4 STEPS TO IMPROVING SAFETY CULTURE IN THE EXTRACTIVE INDUSTRY - Part 3

STEP 4 – Develop a plan to implement changes to the company’s safety culture
Now that the desired company culture has been identified and analysed, a number of steps can align and manage these changes. These can be part of the implementation process, start with 1 or 2 in each step and build on this over time to achieve the desired results.

1. Align the company values, vision and goals with strategies and processes: If the performance vision is to prioritise safety this can be achieved by revising strategies, systems, policies and procedures, so that the employees have access to all the information required to improve safety. Also align this with HR processes and the selection processes for hiring new talent, inhouse performance management and promotion.
2. Involve stakeholders in defining SMART goals: For the areas that require improvement or new thinking set goals, create new plans and approaches as a team to support the behaviour that is needed. Finally, work together and set goals on ways to support existing behaviours that the business would like to continue and develop further.  
3. Measure and report on performance: People need to know what is required from them and how it will be measured and reported. This gives them something concrete to aim for and provides a guide for actions and achievements. 
4. Develop a Communication plan: A communication plan outlines who you need to communicate with, how you should do this, about what and how often. An excellent example of a stakeholder communications plan is by SPARC sporting body in NZ and could be adapted to any business.
5. Use feedback and recognition to build motivation: Welcome feedback; both positive and negative and share and celebrate any positive changes. When changes haven’t been successful, re-connect and re-engage stakeholders and negotiate adjustments. Employees work best when they feel valued, have a purpose and can make an impact on something and usually respond to recognition and reward when it considers who they are.

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Employing the right people in the extractive industry
If you have made the change toward developing a positive safety culture within your business, then ideally you want to employ new recruits whose values align with the company culture you want to achieve.
 
Workplace values and their importance
By now you have a good understanding of the values and culture you are aiming towards or have already developed. These are the company’s guiding principles and determine the behaviours that are valued and the ones that are not.
 
They might include:

• Working together
• Completing deadlines
• Looking out for your workmates and ensuring safety guidelines are followed
• Honesty and respect
• Reliability
• Being a team member
• Ensuring safety over speed
• Showing tolerance
• Respecting company policy and procedure
• Following company guidelines
• Being accountable 

 
This builds a common purpose when values are aligned, and everyone is working towards the company achieving its core vision.
“When values are out of alignment, people work towards different goals, with different intentions, and with different outcomes. This can damage work relationships, productivity, job satisfaction, and creative potential.” 
 
How to identify potential employees that will best fit the company’s values and culture
 
When looking for new staff, you need to learn what behaviours and attitudes they value in the workplace. People can be trained to learn new skills or gain further experience; however, it can be challenging and disruptive to get employees to change their values.
 
While many businesses have a HR department that is skilled finding the right people for the job, many smaller businesses don’t have that luxury. It is useful to gain some understanding on how to find people who are a good fit for your business. 
 
Asking the right questions
 
You could ask questions like these:

• Describe a time when you had to work with a wide variety of people. How did you go about identifying and understanding their points of view? How did you adapt your own working style to work more effectively with these people? What was the outcome?
• Has there ever been a time when your beliefs clashed with someone else’s on your team? If so, how did you overcome these differences?

 
An article on LinkedIn by Terra Carbert has some great interview questions specifically for safety and are worth a read. 
 
Every company is different and if you have completed the culture web discussed previously you will have a good understanding of where your company culture stands and where you want it to be. It is also a good idea to analyse the characteristics of current and previous staff, including their positive and negative traits. From this, create a list that will support your company culture, and this will provide the framework for structuring the questions to determine the traits you are looking for.

Potential employees work history
Take time to research and find out about the company the candidate previously worked for and what values and reputation they have. Consider this with an open mind and why the candidate left the job, perhaps it was because the culture was not a good fit.
 
Ask questions relating to the employee’s values when talking to the candidate’s references. Consider how they respond to management and rules, follow safety guidelines, and worked as part of a team.
 

The new company culture!
Changing the company culture takes time, commitment, planning and hard work. The benefits, however, are far reaching and influence most aspects of the business. It can be financially; through better production, less sick leave and injury, utilisation of best practices and processes which all affect the bottom line. A good company culture develops good morale with people working together towards common goals. The company often becomes recognised as an employer of choice and attracts further great talent. Additionally, if the company culture is healthy than staff turnover is usually lower. 
 
The new culture ideally would have:

• “In a safe work culture, people speak up about unsafe situations, they don’t stand silent when someone violates safe practices, they constantly look for ways to improve safety, and they take personal responsibility for creating and maintaining a safe workplace” 
• Motivated employees
• A Teamwork approach towards changes and improvements
• Full team involvement in designing and developing improvements to operations, processes and procedures, to help the company become more successful
• More productive meeting where people are valued, and it is honest and open
• Reduced stress, job satisfaction and happiness

 
At the end of the day we want people to buy into a safety culture to keep them safe, reduce injuries, prevent exposure and damage from chemicals and dust and have everyone return home each day safely to their families.