Special Topics in Safety Management

Exporting World Class Safety: Part 2

Yesterday, we told you about how DuPont exports world class safety through its safety consulting services. Today, we introduce you to another organization that exports what it has learned about workplace safety to other businesses so that they, too, can improve their safety process.

The development of a strong internal safety process ultimately led Milliken to share what it had learned with other businesses. Since 2008, Milliken’s Performance Solutions has consulted with as many as 150 company sites to create sustainable safety systems with the added benefit of increasing employee engagement.

Wayne Punch, director emeritus of the Milliken Safety Way, says that many companies fall down when it comes to employee engagement. They express a strong belief in employee engagement, he says, but they fail to create a definition that can be benchmarked.

“I have given talks worldwide, and when we ask the question about metrics for involvement, I usually get a blank stare,” says Punch.

Milliken worked to avoid that mistake by identifying specific engagement criteria that its employees were required to meet. For example, they could serve on a safety steering committee, become a trainer or subject matter expert, conduct audits, or work on special safety projects.


What do you measure and how do you use measurements to improve EHS performance? Find out in BLR’s upcoming live webinar on measuring EHS success. Click here for details


Engagement Tools

Once employees are engaged, the next step is to empower them to have an impact on workplace safety and health. That involves making them part of the safety process and providing appropriate tools. For example:

  • Acting on observations. Milliken employees are required to act on what they observe. The action might be adding an observed behavior to an audit checklist or making it the subject of a special safety project. In the Milliken behavior change process, any observation requires either “constructive feedback” or “appreciative feedback.”
  • Bringing closure to open opportunities. Another important part of the process involves a safety tracking mechanism. Punch describes it as a tool used by employees to bring closure to open opportunities. An opportunity could be a safety idea or suggestion, audit or inspection findings, or outstanding meeting agenda items. The item to be tracked is given a number, a date, the name of the responsible person, and an anticipated completion date.
  • Accountability for outcomes. Accountability is also behind the Milliken “prescription for safety.” Every Milliken site receives a prescription, which is a package with policies, metrics, tools, training materials, regulations, reference manuals, corporate guidelines, country-specific regulations, and other elements needed to manage safety on the site level. Individual sites have autonomy to adjust the prescription, but it must be accountable for the

Many of these program elements are among those that Milliken’s consulting service Performance Solutions shares with other businesses. Punch stresses that the goal is not for client companies to mimic the Milliken safety system, but instead to modify their process using Milliken’s proven methods..


Learn how to track safety performance to ensure continual improvement and success. Join us on October 18 for an in-depth live webinar to make sure you choose the measurements that have the strongest correlation to successful safety performance. Learn More.


Measure Your Way to World Class Safety Success

Organizations know that tracking performance is critical to continual improvement and success. Yet in the area of safety, many companies have struggled to identify measurements that have a strong correlation to successful safety performance.

What do you measure and how do you use measurements to improve EHS performance? There are so many EHS measures to consider—some that lag and some that lead. What balances of measures are right for your organization? How do you make sure that company staff including the CEO, CFO, manufacturing, engineering, and legal departments can begin to use your EHS measurement process to drive continuous improvement for the organization?

Join us for an in-depth webinar on October 18. Our presenter, who has extensive experience in developing effective EHS measurement systems, will describe a process that you can use to craft a high-performance EHS system for your organization.

You and your colleagues will learn:

  • The limitations and meaningful application of trailing measures
  • How to create balance in safety performance measurement systems including balance between leading and lagging measures and balance among the types of leading measures, such as activity and outcome measures
  • How to select and use EHS measures that drive high performance safety management success
  • A proven systematic strategy for creating and improving leading measurement systems
  • How to include benchmarking considerations in your EHS measurement systems
  • Important considerations for using audit results as a key measure of safety performance improvement
  • Which EHS measures make the most sense to track and why they have the greatest impact on your company’s safety and health program
  • How to use leading measures to motivate, drive performance, and foster continuous improvement
  • Successful strategies for objectively maximizing leading safety measures
    pressures to avoid them
  • The value of qualitative EHS measures and why safety professionals must resist
  • How to “talk the walk” when discussing your EHS performance factors with CEOs, CFOs, COOs, and the board of directors
  • How can you best identify and evaluate resources to assist you in developing your EHS Metrics Program.

Your Presenter

Barry Spurlock is senior counsel in the Los Angeles office of Seyfarth Shaw, LLP. He is thoroughly experienced in all aspects of civil litigation and OSHA administrative proceedings, from early evaluation and investigation through trial, in the areas of safety, product liability, Title III ADA access, trade secret, commercial, employment, and government contract matters.

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