How I Failed As A Safety Manager ✓ Solved

How I Failed As A Safety Managerpublished On February 1 2017by Peter

How I Failed as a Safety Manager Published on February 1, 2017 By: Peter Jensen Sr (Safety Pete) CUSP I have managed safety for some 30 years, to one extent or another. This includes union and nonunion as well as all trades, from transmission line men to laborers in different states. I feel that a good safety manager is also a good safety mentor. The primary function of a safety leader is to coach, correct and train, in other words, educate and influence. Safety Managing isn’t easy; it’s an emotionally charged rollercoaster, if you take the job seriously, and try to build a safety culture from little or nothing.

To do it right, you can’t give company management, the answers; rather you must gently guide them, as they learn and process the safety lessons you provide. From the outside looking in, it seems to be an easy job, and I have been asked by many companies and people to tell them or teach them the magic formula for a successful safety program. A successful safety program, really! For my part, I can never quite see myself as successful. “Success eludes the malcontent”.

By definition, a malcontent is one who is in active opposition to an established order or dissatisfied with the existing state of affairs. So hearing “that’s the way we always do it” just challenges me. My first mistake was not recognizing the company for what it really was. It was another production machine needing window dressing. Where production rules the company goal or is top priority.

When this happens, then safety fails every time. It’s an immense ego stroke to have the company president during an interview say, “I want you to be our safety leader. Will you coach us, train and teach us, and build us a safety program”? I set out to teach the company what it needed to know about safety. Developing a significant Safety & Health program was the first step.

But it was soon obvious to me that they didn’t really want to learn how to achieve safety goals or develop a safety culture necessary to successfully grow the organization in the coming years. Rather, they wanted a magic potion that would turn them into that kind of company. That being said I have been very successful with 70% of the field personnel, 50% of the foremen overseeing the individual tasks on a project, and 30% of the superintendents. The closer to the top of the company I go, the less success I can find. Failure is guaranteed when accountability or consequences are missing.

So what did I learn from all this? Well for starters, you can lead the company “horse” to water but you can’t make it think. I could provide the best advice, guidance, and safety leadership, and training, but if the company doesn’t want to listen and learn, it is all for naught. Safety and production must be blended into forward motion. I feel no production should be valued in the absence of safety.

As an example, I once asked the president of a company to do just one thing to help safety. Start each and every meeting with a question to the group. “What did you do for safety yesterday”? If he had done nothing but that, it may have started the thinking that the top man is looking for some safety. Secondly, I learned that if the company management and workers see you as the sole source of safety, you will fail.

Safety must be everybody’s job, every day. You can’t be the only source of safety for a company. For safety to work, the company, from top to bottom, must be part of the solution. Not in a confrontational and dysfunctional way, but in a way that forces you to rethink your ways of doing things. Cultures are based upon shared values, beliefs, and perceptions that determine what comes to be regarded as the norms for the organization; i.e., cultures develop from social agreements about what constitutes appropriate attitudes and behaviors.

If the organization feels strongly about a particular behavior, there will be little tolerance for deviation, and there will be strong social pressures for conformance. Each individual in the organization has a role in reinforcing the behavioral norms. Thus, in the broadest sense, for a sound safety culture, “The organization and each individual” is the most appropriate answer to the question “Who is responsible?” In a sound safety culture, an individual would be expected to intercede if they saw a coworker about to commit an unsafe act. In a sound safety culture, leadership would be expected to monitor the health of the safety culture and reinforce and nurture it when required. In a sound safety culture, individuals and groups would be expected to speak out if they perceived management acting in a fashion inconsistent with the organization’s values.

Finally, I learned that the company cannot want success in safety beyond the dreams or reach of the group. If the superintendents and foremen are always going to be the ones in the workplace complaining about how unfair the new safety policy is, then the company has already established barriers they will never overcome with or without your help. As I travel around the east coast and to the central USA, working with various companies, safety directors, and management executives from a wide range of businesses, I find it very interesting that some understand the value of, and take great pride in, their corporate cultures, while others don’t give them much thought. I have also noticed that those who value them the most tend to do far better over time in safety and overall business success.

The failure was rhetorical.

Sample Paper For Above instruction

Introduction

Effective safety management is integral to organizational success, yet numerous safety leaders face challenges that impede their ability to implement and sustain safety cultures within companies. Peter Jensen Sr, also known as Safety Pete, reflects on his 30-year career managing safety across diverse industries and company structures. His insights reveal that safety management is not merely about enforcing rules but about influencing organizational culture, fostering engagement, and understanding the complex dynamics between safety and production. This paper explores Jensen’s lessons learned from his experiences, emphasizing the importance of organizational culture, leadership buy-in, shared responsibilities, and persistent efforts in cultivating effective safety programs.

The Nature of Safety Leadership

Jensen underscores that safety leadership is fundamentally about mentoring and influencing rather than dictating solutions. A safety manager’s role is to educate, coach, and build capacity within the organization. Success is often constrained by organizational attitudes towards safety, especially when safety is viewed as a procedural compliance rather than an integral value. Jensen notes that when the company prioritizes production over safety, safety initiatives are prone to failure. This highlights the necessity for safety leaders to align safety goals with overall organizational objectives and to embed safety into daily operational routines.

Challenges in Implementing Safety Culture

One of the core challenges Jensen identifies is the company's resistance to genuine safety transformation. Many organizations seek quick fixes—a "magic potion"—to transform safety performance overnight without fostering the cultural change needed for long-term success. Jensen reports success with a significant portion of frontline workers and supervisors, but less influence at higher organizational levels, indicating that buy-in from top management is critical yet often lacking. The absence of accountability and consequences further diminishes safety efforts at all levels.

Strategies for Cultivating Safety Culture

Jensen suggests practical strategies such as engaging leadership in safety conversations, exemplified by encouraging the president to ask teams about their safety activities. Furthermore, safety must be viewed as a collective responsibility, shared across all levels of the organization. Cultivating a safety culture involves establishing shared values and behavioral norms, where individuals feel empowered to speak out and intervene when others are unsafe. Leadership should continuously monitor and reinforce safety behaviors to ensure sustainability.

The Role of Organizational Culture

Organizational culture is rooted in shared values and social norms, which influence safety practices and perceptions. Jensen highlights that organizations with strong safety cultures achieve better safety and business outcomes over time. Leaders who actively incorporate safety into their organizational identity create environments where safety behaviors are the norm. Conversely, organizations that lack a proactive safety culture struggle with persistent hazards, lower morale, and increased incident rates.

Lessons Learned and Conclusion

Jensen’s experience reveals that safety success cannot be imposed solely from the top down; it requires a shared commitment at every level. Leaders must recognize their role in shaping safety culture through daily actions, consistent messaging, and fostering accountability. The commitment to safety is an ongoing process, not a one-time initiative. Organizations that value their safety culture and integrate safety into their core values tend to outperform their competitors and sustain long-term safety improvements. Jensen’s reflections serve as valuable lessons for safety professionals aiming to influence organizational change effectively.

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