Importance of Making Safety a True Company Core Value – 6/10/24
Safety E-Quick Tip
OWYN Safety Management Platform
Importance of making Safety a true company Core Value
Thers’s a lot of talk about company core values today, but is it just talk?
Years ago, they came up with the slogan “Safety First” to make it clear that safety was a company core value. To drive it home, they put the number of accident free workdays on it.
It looked good on paper. But as time went on, it was discovered the core value of “Safety First” took a back seat to keeping the accident free workdays running because it looked good.
Yes, they found out that companies would do everything possible to not show an accident and employees became concerned that there may be repercussions if they reported an accident.
It’s not that the companies didn’t go into the process with the right core value of “Safety First.” It was the fact that they misunderstood that accidents will happen no matter how hard we try to prevent them . . . because we are human.
They put more value on zero accidents for the past X number of days.
And had they focused on the real core value of “Safety First,” they would have prevented most, if not all, accidents that took place but were not reported.
Again – we are all human.
All that being said, I don’t believe anyone in a company from management to the employees wants to see anyone get hurt on the job.
But companies will continue to see more accidents than they should, and employees will experience more accidents than they should until “Safety First” becomes a true core value of a company and their employees.
Safety First is not about posting a sign on a project, or showing everyone how many days your site has been accident free, or about having a safety program in place that only a few know it exists.
It’s about establishing real safety policies and procedures, communicating the information to your employees, and as time goes on, finding deficiencies in your program and then fixing them.
When company management and employees get onboard with that, they will be protecting their company’s most valuable assets – Employee, Reputation and Profits.
Make safety a true company core value – you won’t regret it!
Employee QuickTip
For a company core value to exist, the employees must buy into it. Here’s the definition along with an example that I believe will make it clearer.
Core values are the deeply ingrained principles that guide all of a company’s actions; they serve as its cultural cornerstones. Collins and Porras succinctly define core values as being inherent and sacrosanct; they can never be compromised, either for convenience or short-term economic gain.1
Here’s an example: You got on the job and the stepladder you have with you is too short for you to reach the area without using “This Is Not a Step.” It may be more convenient for you to take a chance and use it in an unsafe way, but that would not be in line with your company’s “Safety First” core value.
Employer/Management QuickTip
For a company core value to exist, management must buy into it. Here’s the definition along with an example that I believe will make it clearer.
Core values are the deeply ingrained principles that guide all of a company’s actions; they serve as its cultural cornerstones. Collins and Porras succinctly define core values as being inherent and sacrosanct; they can never be compromised, either for convenience or short-term economic gain.1
Here’s an example: Your employee has let you know that the stepladder they have is too short for them to reach the area without using “This Is Not a Step.” It may cost less (a short-term economic gain) for them to use it instead of going for a ladder that will do the job safely, but that would not be in line with your company’s “Safety First” core value.
1Lencioni, P. (2011, July). Make Your Values Mean Something. HBR. https://hbr.org/2002/07/make-your-values-mean-something
Thanks for Reading and Please – “Stay Safe this Week”.
