By Joseph Wolfsberger
Reducing health and safety risk on a global basis is more than a process; it requires the establishment of a culture that fosters risk elimination. Since risk can never be eliminated the management of it becomes a continuous journey. Over the years I have discovered that there are three ‘doors’ on this ‘journey to risk elimination’.
Awareness
The first door is awareness. When the senior leadership decides that risk management aligns with the strategic goals of the organisation a step change in performance related to risk reduction will be realised. This only occurs when the leadership demonstrates strong, visible and ongoing support for risk management.
Writing a policy, sending out letters, and putting up posters will not drive the desired results. Leadership must take an active role in communicating the importance of risk management. Meetings should include topics on the subject and when visiting operations leaders should ask employees about the site’s performance. Recognition and rewards should be tied to the achievement of goals associated with reducing risks. Attention to risk management must be continuous to ensure that it is not viewed as another ‘flavour of the month’ activity.
Process
The second door centers around process. Using tools associated with the Plan, Do, Check, Act approach of Operational Excellence establishes standardised processes that put health and safety risk management on the same status as manufacturing and quality.
Establishing metrics and monitoring performance provides an opportunity to evaluate the current state and layout a pathway for the elimination of risks. Having set goals, action plans can be put in place to provide direction to successfully achieve them. Once goals have been set benchmarking with other operations will also help to determine current state and future direction.
To truly improve, benchmarking should be set against the best, not just sites with similar operations. Metrics can help with longer-term objectives but inspections and assessments provide insight into the every day management of risks.
Periodic assessments of regulatory compliance and the effectiveness of management systems can be a powerful tool on the ‘journey to risk elimination’.
Enlisting the participation of outside experts to conduct the assessments provides a fresh set of eyes that can help to identify risks that might be overlooked. It is also an excellent benchmarking opportunity for the assessor.
Part of the process of establishing a system around risk management involves the development of health and safety standard work procedures for the site operations. These procedures allow employees to be knowledgeable of the safe way to perform their tasks and ensures consistency. It is important that standard work be developed with the input of employees. This approach will lead to procedures that work and are supported by the employees.
Incident and near miss investigations can provide insight into existing risks requiring mitigation. After identifying risks, corrective actions/preventative action (CAPA) plans need to be developed to eliminate the risks. Plans should be documented and tracked to completion. Another powerful tool in the ‘journey to risk elimination’ is the use of risk assessment. Risk assessments can be performed at the site, department, job or task level. Using this tool can help to prioritise risks allowing focus to be put on the activities that present the greatest hazard.
Culture of risk elimination
The final door involves the establishment of a collective value system that embraces risk elimination. It is important that employees have this value as part of their core beliefs. It is impossible for employees to adopt a culture of risk elimination at work if they do not apply it in their personal lives.
To encourage the adoption of this value, employees must understand what it means and what is the value to them. Expanding beyond the workplace to their personal and family life will create a culture of continually seeking opportunities for risk elimination.
Although we have been talking about reducing health and safety risks the principles must apply to all elements of an operation. Valuing the elimination of hazards includes risks associated with quality, the environment, manufacturing and other elements of the operation.
When employing these concepts on a global scale it is important to understand that societal differences must be taken into account. Organisations need to have a single set of standards on risk management, but how they implement them must reflect the mindset of the employees of each location. The ultimate goal of any global risk management system must be to drive ownership to every member of the organisation.
Joseph Wolfsberger is a senior advisor at FDRSafety where he provides consulting services related to environmental, health, safety and sustainability issues. He will be speaking at the IOSH conference in June.
Another article using an eye catching ‘headline analogy phrase’ – in this case ‘3 doors’ – in an attempt to suggest this is somehow a new insight to risk management. When reading the article it repeats standard risk management methods and processes.
Since when can risk ‘never be eliminated?’