Safety Culture Excellence®

Root Cause Analysis is Machine Thinking

Seeking out and addressing root causes of problems is the ultimate fix for machines. If you simply repair the obvious failure, it may recur.   People are not machines!  Using root cause thinking with humans can actually make you miss the best solutions, especially in safety.  It is extremely limited thinking to look exclusively at human contribution as the problem or failure in accidental injuries.  

Human behavior is based on a complex mixture of influences and projections.  Past experience, training, analyses of job hazards, projections of what could cause injuries, and the overriding pressures to complete the work all influence behavioral choices.  A change in the weight of any of these or other influences can tip the balance of influence and change the logic of the choice.  Failure to identify risks due to low-probability or other factors play into the equation.  Simply underestimating risk probability is a growing problem.  Distractions to concentration at work are also growing as work gets more complex and technology increases the availability and amount of communication.

Rather than viewing human performance as a mechanical process, we need to see it more like a weather pattern that can be changed by multiple factors, something that needs to be forecast rather than fixed.

-Terry L. Mathis

For more insights, visit www.ProActSafety.com

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.

Checking Off the Box

When can good safety practices go bad?  When they become routine and quit adding value to the daily safety of workers.  In short, when they are completed just to check off the box that says they are completed.  This seldom happens intentionally.  

Most safety programs and activities have very specific goals to increase safety awareness or engagement, provide pre-job planning, or just to keep safety on everyone’s’ mind.  But when programs stress the quantity without the quality and do not focus on capturing or delivering value, they can become meaningless activities.

Safety moments in meetings, JSAs, audits, observations, refresher training, safety toolbox meetings, all of these can add value or become valueless activities based on how they are carried out.  As soon as any safety activity is speedily “checked off” just to get it done, the opportunity to continue doing it this way appears.  It is incumbent on everyone to question the value of safety efforts and not let them become meaningless.  

This means leaders must listen to workers regularly and keep in touch with the reality of shop-floor safety.  If doing it poorly ever becomes acceptable, the die is cast.  In this, as in most safety efforts, prevention is preferable to reaction.

-Terry L. Mathis

For more insights, visit www.ProActSafety.com

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.

Do You Have a Scoreboard?

The only thing more amazing to me than the number of programs organizations adopt to improve safety, is the fact that the majority don’t have a metric to determine if the program worked or not.  

Using lagging indicators to measure the effectiveness of a new safety program is fraught with inaccuracies.  So many factors impact TRIR and severity rates that one new program might or might not have had an impact.  Add to that fact the concept of Hawthorne Effect (that any focus of effort might impact results short term) and you have a totally unreliable metric of program success.

First, all programs should fit into an overarching safety strategy.  Second, the program should have internal KPIs to determine if it is doing what it is designed to do.  Third, the organization should have intermediate indicators to determine if the program is changing perceptions and organizational behavior.  Lastly, there should be a division of lagging indicators into categories directly impacted by the program to see if they are responding to the combination of program impact, changes in perceptions and behavior, and if the costs of the program create an ROI worthy of the effort.

-Terry L. Mathis

For more insights, visit www.ProActSafety.com

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.

Zero Injuries: What is Really Wrong?

The talk about “zero injuries” has ranged from the ridiculous to the sublime.  Yes, you should not have a tolerance for accidents, ergo set a goal of zero.  Yes, it is not acceptable to hurt ANYONE, ergo set a goal of zero.  However, a goal is not a strategy.  A goal is not a call to action nor a roadmap to success.  Bottom line, zero injuries is a reactive definition of excellence.  Zero is not what you should do nor is it what you should not do.  It is the desired outcome, not the game plan.  It is the coach telling the team at half time, “Don’t lose!”

True safety excellence is not a lofty goal or dream of perfection.  It is a strategic approach to a specific challenge.  The approach must be prescriptive and predictive.  It must involve specific approaches to foster greater knowledge, skills and involvement.  It must communicate and inspire discretionary effort from those involved.  It must include meaningful metrics that are leading indicators and give each worker a way to rate his or her own performance on a daily basis.  

Simply saying “Zero Injuries” is none of these.  It is just a good sounding slogan which is temporarily accomplished by luck or normal variation more often than it is permanently accomplished by solid strategy and execution.

-Terry L. Mathis

For more insights, visit www.ProActSafety.com

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.

The Magnitude of Change

A lot has been written lately on the weaknesses of many change-management strategies and why many change projects fail.  One simple guideline that can avoid many of these problems is simply to make the change in easy steps and to manage the perception of the magnitude of change.  

Fact is, too much change too fast overloads people and systems.  Overload causes inefficiencies and other problems all of which demotivate the change effort and the people involved. This does not mean that massive changes are impossible, it simply means that the change has to be divided into bite-sized pieces.  Each piece has to be palatable and not prompt the overload mentality.  

So if you want to change your culture or employee behavior or perceptions, pick out a few and give them the old “sell it to yourself first” test.  If thinking about the bite makes you nervous or fearful, take a few items off the list till it seems easy to do.  People don’t inherently resist change as much as they resist force and overload.  All change strategies should mapped and each step should be relatively easy to do and not create negative emotions. How effective are your change strategies?

