The Evolution of Safety Human Factors In accordance with Band-Aid Bob

This is a story of the people who helped shape today's safety industry and paved the way for future changes in the management and perception of health and safety. This is also a story of the evolution of health and safety in accordance with a safety professional we'll call Band-aid Bob.

In the Beginning

In the late 1800's, there have been no safe practices professionals. Companies could not have thought of retaining people specifically to manage safe practices for them. Actually, at work, humans really were not ranked all that high as a resource. In the mining industry for instance, mules were often used to haul equipment and materials in and from the mines. When a serious incident occurred such as for example an explosion, rescue operations focused not on humans but on the mules. A dead mule cost the mine around $24 to replace. An employee, making around $3 each day, was cheap to replace as there was generally a lineup of people willing to work in trade for pay. If a worker was only injured he'd be sent home to recover without pay. If he recovered fully, he would be allowed to return to work.

In the first 1900's (i.e. around 1914), workers' compensation insurance was established in lots of areas in THE UNITED STATES. The insurance provided compensation to employees who were injured in addition to to the groups of those who had died face to face. It was at this time that companies started hiring people to help patch up their injured workers and to get them back to work as soon as you possibly can, as well as assist in preventing further injuries. Some called these folks "safety advisers". The evolution of the Safety Adviser's role is perhaps best shown by the legend of a person known as Band-aid Bob.

Band-aid Bob wasn't his real name, but that is what he came to be called. If ever there is a safety person who could patch people up once they were injured, it was Bob. At the moment in the evolutionary history of safe practices, there was no such thing as formal safe practices management systems. Workplace injuries were common and accepted within the job. People like Band-aid Bob were typically hired by only the largest of companies who needed you to definitely administer good first aid and felt they could afford the overhead. Several safety people were workers with work injury disabilities for instance a missing hand, fingers, or toes. In the end, if anyone knew anything about safe practices, it had to be an already injured worker.

Bob was very good at his job. One evening, tired from the hard day of administering bandages, cauterizing wounds, and massaging strained muscles, Band-aid Bob decided to take the time for himself. He packed up some gear and hiked into the mountains. Trekking up Mount Doringba, he made an unbelievable discovery that could change how companies viewed employee safe practices.

High on the mountain, Bob stumbled onto some tablets inscribed with strange writings. Among many broken pieces of tablets, he found two intact pieces. Excited about his find, he brought both tablets back to the town and had them transcribed. The tablets' writings proved to be pivotal to safe practices as they identified important elements to achieving safe practices excellence. Sun and rain included: Management Commitment and Involvement, Hazard Identification and Assessment, Records and Administration, Inspection, and Investigation.

Soon Bob found himself on a speaking tour spreading the term about his findings, laced with interpretations from the one and only Band-aid Bob himself. When asked about the need for the writings, Bob would respond, "These key elements are needed to experience safety excellence. Success in implementing these elements means you won't ever need to bandage up a worker again."

Present Day Health & Safety Management Systems

To numerous people, Bob's new approach to safety made a lot of sense and, as time passes, Bob gained a significant following. Soon word spread and companies everywhere adopted the elements. Mounting interest in the elements gave rise to varied health & safety associations, safety professionals and consultants who all helped spread the term to millions of companies and their employees. Many companies hired people focused on implementing and maintaining these landmark elements. Billions of dollars were spent implementing them.

For a time, improvements to safe practices were achieved. Companies employing the elements noticed reductions in incident and accident rates. Fatality rates decreased. Insurance charges decreased. This success lasted for many years but, there came a time when fatality rates stopped decreasing plus some people started to question the worthiness of the essential program elements. Others suggested the essential elements had improved about all they might improve within their companies. They needed a re-evaluation of the status quo, however the prospect of change was a very hard sell. By  Rope Access Specialists Park Lane , a lot of people had bought into the basic health and safety elements that had been passed down to them by Band-aid Bob. Their livelihood depended upon them. To now buy into alternative approaches threatened their very existence and would suggest they had all along been following the wrong path.

