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Relying solely on regulatory requirements to guide the development and execution of HSE activities is limiting for several reasons:
1. The regulatory requirements are dated because of the amount of time it takes for a regulatory standard to become law after it has been created. Some have not been updated for decades.
2. Because of the time lag in the regulatory requirement, insightful HSE ideas becoming law are years late. The regulations cannot keep up with the latest and greatest HSE technology that makes work safer and protects the natural environment more effectively.
Shifting Mindsets Toward Values-Driven Safety
We must start with educating ourselves on what is the greatest level of safeguarding our work family members and descend from that perspective if it is not applicable from a safety, business, or cultural perspective. OSHA, for example, recommends that employers start at the highest level of safety and health hazard controls and work down from there as part of the Hazard Recognition and Control Methodology.
Building Accountability for Proactive Safety
Organizations can make proactive safety part of the cultural norms by establishing proactive safety as an expectation in how work family members engage (Safety Moments), how work family members behave (Applying Safety Hazard Identification and Control – Job Hazard Analysis), and how organizational leadership supports the proactive safety culture by being involved, providing HSE training, sponsoring safety committees, and leading by example. Mature safety cultures have specific elements that separate them from the immature and maturing safety cultures:
• The highest level of leadership involvement in the safety programs and processes (e.g., executives say and do the right things, and their expected safe behaviors are cascaded throughout all levels of leadership)
• Solid and consistently applied safe work planning and execution processes are in place (e.g., a formal job hazard analysis process is used consistently throughout the organization).
• Safety training is in place at all levels (e.g., work family members receive effective safe work training from new hires to the CEO).
• Consistent engagement in the positive safety culture elements (e.g., work family members are part of creating, assessing, and evolving the safety program)
• Consistent positive and constructive recognition for safety performance
• Developed a proactive safety vision that is easily articulated and embraced by all—an attitude that “we can and will perform every task safely or not at all.”
Authentic Leadership for Proactive Safety Culture
I don’t believe in a safety-first culture for energy organizations. Energy organizations exist to produce energy safely while protecting the environment. I suggest that energy leaders be authentic in how they establish safety values, set proactive safety expectations with work family members, and lead proactive safety efforts from the front of the line.
Organizations can make proactive safety part of the cultural norms by establishing proactive safety as an expectation in how work family members engage (Safety Moments), how work family members behave (Applying Safety Hazard Identification and Control – Job Hazard Analysis), and how organizational leadership supports the proactive safety culture by being involved, providing HSE training, sponsoring safety committees, and leading by example. Mature safety cultures have specific elements that separate them from the immature and maturing safety cultures:
• The highest level of leadership involvement in the safety programs and processes (e.g., executives say and do the right things, and their expected safe behaviors are cascaded throughout all levels of leadership)
• Solid and consistently applied safe work planning and execution processes are in place (e.g., a formal job hazard analysis process is used consistently throughout the organization).
• Safety training is in place at all levels (e.g., work family members receive effective safe work training from new hires to the CEO).
• Consistent engagement in the positive safety culture elements (e.g., work family members are part of creating, assessing, and evolving the safety program)
• Consistent positive and constructive recognition for safety performance
• Developed a proactive safety vision that is easily articulated and embraced by all—an attitude that “we can and will perform every task safely or not at all.”
Authentic Leadership for Proactive Safety Culture
I don’t believe in a safety-first culture for energy organizations. Energy organizations exist to produce energy safely while protecting the environment. I suggest that energy leaders be authentic in how they establish safety values, set proactive safety expectations with work family members, and lead proactive safety efforts from the front of the line. 