Workplace Solutions Safety program management

Building flexibility into safety program management

How do I build flexibility into a safety program to manage dynamic risk or changing conditions?

SafeStart.jpg

Responding is Warren Picken, implementation specialist, SafeStart, Belleville, Ontario.

The risk of workplace injury is constantly shifting based on two factors: physical or environmental changes, and the personal attention that each worker pays to hazards. Because risk levels are always in flux, safety management systems need to look beyond the traditional risk matrix and take a flexible, responsive approach to risk management. And that starts with safety education.

Education

Most safety programs take reasonable steps to address changes to physical environments (like spills or moving work equipment) by outlining housekeeping standards. Worksites with a high degree of volatility in terms of hazards, such as construction sites, also educate employees on how to deal with changes to the physical environment.

However, the dynamic nature of personal attention to risk is rarely addressed in safety systems. Few workers fully recognize just how much their attentiveness can change through the day because of states of mind and other human factors.

Robust safety programs must include dedicated training on how mental states such as rushing, frustration, fatigue and complacency can compromise safety awareness. Classroom-style education is necessary to provide a baseline understanding of what compromises risk.

Education is a mandatory component of dynamic risk management, but several other major components also are necessary to adequately address dynamic risk, including strong awareness skills, regular contact from supervisors, motivation and measures specifically focused on minimizing complacency to risk. Let’s review the first two in a bit more detail.

Awareness skills

Awareness skills allow workers to effectively respond when workplace conditions deviate from what they were when a risk assessment was last conducted. The goal is to empower people to recognize and respond to hazards and human factors that affect risk in real time.

It’s important to recognize that awareness is a skill – it improves with deliberate practice and atrophies when not used for a period of time. Safety awareness is no different, and as Dennis Carnrike points out, one of the steps to improve safety skills and maximize knowledge retention is to provide plenty of practice.

This means offering workers opportunities to discuss how human factors can affect safety awareness, identify human factors at play in workbook exercises and verbal scenarios, and practice spotting human error as it occurs throughout the day.

Check-ins

Because risk is constantly shifting, supervisors should be trained on how to positively check in with workers to assess how well they’re recognizing hazards in the moment. Interventions should occur often enough that they’re viewed as a regular part of the day and should be short enough to not be considered obtrusive. Regular check-ins also will provide supervisors with immediate safety feedback, allowing them to identify potential issues as they arise and then make other safety interventions if necessary. It’s worth noting that few supervisors naturally possess the skills required to conduct an effective check-in, and training should be provided to coach supervisors on how to do so.

Editor's note: This article represents the independent views of the author and should not be construed as a National Safety Council endorsement.

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Thomas L. Zera, C.S.P.
April 18, 2018
The need for flexibility in a safety program really depends on the nature of the work performed and the environment. For many jobs in the manufacturing sector, the variability of hazards is minimal. A worker at an assembly work station has little variation and a low risk of injury. On the other hand, maintenance personnel in a workplace have a high variation of tasks and work environments. They have a greater need to apply safety precautions to the different conditions and tools involved in their work. Workers on construction sites are another example of employees being exposed to a variety of potential hazards. Typically, workers receive job training from an experienced employee. The safety program should include provisions for ensuring that safety hazards and precautions be included in that training. And the trainer needs to be someone who can articulate the appropriate details. The flexibility issue involves changes in equipment or tools or tasks that create different potential hazards. I'm a believer in Job Safety Analysis and have used this safety system as a Safety Manager, Corporate Safety Director and safety consultant. This tool provides the explicit details of how a job is to be done and the potential hazards to avoid. It is in writing (no confusion or mixed interpretations) and in terms that everyone can understand. If the job requirements change in any way; the Job Safety Analysis should be updated and reviewed by all who do that job. This involves some coordination between the safety manager, industrial engineering, supervisors and employees themselves. It should be a team effort, to be successful. The safety program should make it a team effort. Thomas L. Zera, C.S.P.

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Amy Hutchinson
January 3, 2020
Thank you for the specific information and helpful explanations, Warren! While the photo depicts a manufacturing environment, I can easily relate your views to transportation, school and hospital sectors where dynamic and changing conditions are to be expected and hopefully, anticipated.