And so it went on for many years: companies entrenched in Bob's basic elements didn't achieve the safety excellence promised them. Many health and safety professionals reported difficulties in obtaining the elements set up and functioning fully. At this time in the evolutionary era of safe practices systems, many viewed safe practices as a program, separate from all the aspects of the business enterprise. Much like other "programs" when times got tough, health and safety systems got cut or downsized to create method for leaner programs yielding profit. For most of these companies, survival and productivity were the true number one priorities. Health and safety was silently regarded as an extra cost to do business. It was for this time that some important truths were revealed that would bring about another enormous shift in health and safety management philosophy.

Dissatisfaction continued to increase with the current method of health and safety. Band-aid Bob Jr., grandson of Band-aid Bob (who had passed on compared to that safe haven in the sky) and also a Safety Adviser, reflected on hawaii of safe practices at this time. A lot more than 90 years had passed since Band-aid Bob had discovered the basic safety program elements. This approach had failed to yield the improvements to employee safe practices that were promised. If ever there was a time to re-think the old failed philosophies around health and safety program management, this was it. So, Band-aid Bob Jr. packed up his things and retreated to the mountains, coincidentally to the exact mountain and spot where his grandfather had retreated many years ago.

The New Approach to Health and Safety Management

When Band-aid Bob Jr. arrived at the spot where his grandfather had made his discovery, the area, initially, seemed clear. But he stumbled on a half-buried rock and upon closer examination, he pointed out that it was a lot more than just a the usual rock. Also, he noticed other rocks poking from the earth. He spent some time digging them out, packed them up, and returned to his home in the town. Without hesitation, Bob went to work on clearing up the rocks and putting the pieces together just like a jigsaw puzzle. When he was done, he found that he previously two more complete tablets containing more direction on how best to achieve safety excellence.

He had them transcribed into English. When he showed off his new find, there is a great commotion, but mostly there was disbelief. "How could there become more elements?" people exclaimed. There have been many meetings and discussions concerning the new elements plus they were examined one by one. Following is really a summary of what some call "Health and Safety Human Factors," along with a few of the meeting discussions.

Values/Safety Priority

A company's real safe practices priorities are revealed not by cleverly crafted policies posted throughout the facilities, but by how the employees carry out their work. It takes merely one incident of management telling a crew to operate a vehicle to the worksite in a blinding storm, to handle work short-staffed, to work hastily, or even to skip the pre-job safety meeting, to undermine a large number of verbal and written affirmations of "safety first". Workers' behaviour are strongly influenced by their perceptions of the company's real safe practices priorities. Should they believe safety requires a back seat to production, employees can make your choice to take that trip in bad weather or work shorthanded. When an incident occurs you can easily blame the employee for not complying with the documented procedures. Unfortunately, the company's real values and priorities are rarely defined as even contributing incident factors.

Trust

A bond of trust may be formed between workers and management when the acts of management convince workers they can confide in their supervisors and can depend on them to act or respond in a predictable way. For example, managers are trusted when they promptly follow-up on safety meeting issues. Such an environment of trust, employees will freely talk about safety issues at safety meetings since they know they'll be acted upon. Alternatively, lack of action leads to insufficient trust and many very quiet meetings. Trust is also diminished when it is violated, such as for example when an agreement between supervisor and worker is broken. Once this trust is broken, it requires many positive acts by management to regain it.

Employee Participation/Autonomy

Employees must believe that they will have a "stake" in the program. Employees are more accepting of an application they helped develop than they're of one that has simply been handed down to them. For example, it is difficult to assume anything more boring or wasteful than a band of workers sitting around a table in a safety meeting, hearing their supervisor read out safe work procedures produced by either them or the Safety Advisor. Half of the employees present will probably have their mind elsewhere. What really gets employees' attention is having them participate in safety procedure exercises or emergency drills, then soliciting their input. Employee participation results in improved procedures that employees tend to be more committed to following since they have participated in their development.

