Keep safety culture personal, Campbell Forum panelists tell attendees

Orlando, FL — Creating or cultivating safety culture at organizations of all sizes is a people-intense exercise that requires caring about and regularly checking in with workers.

I. David Daniels, president and CEO of ID2 Solutions, and Steven Schoolcraft, corporate vice president of safety, health and environment at Parsons Corp., amplified that view above all Oct. 11 while speaking during the Campbell Institute Forum at the 2021 NSC Safety Congress & Expo at the Orange County Convention Center.

“If you don’t care about your employees from a safety perspective, you probably don’t care much about them in terms of their production either,” Daniels said. “Because you don’t care enough to be able to create the safe environment so they can give their best, you look at them as a cog, you look at them as a machine. But if you’re concerned about them as a whole human being, you’re concerned about the role that they play in the company or the organization,” you then show your investment.

Although Schoolcraft – whose organization was recognized as the 2019 recipient of the Robert W. Campbell Award – highlighted the effectiveness of the company’s own metric for culture, he encouraged attendees to avoid attempting to mimic such systems all at once.

“Go find the things that are going to make a difference, the little things, and shine a spotlight on those things,” Schoolcraft said. “Make those happen. Even if it’s a big company, take one small project, pile a few things on it and see if it makes a difference. Go ask questions. Engage. Find out from the employees, ‘Does this make sense? What do you guys want?’ Small wins.”

For example, Schoolcraft offered the practice of more frequently recognizing employees for good work.

“Commending awesomeness, even when it’s not changing-the-world awesomeness, just doing it right, makes a difference,” Schoolcraft said.

The speakers paused to recognize one attendee who mentioned he recently attained his first full-time job in safety, encouraging the audience to applaud.

“Success is not a destination, it’s a journey,” Daniels said. “You never get there. You’re always moving toward it.”