Teams safety program leadership

In the next chapter on safety program leadership, I will cover the value of using an employee-based safety team. Later, in Chapter 11 on metrics, I will review team-based safety metrics that can be used to encourage proactive safety first thinking and awareness. Teamwork works. 

Safety programs are a compilation of subprocesses or elements that all require leadership if they are to be effective. Subteams, with subteam leaders, are an approach that meshes nicely with this team approach to safety management. Each subteam leadership position you create opens up another opportunity to grow and develop future leaders. Here is a short list of some subteams that would help to get a company moving toward world-class safety. 

The patient safety program must include the development of a continuous assessment process to prevent error occurrence. Event information from data and incident occurrence reports should be reviewed by the multidisciplinary team to prioritize organizational efforts. Sources of data could include incident reports, medication errors, adverse drug reactions, transfusion reactions, sentinel events, and other adverse events. The patient safety program encompasses the patient population, visitors, volunteers, physicians, and staff and addresses improvement issues in every department. Senior leadership must be responsible for ensuring full implementation of the program, with an emphasis on the following functions ... 

The multidisciplinary team should represent leadership from throughout the organization and provide oversight for the patient safety program. All patient care and nonpatient care departments must report safety events and potential occurrences. The report will contain aggregated information... 

The leadership team provides opportunities and mechanism(s) for employees to influence the safety program design and operation. 

The identified common elements are the basic fonndation upon which a safety and health professional can bnild a snccessful safety and health program. Although all of the identified elements are important, the lynchpin of any successful safety and health program is the leadership of the management team as well as the funding and snpport to permit the development of the other essential elements. Under I2P2, each of the elements are farther clarified ... 

Annual safety system audit subteam An audit of the entire safety system or program ought to be conducted annually in the same way the company s financial and quality systems are audited. This should be a management review with some senior leadership and the safety team leadership both involved in conducting the audit. 

The safety management system must have a feedback loop that communicates to the leadership team the status of the various programs and systems required to control hazards and associated risk. 

Your responsibilities will be split between program management when developing and implementing the safety management system. You must become the leader who can communicates the vision/mission in a way that inspires the leadership team and employees as to what is expected with regard to the sustaining the safety culture. 

James remembers a case where an employee got dust in his eye. There was no recorded history in this plant regarding eye injuries. However, the leadership team decided to change its entire safety eye protection policy and program. They then discarded all currently used safety eye protection and replaced it with new types to solve this perceived problem, which was Just a speck of dust in the eye. 

The underlying goal is not to add to the burden of the leadership team and employees who will he using the tool. Its introduction should enhance and be integrated into the current safety management system. Review your system and determine if it can replace other program elements that are not showing value or improvement to the system. The introduction must be kept simple, show that the tool is of value, and be quickly implemented. The preparation for the introduction is crucial and should include step-by-step instructions on its use. 

Safety inspections, observations, and walk-throughs are a core feature of the safety management program elements. Unfortunately, these walk-through tours can evolve or be perceived as a negative, fault-finding activity that becomes adversarial between the leadership team and employees. 

The increased attention the current OSHA leadership team is giving to occupational hearing loss and noise control calls for workplace safety and health professionals to review how their hearing conservation programs are implemented and managed. 

The overall safety efforts of an organization cannot be the sole responsibility of one person or designated group. A safe work environment develops from the many interactions of all parts or elements of the organization. The objective of the leadership team is to influence and shape the organization in its control programs for hazards and associated risk. 

The safety system should have a feedback loop that communicates to the leadership team the status of the various programs and systems. The safety system should be revised as gaps or deficiencies are identified by comprehensive audits and evaluations. The organization should keep a schedule of audits and inspections and ensure evaluations are not delayed or ignored. 

Safety professionals and those individuals tasked with administrating the safety system are at the core of the organization. They become the go to person for many problems and issues beyond safety related issues. They are the ones that must interpret and explain hazards and associated risk to both the leadership team and employees. They must manage multiple specific programs and ensure that those programs are readily understood and fit into the overall organization. 

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