Selecting team members

Obviously, the first crucial step in successful safety teamwork is to select the right people for your team. Someone is ultimately responsible for choosing team members. In safety, this is often the safety director or the person responsible for maintaining injury reports and lost-time records. In some cases, however, it is advantageous for a small committee of safety champions representing a cross section of the workforce to select potential members of a safety team. I say potenhal because it is important for membership to be voluntary. So, a safety champion or selection committee should come up with a list of people to approach one-on-one and ask if they would be willing to serve on a parhcular safety team. 

what kinds of people should you look for as potential members of a safety team Perhaps, first and foremost, the candidate should be conunitted to safety. Has the individual done something recently to indicate personal concern for the safety or health of a coworker Perhaps, she turned in a comprehensive near-hit report in a work culture where 

Circle a number to indicate the degree to which you agree with each statement. Please be frank and honest in your reactions. There are no right or wrong answers. This is only an assessment of personal interest 

Besides demonstrating special commitment to occupational safety, the best team members also have other qualities. They have interpersonal skills (they like to work with other people), they communicate well (they actively listen and speak with passion), and they are willing to actively care for the safety and health of others. 

From the start, it is important for the team members to understand their assignment. They need to know the overall mission of the team and the resources available to accomplish it. They also need to understand their authority with regard to the mission. For example, they 

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Select team members and confirm their availability... 

Some personal and technical characteristics to consider when selecting team members are provided below. 

The ideal team will have an intimate knowledge of the standards, codes, specifications and regulations applicable to the process being studied. The selected team members need to be compatible and the team leader needs to be able to manage the team and the PHA study. The team needs to be able to work together while ben-... 

Figure 17.3 outlines seven consecutive phases of teamwork, from selecting team members to disbanding or renewing the team. These are the basic steps of teamwork as discussed by leading team-building trainers and consultants (Cadwell, 1997 Katzenbach and Smith, 1994 Lloyd, 1996 Rees, 1997 Torres and Fairbanks, 1996 Wellins et al., 1991). Let us examine each of these steps in more detail as they relate specifically to industrial safety. 

It is important to realize that although performance evaluation is listed sixth in this list of successive teamwork steps, this topic is inherent in every step. Whether selecting team members, establishing a team charter, or setting goals and assigning task responsibilities, evaluation plays an integral role. 

All types of PHAs benefit from a multidisciplinary approach. This ensures appropriate technical expertise is available to evaluate each deviation discussed during the sessions. While it is not essential that all team members have had formal training in the PHA method selected, it is important that the team leader has experience. The participation techniques can be learned when a new participant is included as a part of a team in which some members have already gained PHA experience. 

Employers must develop in-house capability to investigate incidents that occur in their facilities. A team should be assembled by the employer and trained in the techniques of investigation, including how to conduct interviews of witnesses, assemble needed documentation, and write reports. A multidisciplinary team is better able to gather the facts of the event and to analyze them and develop plausible scenarios as to what happened and why. Team members should be selected on the basis of their training, knowledge, and ability to contribute to a team effort to fully investigate the incident. 

The audit team members are selected for their experience, knowledge, training, familiarity with the procei i and auditing techniques, practices, and procedures. The size of the team denends... 

Assure that all necessary disciplines are represented by the team and that the team members are familiar with the system selected for analysis. 

This ranking exercise can be assigned to one or two team members as a subtask. Consider selecting a teammate with experience in facility operations to compile the necessary data and one with process safety and computer experience to run the models. The resulting report can then be shared with the full team and included in the plan you submit to your management. 

As with other project teams, those selected for PSM system design need a clear understanding of what your company expects from them. Regardless of which approach you ve chosen, team members need to know ... 

Training needs will vary according to team members familiarity with the approach you have selected. In a company with an active TQM program, you may need only a refresher course or briefing. For others it may be worthwhile to provide a more formal introduction to TQM techniques and processes. In many cases, the use of a trained facilitator (either from inside your company or an outside consultant) can greatly expedite the team s preparation and reduce the amount of individual team member training required. 

Note that the site selection process need not be lengthy or complex. Team members regular pb responsMities, as well as their PSM work to date, witt have thoroughly acquainted them vdth a range of your company s facilities. It s more than likely that logical candidates for the pilot site will have emerged naturally from the process and may already have been proposed. 

When selecting die members of a team diat will bear overall responsibility for emergency plamiing, the following considerations are important. 

Because onh a few variables are selected to build the models, MLR begins to approach the univariate methods. Tliis is especially limiting during prediction where there is little validation of the results. MLR is also limited to relatively simple systems (i.e., small number of components and other sources of variation) and does not lu e ihe full multivariate advantage. Tlie main advantage of MLR is its simplicity—the final models are easy to explain to other team members. 

Thus, an R D program can be readily accelerated by tapping into your technology platform and internal network to select focused team members. Commonly, there is little or no physical movement although a program manager will have authority and accountability for the entire team. With this foundation, a well-designed team can achieve a rapid start and accelerate development. 

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