If the company leadership team, including the Board of Directors (BOD), cannot explicitly state what they want from the EHS team and what level of performance they wish to achieve, then we are being set up to fail.
I am amazed at how a leadership team will claim a multi-million-dollar project was a “safety project” and how they are “investing in safety.” When none of them could explain the risks they reduced by this project, only the improved production/dollar savings were mentioned.
At the same time, we look at Investigations and PHAs Corrective Action Plans that have hundreds of PAST DUE items that are tied directly to recognized risks and previous accidents.
This is what we call “virtue signaling,” and the workforce is simply tired of it. It erodes any trust and credibility that management may have left.
Just be HONEST with your stakeholders. Everyone expects the business to invest in improving productivity, quality, and cutting costs to increase profits. But to call it an “investment in safety” while hundreds of PAST DUE corrective actions that would DIRECTLY IMPACT personnel and process safety sit unaddressed is a hard pill to swallow for any man or woman doing the dirty and dangerous work for the company.
