Stop Wellness Programs ...

... and instead, create a company-wide wellness culture.

Research shows a direct correlation between effective workplace health programs and return on investment as building a culture of health improvement can result in lower costs and improved performance according to Towers Perrin's 2009 Health Care Cost Survey.

Did you catch the last part of that first sentence? "Building a culture of health improvement can result in lower costs and improved performance."

You have to build a culture - not just a program. That means that your people have got to want to embrace health improvement in order to create a company-wide culture. Is one person, the Director of Health and Safety, going to be able to create that culture right across the entire company? No. Not likely. It's more than a one-person job but it is important and needs to move way up in the priority rankings.

In the same way that an organization develops a strategic plan to capture more and new customers, the organization should also be required to develop a strategy to capture the hearts and minds of its own people and move them toward a culture of health improvement - which is a culture of wellness. In other words, there needs to be a plan to involve all of your people in not just adhering to the rules of safety but in actually thinking health and safety. Since you have a plan to capture new revenues (customers), shouldn't you also have a plan to reduce your expenses (health-related costs and absenteeism)?

Once a Culture of Wellness takes root, here's what happens:

• absenteeism rates drop dramatically
• employee productivity and engagement spikes
• attrition and turnover numbers drop
• costs due to absenteeism drop drastically
• staff morale rises dramatically
• communication improves through all levels
• demand for Stress Management programs will drop
• people begin to love their work and spread the word about the company attracting new people.

Or, you could keep with the same program you have, continue to handle high absenteeism rates, watch your staff continue to turn over, pay the costs of constantly retraining (about 1.5 times the annual salary of the worker being replaced), deal with the petty arguments amongst staff and have to recruit like crazy to get more people to come work for you.

I don't know. It seems like a no-brainer to me. But then, that's just me. What about you? Are you ready to change your safety and wellness program into a full-blown corporate culture of wellness?
--

Kevin Burns - Corporate Safety Attitude/Culture Strategist
Creator of the 90-Day System To Improve Safety Culture!
www.safety.kevburns.com
Toll Free 1-877-287-6711

Build Safety Culture - Not Just Safety Programs

Is your safety program addressing responsibility, accountability, leadership and values?

Why not? I mean, come on, you look for these traits when you hire someone don't you? What do you look for on a resume? Accountability, responsibility, leadership (personal), initiative, values and history. The very things that you choose to hire someone on are the very things that are absent from your safety program.

If they are not important enough to address in your safety program then why don't you just hire based on the employee's past safety record? Why do you need a model employee when you could just have some safety cowboy who has somehow managed to remain unscathed over his lifetime of safety infractions? No, you want responsible people who are able to think outside of themselves. But you don't train them in how to do that do you?

You say you want your employees to watch out for each other and to take responsibility for keeping the job site safe. You want your employees to be accountable when they mess up as well as when they act proactively. You want your people to be present on the job so that they can provide for their families. You want all of these things from a good employee and yet you leave the soft-skills training right out of your safety program. Well that's not a safety and wellness program then - it's a compliance program.

Maybe you just want your people to blindly follow the rules. Maybe you just don't trust them enough to be able to think on their own - and I'm sure we've all worked with with one or two people like that but let's not penalize the whole crew because one or two have a hard time locating their backsides with both hands.

The problem is that the vast majority of safety programs were written in reaction to dumb things people have done on the job. Safety programs, by their very nature, are reactive. Incidents have happened in the past and that's why there are now new rules and procedures. But is that how you want your safety and wellness program to work - constantly reacting to incidents?

A successful safety culture needs to be built - not just a safety program. A safety culture can only be erected on a foundation of responsibility, accountability, leadership and values. Once you've established the big four, then, and only then, can you build your successful safety and wellness program.

It may mean that you stop hiring the "accident-survivor-turned-safety-speaker" who can not clearly demonstrate their accountability, responsibility or leadership by their past actions.  If your culture is one of "this could happen to you," then it probably will.

Be careful of the message that remains top-of-mind for your people. Talk about "leadership" and watch your people become leaders in safety. It's why I choose to work in building safety culture and safety attitude - not just safety programs.
--

Kevin Burns - Corporate Safety Attitude/Culture Strategist
www.safety.kevburns.com
Toll Free 1-877-287-6711

Safety Professionals Must Raise The Bar

I got the opportunity to join nearly 100 safety professionals for lunch Monday. The Calgary Chapter of CSSE invited me to speak on Attitude of Safety.

