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Good afternoon ladies and gentleman.
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My name is Nuala Gage and I have the pleasure of working with Intertek in the
Performance Safety and Environment Solutions group. We assist clients to find and
implement solutions to performance and safety problems. We are in the business of
helping people to create change.
Change is a constant we are all guaranteed and the journey of moving our organisations
to the right side of safety is a dynamic, ever changing and never ending expedition. At
times it may feel like the daunting task of climbing Mount Everest. However, it does not
have to be. So how do we move our teams along the journey to the right side of safety?
All journeys have a beginning, a spark that sets us in a direction, often something that
changes the way we view the world forever.
I’d like to share a story with you, the spark that set me on my journey and that has
inspired a passion to keep asking, how can we keep ourselves and others safe?
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Sharing your real life stories is a great way to help to help others understand your
passion for safety and why you do what you do. My story is about an experience when I
was 9 years old and how my siblings and I watched a close family friend die in a car
accident as a result of not wearing his seatbelt. What is important about story telling is
that you tell your own story, not a second hand one.
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A great way to get people to share why safety is close to their heart is to ask them to
start with ‘I learnt an important lesson about safety when…’
This is often an emotional experience and if you do this with your teams I suggest that
you allow people to think about their story alone for 5 minutes and then share it with 1
other person, only then ask if anyone would like to share with the rest of the group. You
can’t force people to share intimate moments that have shaped them, it needs to come
voluntarily from the heart.
It is not always easy to share our stories, however the benefits are great.
Especially when working with people who do not understand why processes and
regulations have been put in place, after all, they are the lucky ones who have
not had to experience an incident. As safety leaders, it is up to us to help others
understand the greater impact and possible far reaching effects of our choices.
We need to innovative methods to integrate safety interventions in ways that
encourage learning and change.
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Learning and safety have been very close to my heart from a young age and it
wasn’t until I started working with Intertek that those two passions truly collided.
Where I could combine my knowledge and passion about helping people learn
and be the best they can be while influencing them to make safer choices in
everything they do.
We work with organisations and their people to holistically focus on safe
operations and performance (in short SOP). The SOP framework, a set of
behavioural indicators, and the SOP database and coaching tools provide a way
of integrating different parts of change interventions as well as providing
quantitative measurements for evaluation of those interventions.
Think about what it would mean for you to measure behaviour in the workplace,
and intervene effectively? How would it feel to have a workplace where
communication is strong? What would a great culture of safety look like for you?
And, how do you measure that? These are some of the questions we ask when
considering where organisations are on their journey to the right side of safety.
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We can learn so much from history and the way humans have evolved, and
sometimes when we look at where we have come from we realise that we
haven’t changed that much. Often we do the same things, just in a different way.
Let’s think about problem solving and how we find solutions. We’ll use hunters
and gatherers as an example.
When tribes / families were hungry, they knew that the hunter would rise to the
challenge, he would pick up his spear, his bow and arrow, gather a hunting party,
understand his goal (to feed the hungry people), he would set his eye on a target
and go in for the kill. When he returned there was much celebration and a feast.
The hunter was very satisfied, the people had been fed, the problem has been
solved… for today… it is not long before the hunter was called on, because the
people were hungry again, the satisfaction did not last for long before the same
or a similar problem reoccurred.
That is one example of problem solving, we have a problem, we find the
immediate solution and we act on it.
If hunting was the only way for the tribe to survive, think about the potential
problems.
Gatherers plan ahead for when crops cannot be sown, because they know that
winter is coming. When the hunters come back with their prize, the gathers keep
some meat aside to dry and cure for times when a hunt is not a success, they dry
corn to grind and use in leaner times. They dry medicinal herbs to sustain the
tribe when those plants will not be in season. The gatherers have an indaba to
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discuss the impact on the tribe as a whole and how to make contingency plans,
for tomorrow, the next season, the next year. Gatherers pay attention to changes
in their environment, because the slightest change in the environment could
mean a lack of resources, a dangerous storm, a negative impact. Their approach is
big picture, helicopter view and about long term solutions and longevity.
What does this have to do with systems?
If we think about the hunter, his approach is very linear. There is a problem –
hunger – we have a successful hunt – problem solved. It is however a short term,
knee jerk reaction; it only solves the immediate problem.
When we look at the gatherers, they operate in systems and consider how a
change in one system impacts on other systems which in turn impacts their
success and longevity. They look at long term holistic solutions.
Can hunters and gatherers survive independently? Very unlikely, there will be far
greater success if everyone involved understands not only the short term
solutions but looks at the bigger picture for sustainability.
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Safety management models have evolved from linear approaches.
For example an accident leads to the realisation that workers need to wear
protective goggles to protect their eyes. Every worker is immediately issued with
protective goggles and this is viewed as the solution. This, again, is a quick knee-
jerk reaction. It’s a Band Aid solution.
This is a linear thinking approach. It doesn’t take into account ‘the bigger picture’
realities about how the protective goggles will impact on the worker, production
etc. It doesn’t take into account workers who wear prescription glasses. It
doesn’t take into account behaviour; what happens if workers forget to bring
their goggles to this work task?
If this problem was looked at from a systems approach, we would be asking what
sorts of things might be discussed and planned for before protective equipment
is issued to all workers?
How could a systems approach lead to a better solution?
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Workplaces are complex: they comprise many internal systems and they are
part of many wider communities, global systems. Each of these systems are
dynamic, they are not static, they continually change.
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One way of looking at the work environment and workplace culture is how
people, jobs and the organisation interact.
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A safety management system has information from a number of sources.
It is easier to manage a team when each person in the team is aware of the
‘whole process’ and understands the roles and functions of other team members
and how they impact each other. If people feel part of the ‘whole process’ it can
improve communication, make project management easier, reduce duplication of
effort and so on.
