The ingredients of a strong safety performance

If you want strong performance on safety, make sure senior management is behind it, put a safety management system in place and create a company culture that values it.

Those were the findings at a recent meeting focused on The Role of Leadership in Preventing Chemical Accidents sponsored by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development’s Project on Corporate Leadership.

The preliminary report from the two-day workshop in Italy finds a close link between:

a) Safety leadership – the activities and behaviors of senior management with regard to safety and in particular to process safety.

b) Safety performance – the degree of success with which the company or organization is achieving its goals with regard to safety. Safety performance can be measured using Safety Performance Indicators (SPI), however it is necessary to be aware that SPI are a tool for directing the decision-making processes of management. They are not an absolute measure of safety and are not a goal in their own right. They are also not the only measure of the performance of the Safety Management System.

c) Safety Management Systems (SMS) – the structure of policies, regulations, procedures and processes which are designed to maintain and improve the level of safety within an organization.

d) Safety culture – The set of values attitudes and behaviors which characterize the operations of an organization with respect to safety”

Observations and comments:

a) It is long recognized that leaders are responsible. Let us make sure the often-heard cry from safety professionals of “We need more support” is never again uttered. Instead, let us make sure we say to CEOs, “You lead and we will support you.”

b) Excellent finding. For those who believe that focusing on recordable injuries will magically reduce risk of low probability – high severity events, please pay particular note of this. Having perfect JSAs for production workers does not address the real world risks of skilled trades or maintenance workers – or the potential for catastrophic events.

c) Safety management systems are the CEO’s tool. ANSI/AIHA Z10 is uniquely structured to encourage integration of safety with existing management systems. I am proud to be representing FDRsafety in the update of Z10, which is ongoing at this time.

d) Safety Culture is really a misnomer. There is only organizational culture. Safety must be a value within that culture such that safety is never compromised. ‘Safety culture’ suggests that there is also a ‘quality culture,’ ‘production culture’ etc., which establishes non-value added silos and competition.

Let us take a lead role in helping CEOs have a safer, more productive organization.