It has taken me 20 years to truly understand what Clive Lloyd said in his book “From Compliance to Care.” One of my top five safety books I recommend for every safety professional and front-line manager.
“Behaviors are NOT the problem – they are expressions of the problem.”
I have conducted over 100 safety assessments (cultural to technical) during my 20+ years of consulting, and it never ceases to amaze me that the most disgruntled/unhappy workers are the first to compromise their safety in the name of production. But over those years and many assessments, I have come to a simple conclusion as to “Why” they behave this way.
Workers like the pay and benefits, but hate their bosses/supervisors and the company as a whole. They stay for the money and benefits. Then, while out on the floor, we see these same workers, and oh, how they throw their safety into the wind. Lacking in PPE, guards are off machines, and LOTO is not applied when reaching into machines/equipment, etc. You name it, we can see it from these most disgruntled/unhappy employees. But why do we see this behavior?
Need I remind you that it is being done to maintain production!
Simply put, when management only intervenes in the workplace when production numbers are missed or quality issues affect those numbers. Even when a serious injury occurs, management is not to be found at the scene. So if you want to work free of “harassment from management” (those you hate to interact with), be sure to make those production numbers. Take whatever risks are necessary to achieve those numbers; after all, you’re never held accountable for violating safety practices, operating machines without guards, bypassing interlocks, etc. So those at-risk behaviors are “acceptable” in the name of production.
So we can blame the worker for not following the written rules when they get hurt, but just understand, those “Behaviors are NOT the problem – they are expressions of the problem.”
