Leadership excellence: making a difference to health and safety performance

In the countdown Safety & Health Expo 2018, Matthew Powell-Howard, NEBOSH Qualifications Development Manager, talks about some of the key values that leaders should have to become an influencer of health and safety.

There are clear moral, legal and financial drivers for improving health and safety and I’m sure many health and safety professionals will be intimately familiar with the benefits it can offer a business.

Yet for those at the top of the business hierarchy, competing priorities can mean that their time for health and safety is more limited. However, the publication of the Sentencing Guidelines in 2016, no doubt encouraged leadership teams to take an even closer look at their organisation’s health and safety performance.

Earlier this year, NEBOSH partnered with the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) to develop a new qualification that identified the key values associated with health and safety leadership excellence.

Before I dive into these values, I think it’s important to mention that you don’t have to be a health and safety professional to lead or influence positive change. You will notice that a lot of the values identified by this research are simply about good leadership, which are as applicable to health and safety as any other business function.

They are:

• Shared vision – Predominantly concerned with the ‘where’ and the ‘what’, it is important to agree – and communicate – a succinct vision that is bought into by people across an organisation.
• Being considerate and responsive – Emotional intelligence is important. People respond well when leaders listen to them and respond to their thoughts. This doesn’t mean everyone needs to agree but it does mean that you should be open to feedback and debate with regards to health and safety management.
• Providing support and recognition – It’s important that staff feel valued for their contribution. More often than not they will respond positively, which can boost morale and encourage ongoing improvements and innovation. To facilitate this you need to be visible talking to and engaging with people.
• Promoting fairness and trust – Trust is earned; you need to be able to respond to information, delegate to subject experts and provide an environment where these experts are empowered to make change.
• Encouraging innovation – A listening organisation is a learning organisation. Get out from behind your desk and talk to people in the workplace and show genuine interest in their ideas for improvement.

At Safety & Health Expo, I’ll be joined by two of HSE’s psychologists – Ed Corbett and Jane Hopkinson – to explore these values in greater detail and examine the impact they can have on performance. Audience questions are actively encouraged and our aim is for everyone to leave the session having gained greater clarity on the actions that can be taken to positively influence health and safety performance and culture in their workplace.

For more information about the new NEBOSH HSE Certificate in Health & Safety Leadership Excellence, visit www.nebosh.org.uk/leadershipexcellence.

‘Achieving health and safety leadership excellence in the workplace’ will take place at 10.45am on Tuesday 19 June in the Professional Development Theatre at Safety & Health Expo.

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