Build a safety culture in your workplace
A new white paper, “The Heart of Workplace Safety: Fostering Emotional Engagement for Lasting Impact,” draws from an exploratory study conducted by the National Safety Council.
To build a culture that “transforms safety from a compliance-based requirement into a shared, intrinsic organizational value,” the researchers encourage employers to implement these four strategies:
- Use leadership as a catalyst for internalized safety values: Leaders play a key role in shaping workers’ perspective that safety goes beyond compliance and is a deeply held organizational value.
- Promote an open dialogue that enables workers to report hazards, share concerns and provide feedback without the fear of blame or reprisal.
- Connect safety to real-life experiences with storytelling.
- Measure effectiveness beyond traditional metrics. Use qualitative measures that assess employee engagement and perceptions of safety.
Source: Safety + Health