There is one trait that we will all see and feel when were are in a facility that has figured out world-class safety; that is, they have figured out that a well-managed safety management system will not produce the desired results if the facility’s culture does not support it. As I have said, world-class safety has two sides: Performance and Culture. And the approach to mastering both sides can be quite different. But many have learned the hard way; too much of one makes the other suffer. So a balance, and it is rarely a 50-50 balance, is necessary for a successful path to world-class results. Sometimes the balance may be a 70:30 split to more of the performance (SMS) and then flip 12 months later to 70:30 cultural. This ability to know the balance separates those truly world-class and those in a constant struggle to make safety matter.
So one of my early mentors in safety always used the analogy that safety is like idiot mittens…
Pull too much on the performance mitten and you end up slapping yourself in the face with the culture mitten, and pulling too much on the cultural mitten, the performance mitten will smack you in the face. But both performance and culture are connected, and it is our role to read the cues from management and the workforce and BALANCE the approach. Remember, performance is the safety activities, and the culture is what supports how well those activities are performed and the frequency at which they are performed.
We could have an excellent safety process/SMS with all the tools and skills to identify hazards, analyze those hazards, assign a risk ranking, and develop risk control plans, all of which are the performance side of the equation. However, if the culture does not support this process, it can waste time and resources.
On the flip side, we could have a culture that supports safety fully; however, without the proper skills, training, and SMS/Process to make safety meaningful, our performance will be lacking, even with a supportive culture.
Most workplaces battle with these two sides of safety rather than having them work harmoniously. Once management figures out, usually with our guidance, on how to BALANCE performance and culture, then great things can happen in safety. Until then, it is like wearing idiot mittens. But after a few smacks in the face, we begin to read the ques better and make SMALL adjustments to create this balance.
BUT BEWARE of “big swings” between the two! We want steady and gradual improvements in BOTH performance and culture. Making significant sweeping changes and creating too much of an imbalance between these two safety factors can cause some crazy shifts that both management and the workforce will grow weary of. It will seem the safety movement has lost its way, and with that comes a loss of credibility and even trust sometimes.
