CLIMATE CHANGE

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CLIMATE CHANGE!

• How to measure the Safety Climate in your
  organization

Whitney Martin
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Overview

• Safety Culture vs. Climate
• Leading vs. Lagging Indicators
• The Who, What, and Why behind doing Safety
  Perception Surveys
• Who should consider doing a safety survey?
• Why should I do one?
• What will I get out of it?
• The Logistics of Doing a Survey

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Safety Culture

• Safety Culture first used in reference to
  Chernobyl disaster, and later Challenger and
  Columbia shuttle explosions, Kings Cross
  underground fire in London, Continental 2574
  crash in 1991.
• The product of individual and group values,
  attitudes, beliefs, competencies, and patterns of
  behavior that determine commitment to, and the
  style and proficiency of, organizations health
  and safety management.
• Advisory Committee on Safety in Nuclear
  Installations (ACSNI)

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Culture vs. Climate

• Safety Climate is described as safety culture in
  action, the tangible outputs of safety culture, a
  snapshot of safety culture
• Both Exist on a continuum
• Both are created through messages sent (actions
  and words) and determine behavior

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Measuring Safety

• What you measure sends a message
• C-Suite measures-- Percentage Profit, Market
  Share, Return on Investment, Quality,
  Productivity, Customer Satisfaction positive,
  measures of success
• Safety Staff measures-- Injuries? Lost time?
  Measures of failure. Our success results in the
  lack of an outcome, so we need to find a way to
  measure the inputs instead (i.e. safe behavior,
  safety awareness, safety attitude)

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The Problem with Lagging Indicators

• Under reporting
• Dont accurately account for luck
• Dont reflect potential severity of hazards
• Severity of event difficult to quantify
• Can result in complacency
• Ideally, result in lack of data!
• Measure outcomes, not causes

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The Problem with Lagging Indicators

• Requires system failure
• Of course you can use frequency-severity figures
  to measure your firms safety program, as long as
  you realize that in almost all instances these
  figures are absolutely worthless. -- Dan
  Peterson
• Need to shift to a proactive, upstream measure

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What is a Safety Perception Survey?

• Measures values, beliefs, and attitudes that
  drive behavior
• A proactive measure of safety-- allows you to
  identify the state of safety within the workplace
  without having to wait for the system to fail

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Why Conduct a Safety Perception Survey?

• Send a message (internal and external)
• Create alignment and engagement
• Add a communication channel
• Make informed decisions
• Change behavior
• Avoid plateau
• Bottom-line impact
• You cant manage what you cant measure
• --Peter Drucker

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Where Perception Surveys Fit

• SAFETY!!
• BEHAVIORS ENVIRONMENT
• BELIEFS ATTITUDES

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Who Should Do a Survey?

• Companies who want to
• Demonstrate a true commitment to safety (success,
  not failure)
• Go beyond compliance
• Transcend the plateau

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What Will Survey Results Tell Me?

• Where you are vs. where you want to be
• Whether youre getting better or worse at it
• If your actions and interventions are
• Effective (working)
• Reliable (happening consistently across all areas
  of the org.)
• On-target (proportionate to risks)
• Efficient (not wasting time, dollars, and energy)
• Only when you know why you have hit the target
  can you truly say you have learnt archery
  --Chinese proverb

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What Can I Do With the Results?

• Evaluate the impact of programs and activities
• Make more informed, focused decisions and action
  plan based on sound information
• Pinpoint areas of concern where interventions are
  needed
• Look at trends over time
• Facilitate change and improvement

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What Should I Measure?

• Management commitment
• Supervisor competence
• Priority of safety
• Time pressures
• Policies and Procedures
• Practices/patters of behavior
• Communication
• Training
• Trust
• Reward/Repercussion Systems
• Behaviors outside of work

• Risk Perception
• Effectiveness of Safety Committees
• Investigations
• Employee Empowerment/ Ownership
• Environment, PPE, and Systems
• Emergency Preparedness
• Hazards
• Employee Wellness
• Substance Use/Abuse

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What Should I Measure?

