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Safety Culture Excellence is a weekly series designed to support your efforts towards excellence in performance and culture. For more information or to contact the host, visit www.ProActSafety.com.
Episodes
Wednesday Aug 06, 2014
Wednesday Aug 06, 2014
How many safety professionals who manage contractor relations have ever been contractors themselves? Is safety different for contractors than it is for regular employees? Anyone asking these questions is thinking but probably does not have the answers. YES! Safety is different for contractors and those who try to manage it as though it were not quickly lose credibility.
That does not mean contractors will not placate them and try to make them happy. It simply means that their directives may be dramatically unrealistic and obviously out of touch with the reality of the task at hand. The sad truth is that safety is not an abstract construct that is universally applicable.
True safety is highly in tune with the realities of the job, the worker and the workplace. Safety guidelines that ignore these realities flash a neon light that says “Out of Touch” and labels the originator of them as a complete outsider who is clueless even if the person in charge. Savvy safety professionals seek out these realities and remain flexible. Remember the old saying, “In theory, there is no difference between theory and practice. In practice, there is!”
-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.
Wednesday Jul 30, 2014
Wednesday Jul 30, 2014
Safety leaders are regularly looking for ways to improve safety, or are they? All too many leaders would settle for maintaining the status quo or managing to fail a little less this year than last. It is not that they would not like to make a truly transformational improvement in safety. They simply either don’t think it is possible or don’t have a plan to make it happen.
The beginning of a transformation in safety is to quit trying to control workers and start adding value to them. Workers may sometimes be the problem but they are also the solution. Helping workers perform more safely is different than controlling them. The whole terminology of “safety controls” loses its effectiveness when it moves from conditional controls to behavioral controls.
Transformation begins with winning hearts and minds over to safety excellence and providing the support to enable their efforts. Safety becomes a life ambition and not a game that needs rules to keep people from cheating. The hands and feet of workers only need to be controlled when their hearts and minds are not bought in and fully engaged in the safety 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.
Wednesday Jul 23, 2014
Wednesday Jul 23, 2014
Today’s economic realities have necessitated a great deal of outsourcing. Organizations are clinging to their core competencies and value potential and hiring out peripheral tasks. In safety, more and more of the training function is being outsourced. This can be a good approach to some types of safety training but is definitely not for others.
Definite YES: Skills training by technical experts is almost always more effective. If the organization cannot justify keeping such an expert onboard full-time, outsourcing makes good sense and is often quite effective.
Definite NO: Training that establishes official management style or organizational philosophy. If you want your supervisors to coach safety or your leaders to stay on message about organizational mission and vision for safety, outside trainers are definitely not the way. Specific skills such as coaching or communications can be taught by outsiders, but the deep-rooted organizationally-specific style training is best done by an insider with recognized ties to the organization and specific information to answer questions on strategy and tactics.
Maybe with Qualifications: Training that is required for regulatory compliance can often be outsourced effectively. The one nuance is that much of this type of training is very generic and may not be easily or directly applied by workers to their specific tasks. Training that is too theoretical may lose its effectiveness if the link between the theory and workplace reality is not clear.
Outsourcing the right training and keeping the right training in-house can be a key to success in safety.
-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.
Monday Jul 21, 2014
Monday Jul 21, 2014
This is an audio version of the previously published blog on this topic:
Forget the old ways of measuring safety culture maturity. There
is a new, more effective way to measure cultural maturity and it starts
with looking at the chemistry.
In consulting globally with many of the best in safety performance and culture, nine elements (see the picture with this post) have been identified as most important foci to establish the chemistry which facilitates the necessary climate for a culture of safety excellence to grow. Through consulting engagements and workshops, these nine elements have been successfully leveraged and measured to help organizations identify both their starting point baseline, and also to strategically prioritize which elements to focus on to advance the capabilities of their safety culture.
If you have read my work, participated in any of my workshops or keynote presentations or worked with me directly, you will know I work hard to always provide more take-away tools than motivational fluff. If I was able to provide the framework to facilitate the internal dialogue in article format, I would.
