Zero Accident Culture
The Science Behind Zero
How many employees work for zero accidents when management is not around?
John Wayhart
Last month鈥檚 article (国产麻豆, September 2012) discussed how to evaluate the Reach of Influence your owner, senior executive team and operations management has within your organization and revealed that the greater the Reach of Influence (ROI), the larger Return on Investment (ROI) your safety, insurance and risk management process will receive. Now, we switch our focus to the effects of a positive culture on your operations. Culture can be defined in a very simplistic way. What do your employees do when nobody鈥檚 watching? More importantly, how do your employees perform and what safety measures are still intact when a manager or supervisor is not around?
Deoxyribonucleic Acid
Huh? You may be scratching your head wondering what that term means or what exactly it has to do with your waste and recycling facility. Deoxyribonucleic Acid is the scientific term for DNA. While we鈥檙e not talking actual genetics, the makeup of your company and its employees is what structures workplace culture. Because most companies have some sort of defined culture, how you demonstrate yours is certainly important and can mean the difference between a safe workplace, an incident or even death. Additionally, a strong culture brings the following elements to your company:
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Attraction of top talent
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Retention of key employees
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Safe operations
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Lower incidents and claims
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Customer satisfaction
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Synergy towards a common goal
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Effective communication
By creating an effective workplace culture with a good gene pool (employees who know and understand the value of safety, as well as embrace safety precautions when there are no supervisors present), your facility will be reap the above mentioned benefits.
Photosynthesis
Keeping with the science theme, photosynthesis is a process used by plants and other organisms to convert the light energy captured from the sun into chemical energy that can be used to fuel the organism’s activities. This same mechanism can be transferred to your operation. Teach employees safety efficiency and how it can lower workers鈥� compensation costs and lead to a healthier workforce. During the process, employees should capture that information, understand proper techniques and protocols, and then use that knowledge to fuel the success of their day-to-day activities. Just as this process helps plants grow and flourish, it can also teach responsibility and a self-maintained culture without the continued guidance of the executive and management teams. Will your plants still grow without someone consistently overseeing the garden?
Atoms
Don鈥檛 neglect the small stuff when striving to create an environment where employees are reliable and self-accountable for a Zero Accident Culture. Reward and highlight employees who report to work every day injury-free. Focus on employees who do what鈥檚 right the first time鈥攚hether it be a financial incentive or something as simple as an 鈥渆mployee of the week.鈥� Evaluate with your team鈥檚 every near miss and dissect how it happened, the process that led to it and steps for future improvements. Talk about cleanliness, housekeeping and how first impressions are lasting to customers. The 鈥渟mall stuff鈥� makes a difference. The atoms are what help companies achieve the larger goals, customers and profits. When the small stuff matters, everything鈥攊ncluding employee buy-in and safety precautions鈥攂egin to improve.
The Scientific Method
Science labs were my worst nightmare in high school and college. I loathed filling out all the components of the Scientific Method and just wanted to do the experiment and see a result. I now have a greater appreciation towards the method of madness and firmly believe it comes in handy when trying to mix together a positive culture. To avoid a smoke explosion during lab, or more appropriately, an incident on the worksite, follow these steps.
Purpose
What鈥檚 the problem? For our purposes, let鈥檚 say it鈥檚 enabling employees to embrace a Zero Accident Culture when management is not around, which in turn, creates a positive culture that reduces incidents and increases employee engagement.
Research
More and more companies are stating zero as their ultimate goal and specific objective in the ability to lower their cost of risk. Based on the size of your operation, research what an appropriate and attainable goal should be for your organization. Examine successful, safe companies in industries with similar risk. Find ones with an Experience Modification Rating (mod) of 1.0 or lower, and discover the financial and intangible impact a lower mod number brings (see Experience Modification Rating sidebar). Observe the influence of a positive culture on employees. Research the cost for a safety consultant, training or other preventative measures and compare it to the cost savings similar companies are experiencing through a lower mod number.
Hypothesis
Based on your research, predict the outcome of the problem. Determine which avenues are the most cost-effective and appropriate for your organization, taking into consideration all the variables and controls (more applicable science terminology). From there, set forth measurable short and long-term goals that are difficult, but attainable.
Experiment
Develop a timeline and procedure to test the hypothesis. Don鈥檛 roll out every measure at once, so as not to overwhelm employees. Throughout the 鈥渆xperiment鈥� phase, embrace the small stuff (atoms) and recognize successes. Also, begin your photosynthesis stage of teaching employees to be self-reliant and accountable for their actions when you鈥檙e not there. This is the time to test the different safety avenues that can lead to Zero Accident Culture.
Analysis
Record the results. Analyze which measurable short and long-term goals were hit or missed and why. Determine whether employees are making proactive steps in working for zero accidents and engaging within the culture of the organization. This phase should never be complete. Owners and senior management must continually analyze and evaluate to keep improving.
Conclusion
Determine what areas were the most successful, and how you can continue or improve upon it. For example, if monthly safety trainings saw the largest improvement in lowering back soreness and injuries, find additional training options such as videos and guest speakers.
Becoming Einstein
If every employee took a personal responsibility for his/her own safety on the job with zero retribution from anyone in the organization, you will begin to achieve greatness in workplace excellence.
John Wayhart is a Senior Vice President at Assurance (Schaumburg, IL). With more than 29 years in the insurance and risk management industry, his expertise lies in providing solutions for a wide range of businesses including the waste and recycling industry. In the 1989, John trademarked the Zero Accident Culture庐 and continues to teach, coach and mentor this process to help drive down the cost of risk to improve operational effectiveness and financial results. John can be reached at (847) 463-7161 or [email protected].
Sidebar
Experience Modification Rating (EMR)
An Experience Modification Rating is designed to be a lagging and leading indicator insurance companies use to gauge both past cost of injuries and future chances of risk. The lower the EMR of your business, the lower your workers鈥� compensation insurance premiums will be. An EMR of 1.00 is industry average. For any rating above 1.0, you鈥檒l be paying more for your workers鈥� compensation (1.20 can mean 20% more) and anything below 1.0, you鈥檒l pay less. The goal is to be as close to the minimum EMR as possible. 聽