Building trust and credibility in safety does not require some special effort. It just requires a constant message that is backed up with constantly reinforced behaviors from management/leadership. Some may call this “Walking the Talk”; but we have to ensure the TALK is correct before we walk it!
There are two (2) big pieces to a Safety Management System that not ONLY do they usually NOT build trust and credibility; they actually erode trust and credibility in the safety process/SMS. These two (2) elements are:
- Behavior-Based Safety Observations and
- Incident Investigations
Here is why and how we can reverse the negative trends these two SMS elements can create. And you can probably recognize that both of these elements have the potential to erode trust and credibility as BOTH usually focus on active failures (i.e. human failures) and rarely get into the latent organizational failures.
When workers feel like they are being blamed for all that is wrong with safety, it does not take time to erode trust and credibility. Far too often, management fails to look at their own latent organizational failures that drive the behaviors and attitudes that are displayed in the workplace.
Dr. Clive Lloyd said it best… “Behaviors are not the problem, they are a reflection of the problem“.
NOTE: if you have not read Dr. Lloyd’s Book “Next Generation Safety Leadership: From Compliance to Care” you should pick it up and spend the several hours it will take you to read it. It can be a game changer in your approach to managing safety.