-Terry L. Mathis

For more insights, visit www.ProActSafety.com

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.

Where is the Safety Expertise in Your Organization?

Who is the safety expert in your organization?  The larger the organization the more people should have safety expertise; but at what level does the expertise reside?  Certain types of safety expertise can be limited to one or a few individuals at the mid-management level.  

Regulatory compliance issues in detail can easily be referenced when needed from a centralized source near the top of the organizational chart.  Expertise on daily safety issues should be located nearer to the job.  This expertise can reside in the safety manager or supervisor if there are enough of them.  If there are not enough safety managers or supervisors to adequately oversee the jobs, the expertise should reside in the crew lead or the workers themselves.

Many organizations are in the process of driving expertise down to the lower levels and most are finding great value in doing so.  When every employee at every level becomes a safety expert at their particular job, organizations find their safety performance greatly improves.  The old reliance on the boss telling the worker what to do and how to do it safely is changing to the boss becoming the coach who teaches the worker to direct his or her own efforts and to do them safely.  Performance coaching skills are the vehicles that transfers safety and job-specific expertise to where it does the most good.  Does your culture have this crucial capability?

-Terry L. Mathis

For more insights, visit www.ProActSafety.com

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.

 

The Most Expensive Way

My great grandfather used to joke that every time he trained a mule to plow without eating hay, the darned animal up and died on him.  A lot of organizations starve their safety efforts and still expect them to produce results.  There is nothing wrong with being frugal or financially conservative, but there is a point at which lack of funds or lack of support will actually be fatal.

Many leaders still think they can decide between a more expensive or a less expensive approach when, in reality, they are really choosing between success and starvation.  Safety efforts should be analyzed to find which are effective and which are not; but those that are successful and efficient should be adequately funded and supported.  Smart leaders realize that ultimately the most expensive way to do anything is the way that does not work.

-Terry L. Mathis

For more insights, visit www.ProActSafety.com

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.

Milestones: The Tendency to Think Backwards

A client recently emailed me about a celebration his organization had held to recognize the workforce for reaching a “milestone in their progress towards safety excellence.”  I asked if the “milestone” was something identified on their road map to safety excellence.  After some hesitation he admitted that it was not on the road map but that they had recognized a significant achievement that they believed would be sustainable and wanted to celebrate it.

There is nothing inherently wrong with looking backwards and realizing you have accomplished something worthwhile, but there is a missed opportunity.  Mapping out a journey and identifying milestones in advance does not detract from the satisfaction of reaching them.  In fact, it reinforces the feelings because there was a clear plan to get there and accomplishing the goal is even more satisfying than accidentally realizing success.  Clarity of purpose and direction creates milestones in the road ahead and not just in the rear-view mirror.  

Visible progress toward goals is one of the cheapest and most effective motivators available.  Use it deliberately, communicate your progress continuously, celebrate successes earnestly and motivate your workforce toward safety excellence relentlessly.

-Terry L. Mathis

For more insights, visit www.ProActSafety.com

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.

Safety: Seeing or Thinking?

Have you ever seen the puzzle in the comics that ask you to tell the differences between the top and bottom picture.  At first glance, they look the same.  But, as you look closer, you begin to find minute differences.  If the puzzle didn’t tell you the exact number of differences, you might think you had found them all before recognizing some of them.  The human brain automatically looks for differences, things not the way they should be, but if the differences are not big and obvious they can be missed.

Safety is dependent on these two kinds of recognition as well.  Some risks are big and obvious; others are subtle and take time and concentration to discern.  Among the most difficult risks to accurately discern are low-probability risks, those that don’t result in accidents always or regularly.  

In accident investigations, we have often already determined the risk involved in the accident and assume that it would have been as obvious to the worker(s) injured as it was to the readers of the report.  That is seldom so.  If the risk had been obvious, the worker would have taken precautions barring other factors that might have influenced or limited the decision.  One of the last frontiers of safety involves helping workers and work groups to identify the subtle risks that don’t automatically catch our attention.  

-Terry L. Mathis

For more insights, visit www.ProActSafety.com

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.

Performance: People or Process?

What gets an organization the most excellent performance:  good people or good processes?  Obviously, these two are not mutually exclusive, but most organizations that utilize both favor one or the other.  If you view excellent performance as something delivered by all stars, then you favor recruiting and developing people.  If you view excellent performance as something delivered by a highly-functioning team, you tend to select adequate workers and give them specific processes to define their contributions to performance.  

The most excellent organizations we work with have an interesting blend of these two approaches.  They lean heavily toward the people aspect without neglecting the definition that comes from process.  In the extreme this is a choice between “hang your brain at the door and follow the procedure” and “ let’s all hold hands and sing Kum ba yah.”  Even great people need direction and no amount of direction can compensate for too much lack of ability.  

Neither of these approaches alone has ever proven to produce the highest levels of performance, but the right combination and blending of the two can and has led organizations to levels of performance they didn’t think was possible.

-Terry L. Mathis

For more insights, visit www.ProActSafety.com

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.