Toolbox Talk: A Viral Approach to Safety

TOOLBOX TALK: ADOPTING A “VIRAL” APPROACH TO SAFETY

What if we were to start “infecting” everyone we work with, live with, meet, etc. with our positive safety attitude and behaviors?

Wouldn’t that make a significant difference to us and others? Well this is no far-fetched idea as we see outlined by one organization described in the following excerpt.

The Italian oil and gas company Saipem employs 40,000 people worldwide. The company has always had their safety rules and procedures in place.

A few years back the company realized that it is the routine work that causes the accidents and that the most important safety dividend is leadership.

“A key factor and industry challenge is creating a strong organizational safety culture. In order to change the culture you have to change behaviours.

Without visible leadership involvement this is hard to do. So, we can say that leadership can strongly influence safety,” explains Davide Scotti, Manager of HSE New Initiatives at Saipem.

Culture is defined by the norms of acceptable behaviour and an organization usually develops consistent interpretations of behaviours.

A well-shaped culture can influence performances significantly. The key word here is ‘influence’ according to Scotti.

“The managers in the whole organization have to signal that time or money is never more important than safety.

Any uncertainty or mixed messages regarding safety can in a worst-case scenario have fatal consequences.”

The realisation of just how fundamental the role of leadership plays in creating a safer workplace is taken very seriously at Saipem.

The CEO Pietro Tali plays himself in a very powerful and award-winning movie used to influence employee perception of safe behaviour

“The film is a re-enactment of a real fatal accident we experienced in 2005, describing a fairly common conflict between time pressure and safety.

The movie is a successful tool because it addresses people’s emotions and deeper values, as well as provoking reflection within a realistic industry context,” says Scotti.

The company has developed a complex leadership in safety programme including methods and tools to outline personal profiles, plan for adopting new behaviour and safety intervention tools.

This safety initiative has proved very successful in creating or renewing impressive safety awareness. “Our employees are now talking about safety in a passionate way,” Scotti observes.

“Leadership in safety is now a part of our brand that people are really proud of.”

The program has been so successful, in fact, that Saipem wants to share its best practice with other companies in the industry in order to save lives.

The company has established a non-profit foundation with an ambitious vision to make their safety tools and methods available outside the organization.

“Our vision is to become a centre of knowledge in the field of safety culture.

Targeted recipients of our safety message include not only companies, but also technical schools and even school children,” states Scotti.

Saipem is always looking to improve safety, which means the continuous development of new tools.

 

At the moment, the company is working on an innovative safety methodology called viral change.

“This approach can be explained as ‘infecting’ employees with safe behaviour that becomes incorporated in the DNA of our organization.

Naturally influential people are identified and then ‘infected’ by the desired behaviour using motivational processes.

Others will soon imitate the behaviour of this initial group since they are credible sources,” explains Scotti.

The method works like a virus, one person is exposed to 25 others, and they in turn expose themselves to numerous people.

This is an effective way of spreading positive behavioural change.

“Conformity is a part of human nature, which can be used to generate positive change and, ultimately, to save lives,” concludes Scotti.

This is certainly a model that we can adopt to enhance our own initiatives to develop and sustain safety excellence.

Ref: http://www.dnv.com/services/software/publications/synergetic/no_2/emotionalroutesafebehaviour.asp

 

“If you don’t have time to do it right, when will you have the time to do it over?” _ John Wooden