This article is excerpted from the book, Delivering Safety Excellence: Engagement Culture at Every Level, published June, 2021, John Wiley & Sons. The narrative is based on the author’s real-world experiences with safety culture turnarounds (people’s names have been changed).
Aaron is physically sick to his stomach as he attends the funeral of a 37-year employee who fell to his death at work on the past weekend. Aaron is the organization’s recently appointed safety manager. He’s come up through the ranks with little safety training. His organization is large, with more than 1,000 employees, but there is minimal safety emphasis. Aaron works with a part-time administrative assistant, one safety resource taken from the frontline, and two safety trainers. Safety is chronically under-resourced and not supported by upper management. Aaron is trapped in the role of playing safety cop in a company culture that emphasizes blame and punishment when there is an injury or mistake.