Calgary went face-to-face with Old Man Winter on the weekend and so the remnants of over a foot of snow combined with blustery cold temperatures of minus 20 Celsius made for tough driving conditions. But the room was filled to capacity regardless.

The weather provided a perfect example of an Attitude of Safety. The "Safety Professional" who preaches safety on the job yet drives to the safety meeting on all-season radials does not possess an Attitude of Safety.That is a Tolerance of Safety - and there's a huge difference.

Ensuring one's family members are driving on winter tires in frigid temperatures and snowy and icy conditions means that they display an Attitude of Safety.Not ensuring that family vehicles are not outfitted with winter tires sends a strong message: unfortunately the wrong message.

It is incumbent upon every safety professional to do everything within their power to ensure that seemingly ordinary daily tasks are conducted safely. All season tires harden like hockey pucks below -7 degrees. There is virtually no traction and consequently, less safety on all-season tires in cold and snowy weather.

Here's a novel idea for companies to help their people think safety: search out a tire shop willing to offer a volume discount for employees to purchase winter treads. Then give the employee an hour or so to have the tires installed.Let them ride one winter on snow-grips and they'll never drive on all-seasons again. You've, in fact, raised their standard of acceptable safety.

As a safety professional, demonstrate your Attitude of Safety by making sure your people are safe both on and off the job. It will go a long way to getting your employees to think about safety for themselves. In fact, winter tires might just be the catalyst that kicks your safety program into high gear.

Demonstrate your Attitude of Safety whenever possible. The difference you make impacts not just your workplace but your community as well. And isn't that really what safety is about? Safety for everyone?

--

Kevin Burns - Corporate Safety Attitude/Culture Strategist
www.safety.kevburns.com
Toll Free 1-877-287-6711

Get Tough: Cell-Phones And Snow Tires

Employees driving a company vehicle from Steels Industrial Products can be fired if they are caught using any kind of cellphone or texting device while driving -- period. Hooray. Steels president Jim Sidwell laid down the law to his 180 workers in British Columbia and Alberta a few weeks ago. Similar policies are in force at large companies such as Finning Canada, Husky Energy, Halliburton and ConocoPhilipps.

Studies show that drivers who talk on cellphones are six times more likely to be involved in dangerous collisions. And they are 23 times more likely to have a crash if they're texting and driving, according to the Insurance Bureau of Canada. People who chat on cellphones or text are 10 times more likely to run a stop sign.

It's a safety issue. And personally, I would like to see a way to enact legislation to company employees who freely chat or text on the cell phones while OFF the job too. Hey if they only do it while on the job, it's proof positive that those people do not possess a Safety Attitude. They just tolerate the rules at work. And they will cut corners in safety.

Oh, and speaking of Safety Attitude, let's make sure that if you really want to walk the safety-talk, let's make sure that there are winter tires on those company vehicles if they run where there is snow on the ground for long periods of time.

It's December and snow is falling. There is no comparison between driving on all-season tires and driving on winter tires. People though, whine about the additional expense. There is NO additional expense. Running winter tires for six months extends your all-season tires by six months every season. So a set of tires that may have lasted three years should last six by rotating all-seasons and winter tires.

Sorry but if you're in Safety and you don't have winter tires on your company vehicle AND your personal vehicle, then you're a hypocrite and as a safety supervisor, you don't walk your talk. Safety is an Attitude. Safety is more than just wearing your PPE on the job. Safety is about protecting yourself, your family and the general public off the job too.

I would encourage organizations to find a way to get personal vehicles outfitted with winter tires in snow-belt areas. I'm not saying that companies should pay for winter tires for their employees but make a deal at a tire shop and offer your people an hour off to get them changed over. If you preach safety, then make off-the-job-safety a part of your safety culture.

If you've never thought that way, then you aren't going to convince others of a safety attitude - and you could use my help to shift your culture to a Safety Culture.
--

Kevin Burns - Corporate Safety Attitude/Culture Strategist
www.safety.kevburns.com
Toll Free 1-877-287-6711