Making the Business Case for Safety

During Promoting the Business Value of Safety on Monday, David Galt, senior legal editor for BLR, offered seven tips that safety pros can follow when trying to convince management--and particularly the CFO--to invest in safety:

• Step 1: Identify the business value drivers. To do this, review annual reports, learn business terminology and observe what Galt called "the winners"--those who are getting resources and people from management.
• Step 2: Identify costs and losses. Here, Galt says, be sure to focus on risk of future loss as well as existing losses. Future losses are a key leading indicator for CFOs, he said.
• Step 3: Identify investments in safety. What activities are being done for safety, what tasks are involved and what investment is being made.
• Step 4: Link activities to the business drivers identified in step 1. This draws the path from safety to business outcomes clearly.
• Step 5: Measure performance. What gets measured (correctly) gets attention.
• Step 6: Communicate results. Make sure the results are relevant and communicated in business terms. And, more than anything, Galt advised, make your communications concise--otherwise you risk losing your audience.
• Step 7: Follow up. To be effective, follow up must be regular, consistent, and should indicate progress on tangibles and intangibles.