According to the last update of the Europe Safety Association, it is known that 80% of the leaders who are members of the board have not undergone Leadership in Safety training in their careers.
Throughout my career, visiting more than 500 sites, training more than 100.000 people and performing more than 100 Safety Culture Diagnosis, and having as clients companies which are in the Forbes 500 and 100, some starting their journey in Safety and others with a more consolidated path, in all these moments I questioned myself: Are the members of the BOARD aware of this situation, the challenges, potential crises, and are they closely monitoring the strategic planning with a clear direction to maintain a safe environment?
- What is discussed about safety within the board? Do we have the theme as a fixed agenda item? How much time do we dedicate to it? How do the discussions evolve: are they reactive or proactive?
- What are the KPIs we have defined to indicate success in safety? What do we measure? How do we interpret the data we obtain?
- Do we have a safety governance model? How do we place safety in our company in terms of value, priority, desire and importance?
- What is the board's stance when a serious and fatal accident occurs?
- Where does our knowledge about safety comes from?
- What kind of occurrences do we monitor and investigate? What are the causes of our occurrences?
- How do we guarantee if what we are doing is working and safe? What is part of the critical safety analysis?
- How are people being prepared to act safely? Have we already clarified when and who can halt an operation?
- What are the criteria we use to prioritize the safety demands? Capital Investments (CAPEX)? Imminent and serious risk, do we know and manage them?
- What do we know about the company’s strategic planning? Do we have one? Are we following it?
- Knowing exactly where we stand in terms of maturity, management, processes, and leadership in safety.
- Building a plan.
- Before the value, bring operational discipline to safety.
- Monitor.
- Exercise your influence.
- Demonstrate visible commitment.
- Remember: the accident is the tip of the iceberg.
Books, board games, courses and guides specialized in occupational safety.
