Safety Leadership

RoadTek

•Explore and share ideas about some basic concepts of Leadership and how they can be applied in WH&S

•Begin development of your own safety leadership improvement strategy

Objectives:

Leadership – What is it?

Leadership is not:

Not Power -

•Power derives from status, money, ability to harm, access to media or control materials

•A Thug who sticks a gun in you back has “power” but not leadership

Leadership is not:

Not Status -

•Status or position may enhance the opportunity for leadership

•Some in a high status or position haven’t got a clue how to lead

Not Authority –

• A person may have subordinates, but not followers

•People will only follow if a person acts as a leader

Leadership is not:

Not Management -

•Management is an organizational skill

•Managers preside over procesesses, functions and program

The leadership role, more than any other function, shapes and influences the culture that produces performance outcomes

You do not lead by hitting people over the head… that’s assault, not leadership

Pres. Dwight D. Eisenhower

Impact of Leadership

Excellent safety performance is about getting the right behaviour from people.

•Although necessary, it is not about systems and procedures.

As a leader, you have a tremendous impact in the field by what you:

Say

Do

Don’t say or don’t do

Visible Leadership

Primary Key for achieving Safety Success:

SAFETY LEADERSHIP

=VISIBLE COMMITMENT

Your Role as a Leader

• Excellent performance requires your leadership

• As a leader you should know: how our safety programs work and your role in them the importance of leadership in getting the right behaviours

Leading in the Field• ‘Walk the talk’

• Demonstrate your commitment with visible actions

• Follow-through with actions

• Never turn a blind eye

• Hold others accountable

Consistent

FairFirmBe

Your Job as a Safety Leader is to…

• Explain the HSE process to employees

• Provide effective feedback

• INTERVENE: NEVER walk past an unsafe act or condition. To do so is to approve or condone the activity or condition

• Seek to understand WHY the situation or behaviour was that way

And so correct the problem, not treat the symptom

At-Risk BehaviourIf you see someone taking a risk, you are authorised to:

Stop the job

Talk to them

Explain the risk

Explain the safe wayIf you are ignored & they continue to take the risk,

Report it

Personalise your leadership… Use words like

I need you to…

My expectations are…

I want you to...

Not

The Client want you to…

WHS Advisor requires…

My boss wants…

Actions Speak Louder Than Words • Lead by example

• Employees will subconsciously follow your actions

They always pick up the bad habits first!

• Show them the way

• Nominate individuals and teams for awards and certificates

Recognition

• Give plenty of verbal recognition to individuals and teams for jobs well done

Let individuals and team known when you observe their safe behaviour

Use pre-start safety talks to provide feedback

• Catch your team doing the right thing!!

Safety Leadership Journey

Raised Awareness

PersonalApproach

Inspire Others to Behave Safely

SystemProceduresPoliciesForms

ComplianceLicence to Operate

Discover andshare otherways of operating

Why we arehere today

Leadership Ongoing Journey

Transactional - Tasks

(Talk at and Tell)

Build Relationships

Transformational

(Conversation)

(Consultation/Mutual Respect)

Practical Tools To Apply Leadership

Understanding Peoples Behaviour

ABC Model

ActivatorEvents that precede behaviour

and prompt it.

Have 20% impact impact on behaviour

E.g. Training, personal beliefs, behaviour of others, past

experience, requested to do something

BehaviourThings people say and their

actions

Behaviour determines performance

ConsequencesEvents that follow behaviour

Have 80% influence on whether behaviour occurs again

Understanding Peoples Behaviour

Principles of ABC

• Majority of all incidents are caused by people behaving in unsafe ways

• Understanding employee behaviour is fundamental to the success of creating a safe workplace

• Premise of model is that all Behaviour (B) is a function of its immediate environment.

• Factors such as Activators (A) and Consequences (C) of each behaviour trigger and sustain it

ABC Model

• Activator – Aspect of the environment, precedes and influences behaviour

Eg – Others are doing it or The right tool/plant not available

• Behaviour – Something you can see, every day – every task – Its either safe or unsafe

• Consequence – Every behaviour is followed by a series of consequences

ABC Model - Examples

• Someone is speeding in the workplace

• Why are they speeding? – Thrill, Late for work, emergency, attitude, nice road to speed

• Ended up as – crash, caught by Police, someone else ran off the road

• Activity - Work out the ABC!

• Activity – Think of Some others

• As a Leader – Ask the questions

How we reward Unsafe Behaviours

How we punish safe behaviour indirectly

Key MessageABC Model is a cultural change tool

Moves culture from one that inadvertently encourages unsafe behaviour and punishes safe behaviour

To one that increases positive behaviour through reinforcement

Psychology of Influencing Others

ReticularActivating System

(RAS)

• The part of the brain that determines what we are going to pay attention to

• You can program your RAS

• You can program other peoples RAS

• Influencing Positively with RAS questions

Influencing Positively

RAS Questions -

• What might happen if you fall?

• What impact does it have for others if they see you doing it that way?

• Have you thought about the consequences?

• How can you improve on that?

• Activity - Can you think of Others?

Consult and Communicate

• Intent

• Look & Observe

• Engage

• Ask Questions

• Discuss Consequences

Leading an Effective Toolbox

Talk/Pre-Start Meeting

• Target

• Engage

• Ask Questions

• Mutually Agree

In Short…

• You are the key to high performance. Your job as a Leader is as much about SAFETY as it as about productivity

• Know and understand the expectations and systems

• Ask for support whenever needed… demand it!

• If in doubt, STOP THE WORK

• Document your efforts

REMEMBER

YOU are responsible for safety

YOU are the KEY to safety

Safety Leadership Commitment Statement

What is it?•One page written statement•Personal commitment made to your health & safety•Commitment to what you will or will not do •Share your commitment with you collogues by posting in visible location i.e. office door, work station etc

Why?•Create a “total safety culture”•Next step towards achieving the our goal of “Zero Harm”

At work – on the roads – in the home!

At work – on the roads – in the home!

I will:

Intervene if I observe at-risk behaviours

Lead by example and “walk the talk”

Provide recognition to individuals of teams when safe behaviours are observed

Only talk on a hands free mobile when driving

Adopt the principles safety as a whole of life value

I will not:

Be a risk taker instead a risk manager

Ignore people that are at-risk of injury without taking action

Walk past a hazard without talking action: fix it, make it safe, report it

Condone the taking of “short cuts” that defeats approved safe work practices

Drive recklessly and in doing so place myself or others at-risk

Name: Stephen Pooler

Position: Senior WHS Advisor

Signature: Date: 13 Jun 2008

SAFETY LEADERSHIP Commitment Statement

Any questions?

Your turn…

Summary of Safety Leadership Attributes

Safety Leaders

Recogniseand Reward

Participate &Communicate

Inspire &Motivate

Leadby Example

ProvideResources

ShowConcern

SafetyImprovement

Role Model Build Trust

Your attention and participation was appreciated