Does your safety leader need to be a safety expert? Putting a safety expert in charge of building your safety culture may actually hold you back.
Being the safety nerds that we are, we set out to learn what the leaders of the safest companies in the world had in common. First, we analysed our big data set of over 250 million leading and lagging indicator data points over a 3-year period. From that research, we discovered that companies in the top quartile of safety participation have incident rates 3.5 times lower than the bottom quartile.
Next, we wanted to know how these high achievers built their cultures, so we conducted qualitative interviews to discuss their respective journeys and identify commonalities in each.
We discovered that they took 5 deliberate steps:
- CEO commitment. The chief executive officer (CEO) commits to safety, sincerely and publicly.
- The rise of the safety leader. The CEO appoints and empowers a leader to drive change.
- Employee buy-in. The safety leader earns buy-in from frontline employees.
- Safety reflex. Managers quickly respond to the new safety activities from the front line.
- Safety velocity. The company expands the program to other departments or sites.
Organizations that successfully transition through all 5 steps are able to build what we call a High Participation Safety Culture. The second step is crucial and sets everything else up to succeed. This places the utmost importance on finding the right person to drive organizational change.
But, how do you find this leader?
Who Should Your Safety Leader Be?
Your first instinct may be to hire or promote someone with a strong background in safety. That may be the wrong move.
The most important skill your safety leader can have is the ability to drive organizational change. This role requires a change agent, not a safety expert.
We recently spoke with Steve Chaplin, the vice president of health, safety, and environment at EllisDon. He drives the safety culture at a world-leading construction and building services company, yet he openly states, “I am not a safety expert. In fact, I used to be one of the most unsafe guys around, I’m sure.”
He describes himself as “an operational leader that adds value to the business through health and safety and environmental performance,” and that’s the type of background your safety leader should have.
If such leaders exist in your organization, promote them. If not, you will have to recruit them. However, your new safety leader may be hiding in plain sight within your organization.
Remember, a background in safety is not compulsory. It’s easy to hire someone with a strong background in change management and then train him or her in safety. It’s considerably harder to go the other way around.
Perhaps you already have an A-player in your organization, whom you brought on to turn around a struggling department or division. This person’s success in that role qualifies him or her to be your safety leader. The A-player has already proven he or she can evaluate the workflow of a department and change things for the better.
What Skills Should a Safety Leader Have?
A strong background in safety is a “nice-to-have.” But a background in change management is a must-have.
Your safety leader is not a “safety cop” who reminds your frontline workers to wear their personal protective equipment (PPE). He or she is a change agent who cultivates a safety culture where all employees instinctively wear PPE without a second thought.
The safety leader needs to be able to effectively communicate with the C-level of your organization. This means making the business case for the return on investment of safety and earning buy-in from the highest level.
Your new culture will likely require new tools, which means your safety leader should have experience leading a large procurement operation where he or she:
- Chooses the right solution or vendor;
- Presents the business case to the C-level and stakeholders; and
- Secures the funding/budget to invest.
On top of making the business case for safety to the C-level, your safety leader also needs to connect with frontline employees. These are the people who carry out the daily activities that create a High Participation Safety Culture, so the safety leader needs to earn their buy-in.
Your leader needs to convey both the holistic and financial impact of a better safety culture to the front line:
- Holistic: A safe workplace means everyone goes home safely every single day.
- Financial: A better safety record means the organization can land more contracts, which protects job security.
Safety leaders also need to ensure that managers have the tools and systems they need to respond to a new influx of safety activities from the front line. If managers are overworked and can’t respond to safety activities (e.g., hazard identification or inspections) in a timely fashion, frontline workers will grow frustrated, and you will lose their buy-in.
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What Does Your Safety Leader Need to Succeed?
We mentioned that the safety leader is appointed and empowered in the second stage of building a High Participation Safety Culture. This empowerment comes directly from the CEO.
The CEO of your organization needs to publicly commit to safety as a priority and publicly back this leader as the “face” of this new safety initiative. In doing so, they put their own reputation on the line.
Going back to the example of Steve Chaplin at EllisDon, he received a very public show of support when his CEO asked him to open their Annual General Meeting (AGM). The CEO introduced Steve as the head of safety, then sat down and literally let safety take center stage to open their AGM.
The CEO also needs to ensure that the safety leader has the power to enact organizational change with a seat at the executive decision-making table, right next to the leaders from sales, marketing, and operations.
Putting a safety expert in this role could be the wrong move. This person could have extensive knowledge of the logistical and legislative side of safety but may not know how to make the business case for safety. Your leader needs to be able to communicate with the C-level yet earn respect from the front line.
Most importantly, your safety leader needs to recognize that a strong safety culture isn’t “achieved.” It’s “maintained.” He or she needs to spearhead the changes that move you in the right direction and then ensure that these changes become the new norm and that you can sustain this culture over the long term.
 Josh LeBrun is President and Chief Operating Officer of eCompliance, where he is responsible for strategic direction and day-to-day operations, including finance, legal, administration, marketing, and sales. He is considered a thought leader on the business value of safety management and participation-based safety. Learn more at www.ecompliance.com or e-mail josh.lebrun@ecompliance.com. |