By being a strong leader, you can get more safety compliance and engagement from the employees you serve, reducing accident and injury rates as a result.
To see how you rate as a safety leader, take this safety and health leadership quiz from OSHA’s Safety & Health Management Systems eTool. Read each of the statements below and give yourself:
- 4 points when you Strongly Agree
- 3 points when you Agree
- 2 points when you Disagree
- 1 point when you Strongly Disagree
There are 25 statements, so you might want to grab a piece of paper, number it 1 through 25, and jot down your points for each statement so that you can total your points when you’ve completed the quiz and determine your score.
1. I like it when my people find safety problems and correct them on their own.
2. I have a clear vision of an accident-free workplace.
3. When an accident occurs, I try to understand how my actions might have contributed to it.
4. I make it a point to be on the floor with my people observing safety every day.
5. I know and follow all the safety rules I expect my people to follow.
6. When I really need to understand a safety issue, I talk with some of my line people about it.
7. I know good safety practice when I see it and I always let the person involved know I like what I see.
8. My people have full and open access to all the tools and equipment they need to do their jobs safely.
9. I’ve learned that the person who knows the job best is nearly always the person doing it.
10. I always know the status of safety and safety projects in my organization and those involved know how I feel about that status.
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11. We consistently get a positive return on our investment in safety.
12. I enjoy attending safety meetings and feel good about the results.
13. I know whenever an accident occurs and consider it my role to get involved in addressing the issues it raises.
14. I know enough about the safety process to be able to speak about it to employees, groups and training sessions.
15. I’m always looking for the good things people do so I can recognize them for their efforts.
16. I know everyone makes mistakes and I see this as an opportunity to learn and grow.
17. Some of my greatest satisfaction comes from walking the floor and learning from my people.
18. I worry more about having the right safety values than about having safety rules.
19. I see teamwork everywhere I look in my organization.
20. If my people know what to do for safety, I reinforce them; if they don’t know, I train them.
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21. I am blessed with really good people in my organization.
22. My people helped form my vision of safety, which they now share and support.
23. I know that my actions say more than my words about safety, so I always act out my belief that safety is a key organizational value.
24. Before I send my people to training, I go to the program so that I can reinforce and support their post-training efforts.
25. I know that my people hold safety as a key company value, so they know they don’t need my permission to take safety action.
How Did You Score?
As a general rule, the closer your score comes to 100, the stronger your safety and health leadership skills. If your score is 75 or higher, you are probably operating in a fairly positive, empowered environment and are viewed as a leader by your people. To improve, look at areas where you scored less than strongly agree and understand why. Get your people involved in helping you improve. They’re probably already interested and supportive and will welcome the opportunity to enhance your effectiveness and that of the organization.