Autonomy takes employee participation to another level as employees are allowed to actually make key decisions on various aspects of the program. The levels of commitment obtained through participation and autonomy are much larger than what would be obtained by a supervisor reading aloud at a gathering. Companies that allow for a high amount of employee autonomy generally have what's typically named an "open culture" since they engage employees in decisions and in the creative processes.

Credibility

Credibility is closely aligned with trust. Trust is gained whenever there are no differences between what is said and what is practised. For example, when management condones or ignores the behaviour of workers who are not complying with procedures, credibility is lost. The next time management promotes compliance to procedures, employees will roll their eyes in disbelief. Alternatively, if management is aggressive in correcting the behaviour of some individuals however, not others, their credibility again makes question. As with any of these human factors, there are no barriers to protect management from these negative employee perceptions leaching into other areas of the business. If one has lost credibility in safety, credibility overall is lost. A manager's capability to manage all other areas of the job effectively is negatively affected.

Leadership

Leadership is a important element of the human factor-oriented method of health and safety. It is leadership's words and actions that establish behavioural expectations of employees. You can generally determine the extent of management's leadership in health and safety by observing how workers behave face to face. If employees demonstrate too little commitment to health and safety for the reason that management has not led the health and safety charge. As a way to influence employees, leaders must demonstrate unwavering support for health and safety regardless of the business climate of the day.

Leaders must always "walk the talk." They can never make exceptions and allow operations to take priority over employee safety. For example, if a manager, despite operational costs, shuts a job down to ensure worker safety, he or she is a leader who will be believed when he/she proclaims that safety is number one. When exceptions are created to allow production to continue at the trouble of safety, the leadership sends a strong message that production is really the number one priority. Under these situations, any attempts to convince employees that safety is management's number 1 priority are simply just not believable.

Caring

When companies show employees they truly care, they take advantage of the effort performed by satisfied employees. Also, they are rewarded with employees that are more committed to the company. This generally results in improved safety, productivity, quality, and/or service. Here is one small but powerful exemplory case of caring. Some companies send flowers to employees and their members of the family who are seriously ill in the hospital. This act represents hardly any with regard to investment in time or money and goes quite a distance towards increasing employees' sense of security, compliance, satisfaction, and loyalty to the business.

Hiring/Orientation/Socialization

Newly hired employees arrived at employers with their own pre-conceived safe practices attitudes and expectations. If their attitudes are closely aligned with the company's and their peers', their attitudes will undoubtedly be reinforced. If this is not the case, the brand new employee could have difficulties fitting in. For instance, an employee who does not accept the necessity to follow all safety rules, procedures, etc. will not likely follow them once the boss is away. If she or he hasn't during the past, why start now? One method to avoid these types of issues is to enhance the hiring/screening process. Hire employees whose values and attitudes are aligned with those of the business. Put simply, get them to a proper fit for the company.

Many companies focus their new employee orientation efforts on the content of the brand new employee orientation program. As important as the content is, the orientation process is equally important. Most employees obtain real orientation when they begin dealing with their peers. Peers inform new employees on "how things are really done around here." If the new employee is orientated by a peer or peer group that feels a few safety exceptions are okay, the brand new employee will be orientated with the incorrect messages. New employee orientations should be conducted by experienced employees that are aligned with the company health and safety values and principles.

Band-aid Bob Jr. recalls employers commenting on a number of the stupid things employees do. His response is, "Do you hire them stupid or make them stupid after you hire them?"

