Employee Empowerment in Safety

Employees should be empowered to take part in safety decisions and to participate in the safety management system. Part of this is the establishment of employee authority, safety responsibility, and accountability for all levels. One of the best methods for employee empowerment is a facilitated workshop where management is encouraged to talk to the employees. This should be held in a safe space. The facilitator asks employees to list the things that could be done to improve safety at the plant, and what hampers safety in the workplace. Once a list is compiled, the attendees are asked to list what actions are needed to rectify the identified stumbling blocks and also to assign responsibility for those actions. Once the critical few hazards have been isolated, commitments are made to take action to rectify either the behaviors or conditions to eliminate the listed potential accidents. It is simply a matter of the employees tell us how we can improve safety.  

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Credibility of culture change Development of employees and unions Sharing of knowledge Employee empowerment in safety All on board... 

In order to achieve the optimal level of workplace safety and health, it is essential that all employees at all levels become actively involved and possess a vested interest in the safety and health program. The safety and health professional, with the support of management, should take a leadership role in designing, implanenting, and orchestrating the empowerment of all employees within the safety and health function. Achievement of the buy-in and active participation of aU employees will take substantial time and requires a constant and sustained effort at all levels of the organization. 

Common ingredients of a safety culture based on these values include management commitment to safety and the safety values, management involvement in achieving the safety goals, employee empowerment, and appropriate and effective incentive structures and reporting systems. 

A safe space now needs to be created where employees can feel comfortable about discussing and reporting safety-related issues. This employee empowerment enables management to get a realistic picture of what the safety concerns are in the workplace. Real solutions can only come from the experts in the workplace—the employees. Employees need to be listened to. Reporting systems should be anonymous. In a positive safety culture it is not who reported, but what was reported. Focusing on the what is important because that is the risk that needs to be remedied. 

Some operational definitions of the traditional three Es for safety (especially enforcement) have been detrimental to employee empowerment. Many supervisors have translated "enforcement" into a strict punishment approach, and the result has turned off many employees to safety programs. These workers may do what is required, but no more. Some individuals who feel especially controlled by safety regulations might try to beat the system, and success will likely bring a sense of gratification or freedom. This is predictable from theory and research in the area of psychological reactance (Brehm, 1966,1972) and is illustrated in Figure 3.1. 

The most important element of any effort to engage and empower the workforce, and drive a company s culture toward world-class lean or safety, is communications. Effective communications are critical because it is through communications that you can gain trust. And only when you gain trust will the culture shift toward the intended direction. The definition of empowerment that I most often use is the downward flow of information. Therefore, what information can be provided to guide a so-so safety program, with minimal employee involvement, into one that other plants will want to benchmark Some of the topics listed below were already mentioned elsewhere in the book, but to fully understand the depth of safety communications available, I will restate your options. 

Petersen discusses the concept of limited empowerment versus total empowerment. Limited empowerment suggests we live within some ground rules. We all play with the same rules that make the game fair and safe. Most football rules are, in fact, safety rules, and most teams find them easy to follow. Limited empowerment means management establishes some ground rules for everyone to follow (Petersen, 2001, p. 63). Employees are empowered within this framework to participate in decision making for improving safety performance. 

Basically the panel declared that a positive safety culture is the required foundation for effective process safety performance. In a broad brush within the Baker Report a safely culture includes process safety leadership providing emphasis, employee trast and empowerment, snfficient resources, proper positioning of process safety capabilities, and incorporation of process safety into management decision-making. 

In the future we m see a greater number of workplaces supporting this approach of empowerment. Providirrg there ate adequate support structures in place, such as training, shared values and visiotr, and shared benefits, safety management has the potential to benefit greatly from the skills of those who often know the workplace best - first level supervisors and shop-floor employees. 

The shift in how paradigm is commonly defined does contain an important lesson. When we adopt and use new definitions, our mindset or perception changes. In other words, as I indicated in the previous chapter, we act ourselves into a new way of thinking or perceiving. This is a primary theme of this book. When employees get involved in more effective procedures to control safety, they develop a more constructive and optimistic attitude toward safety and the achievement of a Total Safety Culture. Let us consider the shifts in principles, procedures, beliefs, attitudes, or perceptions needed for the three new Es—ergonomics, empowerment, and evaluation—and for achieving a Total Safety Culture. 

As I discussed when introducing three new Es, a Total Safety Culture requires continual involvement from operations personnel, such as hourly workers. After all, these are the people who know where safety hazards are located and when the at-risk behaviors occur. Also, they can have the most influence in supporting safe behaviors and correcting at-risk behaviors and conditions. In fact, the ongoing processes involved in developing a Total Safety Culture need to be supported from the top but driven from the bottom. This is more than employee participation it is employee ownership, commitment, and empowerment. 

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