Roundtable Discussion Feedback: Fostering a Culture of Safety

I had the chance to host a roundtable discussion during an international Health, Safety, and Environment conference. The discussion topic was “Fostering a Culture of Safety: The Role of Effective Leadership in Ensuring a Safe Workplace” which related to all the participants who were global HSE professionals in their respective companies.

We focused on how leaders can establish a secure and nurturing work environment that promotes employee well-being and productivity, while simultaneously minimizing the likelihood of accidents and injuries. We have also highlighted how digital tools can be of great value to achieving HSE goals.

The session was highly interactive and all the participants shared their views, knowledge, and experiences about the topic and how to go about it. And, these are the main issues that were highlighted:

• The importance of employee feedback for risk management and the role of safety leaders to involve all stakeholders in the process, from top management down!
  
  
• Strategies for engaging and empowering employees to take an active role in promoting safety, especially by engaging in safety conversations, walking the walk, and the importance of the presence of a global HSE head on the field to help bring their experience to all HSE professionals.
  
  
• Many key elements of effective safety training programs and policies were pointed out by all, such as the importance of refreshing the safety training for all employees who tend to forget over time some basic safety measures while conducting their tasks. This particular point was enthusiastically discussed as all participants agreed it is one of the most important challenges. Ensuring compliance with internal and external safety measures is not an easy task. Moreover, how to provide training created 2 different ideas and practices. A group focused on and highlighted the importance of physical safety training in the field, while another group was more into e-learning and training with digital tools and had another manager supervising the training on the field. The second group comprised HSE professionals from large companies with a workforce of more than 5000 employees, which explains why they rely on digital tools and e-learning.
  
  
• The importance of clear communication and transparency around safety issues were the main key element for a real Safety Culture and engaging all employees. 
  
  
• The last discussed issue was digital technology. A consensus was reached that it brings significant benefits to their work, particularly in terms of innovation and occasionally improved performance. Nevertheless, there was unanimous agreement among the participants that performance was not solely tied to productivity, instead, it was primarily associated with the use of digital tools to streamline tasks, thereby enabling the completion of pending missions. Moreover, I expressed my perspective on the potential of digital technology to enhance communication and foster the active participation of all employees in the company’s safety culture. To illustrate this, I shared a compelling case study wherein one of our clients effectively utilizes digital tools to empower and engage their employees in cultivating a strong safety culture.

This roundtable discussion provided us with a fresh outlook on how other organizations ensure workplace safety and actively involve all employees in their procedures. By valuing their feedback which generates vital data for continuous improvement, we returned to our office equipped with a newfound understanding and perspective.

Learning from others experience is essential to update your risk assessment.