Legends/Folklore

Identify and dispense with folklore or legends of renowned past employees or heroes that do not reinforce the behaviours which are currently desired. For example, Angus MacTavish was a gas utility employee. Legend has it he once performed a rescue by jumping into to a bell hole filled with leaking gas. First he minimized the gas flow by bending over the steel gas line and then he hoisted an unconscious worker over his shoulder and climbed out of the six-foot-deep bell hole to safety. With another deep breath, Angus apparently transpired and saved a second employee. This legend suggests Angus was superhuman. The truth is that there are hardly any people strong enough to actually do what Angus is rumored to possess done-especially under conditions of little oxygen and blowing gas. If the corporation now has procedures in place to ensure this sort of rescue is never attempted, legends like this will work against compliance with the brand new procedure.

So as to attain full compliance, conflicting legends must be dispelled, otherwise they might be modelled. One method to dispel the legend in the above case is to conduct mock exercises to practise removing unconscious employees from a bell hole. No employee should be able to perform Alex's rescue and that will assist reinforce the new more time-consuming but safe rescue procedure.

Fairness

Employees must believe the environment they are employed in is fair and clear of bias or injustice. Few employees complain about a system where the standards and consequences of compliance are organized clearly and are consistently enforced. If discipline is warranted, it must be perceived to be fairly administered. However, workers become frustrated when they have been held accountable for something others have already been allowed to get away with. One of many worst exceptions in this regard is when workers are disciplined for non-compliance but exceptions are made for supervisors or managers. Companies should always strive to create a just and fair culture.

Employee Satisfaction

This can be a well-known proven fact that satisfied employees are more productive, take fewer days off for illness, stick with the company longer and have fewer incident/accidents. The deeply hidden benefits of implementing an effective safe practices program are that it opens the entranceway to good two-way communication and fosters employee participation and trust. In this environment, employee satisfaction improves. Satisfied employees benefit companies not merely by improving safe practices in the company, but also by improving all other aspects of the business enterprise. Companies that view safe practices from this perspective recognize that safe practices adds value to an organization.

Culture Influences Behaviour

There are many factors affecting why individuals behave the way they do. The factors influencing employee behaviour are varied and complex. Supervisors and managers can't be counted on to understand them all. However, a few of the factors that affect behaviour are well known and understood and therefore are useful tools for management and supervisors.

For example, behavioural science tells us that when supervisors and management provide positive recognition for just about any desirable behaviour, the behaviour is more prone to be repeated. If an undesirable behaviour is condoned or overlooked as the supervisor or manager chooses not to address it, the undesirable behavior will be reinforced and repeated. All supervisors and managers should become aware of these simple behavioural truths that all supervisors and managers should be aware of.

Another, and perhaps less-known, factor influencing employee behaviour is the company's safe practices culture. A generally accepted description of workplace culture is "the way things remain here." Here's a good example. Band-aid Bob recalls a time years back when he was auditing a company's safe practices management system. While interviewing a mature but new employee, he asked about compliance to wearing PPE and following safe practices procedures. The interviewee responded positively and went on to say that when he saw someone not complying, he felt more comfortable with and compelled to say something to them. He then revealed his recent non-compliant history. In the business where he previously previously worked for over twenty years, he had commonly disregarded the rules. When asked why the sudden change in behaviour, his response was short and to the point: "Because that is the way we do things around here."

Safety excellent companies are well aware of the influences a positive health and safety culture can have on employee behaviour. Most of them conduct safety perception surveys to access employee perceptions so that they can focus on improving negative employee perceptions.

Conclusion

We have come a long way since the early stages of health and safety. Each new era has taken new improvements to safe practices management systems. The brand new elements discovered by Band-aid Bob Jr. (and real-life safe practices professionals) are proclaiming a new and exciting era where "health and safety" is no longer viewed as just another program, but as a key contributor to success running a business. The move towards these more human-oriented elements promises to greatly help produce improvements to corporate safe practices culture that will have positive effects on all other aspects of a small business. Some companies have previously discovered these cascading benefits and have evolved into health and safety leaders and, not surprisingly, leaders in their respective businesses.