Worley

I was recently part of a commercial business conversation where the facilitator responded to a question about the profit margin that was being discussed by suggesting the numbers were calculated by using commercial business finance art, more than commercial business finance science. That discussion motivated me to think about how there is a mix of applying The Art of Safety Leadership and The Science of Safety Leadership in the development and nurturing of Good to Great Safety Cultures.

The Science of Safety Leadership – Governing safety regulations, industry safety standards, company safety procedures, and best safety practices are examples of safety leadership science.

The Art of Safety Leadership – Behavior Based Safety, Mature Safety Leadership Culture Elements, Basic Safety Leadership Behaviors, Modes of Safety Leadership Influences (Emotional Intelligence), and Others.

I have served in work families where The Science of Safety Leadership was applied, which was part of an immature, maturing, and mature safety cultures, and the focus was to meet and exceed basic regulatory requirements as the basis for the safety program:

• I served a Steel Fabricator Shop immediately after graduate school that was focused on meeting the letter of the law because they were cited by OSHA a few weeks before I joined them as the safety leader. The executive leadership limited their outlook on providing a safe and healthy place to work based on what was required by the OSHA Citations. This was a very immature safety culture.

• I served a work family in Sakhalin, Russia approximately 11 years ago, where the work family members were inspired to be safe to be eligible to work. All the workers throughout Sakhalin, Russia at that time carried and up to date work eligibility book (it looked like a passport) that formally communicated their work discipline capabilities (e.g., welder, pipefitter, and other) along with their personal safety experience. If a Sakhalin, Russia worker was dismissed for behaving unsafe, it could exclude them from future employment. This work eligibility requirement influenced the work family to follow the basic rules and regulations without calling attention to themselves in the safety innovation or leadership space. This was a maturing safety culture per the safe work expectations were effectively communicated and followed up on through applied accountability.

• I served a work family in Mexico City, Mexico that started out being focused on meeting the letter of the laws in Mexico and the internal standards of completing work safely. Fortunately, once the basics of working safely were effectively shared with the “What”, “Why”, and “How” firmly in place, the work family started working on the spiritual connection associated with working safely. The work family worked safely because they wanted to work safely and less because it was a rule or a law. This was a maturing work family.

I have served in work families where The Art of Safety Leadership was applied as part of a safety culture that was maturing or mature, and the focus was to exceed basic regulatory requirements. Influencing safety behaviors was the fundamental elements of the safety program:

• While I was serving as a safety engineer at a specialty chemical manufacturer in Suffolk, VA, we were audited by a much bigger company that was planning on acquiring us. One of the main themes the audit team took away with them was that even though we did not have the latest in HSE systems, process, and tools, we had a work family that believed in performing every task safely and watching out for one another. This type of safety program is founded on the heart and souls of the work family to make it effective and continued to move from an immature to mature safety culture from 1995 – 2003.

• I recently visited a chemical laboratory in East Canada to assess their HSE program. I anticipated the laboratory having the latest and greatest in technology when it came to managing their work and the safety risk associated with their work, but I was wrong. The small group of less than 10 work family members worked as a high functioning team in performing all necessary task in a safe and effective rhythm of understanding everyone’s limitations, strengths, and opportunities for safe work capability development. I was impressed as to how everyone participated in the safety program elements and did not expect a person or a small subgroup to take the lead on safety. This work family believed and behaved in the spirit of everyone is responsible for safety. The collective work family member implementing steps of planning and executing safe work is aligned with a maturing safe work culture.

Just like Situational Leadership is usually the best response to what is a General Leaders’ preferred leadership style, the combination of applying The Art and Science of Safety Leadership to company programs, to locations, to projects and to the work family is the best way mature and safety culture and to sustain it.

My best example of a combined application of The Art and Science of Safety Leadership is when I served as the Global Health, Safety, Security, Environmental, and Quality Lead for CH2M (Global Engineering and Construction Contractor) from 2014 - 2018. We understood, complied, expanded, and made the local regulations for where we were operating in the world interesting and self-serving to the effective delivery of safe and high-quality work. Our work family not only understood and complied with the basic regulatory safety expectations, but they also embraced the spirit of Target Zero.

The Target Zero Philosophy Was:

• The Relentless pursuit of achieving zero incidents, illnesses (World Class Safety).

• Preventing Zero adverse environmental impacts (Environmental Stewardship).

The CH2M work family no longer exist because it was acquired by another company in 2018, after experiencing the Best Safety Performance in the 71 years of existence by applying a combined application of The Art and Science of Safety Leadership under the banner of Target Zero.

That mix of applying The Art of Safety Leadership and The Science of Safety Leadership in the development and nurturing of Good to Great Safety Cultures is an element that I believe all Maturing and Mature safety cultures have in common.