Page 92 - OHS, June 2023

SAFETY CULTURE of cultural components. The same is true for any number of other soft skills. Using a consistent and common language can reduce ambiguity as well as make it easier for workers to share real-time safety observations with each other. Research has shown that demonstrating genuine appreciation for workers will make them work harder and can also improve personal accountability. Greater empathy can improve trust, relatability and morale. Few interventions can kill as many birds with one stone as improving employee- facing soft skills. Which begs the question: why don’t more organizations invest in supervisors’ communication skills, safety managers’ storytelling abilities and executives’ relatability? It all goes back to the Rorschach test. Safety folks are used to hard safety solutions. Engineering solutions, PPE, rigorous processes—these are things that look like effective EHS interventions. (And with good reason, because they are.) But when the same safety professionals turn their attention to soft skills, they seem something less actionable, less definitive and more open to interpretation. Safety professionals are used to root- cause analyses that lead to definitive (or at least probable) contributors to incidents. They also favor solutions that have a direct link to a problem. Want to prevent someone from tripping on a staircase? Add a handrail. It’s not always clear how expressing faith in workers or using a common safety language will stop workers from stumbling on stairs. Increased Engagement But we know that bolstering workers’ confidence will reduce distracting or negative thoughts. Which increases their ability to attend to the task at hand. And when attention goes up, incidents like tripping go down. When workers are more engaged, they pay attention more in safety meetings—including meetings that remind them about safety on the stairs. When safety folks use a consistent and common safety language to talk about the dangers of rushing and tripping, or the dangers of distraction and tripping, then workers are more likely to listen. Could each of these factors individually have a positive effect on safety outcomes? To repeat the answer to an earlier question, “Yeah, sorta. Maybe.” But every input has a cumulative effect. One slight tweak to a soft skill won’t get much traction. But a long-term adjustment to multiple soft skills, in combination with the existing safety interventions you already have in place? That’s when a new safety culture truly begins to emerge. When you see it, you’ll know. Ray Prest is the Director of Marketing at SafeStart, a company focused on human factors solutions that reduce preventable deaths and injuries on and off the job. Ray has educated people about safety and human factors management for over 20 years. 90Untitled-51Oc1cupational Health & Safety | JUNE 2023 www.o2h/7s/2o2nl1in1:e45.cAoMm