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The Road to HSE Operational Excellence

Posted on February 1, 2016 by Grant Kelly

Most of us are keenly aware of all the legislation regarding regulations, rules, codes and standards
for HSE matters in industry. (And, in case you have forgotten check out our recent blog posts!)
These legislative initiatives are important and we couldnt operate successfully without them.

The Problem with People

The challenge in any organization, particularly with HSE compliance, is that we are dealing with a
most unpredictable and changeable asset people. They often dont heed rules and regulations.
People are emotional, have diering needs, and make mistakes from time to time. We often have
injuries and fatalities as well as a high turnover of personnel even after we have trained them and
shown them all the rules.

We hear employers and supervisors complaining Why dont they listen and obey the rules? or
How can we change their behavior for the better? or Maybe we need more Safety Ocers (police)
to enforce the rules.

Rather than focus attention directly on the behaviors alone, lets try to get to the root cause of why
people behave the way they do in the workplace.

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 What Drives Behavior?

I think we can all agree that we want positive behaviors from our workers. That could mean things
like employing workers who:

care about their work

care about their co-workers
care about the company

There are many ways to change or have an influence on our peoples behaviors.

One popular way is to observe behavior, make comments to the worker, suggest changes and
reinforce the new behavior until it becomes the new and improved way of doing things. There has
been some success in this area; however I believe that we need to get to the root cause of behavior
in order to make eective and lasting changes.

Take a look at the equation below:

In the workplace, when we see people exhibiting very good or bad behavior we often say that they
have a good or a bad attitude. It would thus seem that behavior is a manifestation of attitude.
Therefore, in order to have a positive eect on peoples behaviors we must first have a positive
eect on their attitudes.

How does one accomplish this? Remember we are dealing with people in the workplace. So, lets
start at the root of the equation.

Workplace Culture and Values

If we build and maintain a positive culture of operation and safety and live by the culture we have
built we will see some positive results. There are three basic types of workplace culture:

Dependent we do as we are told and follow the rules exactly as they are laid out. If there
isnt a rule for a particular situation then we really dont know what to do.

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 Independent we start to think for ourselves and look for ways to do things and protect
ourselves even when there are no rules in place to guide us. We dont worry about
anybody else.
Interdependent we not only look after ourselves but we also look out for the people
around us. We often have an unwritten deal. I will help you to be safe and ecient and you
will help me to be safe and ecient.

There are many tools and ways to build an interdependent culture within organizations.

In order to address culture we must look at values. We can start with the question Why is safety
important to you?. It doesnt take long for the answer to become clear and unanimous and it really
has little to do with the rules or what the boss has told us. It comes down to family. We stay safe
because there are loved ones who need us to come home in good health.

Lets blend the culture and value into one statement. I will help you to stay safe; you help me to stay
safe so we can go home to the people who love and need us. That is an excellent example of using
personal values to promote and maintain an interdependent culture.

Leadership

Now lets look at the third factor in the equation leadership. There can be a big dierence between
management and leadership. Ideally they are one in the same but often they are not. A good leader
will understand and continually demonstrate:

strong emotional intelligence

the ability to empower and motivate teams
empathy
a sense of justice
skill in changing leadership styles instantly depending upon the situation at hand
a caring for the growth and well-being of the individual team members
a strong loyalty to the team
a firm and clear understanding of the values and culture of the organization

Good leadership starts with the senior management team and cascades down to all the supervisors
and managers within the organization. It becomes an integral component in the organizations
culture.

If we have eective leadership who can promote the culture and values mentioned in the equation
using all the tools we have described then we will see positive attitudes amongst all workers at all
levels within the group. That will lead to positive behaviors in productivity, safety and ultimately
profitability.

This means that workers will:

care more for their jobs and their responsibilities

become more loyal to their leaders and their company

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 feel a stronger sense of ownership
become more interdependent as they look out for one other
be safer and more productive and encourage that attitude with others

And, that companies will have:

a more loyal and motivated workforce who take pride in their work and reputation
greater employee retention
a safer workplace
higher productivity

An organization which has a productive and profitable operation and achieves results in a safe and
ecient manner has attained Operational Excellence.

Thanks for reading. Keep safe. Be healthy. Respect your environment.

We hope that you will bookmark the blog, share it with your colleagues and visit the blog frequently
because you find it informative and helpful. We value your feedback and suggestions for future
topics.

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Next Weeks Blog Topic: Build Your Own HSE Legal Register with This Simple 5-Step Process

Photo Credits: Excellent image courtesy of Stuart Miles at freerange.com

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Grant Kelly

President at Kelly Leadership & Safety Culture Ltd.

Grant Kelly owns and operates his own company - Kelly Leadership & Safety

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 Culture Ltd., an Associate of Redlog Environmental Ltd. He has 40 years of
experience working in the oil and gas industry involved with drilling,
completions and production with 27 of those years in senior HSE
management positions and 14 years of experience working with middle
eastern and south Asian cultures.

Grant has a proven track record of guiding organizations to continuously develop leadership
skills, improve safety culture, and promote personal values. He works with companies to design,
facilitate and coach customized development of Interdependent Safety Cultures within
organizations as well as the essential Leadership skills to achieve Operational Excellence.

Grant can be contacted directly via email at gkelly@redlogenv.com.

Posted in Asia, HSE, Middle East, Worker Safety.

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Khaled Aqel
February 2, 2016 at 11:01 pm Reply

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I liked it. Behavioral control is everything.

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