Safety Culture Excellence®

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 Fredericksburg, TX. I’d like to share an article I wrote, published September 2013 in ISHN 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

This is a follow-up to a previous blog that can be accessed here: http://www.safetycultureexcellence.com/2013/09/18/more-is-not-better-only-better-is-better/

There seems to be naïve assumption that if training does solve a problem the answer is more training.  It is NOT!  The answer is better training.  Overtraining is a serious problem in the safety programs of several industries.  Workers are literally bombarded with information that is not sticky.  They leave training sessions confused instead of enlightened.  They feel like they are trying to drink from a fire hose.

One problem is that training is designed to limit legal exposure rather than effectively improve safety.  New employee orientation on project jobsites is often a massive information dump, rather than a focused effort to eliminate the most common safety challenges.  In fact, most safety training takes a blanket vs. a focused approach.  The training tries to cover every possible risk rather than focusing on the risks that have historically caused the most injuries.  

Blanket-type training is notoriously non-memorable.  Effective training creates awareness that is sticky, (easy to remember) so that workers can easily carry the knowledge in their memory until it becomes habitual.  Test or ask your trainees if they can recite from training what they should do to improve safety.  Ask them again a week or a month after training.  If they can’t remember, the problem lies in the quality, not the quantity of training.

-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 Craig, CO. I’d like to share an article I wrote, published September 2013 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

When you drive down the highway your eyes perform two distinct, but related functions.  You look at the entire roadway in front of you (scan) and you often glance at the stripes that line your position on the highway (focus).  Both of these functions are crucial to safe driving.  You need to know the entire path you are traveling, but also need to stay within your land to avoid other vehicles.

Most safety programs have a scan but lack a focus.  Workers are admonished to “be careful” and “think before you act” but are not focused on specific improvement targets.  Safety improvement is an elephant that must be eaten a bite at a time.  Scanning may maintain the status quo, but it will not lead to significant improvement.

The best-performing organizations in safety constantly target specific improvements while maintaining the emphasis on the big picture.  Workers are careful but also focused on specific improvement targets that can be transformational for the organization.  Safety cultures form around their ability to solve safety problems and move on to other targets.  They become a “can do” culture and thrive on conquering specific safety challenges.  Excellence is not one-dimensional.  It is a combination of scanning for all risks while focusing on overcoming specific risks.  The journey to safety excellence is taken a step at a time and these steps are the focus that complement the scanning of the road ahead.

-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

The goal of many safety programs is to get all workers and the workplace into compliance with applicable rules and regulations.  This is a necessary and foundational step in any effective safety effort.  However, if the goals and progression stop at compliance, this can cause crucial problems for the future.  Once the workplace passes muster and workers know and adhere to the rules, then what?  The next steps in safety must take the organization beyond the performance levels achieved through compliance.  These steps require much more of workers than simply following the rules.

Beyond compliance is excellence through safety culture.  An excellent safety culture is one in which workers are engaged, not simply conforming.  Worker engagement in safety is seldom accomplished with the tools of compliance.  A new set of tools that challenges workers to belong, participate, and expend creative energy is needed.  The tools of compliance cannot be used or even adapted to meet these challenges.  In fact, the tools used by many organizations to accomplish compliance can actually hamper or kill employee engagement.  A work force can be policed into compliance but must be coached into excellence.

Failure to change from safety cops to safety coaches can stop the progression of safety performance in its tracks.  Workers will develop a “good enough” attitude toward safety if there is no reason to go above and beyond.  They will not buy in if there is no compelling rationale.  They will not feel part of the effort if there are no involvement opportunities.  They will never own the safety-excellence effort if they are not allowed to help create it.  Recognizing the point at which compliance needs to give way to excellence is the key to continuous improvement in safety.

-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 Austin, TX. I’d like to share an article written by Terry L. Mathis, published August 2013 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: 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

Today at work, employees and leaders alike will work hard to control risk exposure on the job. Hazard identification training will take place, new risks will be identified and barriers to safety excellence removed. The vast majority of these same individuals will leave at the end of their day to return home to go trick-or-treating with family members, or stay home to hand out candy. We are increasing our ability to identify hazards and control risks on the job, how well are we doing with Halloween?

My earliest memories of the joys of Halloween are also coupled with the horror stories of apples with needles in them, pixie sticks with PCP (Phencyclidine) or cyanide, child predators, and blades in lollipops. Many of these were myths, but there were truths as well. In 1964, a woman in Long Island, New York, frustrated with the increasing age of trick-or treaters, handed out items containing steel wool, dog biscuits and ant buttons. Thankfully she was prosecuted. In Detroit the same year, lye-filled gum made the news, along with rat-poison as treats in Philadelphia.

Today these stories persist and a new risk has emerged as the top danger of Halloween, distracted driving. According to the article, “Halloween is ‘Deadliest Day’ Of The Year For Pedestrian Fatalities” (http://www.bestplaces.net/docs/studies/halloween_deadliest_day.aspx) some concerning details were revealed based on an analysis of more than four million records in the Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS) from 1990 – 2010 for children 0-18 years of age on October 31.

• “Halloween Was Deadliest Day of the Year for Child Pedestrian Accidents
• Nearly one-fourth of accidents occurred from 6:00 – 7:00 p.m. Over 60% of the accidents occurred in the 4-hour period from 5:00 to 9:00 p.m.”
• Over 70% of the accidents occurred away from an intersection or crosswalk.
• Most of the fatalities occurred with children ages 12-15 (32% of all child fatalities), followed by children ages 5-8 (23%).
• Young drivers ages 15-25 accounted for nearly one-third of all fatal accidents involving child pedestrians on Halloween.”

1. If wearing a mask, make sure it doesn’t limit vision
2. Wear bright enough clothing or reflective items and carry a flashlight – and turn it on!
3. Make sure clothing or costume accessories do not limit mobility
4. Cross at crosswalks and intersections, not in the middle of the street
5. Trick-or-Treat in larger groups to increase visibility
6. If you need to drive, take a cab if consuming alcoholic beverages or are tired
7. Do not operate a phone while driving (Teen age drivers more prone to distracted driving)

It is logical to begin a safety effort by addressing the risks with the greatest probability for causing injuries and the highest severity potential.  However, it is imperative that when the greater risks are addressed that the next ones in line get the new focus.  If an organization ever develops the mindset that they have handled the big things and all that is left are little things, not worth the bother, this is a formula for disaster.  Many rude wake-up calls have come via a rash of accidents caused by these “little things.”

Accidents are, after all, ambushes.  If we saw them coming we would have avoided them.  So it logically follows that anything we don’t keep our eyes on has the potential of ambushing us.  Some experts suggest that workers get injured when they fail to recognize the risk.  But underestimating the risk is equally dangerous.  

Many have adopted a goal or vision of “zero injuries.”  If properly explained and implemented, such a goal can keep organizations continuously addressing smaller risks as they successfully eliminate or manage larger ones.  When accident rates go down, the effort does not stop; it simply refocuses itself on the next tier of risks.  True excellence in safety is quite different from simply pretty good.  No risk should ever be considered a “little thing.”

-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.