By Larry Russell, principal consultant, BST
The zero harm goal is not simply an extension of injury reduction goals of the past. There are too many examples of organizations with low injury rates that continue to have fatalities, recordkeeping violations, and so on. Instead, zero-harm performance is about creating an environment where injuries are not acceptable and where we do everything possible to prevent them. In other words, we are not just targeting a lower number—we are aiming to develop a new way of thinking about safety performance.
One of the key characteristics of “zero harm” performance is a shift from a focus on injuries to exposures as the trigger for action and the measure of change. This focus means asking people to act when exposure increases, not just when an injury is imminent (or has already happened). Until we move the focus from injury prevention to exposure management we will continue to be surprised by seemingly “out-of-the-blue” events. This is not to say that transitioning to an exposure focus is not a deep paradigm shift. Asking people to act despite their belief that an injury will not occur—to halt the work, to ok the repair, to stop the crew, to miss the meeting at corporate to be visible for the safety summit, will not be easy. But with persistent attention from leadership, such a change is possible—and richly rewarding.
Drawing on real-world examples of organizations that are making this shift, this presentation discusses what an exposure focus means in terms of process, culture and results, and outlines steps for getting there. This presentation covers:
- The fallacy, promoted by an injury focus, that we can predict with certainty what will (or will not) result in an injury.
- Why leaving individual employees, supervisors, managers and senior leaders to “risk assess” their own decisions and actions is no better than a roll of the dice.
- Examples of exposure-increasing decisions at every level of the organization: why it’s not just a front-line issue.
- Why the exposure focus is not about “zero exposures,” but rather managing exposure to the standards the organization has already set with its rules, procedures, policies, best practices and training.
- Steps leaders at every level can take to begin making this shift.
- Considerations for changes in process and measurement that an exposure focus presents.