Over the past few years, the culture of safety has become one of the most popular and successful movements in industrial safety. It’s easy to see why: when an entire company comes to see safety not as a legal obligation or a time-consuming nuisance but as an intrinsic part of its competence and community, substantial improvement is possible. Real benefits can arise when every member of a firm-employees, managers and executives-agrees to change the way he or she views safety. Once the need for a culture of safety has been recognized, the question becomes, where to start?

Research suggests an answer: in a survey of 150 safety managers1, more than two thirds agreed that it is possible to build a stronger safety culture by starting with better eye safety.

An Intuitive Argument

One of the most difficult parts of instituting a new safety policy is convincing workers that the program is important. If workers are going to take responsibility for their own safety, they need to believe that their participation in the program will make a difference. Eye protection is a great first step here, because everyone can understand the importance of eye safety. A persuasive case is easy to make: your eyes are very valuable, very vulnerable and irreplaceable. No amount of saved time or effort is worth losing your sight. Although this argument is fairly self-evident, it can and should be reinforced with literature or presentations. Testimonials from individuals who either suffered an eye injury because of insufficient protection or avoided an incident thanks to proper eyewear can be especially effective.

Culture is What Everybody Knows

Everybody knows protecting your eyes is important, and according to J.E. Roughton, “Culture is what everybody knows and therefore it does not have to be stated or written down.”

Once employees come to view eye protection as a universally held value instead of a rule in a book, it is easier to get them to think about other safety issues this way. In a culture of safety, the incentive to wear eye protection comes from a sense of community and individual empowerment rather than from fear of punishment or shirking.

In other words, a worker thinks “I want to be safe because my coworkers are safe” or “I want to be safe because it’s the competent thing to do,” rather than “I want to be safe because otherwise I will get in trouble.” A strong eye safety program can help employees move away from this unreliable “safety cop” paradigm and toward a new mindset in which they are accountable to themselves.

A Very Visible Reminder

Of course, especially early in the process, some external accountability is vital for compliance. Eye protection excels here as well: with one quick glance across the floor, managers can get an idea of how safe their workers are being.

Easily monitored and easily understood, an expectation of proper use of protective eyewear provides employers with the opportunity to discourage unsafe behaviors and to reinforce safe ones with immediate, direct feedback. Particularly effective are policies where employees “caught in the act” of being safe are given verbal praise or small prizes.

Remember, too, that eye protection is highly visible to coworkers as well as managers. When goggle use is widespread, employees feel accountable to one another, and a powerful social incentive asserts itself: “I’m being safe. Why aren’t you?”

Breaking the Ice

When asked how a strong eye safety program helped him improve the overall safety culture in his workplace, one safety manager said this:

“One of the toughest jobs a safety professional faces in a dirty, hot environment is getting your personnel to wear their safety glasses. So if you can reason with them on the importance of the glasses, then you are breaking the ice and starting a culture that should continue into other areas of safety awareness.”

The key idea here is “breaking the ice.” An eye safety program is a good way to introduce the concept of a culture of safety primarily because it facilitates a new kind of communication. A safety program can only be effective if everyone-workers, managers, safety officers and executives-takes part in the conversation.

Conclusion

Safety is a process, one achieved only through a clear and open discussion based on facts and common sense, and every employee is a participant in this discussion. Once this attitude is in place, you are well on your way to establishing a stronger overall culture of safety in your business.

Sources:

1. “Role of occupational eye protection in building a culture of safety.” Industry research from Sperian Eye & Face Protection. Survey of 300 safety directors in the US and Canada. © 2009.)

2. Roughton, J.E. and J.J. Mercurio (2002). Developing an effective safety culture: a leadership approach. Boston, Butterworth-Heinemann.

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