The document outlines the importance of safety leadership in fostering a positive safety culture within organizations, emphasizing the psychological and social aspects of safety. It discusses various dimensions of safety culture maturity, identifies strengths and weaknesses in current practices, and offers strategies for leaders to enhance their influence in safety matters. Additionally, it provides insights into the brain's role in leadership and decision-making related to safety, proposing methods to effectively drive change and engagement among team members.

1. Copyright © Sentis Pty Ltd 2023. This document remains the intellectual property of Sentis Pty Ltd and is protected by copyright and
registered trademarks. No material from this document is to be reproduced or used in any format without express written permission.
SAFETY LEADERSHIP IN
ACTION
THE ROLE OF SAFETY
LEADERSHIP IN
CREATING A POSITIVE
SAFETY CULTURE

3. 1
2
3
The new definition of safety and the
role of safety leadership in creating a
positive safety culture
OVERVIEW
The Brain and Leadership:
The brain science of leadership
Psychology of Influence
4
Safety Leadership in Action:
Key influencing tools in creating
a positive safety culture

4. Name and role in the
business
ACTIVITY: INTRODUCTIONS
What does safety mean
to you?
Why does safety matter
to you?

5. EXPANDING SAFETY:
CARING FOR THE COMPLETE INDIVIDUAL
Physical Psychological Social
Physical safety - being protected from
physical harm or danger
Psychological safety - the extent to
which individuals feel confident to
express their thoughts and opinions,
without fear of negative
consequences.
Social safety - the sense of security
people have in their relationships and
interactions with others.

6. PERSONAL BIG 5

7. DO WE SEE
SAFETY AS A
‘COST’ OR A
‘CURRENCY’?

8. Safety is not about
protecting you
FROM something,
but FOR something.

9. JOINING THE DOTS

10. SAFETY CULTURE MATURITY QUIZ
Take our new interactive quiz to
discover the greatest areas of
improvement to help your people.

11. RESEARCH SAMPLE

12. 86%
of organisational sites
operate from a negative
safety culture

13. “Safety is important if it
doesn’t cost money.”
“You come to work and
no one gives a s***
about safety.”
“Some of them just
don’t care about
safety procedures.”
“A piece of paper won’t
stop someone dying—
it’s developed as an a***-
covering exercise.”
“I think people are so
used to living in filth at
work that they don’t care
anymore.”
“We have fired people
who have been injured
and then avoided
recording it.”
“We are constantly
complaining to managers
about the air quality, that
after 4pm we can’t
breathe.”

14. THE BIGGEST OPPORTUNITIES
Top five opportunity areas identified across sites operating at Counterproductive and
Public Compliance levels of safety culture maturity.
Safety Culture Dimension Opportunity Frequency (% of Sites)
Quality of safety procedures* 56%
Management safety commitment* 51%
Internal context* 48%
Willingness to report incidents and errors 40%
Employee safety performance* 37%
*Denotes dimensions that have a strong correlation with safety culture maturity (Pearson Correlation ≥0.70)

15. LESSONS FROM SITES DOING WELL
Top five strength areas identified across sites operating at Private Compliance and
Collaborative levels of safety culture maturity.
Safety Culture Dimension Strength Frequency (% of Sites)
Safety mission and vision* 60%
Management safety commitment* 60%
Within-team safety communication 50%
Safety responsibility* 50%
Team support for safety 40%
*Denotes dimensions that have a strong correlation with safety culture maturity (Pearson Correlation ≥0.70)

16. CREATE A STRONG VISION OF THE CULTURE YOU
WANT TO ACHIEVE
COST
What not to do
Absence of harm
Lag indicator focus
Correct and control
Blame
Error / mistake focused
Hunt the mistake
Blame the worker
Top down
Hide issues
Black and white rules
External Locus of Control
(ELOC)

17. CREATE A STRONG VISION OF THE CULTURE YOU
WANT TO ACHIEVE
CURRENCY
What to do
Presence of safety
Focus on capacity and
capability
Empower and collaborate
Learning from success
Hunt the good stuff
Look at the system
Walk a mile in your shoes
Freedom in a framework
Internal Locus of Control
(ILOC)

