Mindset, safety

In order to achieve the active involvement of your employees, safety and health professionals should consider the following activities as part of the overall trek toward your safety and health cultural shift in the mindset of your management and employees. 

This chapter will reinforce the fact that lean is not a program, but rather a mindset or a way of thinking. Examples clarify why a successful lean implementation requires changing the culture of the business via employee engagement and involvement so that it is populated with lean thinkers that focus on customer and process cycle time reduction This understanding combined with the adoption and use of lean tools can build a world-class safety culture. Another key point is that a lean leadership style and some common lean tools will allow you to improve both safety and lean at the same time. 

Some people believe that the reason for the popularity of German safety approvals such as the GS Mark, is that approvals were mandatory in Germany. After all, over 100,000 different products bear the GS Mark (GS = Safety Tested). Approvals and marks have, however, never been mandatory by German law for the vast majority of products and machines. Their popularity is driven by expectations in the marketplace from the product users, consumer groups, insurers, and employers. These high expectations continue today in Germany and some other countries. (See chapters on Notified Bodies and Certification [Chapter 4] and the Quality and Safety Mindset [Chapter 5].)... 

Product Quality versus Factory Quality 65 Consultants Benefits and Limitations 68 U.S. and EU Differences 69 The Quality and Safety Mindset 75 Market Surveillance 76 Enforcement 77... 

This accident demonstrated that the attitude of many technical people towards nuclear safety was careless and optimistic. It could also be concluded that bad surprises caused by a nuclear plant could be avoided only at the expense of a strong change in their mindset towards safety itself. 

It is thought that the motivation of many of these surprising events is the presence of a special atmosphere or mindset in the group of people responsible for the construction and the operation of a plant. This atmosphere can be either favourable or adverse to safety. Perhaps, the... 

This was the Three Mile Island 2 accident which was responsible for a complete change of mindset in all those concerned with nuclear plant safety, in particular on the side of designers and of operators. 

The discussion is based on theory on lO effect on safety, perspectives on learning, communication principles and culture, attitude and mindset as a basis for change. 

C. Dyer (2003) Revitalising Blank Forces HSE to Change Its "Mindset", Health and Safety Bulletin, 315 2-4. 

While much of this book is very practical and informational in nature, some early sections discuss the issue of one s mental attitude about safety, which may seem more philosophical in nature at first. But, in reality, adopting a positive attitude about safety is the most important, practical step you can take to be safe. With this mindset, all other actions in a laboratory are performed only after stopping to think about hazards and risks and the means by which you can stay safe in the lab. 

FIGURE 1.1.1.4 The Student Safety Ethic. This safety ethic reflects a mindset of attitude and responsibility that keeps you, and others, safe in the laboratory. 

In the book, Built to Last, (Collins and Poras, HarperBusiness, 1994), the authors research indicates change-resistant leaders tend to believe their organization can be low-cost OR high-quality embrace change OR be stable invest in the future OR do well in the short term commit to safety OR be highly productive. Company leaders holding this mindset subscribe to a philosophy called the Tyranny of OR. ... 

Visionary companies subscribe to a totally different operational mindset, termed the Wisdom of And. Examples include Safety AND productivity an extremely tight culture AND an ability to change and adapt a visionary, futuristic focus AND great daily execution. This mentality does not seek a mere balance — balance implies a 50-50 or a mid-point perspective. 

You should manage the safety management system and develop your leadership skills to support the effort for a safety culture. You must shift between a program state of mind and a mindset that thinks in terms of systems and process. 

A form of authority that must be understood by all employees is that they have, under defined criteria, the authority to stop or cease doing something that is an obvious hazard. We have seen too often in weak safety cultures the mindset that an operation has to continue regardless of any potential perceived hazards. Hazardous Conditions in many cases may exist because of problems that were built into a process and may not be resolved without sigiuficant changes in a number of operational factors. 

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