREs) of those participating in the process
• Manager's and Supervisor's support roles
• The responsibilities and benefits of employees in a BBS environment
• Start-up cycles for BBS from implementation to maturity
• How to communicate BBS to the workforce
• Support and resources needed by the process to ensure success
• How to posture BBS in relation to other safety efforts and programs
• How BBS impacts safety culture and how to utilize BBS as a safety culture building tool
• How to keep the process results oriented
• How to guarantee process sustainability
• How to refresh and renew an existing BBS process
• Attendees will be thoroughly versed on the basics of BBS to either return to a project or attend the Annual BBS Conference with purpose and focus.

For more information contact ProAct Safety at 936.273.8700 or info (at) ProActSafety.com

Shawn M. Galloway

ProAct Safety

www.ProActSafety.com

www.SafetyCultureExcellence.com

For more information contact ProAct Safety at 936.273.8700 or info (at) ProActSafety.com

Shawn M. Galloway

ProAct Safety

www.ProActSafety.com

www.SafetyCultureExcellence.com

Use the latest Behavior-Based Safety Technologies for spearheading safety process improvement, borrowing proven techniques from Lean Manufacturing, Six Sigma, and experiences from over 1,500 successful implementations.

Create a customized plan to assess and improve site and/or organizational safety culture. Common myths about safety culture will be dispelled and a good working definition will be developed to empower understanding and customization. Assessment methodologies will be discussed and compared and each participant will see how to best determine the cultural strengths and improvement opportunities.

Based on the assessment findings, plans will be formulated to find the most practical and effective strategies to build on cultural strengths and address weaknesses. Opportunities will be investigated to utilize other site improvement initiatives to aid in the cultural improvement plans. All plans will conclude with measurement strategies to ensure long-term change viability and early identification of problems.

For more information contact ProAct Safety at 936.273.8700 or info (at) ProActSafety.com

Shawn M. Galloway

ProAct Safety

www.ProActSafety.com

www.SafetyCultureExcellence.com

Greetings everyone, this podcast recorded while in Chicago, IL. For the podcast this week I’d like to share an article written by Terry Mathis, published in July 2012 by IndustryWeek. It was titled, Managing People With Animal Science. The published article can either be found at www.IndustryWeek.com or under Insights at www.ProActSafety.com.

I hope you enjoy the podcast this week. If you would like to download or play on demand our other podcasts, please visit the ProAct Safety’s podcast website at: http://www.safetycultureexcellence.com. If you would like access to archived podcasts (older than 90 days – dating back to January 2008) please contact us at podcast @ ProActSafety.com.

Have a great week!

Shawn M. Galloway

ProAct Safety, Inc