Safety cultures require two forms of commitment to build: organizational and employee commitment. Let’s discuss how to secure each one.

Organizational Commitment

Organizational commitment involves getting CEOs and upper managers to buy-in. But it doesn’t stop there. You also need to win over other organizational leaders down the chain of authority including line managers, superintendents, supervisors—in short, anyone who oversees the work of others. Not involving all organizational leaders causes culture building efforts to fail. Unfortunately, it’s a common mistake that companies make.

Why? In my experience, 95% to 97% of the employees in a workplace do exactly what they think their boss wants them to do. So it’s important that organizational leaders communicate their belief in safety as a fundamental organizational principle to employees. Most significantly, they must demonstrate their commitment to safety as a value.

After all, talk is cheap. It’s not just what we talk about but where we dedicate our resources that defines our values. If you want to know what’s important to a person, don’t just listen to his conversation; look at his calendar and checkbook. These principles are just as true in the organizational context. For example, production and profit are key business values. Leaders make it a point to understand and define these values in terms of tangible goals. They understand that everybody in the organization will be held accountable for achieving these goals. They constantly measure success in accomplishing the goals and make adjustments along the way. They don’t wait for problems to arise but make a proactive effort to anticipate and head off problems before they hamper progress.

Companies that have a positive safety culture handle safety the same way. If they don’t, the message will come through loud and clear: Safety is less important to this company than the achievement of production and profit goals.

Employee Commitment

To get employees to integrate safety into their own culture and workplace worldview, they must see this same commitment being displayed by the organization’s leaders. Equally important, employees must feel that they’re included in the safety culture.

How organizations react to safety problems that employees report is often the acid test of culture. When problems get swept under the rug or dismissed as being too expensive to rectify—or worse, the person who reports the problem gets chastised—it sends a clear message to employees. By contrast, when employees are encouraged to report problems and their concerns are taken seriously, investigated and rectified—especially with the employees’ own participation, it builds trust in the organizational leaders and demonstrates to employees that the organization is truly committed to safety.

Don’t underestimate the employee participation element. One of the hallmarks of a positive safety culture is the feeling of empowerment by employees to work for their own safety. Employees who are trained to understand safety principles and requirements, empowered by the organization to address safety issues when they arise and encouraged and applauded when they do so, recognize that the organization’s commitment to safety isn’t simply rhetoric. Employees should be given clear standards of safety performance and held accountable for performing up to those standards, just the way they are with production and profit. In this way, safety joins production and profit as equally essential parts of workplace life and worldview.

Conclusion

The principles and processes required to develop a positive safety culture are simple: Backing verbal commitment to safety with real action isn’t exactly rocket science. But simple isn’t the same as easy. Implementing these principles and processes often involves difficult decisions, painful changes and serious effort. But it’s more than worth the investment. I have a sign in my office that says: “There are no shortcuts to anywhere worth going.” This principle applies equally to efforts to build a safety culture.

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