By Lindsay Stewart Glor
Most of us have worked for a company where health and safety has been “someone else’s job.” But what if it was everybody’s job? What if the very structure of your company made health and safety a front and centre issue, going so far as to have training integrated into day-to-day activities? Turns out it’s not that difficult to do, and it can benefit both company and employee.
“At OSSA we want to integrate health and safety training into a business in a proactive way,” explains Jack Minacs, OSSA Director of Specialized Services and Training. That usually means looking at how a business currently operates and figuring out how to integrate health and safety training into what’s already happening.
For example, the human resources department could add a health and safety component to annual reviews, raising expectations about identifying hazards and facilitating accident prevention. Or the financial department could share health and safety news, like new training programs or zero accident rates, when it sends out market share reports. “We don’t want to change how a company manages its business,” says Minacs. “We want them to leverage their opportunities.”
Two key things to remember, he says, are that 1) a health and safety system can’t be effective if one person is doing it all, and 2) all laws are based around the notion of internal responsibility systems. The key to making sure that this responsibility is met lies in the hands of the middle management team, which can communicate directly with both the workers and the senior management team. “They need to invest in the system,” he says. “And then they need to report up the chain.”
Communicating the importance of a health and safety system is key to having a plan that lasts, offers Minacs.
Say for instance that you have three employees who take a health and safety course. They return to the workplace, but have no real way of integrating their new training because their managers don’t buy in to the program. Now, imagine that two of those employees soon leave their jobs and are replaced by untrained workers. What training did happen was a) never integrated into the workplace on a whole, and b) has now been lost entirely because it could not be translated to new employees.
If, instead, a manager also takes the training, the knowledge and best practices learned in the session can be reinforced in the workplace. If the goal is to provide training that will result in sustainable change, it must be integrated back in the workplace.
In addition, a program is likely to fail if just one person is put in charge of it. If that person leaves, the whole system comes crumbling down.
The goal is to make health and safety a team effort, a natural part of the day-to-day work experience. In order to incorporate change, the person in charge must be in a position to make change happen. “Typical health and safety managers have limited power to make changes,” says Minacs. Senior management needs to give them support to deal with situations that arise, and must be committed to the application of training in the workplace, making sure that all factors of the human performance system are considered (see below).
Minacs says he likes to see senior managers regularly discussing accident stats and related data, realizing that having a plan for health and safety results in better performance, quality and efficiency within a company.
Training cannot stand alone. It must be part of an overall health and safety system. Senior management must be committed to creating a healthy and safe workplace in order to maximize the benefits of any training program. Before undertaking training, consider how you will evaluate it, not only in the short-term, but longer term as well. Ask yourself, in two or three months after training, what observable changes are you hoping to see and how will you reinforce these attitudes and behaviours on a day-to-day basis? “We’re here to help,” Minacs says. “We can get you past a short-term fix and can assist you with a long-term plan.”
Training and the Human Performance System
Employees don’t work in a vacuum; every action they take is done within a larger system.
The Human Performance System is based on the notion that when an employee goes off track, the fault lies in the system, not the individual. It provides a valuable perspective when managing health and safety performance in the workplace and the application of training.
The Human Performance System identifies six variables that can affect employee performance. They are:
1. Performance Specifications: Has the employer identified and communicated what they want from the employee?
• Example: When assigning a cleaning duty, the employer gives clear instructions on what products and equipment to use so that the job is done correctly and in a safe way.
2. Task Interference: Has the employer removed any barriers that prevent a worker from getting their job done?
• Example: A warehouse employee is to stock a row of high shelves on a very tight deadline, but there are other boxes in the way. The employer has instructed someone to move those boxes, so that the employee can safely reach the shelves.
3. Consequences: Does the employer motivate the employee to produce the best possible work?
• Example: Employers don’t penalize employees for accident reports, thereby lessening the chance that accidents are reported.
4. Feedback: Does the employer have a method to communicate with the employee about their performance, and receive feedback from the employee on how things are going?
• Example: The department head schedules regular meetings that allow feedback and open communication about health and safety concerns and policies.
5. Knowledge & Skills: Does the employee know what the employer wants, and does he have the knowledge, skills and training to perform his job properly?
• Example: An administration person is in charge of identifying all health and safety risks in the office, but is rarely able to get away from her desk to look for problems. When she does spot something, she has no authority to make changes and is not sure who to report to.
6. Individual Capacity: Is the employee physically, mentally and emotionally capable of doing the tasks assigned?
• Example: An employee is asked to move some furniture so that pathways are clear. That employee feels they must follow their manager’s directions, but is not physically able to perform the task. He does it anyway, fearing being reprimanded, and injures himself.
Human Performance System: Geary Rummler, Alan Brache - The Systems View of Human Performance, Training Magazine, September 1988.
Excerpted from Safety Mosaic, Winter 2007, Vol. 10, No. 4
WHMIS training has to be reviewed annually by an employer and in consultation with a health and safety representative or JHSC.
