What’s more culturally dangerous?
- A manager/Supervisor who is unable to identify at-risk behavior
- A manager/Supervisor who can identify at-risk behavior but turns a blind eye to it
We see this a lot in our line of work; managers/supervisors are unqualified to be in their role from a safety perspective. Usually, the case is that management liked an operator/tech and decided he/she would make a great manager/supervisor, so they promote them with zero training. But these situations are FAR LESS toxic to a culture, as these managers/supervisors have little credibility with the workforce – in fact, some will feel sorry for the individual and help them out.
Take the seasoned manager/supervisor; everyone knows they know the safety rules/procedures, yet they turn a blind eye to what they observe. In some really bad cases, the manager/supervisor will purposefully avoid an area when certain workers are doing certain tasks, and the entire team is well aware of why.
So now I ask you, which would you rather have?
- A manager/Supervisor who is unable to identify at-risk behavior
- A manager/Supervisor who can identify at-risk behavior but turns a blind eye to it
For me, I will take a manager/supervisor who is unable to identify at-risk behavior over a manager/supervisor who looks the other way. We can train the a manager/supervisor who is unable to identify at-risk behavior. No training will ever correct the manager/supervisor who looks the other way. That manager/supervisor who looks the other way is so toxic that you’d be better off not even having them in the workplace.
ETHICS MATTERS IN SAFETY! Ignorance can be corrected – Arrogance can not!
