How to know if Your Management isn’t aligned with Your Safety Culture
Developing a strong safety culture for your workplace can be very challenging if your management isn’t aligned with your safety goals and ideas. But how can you know if the management’s behaviours are the reason for your failing safety culture? Well, we’ve prepared a list of some of the tell-tale signs that your lack of positive results in your safety program is as a result of external factors, particularly the management team.
They Send Mixed Messages
In most companies, the events happening on the inside often cause confusions. For instance, the workers may be forced to rush to complete a project when the deadline is approaching. Unfortunately, this may cause the responsible personnel to violate some safety procedure or miss out on an important step; a situation which may result in severe injuries or even death. This usually happens when the management sends the message that completing production projects should be given priority to the workers’ safety. This could easily destroy the management-worker trust hence weakening the safety culture in your workplace. The management, therefore, needs to back up the safety procedures and policies through actions that don’t send mixed safety messages to the workforce.
They Hardly Walk the Talk
There are some members of the management who tend to think they are above the rules – that they are not bound by the same rules as those set for everyone else. This can easily send a wrong message to the workers who follow the safety rules to the latter. Leaders need to be fully engaged in ensuring the safety program is implemented and executed successfully, and this means leading by an example. They need to demonstrate commitment as a vital element of their leadership. Consistency is also essential to ensure the management establishes trust among the workers hence giving them a reason to believe in the safety policy of your workplace.
They are Stubborn to Embrace Change
Perhaps you’ve heard people claim a process or piece of equipment is safe just because they have never experienced any safety problems before. If this becomes the case in your workplace, then it is clear the management isn’t aligned with your safety efforts and goals. The world of safety is constantly changing and the management needs to move with it. Every day different safety procedures and guidelines are updated to include the latest changes in workplace safety. Today, the novel COVID-19 virus has affected how different operations are carried out. Businesses have been forced to close or comply with the safety guidelines from the government and the relevant health bodies. You can install post and chain barriers in your company to prevent your workers and clients from coming too close to one another hence risk getting infected with the deadly virus.
They Hardly Provide Resources for Success
For your safety culture to be strong and effective, your workers need to have access to the necessary resources. Most companies blame insufficient budget for the lack of provision of enough resources for safety. You don’t want to lose your company reputation or pay huge money for safety violation fines and worker compensation. Incidents can be even more expensive than investing in safety resources prior to operations. You may opt to lease the resources if your budget doesn’t allow you to buy new ones.