Strong safety culture is foundational to the construction industry. Fostering an effective safety culture is not only about policies, procedures, goals and incident-free days. While measures and metrics are important, the true motivator is the authentic concern and care for the safety and well-being of each person on your jobsite every day. It is about acting to avoid incidents and injuries, making safety of the individual and the organization the priority.
Effective safety management begins with all employees—from the CEO to the superintendent—recognizing their responsibility to each other and their loved ones to work safely. Organizations must commit to providing a safe and healthy work environment for employees, subcontractors, and the community so everyone can safely return home at the end of each day.
Successful safety management begins with leaders and fostering relationships. To make effective and strategic changes to a safety management program, organizations must first start with involving and educating leaders and assessing opportunities for change within the company.
Building the Foundation of Effective Safety Management
The foundation of an effective safety culture is investing in your corporate leaders, field leaders and frontline workers. Successful organizations equip their leaders with the right resources to be leaders in the field. People cannot be strong or successful leaders without the right support on how to manage, lead and listen—especially when leading safety efforts.
Effective safety management—and the processes to support it—begins with leadership involvement in building authentic and trusting relationships. A high level of engagement and commitment throughout the organization helps drive the success of a safety-based culture. Developing skills and awareness is important—but it’s the soft skills that drive a lasting and sustaining safety culture.
Organizations can implement a Field Leadership Program to not only enforce hard skills but also teach the soft skills—such as listening and leading—needed to empower individuals to be safety leaders in the field. A successful field leadership program can encourage leaders to pay attention to new employees, foster a supportive environment and drive safety from the top-down through productivity, quality and project management.
Without strong relationships with leaders or candid conversations in the field, people can overlook the importance of safety. Frontline management and leaders can begin the conversation by asking coworkers why they work safely; thus, encouraging employees to share their individual reasons for safe work and learn from each other. Embolden people to share their stories and then discuss the process to support their experiences. This will build trust, increase engagement and support protocol—when employees trust people, they are more likely to follow procedures.
“Organizations can establish strong relationships from the very beginning during the onboarding process,” says Tony Govind, director of human resources, Adolfson & Peterson Construction (AP). “Each new employee meets with the director of safety to get to know each other, establish common ground and make the connection to safety. We all have reasons to go home safe at the end of the day. If you can have a genuine conversation and relate to one another, the level of care and concern grows.”
Fostering a Successful Safety Culture
The key to a successful safety culture is breaking away from traditional enforcement methods, which punish breaking safety rules with suspension or termination. Instead, focus on how to emphasize the human side of safety. Employee involvement and positive recognition are crucial to building and maintaining a strong safety culture.
Employees will be less likely to make risky or dangerous decisions if they are reminded of why they work safely—their home lives and loved ones. A deeper awareness of colleagues’ personal lives and motivators will encourage workers to intervene when they see a coworker in a questionable position or making an uninformed decision.
The concept of safety is vast and can be daunting. It is important to tackle it on a day-to-day basis and in everyday work. For example, begin daily meetings with a “Safety Spotlight” to encourage employees to discuss their personal histories with job danger, share their thoughts and concerns about daily safety, and volunteer to be responsible for safety.
“Employee buy-in and involvement are crucial to a strong safety culture. It is impossible to be positive in your program—from processes to in-the-field work—without engaging different levels of people,” says Brad Hendrickson, midwest president at AP. “When employees feel they are part of the solution, it builds a sense of pride.”
One way to ensure employee involvement is by creating a safety committee with employees from different departments and tenures. This committee can meet regularly to discuss trends and topics and solve outstanding problems. They can also discuss recent incident reports, research and best practices to find opportunities for continued growth.
In addition to employee involvement, it is important to recognize and reward positive behavior on jobsites. A recent study found 92% of employees are more likely to repeat actions after being recognized. It doesn’t have to be a tangible reward or prize—giving credit where credit is due goes a long way on the jobsite. Examples of an organized and structured approach to positive employee recognition are a section in a recurring e-newsletter dedicated to those who go above and beyond for safety or recognizing people in regular meetings, such as toolbox talks, for their dedication to safety.
Not only does employee recognition celebrate good, safe work but it also leads to strong employee recruitment and retention. Over 91% of HR professionals believe recognition makes employees more likely to stay. And according to another study, an employee who has been recognized is 63% more likely to stay at his or her current job within the next three to six months.
Protecting Workers Today, Tomorrow and into the Future
Construction companies today should be dedicated to attracting and retaining top talent. To do so, it is important to make practical changes to your safety management to continue to protect employees today, tomorrow and into the future.
Companies should consider how to provide ongoing educational opportunities for employees. Safety education is important for informing workers about hazards and best practices so they can be safer and more productive. Training also provides workers with a better understanding of the organization’s safety program, empowering participation in its development and implementation.
“Project management teams, superintendents and foremen complete a variety of safety training to better understand external regulatory requirements and internal best practices on an ongoing basis,” says Paris Otremba, learning and development manager at AP.
A sustained safety culture depends on investing in the safest equipment. As the industry and technology continue to evolve, it is imperative that organizations invest in the most up-to-date equipment to ensure their employees are physically always protected on every type of project. Specifically, fall protection has had some of the biggest advancements in recent years. It is crucial for leaders to listen to onsite employees and provide them with the correct and safest leading-edge and fall preventative protection. Employees should look, work and feel safe at all times—and the right equipment is key.
The National Safety Council, an advocate for jobsite safety, leverages surveys, assessments and trends to drive research and data-focused personal safety programs. The Council also uses insight to create real, usable, experiential education, training and tools to mitigate risk. Organizations can pair educational resources from the National Safety Council to encourage continued two-way conversations about jobsite safety. The data and assessments should complement the conversations about how and why someone works and opportunities for improvement.
The pandemic caused significant safety challenges and course corrections for the construction industry. Not all changes will remain, but those that will are crucial to a sustained safety culture today, tomorrow and into the future. COVID-19 highlighted opportunities for improvement from a hygiene standpoint. For example, readily accessible wash stations and regularly cleaning areas near food consumption should be standard, not the exception. The pandemic provided opportunities to learn and expand on policies to build on standard operating processes.
A strong safety culture in construction is no longer about blaming others, pointing fingers or harsh punishments. Effective safety management begins with leaders fostering relationships to emphasize the human side of safety. Organizations are encouraged to go beyond policies and procedures to instead understand why each individual works safe and how to encourage a culture of caring for others—including implementing committees, recognizing employees and investing in equipment and sustained efforts.
When done correctly, a successful safety culture:
• Brings in employees of all levels
• Makes everyone responsible for safety
• Enforces that all injuries are preventable
• Fosters two-way communication and relationships
• Encourages care for others and speaking up about unsafe behaviors or conditions
• Empowers employees to want to follow the rules and procedures
