I am a proponent of accountability in safety; however, I also believe that accountability is necessary at all levels of the organization. We tend to be very quick in identifying the ACTIVE failures by those who made the error, mistake, or violation, and a negative consequence was the result (vs. all those times, the outcome was positive). Heck, in today’s world, we may even have caught it all on camera for everyone to see. And if that ACTIVE failure was an EXCEPTIONAL violation (vs. a routine or situational violation), then we can consider holding those who performed that act accountable.
But why are we so slow to hold managers accountable for their violations of Management System expectations? Examples include failure to certify SOPs, utilizing the MOC tool on changes, “pencil whipping” permits and safety checklists, failure to manage corrective action plans, etc. These failures are called LATENT ORGANIZATIONAL failures, and although they may be farther away from the ACTIVE FAILURES we see in the videos of accidents, they “set the stage” for many of the ACTIVE FAILURES we may eventually see in future videos of accidents.
This discrepancy in who we hold accountable for safety can drive a massive wedge between the men and women doing the dirty and dangerous work closest to the risks and management who sets the tone and expectations of how the business (and, more specifically, the daily tasks) will operate. Remember, disciplining workers closest to the risks will never change a culture (or their behaviors), but a culture may never change without proper discipline. This applies to ALL LEVELS of the organization: those closest to the risks and those removed from the risks. EVERYONE plays a role, and therefore, “accountability” needs to be applied at ALL levels that influence the ACTIVE FAILURES.
