EHS Daily Advisor held the EHS NOW online summit this week with two days of webinars focused on how to build an effective safety culture. Here is a rundown of everything covered during EHS NOW, including key takeaways. If you were unable to attend the live webinars, you can still watch them on-demand at the links below.
Wednesday, March 8
Opening Keynote | Positive Safety Culture Starts From the Top
Speakers: Christina R. Roll, MS, CIH, CSP, Casualty Risk Consultant, AXA XL
Sponsor: Avetta, KPA, SafetySkills
Key takeaways: Good, effective communication is key for a workplace culture. It must go both ways. Safety culture can’t start at the top, but the top must support it.
Survey your employees about safety and safety culture. Surveys can be very powerful and effective ways to hear from people and get feedback.
Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives can help increase a company’s profitability and boost workforce retention. If you have positive safety cultures and positive DEI policies to help with that, that will go a long way to convincing employees to stick around.
Watch the full presentation on-demand here.
Educational Session | Gender Diversity in EHS Technology
Speakers: Christine Adeline, SVP Product Management & Marketing – EHS&S, SAI360;
Julie-Ann Clark, Global EHS Data and Reporting Manager, Sandvik
Rhandi Selde, Senior Consultant and SME, SAI360
Liz Clarke, Principle Consultant, SAI360
Sponsor: SAI360
Key takeaways: The adoption of EHS technology will continue to grow in priority. No matter what the technologies are and how great they are, you need people to implement them and maximize the use of those technologies. These technologies won’t implement themselves.
Use technology to get the right data, then use the data to gain insights you share with Operations.
Safety seems like a man’s world, but it’s not true. The thing about safety is people care. They want to make things better for the world. It’s not lip service.
You need to be fluid and flexible. Technology is just moving all the time. And the demand never stops.
Being able to be understanding and empathetic is one of the big things women bring to this industry.
Watch the full panel discussion on-demand here.
Panel Session | The Safety of Tomorrow’s Workers: Building a Safety Culture That Gen Z Can Get Behind
Speakers: Moderator: Grace Hatfield, Associate Content Specialist, EHS Daily Advisor; Tyler Vanchure, Sr. EHS Specialist, The Hershey Company; Abby Ferri, CSP, Chief Risk Officer, Insurate; Shawn Galloway, CEO, ProAct Safety; Scott DeBow, CSP, ARM, Principal of Health/Safety & Environmental, Avetta
Sponsored by: Avetta
Key takeaways: Gen Z is defined by their authenticity and transparency. They value diversity, flexibility, work-life balance, and they are concerned about mental health, social issues, and climate change.
In a workplace setting, Gen Z will ask the necessary questions and work as efficiently as possible, using the technologies at their disposal to get their work done.
In order to welcome Gen Z into the workforce, older generations must offer their time and knowledge, and Gen Z must know when to listen and offer new alternatives.
Watch the full panel discussion on demand here.
Thursday, March 9
Now & Next Research Review | Generational Diversity and Safety Culture
Speakers: Gary Bonnett, Head of Customer Engagement, Safety Culture; Jay Kumar, Editor-in-Chief, EHS Daily Advisor
Key takeaways: Most respondents surveyed rated their organization as having an effective safety culture, but they may think that until adversity hits.
Generational diversity can be a serious issue. Most respondents to Now and Next survey found it was either a major problem (20%) or somewhat of a problem (43%).
Engaging older workers is important, but it’s also important to realize that not all older workers want to be mentors to younger workers. Capture the expertise of older workers to retain that valuable institutional knowledge.
To keep younger workers engaged, use microlearning through multiple platforms. Don’t assume older workers can’t handle new technology or learning methods.
Leadership is doing a better job of demonstrating safety through its actions and sending the message that safety is a priority for all workers.
Watch the full discussion on demand here.
Fireside Chat | How Do You Build A Safety Culture That Sticks?
Speakers: Jill Schaefer, Director, Content Management, KPA; Shawn Smith, Product Director, Training, KPA
Sponsored by: KPA
Key takeaways: Your culture should empower every teammate to have an impact on safety.
You need an effective safety culture to identify where you can reduce the potential for incidents.
Every facility or location is different. Your ideas of the safety workplace are going to be different.
A strong safety culture doesn’t just result in less injuries. It also results in more productivity.
Technology is a big part of an effective safety culture.
Watch the full discussion on demand here.
Educational Session | The Five Elements of a Successful Data-Driven Safety Culture
Speaker: Scott Gaddis, Vice President, Global Practice Leader – Safety and Health, Intelex Technologies
Sponsored by: Intelex
Key takeaways: Companies are looking at how to leverage data across the system to look for best practices and outliers.
Safety culture is an organization’s underlying beliefs, truths, ideas, assumptions, values, and practices that are demonstrated by its members.
You should digitize your safety management system. System levers include: employee behaviors and engagement; capability and capacity; physical control of the work environment; management, leadership, and accountability.
Younger workers expect to learn new skills via technology.
Use analytics to get to the root of a problem such as a safety incident.
Watch the full discussion on demand here.
EHS on Tap Live | Eldeen Pozniak on Safety Culture
Speakers: Eldeen Pozniak, Director of Pozniak Safety Associates; Jay Kumar, Editor-in-Chief, EHS Daily Advisor
Key takeaways: Don’t separate safety culture from organizational culture. Culture is culture.
Looking at our systems is as important as looking at worker behaviors.
If you don’t have an overall organizational survey, then doing a separate safety perception survey is fine. To measure organizational culture, do surveys, inspections, and document review. After analyzing the results, you want to engage people.
The approach depends on the organization. You could have a top-down driven approach with engagement from workers, or go with a grassroots focus. You have to look at the context of the organization.
Younger generations are willing to tolerate less.
If you’re not seeing the results you want, have an outside person evaluate it. Hold focus groups to get ideas for improvement.
Watch the full discussion on demand here.