Sample Clip: Who Is Responsible for Safety?
by Carl Potter copyright 2002
Introduction
"Why won't they work safe?" "Why do our workers take shortcuts?" "Why
won't they take responsibility?" These are a few of the typical questions
asked by senior managers to frontline supervisors.
Meantime, workers ask, "Why doesn't management support safety?" "Why is it
that all I hear from my supervisor is get it done!" "Why won't they take
responsibility?" Management says, "Nothing is more important than safety,"
but it seems like lip service to me. Both are right. Both are wrong. When
looking at an organization's safety culture, look at each employee's
commitment and motive for helping (or not helping) create that culture.
Chapter 1Individual Responsibility
Safety is the responsibility of each and every individual. When I say,
"individual," I refer to everyone in an organization from its top
executives to its visiting college interns. As a safety consultant I have
seen (and continue to see) too much of the "blame game" -- management
blaming workers and workers blaming management for inadequate workplace
safety.
Working through the ranks of a large electric power company for 17 years,
I experienced first hand good and bad safety management practices. I have
worked with those who behaved safely and those who did not. Mostly what I
saw were coworkers who passed the responsibility for safety on to others.
One powerful exception was the time I observed an individual taking
personal responsibility for workplace safety.
Our company decided to give safety jackets to every employee as a reward
for working 12 months or longer without a recordable accident. Those who
qualified were told to go to a company conference room so that we could be
fitted for our "reward."
The jacket company had taken measurements for all but one person. When it
was his turn, he declined! Several of us questioned his decision. We
asked, "Why are you turning this down? You earned it!" His simple, but
profound, reply was "It's sad that they have to give us a reward for
taking responsibility for our personal safety."
He continued, "All the reward I want is to go home everyday the same way I
came, without injury! I don't need a reward to be safe."
WOW! What a light bulb moment. What a revelation for me. Oh, the jacket?
Yeah, I still have mine. In classic behavioral safety models, the jacket
is an incentive to encourage workers to think and act safely.
The point is that each of us should take personal responsibility for our
safety as a normal part of our professional workplace behavior. Moreover,
taking personal responsibility for safety affects everyone's safety.
Yes, management has a legal responsibility to ensure a safe workplace for
all. I have yet to hear any manager say they didn't care if someone got
hurt on the job. In the same manner, I have never met anyone in the
workforce who wants to get hurt. Yet we continue to blame each other for
failing to take responsibility for safety. Why is that?
The Responsibility Model
There is more to taking personal responsibility for workplace safety than
you might think. The model on page 19 explains the importance of taking
personal responsibility for safety.
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Who
is responsible for safe working conditions? Executives?
Supervisors? Safety department staff? Or you?