18. FACTORS THAT DRIVE SAFETY MATURITY UP AND DOWN
Physical
Psychological
Social

19. Physical
Social
Psychological

20. THE LEADERSHIP LINK
    
Impact of Poor Safety Leadership on
Employees Safety Behaviours
Negative safety culture
Low discretionary effort
Positive safety culture
High discretionary effort

21. THE LEADERSHIP LINK
Impact of Strong Safety Leadership on
Employees Safety Behaviours
    
Negative safety culture
Low discretionary effort
Positive safety culture
High discretionary effort

22. SCM IN ACTION

24. LEADER LINK: APPLYING PB5 &
THE SAFETY CULTURE MODEL
REVIEW YOUR SCM FOR
YOUR AREA
How well are you and your team
investing in all components of
safety culture?
ENVIRONMENT, PRACTICES,
PERSON & LEADERSHIP
What needs to change or be
invested in to achieve a total safety
culture?
ENGAGE TEAMS WITH
THEIR PB5
Get to know what is important for
your team members’ PB5. Keep
their PB5 front-of-mind regularly.
Remind them to consider their
PB5 when making safety
decisions each day.

25. 2
THE BRAIN &
LEADERSHIP

26. WHY DO WE FOCUS ON
THE BRAIN?

27. AS WE GO TO A BREAK….AN INTRO TO OUR BRAIN

28. BRAIN FACT:
Our brain was designed
for survival in simple
environments

29. BRAIN FACT:
Our brain likes to find
ways to conserve
energy

30. Behavioural and procedural
controls are here to stay. Therefore,
there is a need to make sure their
inherent frailty is understood…
This includes an increased
understanding of social,
psychological, organisational
culture and culture change as well
as an appreciation of human
error/reliance.
International Council on Mining & Metals - 2019

31. THREE FUNCTIONS OF THE BRAIN
FILTER IN G
IN FOR MATION
PAYING
C ON SC IOU S
ATTEN TION
R U N N IN G OU R
SU BC ON SC IOU S
PR OC ESSES

32. ACTIVITY: PAY ATTENTION
Licensed for use through Viscog Productions, Inc. (www.Viscog.com)

33. DIPI
MILLIONS OF
BITS OF
INFORMATION
ATTEND

34. KEEP IT SIMPLE
If we only have 7 Units
then make sure you give
directions and information
in simple bite-size chunks
so that it is easier for your
people to process it.
LEADER LINK: USING OUR 7 UNITS
MOST EFFECTIVELY
MANAGE ‘GORILLAS’
Be mindful of what may be
distracting or is creating
blindspots for your team. Find
ways to remove the distractions
or direct your teams’ attention
where it is needed: ‘What’s
Important Now?’. Also,
consider this: are you potentially
being a ‘gorilla’ for your team?!

35. DANGEROUS
First and
foremost, we are
hard wired for
survival and
prioritise our
attention to those
things that could
harm us.
DIPI
IMPORTANT
We tend to focus
on those things
that have
become
important to us
throughout our
life.
PLEASURABLE
Our attention will
be drawn to
things that we
enjoy, make us
feel good or
make us happy.
INTERESTING
We have a knack
for picking out
the unusual,
strange or
inconsistent
information in our
environment.

36. WHAT AFFECTS OUR BRAIN’S ABILITY TO SEE RISK?
MEDICATION
RUSHING

37. Questions automatically
activate the ‘search engine’
of our brain.
The question you ask will
determine what ‘folder’ it looks
in to find you an answer.

38. ATT ITUDE
BEHAVIOUR
RESULT
THINK, FEEL, DO

39. PROMOTE YOUR RISK
ASSESSMENT
Help your team to see the
ongoing benefits of risk
assessment – remind them
that things can change.
Personal and formal risk
assessment processes help
us to focus our attention and
counteract some of our brain
limitations.
CELEBRATE THE WINS
If you are asking your team
to identify risks and report
hazards, then find ways to
promote this as a positive –
the risk was found before it
progressed to something
worse.
GORILLA HUNTING
We have several brain
limitations that can impact
our ability to see risk.
Counteract these
limitations by using risk
assessment tools
effectively, sharing
knowledge around risks
with team members and
hunting for ‘gorillas’.
ASK ‘IS IT WORTH
THE RISK?’
Check your ‘frames’ before
commencing a task. Is the
risk, or the risk of not
managing a potential
hazard, worth it to you and
your PB5?
SEEING AND MANAGING RISK

