Recently, I had the pleasure of touring the flagship facility of one of my original supporters of SAFTENG. The safety pro is a world-class leader and a fine safety engineer. When he arrived at this facility, he and the PM decided to rid the workplace of all the “safety banners.” Most had become eye-sores, some so badly damaged they were not even legible (but still hanging by a thread).
My role during the tours was to engage workers and ask about their thoughts on how safety is being managed. This was a third-party impartial assessment.
Now, it’s easy to ask a question like, “So what do you think about safety around here?” only to get the patent response, “It’s all good (now leave me alone).” But I always follow up with another question that forces a discussion (or not). “Can you give me a recent example to support your answer?”
And I’ll be damned, 100% could give me examples of how their manager has been involved in their safety without any hesitation. Some made comments about how often they see their dept. Manager on the floor participating in safety exercises. Their ability to provide 1st hand examples in seconds of being asked tells me it is happening at a high frequency, otherwise they would have to think about it for a minute or two.
NO BANNERS proclaiming the importance of safety in the workplace; just some good old-fashioned and HIGHLY VISUAL safety leadership by the senior production, maintenance, and engineering management.
Making safety VISIBLE and TANGIBLE via a measurable safety process/SMS is how we DEMONSTRATE safety to those we care about. Always remember, banners do not talk, but more importantly, they do not have the ability to LISTEN to workers’ concerns. In other words, they SUCK at improving performance and culture. Please get rid of them today!