To assist you on your journey to safety excellence, I would like to share this tool with you. To obtain a copy for your internal use, send an email to info@proactsafety.com with the subject of Please Send Chemistry of SCE and our staff will respond at our earliest opportunity.
Cultures will always influence the beliefs and behaviors of employees and contractors as they join the group. You can either manage the chemistry, climate and culture, or the results in any area of operational performance will be managed by them. I invite you to start the conversation to strategically enhance the safety aspect of your company culture and measure your progress by contributed value, not just the lowering of injury rates.
-------------------
Shawn M. Galloway is the President and COO of ProAct Safety. He writes (and tweets:@safetyculture) about his work helping organizations in all industries to achieve and sustain excellence in their culture and performance. He resides near Houston, Texas with his wife and three children.
Wednesday Jul 16, 2014
Wednesday Jul 16, 2014
Some of the old safety programs and processes are still alive and well in certain organizations. When I examine how they have survived so long I almost always find that the program has been modified and customized. The organization is not still doing the process like they were taught, they have “made it their own” over the years using the basic concept(s) but modifying the details.
Another term for customizing might be “culturizing.” When a group of people not only use a methodology but modify it to fit their specific needs and standards, it truly becomes a part of the organizational culture. It is no longer solely the brainchild of the originator, but the adopted child of the group. As it permeates the group it becomes a part of the culture that is shared and handed down.
Such processes never become outdated because they are fluid and the group can evolve them to meet changing needs and challenges. Perhaps it should be the goal of every safety program or process to have this kind of flexibility built in as a sustainability tool. If this were the case, there would likely be fewer flavors of the month and more tools to build strong safety cultures.
-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.
Monday Jul 14, 2014
Monday Jul 14, 2014
Greetings everyone, this podcast recorded while in Banff, Alberta. I’d like to share an article Terry Mathis wrote that was published May 2014 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
Wednesday Jul 09, 2014
Wednesday Jul 09, 2014
Forget the old ways of measuring safety culture maturity. There is a new, more effective way to measure cultural maturity and it starts with looking at the chemistry.
In consulting globally with many of the best in safety performance and culture, nine elements (see the picture with this post) have been identified as most important foci to establish the chemistry which facilitates the necessary climate for a culture of safety excellence to grow. Through consulting engagements and workshops, these nine elements have been successfully leveraged and measured to help organizations identify both their starting point baseline, and also to strategically prioritize which elements to focus on to advance the capabilities of their safety culture.
If you have read my work, participated in any of my workshops or keynote presentations or worked with me directly, you will know I work hard to always provide more take-away tools than motivational fluff. If I was able to provide the framework to facilitate the internal dialogue in article format, I would.
To assist you on your journey to safety excellence, I would like to share this tool with you. To obtain a copy for your internal use, send an email to info@proactsafety.com with the subject of Please Send Chemistry of SCE and our staff will respond at our earliest opportunity.
Cultures will always influence the beliefs and behaviors of employees and contractors as they join the group. You can either manage the chemistry, climate and culture, or the results in any area of operational performance will be managed by them. I invite you to start the conversation to strategically enhance the safety aspect of your company culture and measure your progress by contributed value, not just the lowering of injury rates.
-------------------
Shawn M. Galloway is the President and COO of ProAct Safety. He writes (and tweets:@safetyculture) about his work helping organizations in all industries to achieve and sustain excellence in their culture and performance. He resides near Houston, Texas with his wife and three children.
Monday Jul 07, 2014
Monday Jul 07, 2014
Greetings everyone, this podcast recorded while in Denver, CO. I’d like to share an article I wrote that was published June-July 2014 edition of BIC 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
Monday Jun 23, 2014
Monday Jun 23, 2014
Greetings everyone, this podcast recorded while in Auburn Hills, MI. I’d like to share an article I wrote that was published May 2014 in Occupational Health & Safety 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
Monday Jun 16, 2014
Monday Jun 16, 2014
Greetings everyone, this podcast recorded while in Galveston, TX. I’d like to share an article I wrote that was published May 2014 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