40. 3
THE PSYCHOLOGY
OF INFLUENCE

42. UNDERSTANDING THE ‘SOCIAL BRAIN’

43. HOW DO YOUR PEOPLE EXPERIENCE SAFETY AT WORK
PAGE 45

44. SAFETY IMPLICATIONS

46. BRAIN TOOL:
The portion of
responsibility I choose
to take in any given
situation:
WHAT’S MY 50%?

47. THE ‘ONAGAWA CASE’

48. CONSCIOUS LEADERSHIP: TWO THINGS TO CONSIDER
THE FRAME
I HAVE
AROUND
MYSELF AS
A LEADER
THE FRAME
I HAVE
AROUND
MY TEAM

50. S T A G S
P
R
O
G
R
E
S
S
MAINTENANCE
ACTION
PREPARATION
CONTEMPLATION
PRE-CONTEMPLATION
STAGES OF CHANGE
PSYCHOLOGY
OF CHANGE
Any behaviour change depends on having:
1. The reason or motivation to change
2. The knowledge of how to change
Organisations are more than just a sum of
their individual employees.
For effective change, processes must
take individual and organisational factors
into account.
W H E R E D O Y O U R S A F E T Y
I N I T I AT I V E S T A R G E T ?

51. PSYCHOLOGY OF CHANGE
P
R
O
G
R
E
S
S
MAINTENANCE
ACTION
PREPARATION
CONTEMPLATION
PRE-CONTEMPLATION
STAGES OF CHANGE
Where most safety
initiatives target
...and here
... here
Better to focus
here…

52. SAFETY
LEADERSHIP IN
ACTION
4

53. THE SAFETY LEADERSHIP SKILLS REQUIRED TO DRIVE
A POSITIVE TEAM SAFETY CULTURE
PAGE 22

54. THE FOUR STRATEGIES OF
A SAFETY LEADER
Leading as the ‘Guide’
Leading as the ‘Coach’
Leading to ‘Empower’
Leading as an ‘Advocate’

55. PULLING THE RIGHT LEVERS
AT THE RIGHT TIME
The four strategies of a safety leader:
• The Leader as the ‘Guide’
• The Leader as the ‘Coach’
• The Leader as the ‘Empowerer’
• The Leader as the ‘Advocate’

56. DIRECT, INSPIRE
& MOTIVATE
(THE ‘GUIDE’)
MONITOR, COACH
& INFLUENCE
(THE ‘COACH’)
CHALLENGE,
COLLABORATE
& DELEGATE
(THE ‘EMPOWERER’)
TRUST &
WILL
TIME & SKILL
THE ‘ADVOCATE’

57. THE FOUR STRATEGIES OF
A SAFETY LEADER
The Leader as the ‘Guide’
The Leader as the ‘Coach’
The Leader as the ‘Empowerer’
The Leader as the ‘Advocate’

58. THE LEADER AS THE ‘GUIDE’
✓ Outlines a clear safety vision and how
to achieve it
✓ Role models expected behaviour
✓ Supports team with skills development
and resources to do the job
✓ Recognises good safety outcomes
and corrects gaps observed
✓ Actively listens and seeks to understand
✓ Promotes self-initiated reflection for
safety investment
✓ Addresses challenges and find solutions
in the moment
Effective Skills:

59. How:
Find the time Join the dots Give people ‘just
enough rope’
Hold people to
account
THE LEADER AS THE ‘GUIDE’

60. CONVERSATION FRAMEWORK

62. ✓ Challenges people to think differently
about safety
✓ Encourages workers to discuss and
resolve safety issues
✓ Suggests sources of inspiration to solve
the safety challenge
✓ Provides ongoing feedback about safety
decisions onsite
✓ Uses a combination of tangible and
intangible rewards (e.g. verbal praise) to
acknowledge safety success
THE LEADER AS THE ‘COACH’
Effective Skills:

63. How:
Become a master
of questions
Apply appreciative
inquiry skills
Know what
inspires your
people
Hold your ground
and help people
to resolve their
own challenges
THE LEADER AS THE ‘COACH’

64. ENCOURAGE
PARTICIPATION
“What are
some other ways
we could tackle
this task?”
ENGAGE
THINKING
“What is the
biggest risk we
need to manage
in this task?”
ENCOURAGE
OWNERSHIP
“What are we
going to do to
make sure this is
resolved?”
CHECK FOR
UNDERSTANDING
“Are you clear on
how this may impact
your tasks today?

