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SAFETY CULTURE Changing Culture Through Changing Minds To improve safety culture, help employees find their motivation to stay safe BY EDWIN ZALEWSKI Applying a bit of psychology can help increase employee support for safety and improve your safety culture. Safety professionals should understand why some employees ignore safety rules and why others consistently follow them. Getting all workers to choose safety makes the safety profes- sional’s job easier. Rather than trying to force employees to follow safety rules, help them find their own motivation for choosing safety. To help employees make the right choice, demonstrate how safety benefits them. Give them action items to follow and point out that you all share the goal of preventing injuries. Although the company pays the costs of injuries, employees pay the price, and serious injuries could prevent them from enjoying life outside work. Here are ideas for encouraging more safety involvement. Joining Walkarounds Taking employees on walkaround hazard assessments helps them injured, the risk seems low. Also, the longer employees engage in risky behavior without consequence, the more likely they are to un- understand the “why” behind safety rules. Show them what kind derestimate the risk. This is why experienced workers often take the of hazards you look for, which you find, and how they put them at risk. This shows them why safety matters and how it affects them. most risks. Explain that a low probability does not equal low risk. For example, if you see a blocked fire exit, point out how it could cost lives during an evacuation. Seeing real-world situ- Making Risks Real ations helps employees understand that unsafe behaviors and If you ask employees to make a list of people they don’t want to safety violations could affect their lives. see injured, they probably won’t include themselves. They’ll take risks they don’t want friends or family to take. Help them under- Giving Action Items stand their friends and family don’t want them taking risks. To help employees understand the potential consequences, try these To encourage more employee involvement, give them more “to creative, low-cost suggestions developed by safety professionals. do” items. Safety rules often include a lot of “do not” instructions, but that doesn’t tell employees how to participate. In one sense, ■ Ask workers to write letters to their families describing this is like telling them, “Don’t get hurt,” which isn’t helpful. what they’d say if they were hospitalized or killed on the job. This Increase their “to do” list by changing how you deliver infor- exercise helps employees understand that when they take risks, mation. For example, instead of saying, “Do not block the exit” they aren’t the only ones who suffer the consequences. you might say, “Make sure the exit is always clear. If something is ■ Ask everyone to bring in a family photo and add the blocking the aisle, remove it and report it.” This provides a specific caption, “This is why you stay safe,” then post the photos in their action item while teaching them to identify and address hazards. work areas. Employees report that looking at the photo every They can then begin taking responsibility for their own safety. morning makes them think about safety. They help remind them that their children don’t want mom or dad getting hurt. Addressing Complacency As another option, hold a safety meeting with simulated inju- ries to drive home the impacts, like making some employees wear Many safety professionals struggle with complacency, which of- an eye patch or taping fingers together. Let them experience the ten manifests as a “nothing bad will happen” attitude. To address this, make risks “real” rather than hypothetical. Safety profes- frustration of performing simple tasks. Ask if they’re willing to spend the rest of their lives with those limitations. Then ask if tak- sionals know that risk is a function of probability and severity. A ing a risk (even with low probability) is worth the consequences. potentially severe outcome (like an amputation) demands greater precautions even if the probability is low. Remind employees that nobody wants them to pay that price. Workers who never experienced a serious incident may fo- cus on probability. They might work for years without injury Identifying Safety Advocates even while ignoring safety rules. However, equipment failures or Most employees never suffer serious injuries, but your company distractions can happen. Every worker who got injured thought likely has some employees who got injured, experienced a frighten- nothing bad would happen. If a serious injury or fatality occurs, ing near-miss, or know someone who got seriously injured. If you everyone suddenly understands the reality, but the tragedy al- can identify these employees and encourage them to share their ex- ready happened. Explain that you want to avoid this. periences, they could become powerful safety advocates. Employees are usually more open to feedback from coworkers than managers. If an employee never got hurt and doesn’t know anyone who got chalermphon_tiam/Shutterstock.com 30 Occupational Health & Safety | NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2023 www.ohsonline.com