Terry Mathis

SLC 2017 :Who Owns Safety?

Nov. 29, 2017
To create an effective safety culture, everyone must take personal ownership of safety.

Do we treat something differently if we own it? According to Terry Mathis, CEO of ProAct Safety, and keynote speaker at the SLC 2017 Conference currently underway in Atlanta, the answer is a resounding yes.

Mathias asked the audience if their workers feel a sense of pride in how they maintain safe working conditions or are they content to leave their section in less than ideal conditions as the end of the shift?

Digging further he posed the question that when you ask workers who is in charge of safety do they point to a leader or to they point to themselves?

Ownership of safety needs to reside in each associate and be an integral part of the culture, Mathis explained.  The principles of ownership are possession, stewardship, and control. Do employees feel they possess the tools and knowledge to be able to implement a safety strategy? Are they held accountable and can they work in an environment that is free of micromanagement?

“I don’t think we are teaching associates principles,” said Mathis. “We are teaching them rules and procedures to follow and this is very limiting.”

What management is missing is a leadership style that empowers associate. “You manage things, but you lead people,” Mathis says. He used the example of the shepherd who leads the flocks as opposed to the sheepdog that stays at the back of the flock and bites the heels of the sheep.

To attain the ideal leadership style, Matis says companies need to move from being COPS to COACHES. He defines cops as C (catching) O (opportunities to)  P (punish). Punishment is a stopping tool, not a tool to improve behavior, Mathia points out. Punishment signals to associates that you really don’t trust them.

While the C (create) O (ownership) A (and) C (change) H (happens.) methods allow managers to work with associates and asking them to help discover solutions.

A good coaching modeling is comprised of three basic actions – focus, facilitate and feedback.

Companies are trying to solve too many problems and in fact don’t move the  mountain forward this way, says Mathis. They instead need to focus on a few safety improvements. But the focus needs to be based on a clear understanding of where the problems are. He cited an example of a company focusing on getting associates steel-toes shoes, but that wasn’t directly tied to the safety problems they were having.

Facilitating is working with associates and asking the reason behind certain actions. Often associates find workarounds that are more complicated and inefficient than addressing the problem at its root cause.

And feedback should include both negative and positive comments. Mathias shared the case of an associate who had been with the company for 27 years and when asked what could be improved replied she would have liked to heard when she was right. In all of her years she only heard what she did wrong.

The key to improvement for safety managers is to view their role as a coach. “Many safety teams do not have a strategy, Mathias says. "hey throw programs out to the workforce that are confusing and often conflicting. But a roadmap, or game plan will tie all of the program together and give associates the knowledge the need to take ownership of the safety culture. “

About the Author

EHS Today Staff

EHS Today's editorial staff includes:

Dave Blanchard, Editor-in-Chief: During his career Dave has led the editorial management of many of Endeavor Business Media's best-known brands, including IndustryWeekEHS Today, Material Handling & LogisticsLogistics Today, Supply Chain Technology News, and Business Finance. In addition, he serves as senior content director of the annual Safety Leadership Conference. With over 30 years of B2B media experience, Dave literally wrote the book on supply chain management, Supply Chain Management Best Practices (John Wiley & Sons, 2021), which has been translated into several languages and is currently in its third edition. He is a frequent speaker and moderator at major trade shows and conferences, and has won numerous awards for writing and editing. He is a voting member of the jury of the Logistics Hall of Fame, and is a graduate of Northern Illinois University.

Adrienne Selko, Senior Editor: In addition to her roles with EHS Today and the Safety Leadership Conference, Adrienne is also a senior editor at IndustryWeek and has written about many topics, with her current focus on workforce development strategies. She is also a senior editor at Material Handling & Logistics. Previously she was in corporate communications at a medical manufacturing company as well as a large regional bank. She is the author of Do I Have to Wear Garlic Around My Neck?, which made the Cleveland Plain Dealer's best sellers list.

Nicole Stempak, Managing Editor:  Nicole Stempak is managing editor of EHS Today and conference content manager of the Safety Leadership Conference.

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