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For years clients had been giving us feedback that they liked what we were doing
because our interventions were leading to the changes they desired. However,
they often asked ‘How can we measure it? How do we convince senior
management that your work is having the desired results?’
In 2008 the OECD (Organisation of Economic Cooperation and Development)
released a paper which was the result of 25 years of research.
The OECD looked at organizations that performed well in HSE lag indicators in
very high risk environments, and compared their behaviours and actions to
organizations that were not performing so well.
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We believe that productive and safe work places are dependent on people
knowing; understanding and having the confidence to work within their
organization’s visions and systems, and these are represented by the 5 primary
parts of the SOP framework.
We have developed a comprehensive list of behavioural indicators for each of the
5 workplace systems. These can be used in front end analysis with clients to help
pinpoint areas of weak performance, take a temperature check to see where
organisations are on their journey to the right side of safety, they can be used to
measure before and after results of learning programs and they can be used as
part of onsite observation and coaching programs.
Our innovative services are designed around a continuous quality improvement
process to ensure that all issues relating to how people perform work are
considered.
We assist clients to:
• Manage risk
• Inspire and develop their people
• Grow and sustain their business
Let’s now have a closer look at the SOP framework. The 5 parts represented in
the SOP logo are called primary indicators – People. Culture, Processes, Delivery
and Sustainability.
All of these need to be operating effectively in order to create a culture of safety.
Each impacts the other and it is important as a business to take a high level
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overview or temperature check as to where you are and where you want to get to.
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There are many behavioural indicators under each of the secondary indicators.
We are going to look at 2 examples.
These can be used during the consultancy stage to help pinpoint performance
issues and ‘safety hotspots’. They provide a great tool for measurement before
and after our interventions. For example: before, during and after workshops; for
specific onsite competency assessment; and for making observations and
creating onsite coaching plans. The behavioural indicators are selected according
to our client’s needs and the type of change intervention we are implementing.
The SOP database tool and coaching program can be customized to track
behavioural change. Behavioural indicators are selected with the client, and then
the SOP database tool is set up so that Intertek Coaches can input the
behavioural observations. The SOP database tool allows you to track and produce
reports about the observations over a period of time. It helps you to identify
behaviour patterns of work teams and/or work sites.
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Within this framework of safe operations and performance there are various
ways of positively impacting areas of weakness that have been highlighted in an
organisation. We will look at some of the influences on the people and culture
aspects of safe operations and performance. We want to influence people to
make safe choices because they choose to, not because someone (often the
safety person) is watching!
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It is estimated that 96% of incidents and accidents in high hazard industry are
caused by at-risk behaviours and a mere 4% are through unsafe conditions.
According to a report from ‘Alert Driving’ human error accounts for 90% of road
accidents. Knowing this as safety leaders’ leaves us with no doubt that the
greatest impact we can make in reducing incidents and accidents lies with
influencing and impacting people.
Effectively influencing those we interact with as safety leader is a skill. I
specifically chose the word interact as opposed to work with, because, as safety
leaders we have opportunities to influence everyone we are in contact with, both
in and outside of work.
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Sustainable behavioural change requires moving people from what they know
and rationally understand in their heads, to what they believe in their hearts, to
what they do – their actions and choices.
There are different ways of influencing people to move to the right side of safety;
sometimes sharing a story is enough to make people think. Unfortunately, not
every time.
As safety leaders, we have to find other ways of influencing people because often
when we force an opinion or way of doing something on someone we are met
with anger and resistance. How else then do we influence others to move to the
right side of safety? How do we find ways to bring the possible negative impacts
close to the heart, to expand thoughts from the immediate short term
satisfaction to the long term consequences and expansive ripple effect?
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Think of someone you love when you watch this short video.
Using available resources is a great way of influencing those around us.
As safety leaders we need to find what is right for the individual.
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Let’s consider one of the seemingly simplest yet most difficult influences a safety
leader has… rapport and communication! So often termed ‘soft skills’, yet they
are often the hardest skills to get right. We underestimate the value in having
simple safety conversations, asking the right questions to get people thinking
further than the short term satisfaction of at-risk behaviours.
Rapport plays a large role in being viewed as a safety leader people believe in
and trust – we know when someone is just paying lip service. When you know
where someone’s heart lays you can have far more impactful conversations that
move them to the right side of safety.
Of course if there is imminent danger we are going to stop the job and have the
conversation afterwards!
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The ripple effect of an at-risk behaviour can have very far reaching effects. As
safety leaders we can work through conversations that help those we influence
to think further than the immediate satisfaction of an at-risk behaviour.
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Safety leadership is primarily about people. We need the right systems,
processes, procedures and equipment. However, none of those keep us safe if
our people are not making the right choices. Safety is not about the latest and
greatest gadget or app. Bells and whistles may be nice but the most effective
impact we can have is how we communicate and influence those around us. We
are responsible for developing our leaders to have effective leadership skills. The
wonderful thing about a skill is that it can be learnt, and even if you don’t get it
right all the time, it is about keeping on one day at a time.
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Does that mean we need to start from scratch and change everything? Not at all!
When Intertek works with organisations, we look at how we can work with what
you already have in place, how effective are the organisations current systems or
processes and what can be done to rejuvenate them to create an impact on your
culture of safety.
We work with your people, and processes to positively impact delivery, ensure
sustainability whilst guiding your organisations culture of safety to the right side
of safety.
Whether you are an identified leader or not, every one of us in this room have all
been given the invitation to help someone get to the right side of safety and to
move along the path to making safer choices. The question is: Are you going to
accept the invitation?
If you are going to accept the invitation, we, at Intertek, are here to assist.
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