65. ✓ Tailors the safety vision to target specific
growth areas within the team
✓ Strategically shares information about
safety onsite to increase individuals’
sense of personal responsibility
✓ Provides opportunities for the crew to
take more personal responsibility for
their safety
✓ Encourages workers to recognise and
reward each other for high safety
performance
THE LEADER AS THE ‘EMPOWERER’
Effective Skills:

66. How:
Become a master
of effective
recognition
Learn to foster
collaboration
Give over the
keys to the car
THE LEADER AS THE ‘EMPOWERER’

67. TOKENS: UNITS OF RECOGNITION

68. EFFECTIVE TOKENS
H O W C A N W E
E N S U R E
A C K N O W L E D G E M E N T
I S E F F E C T I V E F O R
I N D I V I D U A L S ?

69. Due to your
choice we …
As a result
of your …
Because … Type of people,
we / you are

70. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT IN ACTION IN ACTION
“Here in the southeast I wanted to acknowledge that
overnight we had no emergency rescues. That is a great
tribute to the people of this region. I am very proud of
them. They did what we asked…
…They followed all the warnings, they co-operated with
our emergency staff and I am very, very proud of our staff
who were out there on the frontline last night…
…It was an incredible effort overnight and I am very
grateful to all of the people who heeded our warnings and
helped our emergency staff keep us all safe”

71. “This team has been given
this achievement award
because of the excellent
effort we put forth the
entire year. I believe that
reflects the type of
people we are.”

72. THE LEADER AS THE ‘ADVOCATE’
✓ Actively cares for the health and
wellbeing of their people
✓ Actively listens to teams needs
✓ Role models organisational
expectations
✓ Supports organisational goals by
promoting them to team
✓ Recognises and promotes team
effectiveness to senior leadership
✓ Addresses challenges up and down
the line to find best solutions for team
and organisation
Effective Skills:

73. THE LEADER AS THE ‘ADVOCATE’
How:
Ramp up your
emotional
intelligence
Ramp up your
diplomacy skills
Know the safety
vision well and
find your ‘pitch’
Become a ‘poster
child’ for
psychological
safety

74. “THIS IS THE WAY WE’VE ALWAYS DONE IT…”
Appreciative Inquiry is
about asking questions
that trigger critical
thinking
= Root Cause
“Doing things the way we have before keeps us comfortable
and feeling in control. But what might the benefits be in
rethinking how we do things?”
“Have we had to make a change in the past? How did we
achieve it? It may not have been easy at first, but have we
shown ourselves it can be done?”
“When was the last time we stopped to challenge ourselves
about the way we do things? Could we be missing an
opportunity here for a change for the better?
“What would need to happen in order to make this change
work and be worth doing?”
INFLUENCING UNHELPFUL FRAMES…

75. ACTIONABLE
INSIGHTS

76. WHAT HAVE WE COVERED…
DIPI
TOKENS
7 UNITS
SOLUTION
FOCUSED
LANGUAGE
QUESTIONS
SOCIAL
BRAIN

77. SO WHAT?

78. The Safety Leadership Masterclass
Starts
September 25, 2023
Duration
8 weeks, online
Watch course videos, engage in live Q&As
with safety culture experts and extend
your learning with optional challenges
Collaborate with 24/7 access to a global
community of likeminded peers
Apply your learning to become an
influential change agent and create a clear
roadmap for culture change success.
Learn more and secure your place today
safetyleadershipmasterclass.com
Request more information

79. sentis.com.au 1300 653 042
ANTHONY GIBBS
CEO
+61 427 521 757
Anthony.Gibbs@sentis.com.au
Copyright © Sentis Pty Ltd 2023. This document remains the intellectual property of Sentis Pty Ltd and is protected by copyright and
registered trademarks. No material from this document is to be reproduced or used in any format without express written permission.
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