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OSH managers are tasked with communicating safety to
departments, management and employees, which can be a difficult job. Dave
Collins of Riskex says that the key to driving safety ownership is to create
conversations, rather than implement rules. In his LinkedIn Pulse article,
Collins says that while effective communication is crucial to ensuring
workplace safety, OSH managers must influence people to effect change, rather
than relying on a hierarchical authority. “You might be tempted to set rules
and enforce penalties, but this approach can cause workers to view workplace
safety and health as the fun police,” Collins says. “It also risks shifting the
focus from safety and wellbeing to compliance and box-ticking.”
Do Less, Listen More
Collins touches on the term humble inquiry, which was
introduced by Edgar H. Schein in his book Humble Inquiry: The Gentle Art ofAsking Instead of Telling. This concept focuses on listening, understanding and
communicating as an effective strategy to involve people, rather than
instructing them. Part of humble inquiry is helping others understand the risks
that are associated with what they are doing. Examples of this could be asking
workers questions such as:
- What do you have ahead of you today?
- What things do you think could go wrong?
- Let’s imagine for a minute something could go wrong. What might it be?