• 1) Organizational Commitment
• Extent to which upper management
• identifies safety as a core value/guiding
  principal of the organization
• demonstrates enduring positive attitude towards
  safety (even in a pinch)
• actively promotes safety in a consistent manner
  across all levels of the organization
• consistently provides adequate resources and
  supports development and implantation of safety
  activities.

Weigmann, Zhang, von Thaden, Gibbons, Sharma
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What Should I Measure?

• 2) Management Involvement
• Extent to which both upper and middle management
• get personally involved in critical safety
  activities within the organization (participation
  communicates/demonstrates commitment to safety
  which influences the degree to which employees
  comply with safety rules/practices)
• participate in training, meetings, committees,
  etc.
• are able to stay in touch with risks involved
  in everyday operations

Weigmann, Zhang, von Thaden, Gibbons, Sharma
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What Should I Measure?

• 3) Employee Empowerment
• Extent to which front line employees
• understand and accept that they are the last line
  of defense against errors/accident prevention
• are motivated to make a difference and go
  beyond the call of duty
• have a substantial voice in safety decisions
• hold self and others accountable for actions
• take pride in safety record.

Weigmann, Zhang, von Thaden, Gibbons, Sharma
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What Should I Measure?

• 4) Reward Systems
• Manner in which both safe and unsafe behaviors
  are evaluated
• Consistency in which rewards/penalties are doled
  out
• Extent to which reward/repercussion system is
  understood and internalized by employees and
  therefore drives safe behavior (rather than
  promoting counter-productive behavior)

Weigmann, Zhang, von Thaden, Gibbons, Sharma
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What Should I Measure?

• 5) Reporting Systems
• Key to identifying weaknesses and vulnerabilities
  before accidents occur
• Formal reporting system that is actually used
  comfortably by employees (without fear of
  reprisal from management or co-workers)
• Provides formal, valuable, and timely feedback to
  employees on what was done with their
  suggestions/input

Weigmann, Zhang, von Thaden, Gibbons, Sharma
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How Do I Measure?

• QualitativeEmployee observations, focus groups
  discussions, historical information review, case
  studies.
• Quantitativenumerically capture using
  standardized, calibrated instruments such as
  structured interviews and questionnaires.
• Combination Qualitative to follow up and clarify
  issues found in Quantitative

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Characteristics of Questionnaires

• Questions vs. Statements
• Open vs. Closed
• Make Items Short and Clear
• No Double-Barreled, Double-Negative, Leading, or
  Bias Items
• Ensure relevance to the scope of the project
• Make sure respondents are competent to answer

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Other Survey Considerations

• Custom or Off-the-Shelf
• Reliability and Validity
• Appropriateness of Scales
• Coding of Written Scales
• Inclusion of Interviews
• Administration Method

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Administration Method

• Participation Rate
• Confidentiality/Ability to facilitate trust
• Administration Options
• Logistical Issues
• 3rd Party vs. In-House Administration

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Analyzing Results

• Begin with the End in Mind
• Ensure results are meaningful, digestible, and
  actionable
• Slicing and Dicing
• Format should lead to ACTION

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Top 10 List Pitfalls to Avoid

• 10) Lack of FULL Organizational Commitment
• 9) Wrong Motives
• 8) Doesnt Address the REAL Issues
• 7) Fail to Recognize that Perception IS
  Reality!!
• 6) Bad Timing/Wrong Conditions

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Top 10 List Pitfalls to Avoid

• 5) Process takes too long
• 4) Results arent communicated completely or
  effectively
• 3) Changes arent attributed to the survey
• 2) Its an EVENT
• 1) Nothing is done with the results

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Questions?
Whitney Martin whitney_at_consultproactive.com 502-7
42-7411 www.consultproactive.com