The Soft Side of Safety – A Key Component to Improving Safety Culture

Friday April 1st, 2016 7:15 am – 9:30 am

A common challenge voiced by many safety managers is the lack of real enthusiasm by employees for their safety culture. We make an important distinction between a safety culture versus a safety program. A program is just a stated position or process of an organization while a culture of safety is actually what is being practiced in real life.The mystery to why employees are not always apt to buy into an organization’s stated mission to create a culture of safety is because there is often a disconnect in perceptions between employees and managers as to “what is driving the safety culture.” This does not mean that there isn’t a desire on both parties to be safe or to create a truly safe work environment. The disconnect often lies in how the manager talks about the safety culture, how he/she allows employees to participate in discussions on safety, and how the employees are allowed to bring up concerns about their personal work space or job duties. Yes, many of the same soft skills that are so important to driving employee engagement are also critical to creating safety engagement.
In this presentation, you will learn how safety is “typically’ measured and how this can lead to some of the common errors that threaten a thriving safety culture. The Survey Institute invites you to challenge your own perceptions and gauge whether you have safety policies (typically written but not followed) or safety philosophies (not just written but lived out and proven to be the organization’s values).

The Speaker: Donald R. Bruns