A Sure-Fire Way to Improve Safety Culture and Gain Employee Participation

After surveying and observing over 1,500 aviation operators (large and small), my assessment is that every one of them believes they have a great safety culture. However, on a scale of 1 to 10, 5 is the best I’ve ever seen. Even then, hitting 5 it is not a fire and forget situation, as it takes constant effort to simply maintain a 5, let alone improve. But don’t despair: I am about to share a secret that will launch your safety culture upward faster than a Space X Rocket. 

Start with my simplified definition of safety culture: Willful and meaningful participation by all employees in the operation to advance organizational safety.

Then, gauge your reaction to the three statements below: 

1. Most organizations today have policy, procedures, training, and equipment in place to ensure safety and prevent accidents. – Agree / Disagree?
2. A close look at any given organization would reveal that some of the policies, procedures, training, or equipment are dysfunctional and not accomplishing the objective. In other words, you could find safety problems in any organization on any given day. – Agree / Disagree?
3. Here is the “Sniff Test” – My organization has a sure-fire, effective method that engages employees to find our safety issues. – Agree / Disagree? 

If you quickly agreed with 1 and 2, but had to stop and ponder your answer to 3, you’re like most. 

So why does statement #3 require such thought? Let’s start with what we know and what we believe: if we know and acknowledge that all organizations have undiscovered safety issues, and we believe there is value in finding those safety issues, then the answer should be simple. Just find and fix the safety issues, right? Well maybe not. Why? Because we don’t know how or where to look. In a perfect world, we want to find the safety issues before they cause a problem, yet most safety issues present themselves after an incident or accident—which is too late and certainly not ideal. The solution is a simple safety management tool called “The Floor Model.” It is your “Sniff Test” in which increasing employee safety engagement leads to the answer of finding the latent safety conditions within your operation. 

In my 40 years as a safety professional, I’ve discovered that all organizations have undiscovered Conditions That Exist For An Accident To Occur – I call them CTEFAATO’s (See-ta-faut-too’s). Modern Safety Management System (SMS) philosophy may refer to them as “Practical Drift.” Further research by Yoshida and Shuichi1 shows that front-line employees know where the CTEFAATO are. The solution seems easy enough—simply ask the front-line employees to report safety issues. Many organizations find that challenging for a host of reasons, including but not limited to lack of employee buy-in, adverse safety culture, or belief by employees that their report won’t make a difference. On top of that, research shows that many employees just don’t know what a safety issue is. 

1 Yoshida, Shuichi, 2nd Intl Quality Symposium, Iceberg of Ignorance – 1989. 

It is important to address the factor of employees not knowing what to report. In a recent survey, I asked several hundred line employees to describe safety issues in their workplace and most of them struggled for answers. However, when I asked the same employees if they ever had to improvise and use an alternate tool to get the job done, or if they were ever hurried to complete a job in less than the prescribed time, or if they had ever performed maintenance with less than adequate rest, nearly 100% of the respondents said yes. These are the CTEFAATO that we agree to in statement 1 and 2 above, and they exist in most organizations. The reason your organization cannot identify them, though, is because you are not asking your employees the right questions. If you only ask team members to report safety issues, they are not sure what to report.

Instead, I suggest giving them a list of things you want them to report and ask the right questions to get the data needed to improve your safety effort. I call the list “The Floor Model” because it represents the vital safety intelligence from the “floor” or line employees. Start by creating a list of ten things you want to track to gather safety intelligence for your organization, including things like, “right tool for the job not available,” “hurried to complete a job,” “poor job hand-off from previous shift,” etc. Tailor “The Floor Model” list to your organization and the specific desired areas for safety intelligence. Enlist employee participation with incentives for employee reporting and supervisor encouragement to report. Be sure to show senior management the benefits of “The Floor Model,” provide timely feedback to employees on the benefits of their reports, and make it easy for the team to submit the report. You may choose to modify your list as time goes on, which allows you to gather safety intelligence in multiple areas of concern. 

To recap, how do you find the undiscovered CTEFAATO in your organization? Easy, it’s called “The Floor Model” – an invaluable tool for gaining meaningful safety intelligence and employee participation. 

The illustration of a 4’ X 8’ Floor Model board is available above to display for employee viewing. You may also opt for a poster size list for your bulletin board or create wallet cards for employees to carry (see graphic above). Any method to get the word out will drive safety culture upward, enhance employee safety reporting, and yield invaluable intelligence or data. Ask the right questions, get the right answers!