Management superior safety performance

It is impossible for superior safety performance to be attained if executive personnel do not display, by their actions, that they intend to achieve it. Management is what management does. What management does establishes the organization s culture. If what management does gives positive impressions, it is more than likely that a safety initiative will succeed. 

Where the culture, the system of expected behavior, demands superior safety performance, the design and engineering, management and operations, and task performance aspects of safety are well-balanced. 

Supporting data appear Annexes A-C on Policy Statements, Roles and Responsibilities, and Employee Participation. Another good reference on management leadership and employee involvement is the chapter Superior Safety Performance A Reflection of an Organization s Culture in On The Practice Of Safety. 

Superior safety performers maintain a top-quality staff—a requisite for the accomplishment level expected as defined by the culture. The safety staff is expected to earn recognition and respect and establish their capabilities, thereby being sought by decision makers for their views. They are a part of management and have ready access to senior executives. 

Make sure your proposal fits the corporate style and culture. Make sure your expectations for senior management are consistent with your company s operating style. For example, a CEO who is accustomed to delegating most decisions is unlikely to accept a role that seems to take away divisional authority, while a facility manager with little functional autonomy will probably be leery of taking a highly visible role without approval from a superior. Of course, the CEO retains overall accountability for environmental and safety performance—that cannot be del ated ... 

Different metrics may be used to describe past performance, predict future performance, and encourage behavioral change. They are a means to evaluate the overall system performance and to develop a path toward superior process safety performance. This is accomplished by identifying where the current performance falls within a spectrum of excellent-to-poor performance. Such information will allow executives and site management to develop plans to address the specific improvement opportunities that could lead to measurable improvement in process safety. Good process safety metrics reinforce a process safety culture that promotes the belief that process safety incidents are preventable, that improvement is continuous, and that policies and procedures are necessary and will be followed. Continuous improvement is necessary and any improvement program will be based on measurable elements. Therefore, to continuously improve performance, organizations must develop and implement effective process safety metrics. 

Chapters of books and articles have been written with titles such as The Hazard Control Process, Basic Safety Programming, Managing Safety Performance, Management of Loss Control, and Safety Performance. But none of the authors considered the impact of an organization s culture on the safety performance attainable. To achieve superior safety results, the system of expected behavior deriving from the culture must demonstrate that such results are to be attained. 

Accountability for safety performance in the superior performing companies is clearly established with line management at every level. Safety performance is one of the elements scored in the organization s overall performance measurement system. Favorable or unfavorable results influence salaries, bonuses, and promotion potential. 

To qualify for the Star designation, an entity must show that its 3-year illness and injury Total Case Incidence Rate (TCIR) and its 3-year Days Away from Work, Restricted Work Activity, and Job Transfer Rate (DART) fall below the entity s industry average. That suggests exclusivity and deserved recognition for those companies which have superior safety and health management systems and stellar performance. 

If an entity wants to achieve superior safety results, safety must become a core value within the organization s culture. Safety is culture driven. When safety is a core value within a company, senior management is personally and visibly involved and holds employees at all levels accountable for results. The senior executive staff displays by what it does that safety is a subject to be taken very seriously, a subject that is considered in performance measurement ong with other organizational goals. 

Standardization of the AQS system enables paragon to provide sensors of superior value and quality, which enables car manufacturers to supply comfortable cars with a high performance air-quality management system. As for other components, the trend is that more and more compact cars are equipped with air-quality sensors to improve safety, health, and comfort. The customer is offered an effective air-quality management, with plenty more potential for the future. 

Although many articles questioning the value of safety committees have been written, in entities where superior results are expected and achieved, safety committees are made to work. For the superior performers, it is a common practice for the management committee to also serve as a safety committee, with safety being an early item on meeting agendas. 

Because of the emphasis given to them in discussions with safety professionals, two performance measurement systems deserve further comment. Scheduled safety audits are performed in eveiy superior performing company. Through a formal process, they provide management with a determination that expectations are or are not being met. In that process a systems aura prevails — an aura of plan, do, check, and improve. 

The introductory and explanatory text in the award Criteria is revised annually. As the guiding statements have evolved, they relate even more so to what is highly desirable for safety management. The latest such issuance is titled the 2002 Criteria for Performance Excellence for the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award. The criteria are an excellent guide for superior quality management. 

Suzy also makes periodic inspections simply to ascertain supervisors are doing their jobs and ensure compliance with the key safety standards of the organization. The supervisors realize Suzy s inspections will affect their own future in the company because she reports to management on the supervisors compliance with internal safety standards. Unsatisfactory findings are considered to be adverse performance reports for the supervisors and their superiors. Positive... 

It was also stated in Chapter 1 that Section 7.0, the Management Review section, was a close second in importance. Maintaining superior management leadership requires that evaluations be made of the effectiveness of safety processes so that improvements can be made where necessary. The Management Review provisions in ZIO require gathering, at least annually, the data necessary to assess The performance of the occupational health and safety nnanagement systems relative to expectations. Action items for improvement are to be drafted as that performance assessment is made. 

A negative message is delivered in a situation of that sort. If the staff is to believe that their safety is taken seriously by management, a safe environment must be maintained as a demonstration of its commitment to do so. Superior performers do that. 

---