Safety Culture Excellence®

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.

362 - Implement Through Ownership

Greetings all, here is a short video for this week's podcast. I hope it gets you thinking!

Shawn M. Galloway

President, ProAct Safety

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.

361 - Safety Culture: The Second Level of Leading Indicators

Greetings everyone, this podcast recorded while in New Orleans, LA. I’d like to share an article Terry Mathis wrote that was published in EHS Today 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 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

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.

 

360 - How do you overcome change resistance?

Greetings all, here is a short video for this week's podcast. I hope it gets you thinking!

Shawn M. Galloway

President, ProAct Safety

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.

359 - How Do You Define Safety Excellence?

Greetings all, here is a short video for this week's podcast. I hope it gets you thinking!

Shawn M. Galloway
President, ProAct Safety

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.

358 - Hands and Feet or Hearts and Minds?

Greetings all, here is a short video for this week's podcast. I hope it gets you thinking!

Shawn M. Galloway
President, ProAct Safety