Take These "E" Steps to Evolve Safety Culture

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In a recent post for SHP Online, Andrew Sharman, vice board chair of the Institution of Occupational Safety and Health and CEO of RyderMarshSharman, shares some thoughts on transforming a safety culture using the terms revolution and evolution to describe what progressive organizations should be striving to achieve.

"My research led me to the point where I began to notice stark differences between the two concepts," he writes. "I felt that revolution was like a wheel, rotating around a central axis, though moving around the wheel essentially retains the same shape, size and function. On the other hand, evolution implies a sense of proactive development."

To keep evolving, Sharman suggests these four "E" steps.

• Encourage. "In the workplace . . . without encouragement, people simply won’t do certain things. Gentle encouragement is effective in focusing attention on what’s required and getting folks ready to move in the right direction," Sharman explains.
• Engage. "We cannot do safety to people," he says. "The route to success is to engage people and work with them to identify challenges, solutions and approaches."
• Enable. "Enabling people isn’t about telling them what to do; it’s about building the competence and confidence to allow them to understand how to do it for themselves."
• Empower. "Generating the space and security to allow people to practice what we’ve asked of them is crucial," Sharman advises.

Read the full post here.