Safety Leadership Principles

Safety is good for business!

Injures and damage are the tip of the ice berg – they are the warning signs of bigger problems that are out of sight but very real and dangerous.Through safety a business looks critically at it self and identifies areas that need improvement. Through safety a mindset of improvement grows throughout the business into increasing productivity and quality.

Leadership drives safety!

We know this is true, so who is driving Safety in your organisation? It is not just the GM or CEO, it is everyone from the top down. So what Leadership skills do your managers and supervisors have? Do you see a correlation between their leadership ability and style and the level of safety in the groups they are responsible for? Without the right sort of leadership you will not get the right sort of performance. If you want to improve your organisations safety – focus on its leadership ability.

Commitment to health and safety

We know that ‘Commitment from the Top’ is essential for effective health and safety performance.
CEOs and Managing Directors say they are committed to effective health and safety, but what are they committed too?

Is it to the ‘value’ of health and safety – that no one gets hurt and everyone goes home to their families at the end of the day? Most are, but are they consciously committed to what it takes to get there?

Are they committed to:

• Changing their own beliefs and behaviours around health and safety?
• Investing a set amount of money to health and safety – how much?
• Taking risks, to challenge the Status Quo?
• An increase in ‘down-time’ for training and other health and safety activities?
• An increase of resources to health and safety?
• An increase organisational effort towards health and safety?
• ‘Dismissing’ experienced and valuable staff, who do not support the commitment to health and safety?
• Being personally involved and in it for the ‘long haul’

Systems attempt to compensate for a lack of Competency & Leadership!

Health and safety through the 1980s into the 2000s has been based on ‘systems’, – The ‘Systems Approach to Health and Safety’. Many companies have a large set of safety manuals and procedures; however their safety has not improved significantly. That is because they are attempting to replace competence & leadership with procedures. It does not work!