Safety as a Value

The organization adopts safety and health as a core value and actively cares for the workforce. The vision for the organization is that the workplace will be free of inci-dents/injuries and safety and health is integrated into every aspect of the work process. This attitude is evident throughout the organization from the managing director through to the newest and most inexperienced member of the workforce. (Ardem, 

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Establishing safety as a value rather than a priority tells our employees and our customers that safety is built into our culture, not something we do to merely comply with regulations. 

Demonstrated management commitment to safety. Integrating safety as a value of the organization. Assuring accountability at aU levels. 

The organization s or company s purpose must be to continuously improve, with the ultimate goal being a workplace that is free of injuries and illnesses while attitudes are not addressed directly, it is the deep-seated intention over time to have employees accept safety as a value. 

Inconsistency. This week, the supervisor is intent on production at any cost, but at last week s safety meeting, she stated that safety was the company s top priority. Note There is no mention of safety as a value. 

Excerpts follow from an article written by Jeffrey Camplin titled Aligning Safety and Social Responsibility Safety as a Value-Add to Corporate Stakeholders and published in the May 2011 issue of Professional... 

Hafey stresses that in the processes of mapping operations as they are and mapping operations as they should be to reduce waste, safety must be an integral consideration. He defines lean safety as the application of both lean tools and management philosophy to create a continuous improvement safety culture. The need for an organization s culture to consider safety as a value to achieve a world-class performance level is emphasized. Hafey writes ... 

We would actually do better to refer to the culture of an organisation which affects safety, rather than a safety culture. There are only a few rare companies where safety as a value is really so central that we can consider them as having a safety culture. Most companies have values which are at odds with safety to some extent, preferring production or costsaving above risk reduction. The essence of the values which would make safety central are the following, cited from reference 3. 

Positive safety traditions and ceremony reinforce safety as a value Few if any traditions for safety—not on agenda ... 

Deming and Covey want people to act out of the knowledge that it is the right thing to do. Covey (1989) refers to this motivation as "principle-centered." 1 certainly agree with the need for inner-direcfed, self-motivated behavior. When people consistently go out of their way for the safety of themselves and others, they are principle centered. They have reached the ultimate in safety. They hold safety as a value. 

It is unlikely a person will admit to not holding safety as a core value. Thus, it is realistic and relevant for the employee to conduct a behavioral analysis (as outlined in Chapter 9) and then develop a personal corrective action plan for reducing the behavioral discrepancy implied by the rule infraction or calculated risk. Thus, at the end of the dismissal day(s), the ultimate deliverable is a specific list of things the employee will do to reduce the behavioral discrepancy and realign work practice with safety as a value. 

I know people who meet the behavioral criteria for holding safety as a value—they practice safety, teach it, go out of their way to actively care for the safety of others, but their numbers are few. Why Because human nature (or natural motivating consequences. Chapter 11) typically encourages at-risk behavior. 

As reviewed in Chapter 5, researchers have shown that some people will compensate for a decrease in perceived risk by performing more risky behavior. In other words, some people increase their tolerance for risk when feeling protected with a safety device (Wilde, 1994). As shown in Figure 20.7, high technology safety engineering can give a false sense of security. This is not the case for people who hold safety as a value (Principle 10). 

Both types of generalization occur naturally when safety becomes a value rather than a priority (Principle 10). Obviously, we need to intervene in special ways to promote safety as a value. As reviewed in Chapter 19, our field research wi pizza deliverers has shown that facilitating empowerment is one special way to increase generalization and cultivate safety as a value. 

From working with safety leaders in hundreds of organizations, we have identified a set of seven best practices that are necessary to creating a vital safety climate and building an organizational culture that embodies safety as a value. We ll explain each best practice in chapter 5 ... 

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