Make Safety a Habit

Working with people to build safety requires having a safety conversation. This conversation between the safety leader and an employee involves these points:

Observe: training yourself to be more aware of people’s behaviors—both what they are doing safely and what they’re doing that might put them or someone else at risk.

Accentuate the positive to lower a person’s natural defensiveness, as well as reinforce those safe behaviors.

Explore: allow a person to figure out what he did safely or at-risk, which helps him begin to take ownership of his behavior.

Emphasize: the consequences of their actions to help people understand the impact an incident could have on them, as well as other people.

Agree: on future actions that confirm people understand they are accountable for their behaviors and responsible for their safety, as well as the safety of those around them.

Later they introduce this SAFETY acrostic to make the idea stick.

S upport safety as a core value by committing to put human life ahead of all other demands.
A ccountability gives every employee the right and responsibility to call a time out and rewards them for doing it, even if it’s a false alarm.
F ollow-up by demonstrating and communicating a personal commitment to safety in all of your actions.
E levate people who support the new culture and eliminate those who tolerate at-risk behavior, even top producers.
T rain your people to observe at-risk behaviors and have Safety 24/7 conversations.
Y ou are the key to an incident-free environment.

Related Feature - Make Safety a Habit Throughout Your Organization
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