April 28 is World Day for Safety and Health at Work and Workers' Memorial Day. A day to reflect on how to prevent work-related occupational diseases, deaths, injuries, and illnesses, and also, a day to remember those who have died from a work-related injury or illness. The World Day for Safety and Health at Work theme for 2021 as set by the International Labour Organization is Anticipate, prepare and respond to crises and invest now in resilient OHS systems.
EMPLOYEE LEAD SAFETY SYSTEMS
A year into the global pandemic, businesses have adjusted to new ways of working and different working arrangements. Much of 2020 was focused on employers adapting their health and safety management systems to prevent the spread of community transmission and implementing safe work from home arrangements. Employers quickly learnt of the strengths and weaknesses in their systems. The capabilities of systems was tested through approaches which may not have existed if it weren’t for the pandemic - virtual audits, site inspections and safety observations, and integrating on site contact tracing to name a few.
This year the International Labour Organisation has set the theme for World Safety Day as Anticipate, prepare and respond to crises and invest now in resilient OHS systems. This prompted me to think about what really constitutes a resilient OHS system. Reflecting on some of the systems I’ve seen over the course of my career, they can be the size of an encyclopedia or a postage stamp, they can be expensive or inexpensive - however all of this is irrelevant if they don’t impact the protection of workers, eliminate risks or better managing hazards. A resilient system needs to be transformative, while meeting the needs of the workers and enabling them to participate in, and influence, the safety of their working environment.
What is an OHS System? (the only technical safety part of this article – safety professionals skip this section)
Traditionally an OHS system is a documented program that aims to create safe working environments that protect people at work by eliminating or better managing health and safety hazards. OHS systems are generally aligned to an International Standard, for example, IS45001, and can be certified by an independent third party. Nowadays, OHS systems extend beyond a documented program and include systems such as visitor sign in technology, plant and equipment anti-collision software and even health and wellbeing programs. Generally OHS systems are designed and implemented by the corporate or head office, as a top down approach. WorkSafe Victoria research shows a clear link between good OHS systems and long term business efficiencies. Effective OHS systems feature leadership commitment and promote the involvement of employees in the development and implementation of the system.
Participation matters
OHS systems are designed to keep workers on site safe, so it is essential that workers are aware of their existence, understand what the system means to them and how they can use the safety systems. For example, learning that there is a way to report safety hazards, or that there is a monthly safety audit. Participation is the action of taking part in the use of the safety management system – for example, reporting a safety hazard or getting involved in the monthly safety audit.
Workers’ usage of the system is fundamental to its longevity. Typically workers involvement in safety systems is initiated and led by management, through systems safety inspection, audits or weekly safety walks. From these interactions, management collect insights that inform the risk profile and actions required to improve safety.
If a worker wanted to take the initiative to carry out any of these processes on their own, it would be very difficult for them to do this. Typically systems are not designed for employees to take the lead on using and implementing safety systems. In many instances if a worker wanted to facilitate safety inspection, or audit, they generally don’t have access to the tools to do this. When designing systems, we need to do so in a way that workers can lead the use and application of the system. System designs need to provide ways for the workers to easily use the in safety system as part of their standard work. Systems need to be available to workers in the same way they are available to management and supervisors. Removing the barriers for workers’ participation in the use of safety systems actually contributes to the strength and longevity of the system.
Measuring participation
Without workers participating in the system, do we really have the right insights on how systems are performing from the workers perspective? If you were to list out all of your organisation’s policies, procedures and forms, how many of them do frontline workers use on a daily basis? Is it management using the forms or the worker? When a new system is introduced or when a system is being reviewed are workers involved in the process?
To encourage worker participation in the use of safety systems, bold targets need to be set. The targets should set out to measure workers participation in the use of the systems. The insights collected from the worker participation will help inform how workers perceive the system, the effectiveness of the system from the workers perspective, and the impact the system is having on safety from the workers perspective.
Tips for designing systems that foster participation:
1. Work backwards – let people who the system is intended for design the system. Take away the corporate lens and design it from the bottom up.
2. Get on the tools – shadow a worker for a day and see how the safety systems integrate into their daily tasks and activities, then design the systems to adapt to this. Ask the worker, is the system helpful? Does it improve safety at the workplace?
3. User Experience testing – once you have designed the systems ask workers to test the system, watch them use it and seek feedback. Look for uncertainty.
4. Make the systems available to everyone – systems need to be available to everyone on site and not just management. If workers cannot access the system, what is the point of it?
5. Participation targets – measure the percentage of workers using the safety systems and the impact the system is having on safety.
6. Keep it simple – systems are becoming more complex. Focus on why you have a system and what is the purpose of this procedure, form, app and how is it contributing to improving safety?
I pay my respect to those who have died from a workplace injury or illness and offer my condolences to their families.