Safety Leadership

DRAFT

2011

Safety Leadership What Does It Look Like?

Introduction

• Who / What comes to your mind when you think of Leadership?

– A Football Coach

– A Soldier

– Your Boss?

• How do you define Leadership?

– Is it someone in CHARGE

– Is it someone that SETS A RIGHT EXAMPLE

– Is it someone you consider to be HELPFUL

The Greatest?

• Who is considered the greatest coach of all times?– Vince Lombardi – right?

• Did you know he only ran 5 offensives plays. He said:“We don’t fool anyone. The opposition knows what’s coming,

but they rarely stop us because every player knows his

assignment and we’ve practiced it a thousand times.

• He also said:“Winning is not a some time thing, it is an all the time thing.

You don’t do things right once in a while, you do them right

all the time.”

• Lombardi was so fanatical when it came to the basics that he started every training camp by saying: “Gentlemen, this is a football.”

The Most Decorated U.S. Service Man?

He is authorized the Medal of Honor / Distinguished Service Cross / Silver Star with First Oak Leaf Cluster / Bronze Star Medal with "V" Device and First Oak Leaf Cluster / Purple Heart with Second Oak Leaf Cluster / Legion of Merit; Good Conduct Medal / Distinguished Unit Emblem with First Oak Leaf Cluster / American Campaign Medal / European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal with one silver service star, three bronze service stars and one bronze service arrowhead / World War II Victory Medal / Combat Infantry Badge / Marksman Badge with Rifle Bar / Expert Badge with Bayonet Bar / French Fourragere in Colors of the Croix de Guerre / French Legion of Honor, Grade of Chevalier / French Croix de Guerre with silver star / the Belgian Croix de Guerre 1940 with Palm / and the Outstanding Civilian Service Medal.1

PFC Audey Murphy

Would You Know?

• Would you know good safety leadership if you saw it?– How do your supervisors communicate “safety” to their

employees?– How do they look for hazards in the workplace?– How do they prevent unsafe acts?– How do they motivate employees to “want” to be safe?– Can they coach employees to perform their job assignments

safely?– Are they part of the daily safety activity at your facility, or do they

leave safety to the safety department?

Chain of Responsibility

Where Can We See Leadership?

Client

Management

Project Management

Construction Management

Subcontractor Management

Field Supervision

Employees

“Chain is only as strong as it’s weakest link!”

The Most Important

• The single most important factor in any successful culture is Leadership.

– It begins at the Corporate level offices and works its way down to those areas where the work actually gets done.

• So who are the leaders at this project?– Safety professionals can and should exercise leadership– Our Project and Construction managers should be leaders– Some of the most important leaders are frontline supervisors

• Those faces the workers see everyday

• Whose words they hear most often

– Could YOU as a craft person be a leader?

What Makes A Good Leader

• Service oriented– The six most important words from a leader: “What can I do to

help?

• The ability to know their strengths as well as limitations

• They display high levels of confidence

• They are passionate or enthusiastic about what they do

• They remain calm and composed regardless of the crisis

• They are responsible, accountable and “walk the talk”

• Trustworthy – trust, not technology is the issue of the decade

We Need YOU To Be A Safety Leader!

• YOU are the main contributor to your own safety• YOU are an important safety influence to those you work

with• YOU help ensure safety at your facility• YOU can be a leader in your workplace

Share The Leadership

• You should be aware of what your coworkers are doing• You should be sure they know what you are doing• Share with them your concerns and observations• Listen to their concerns and observations• Keep an eye out for them, they will do the same for you

You share your workplace, share the leadership!

Keen Awareness

• Remain actively aware of hazards in the workplace around you

• Watch for unexpected situations• Be preoccupied with updating knowledge• Anticipate the unexpected• Avoid the arrogance of success• Recognize near-misses as potential dangers; not

successful avoidances

Use Your Brain

• You can never understand your workplace too well• You should never stop learning how to do things better• You should always try to learn from others• You should always encourage others to learn

Change is inevitable, learn from it!

Take Advantage of Experience

• You should always value experience and practice• If a skill is important to your safety, practice it• Do not assume “skill of the craft” means “easy to do”• Use the most experienced workers as mentors• Use team meetings to share experiences

Communicate / Communicate / Communicate

• Maintain regular contact with your coworkers and others• When your plans change, STOP and talk about it• Know who to call when unexpected things happen• Formality of conversation should match gravity of situation• Be careful not to let idle talk distract from safe operations

Disciplined Expertise

• All work requires a degree of expertise, some more than others

• Procedures, training, and supervisors should convey the level of expertise needed

• Determine level of expertise needed before starting the job, not during it

• Don’t let a need for discipline become a distraction to safety

• Don’t let conflicting priorities distract from expert operations

Discipline is about doing the right thing consistently!

Be Personally Accountable

• Every day, we all have a distance to go before we rest• To arrive safely, remember that YOU are personally

accountable for yourself and YOUR TEAM MATES

BE A SAFETY LEADER!

Chain of Responsibility

Who Is the Safety Leadership Now?

Client

Management

Project Management

Construction Management

Subcontractor Management

Field Supervision

Employees

“Chain is only as strong as it’s weakest link!”

Effective Leadership

• Effective leaders simply do things differently– They communicate better– They coach better– They inspire better– They model behavior better

President Dwight Eisenhower said that true leadership involves “Getting people to do what you want them to do….because THEY want to.”