1. Changing Workplace Attitudes
Development, Validation, Implementation and Enhancement for a Voluntary Protection Programs Center of Excellence (VPP CX) Capability for the Department of Defense
Changing Workplace Attitudes

2. Objectives After this training you will be able to:
Honestly assess your site’s current commitment to occupational safety and health, including managers, supervisors, and employees at every level
Determine your ultimate goal
Develop feasible objectives to achieve your goals
Continually assess your site’s progress and improve attitudes

3. Image courtesy of defenselink.mil
Why Change?
Developing a solid safety and health culture will impact your workplace by progressively moving from reactive to preventive behaviors
More than any other process, the culture of a workplace has the single greatest impact on injury and illness experience
Development of a positive safety and health culture should be top priority for all of these reasons.
Image courtesy of defenselink.mil

4. Why Change?
VPP sites have proven over time that the costs of unsafe and unhealthy behaviors can no longer be ignored
Workplace behaviors impact behaviors in other areas such as:
Productivity (readiness)
Morale
Management and employee relations
Turnover rates
Off-the-job activities at home, in the community, and at other worksites

5. What is a Safety and Health Culture?
Workplace Safety and Health (S&H) cultures consist of common:
Beliefs
Attitudes
Values
Behaviors
At a VPP Star site, you can “feel” the excitement of a positive culture
At a non-VPP site the attitude is “This is just another program or it will never work”
There is an energy and excitement at all levels from top level management, to first line supervisors, union representatives, hourly employees, temporary and contract workers.
The contrast is a resistance to change, a lack of passion or dedication to improving working conditions.
The atmosphere created by shared beliefs, values, and practices in turn shape our behavior and attitudes. If top level management displays a culture of integrity, genuine concern, and commitment to workplace safety and health, the culture of the rest of the workforce will follow.

6. Typical Roadblocks
Do I REALLY want to know what the current culture is?
We’ve been operating this way for generations, injuries and illnesses are a cost of doing business
“It will never happen to me”
Poor communication and listening skills
What’s in it for me?
Resources
The “You can’t handle the truth” syndrome. It is what it is and until we are willing to face the reality of where the culture is, we cannot begin to change or improve.
Often there is a fear that if we become aware of issues, then we must address them. To achieve a culture conducive to world class safety and health, the truth should be embraced.
What’s New- This is just “another” idea/program that management is mandating. Past programs haven’t worked, or there was no real change/follow-through.
What’s in it for me is a question that everyone will want the answer to.
Workload/Priorities - I don’t have time to worry about safety and health, we have production goals and fewer resources. Cutting corners to get the job done.
Resources – the belief that safety and health programs are expensive or will take resources in personnel that are already over tasked.
Now more than ever, we need to work toward being the Most Efficient Organization.

7. Typical Roadblocks Not willing to take personal responsibility
Shifting blame or responsibility (that’s Safety’s job)
Double standards
Fear and lack of trust (Management vs. Labor vs. OSHA attitude)
Failure to utilize the most knowledgeable persons
Responsibility for occupational safety and health should be shared. Unlike other processes, every employee has the ability to positively or negatively affect the safety and health of others.
Blame is not common to world class organizations. Problem solving and constant improvement are.
Double standards – At a minimum, management, employees, temporary and contract workers should all be held to the same standards for safety and health. At many Star sites, management is actually held to the higher accountability.
Fear of reprisal, lack of trust, fear of change are common roadblocks on the road to excellence. Every effort should be made to instill trust and a cooperative spirit among all parties.
Regardless of job title or position in a company/base, the people doing the work in their respective areas are the ones who hold the key to continuous improvement and prompt hazard resolution.
These common issues typically get in the way of any progress, not just safety and health performance.
When present, they derail efforts to improve or change. In order to be more successful it is important to understand, what extent if any, these issues exist.
For safety and health what you want is to create is an atmosphere where: All individuals within the organization believe they have a right to a safe and healthy environment.
Each person accepts personal responsibility for ensuring his or her own safety and health.
Everyone believes he or she has a duty to protect the safety and health of others.

8. Beginning The Change
Determine a baseline for your site’s “Vital Signs”
Conduct a survey that is specific to the workplace
Check egos at the door
Visit other workplaces that have achieved safety and health excellence
Covers all levels of workers including contract and temporary employees Include Special Needs Community
Vital signs for a workplace are as critical to achieving world class safety and health as for the physical health of an individual. Temperature – is the workforce cold and unforgiving, or warm and open to change? Is the pressure of the workplace unacceptably high or mitigated and continually improving? And the heartbeat, is it steady and strong or sporadic and weak?
How are temporary employees included?
Are contract workers provided the same level of safety and health protection as the base’s military/civilian workforce?
What is the true heartbeat of the workforce?

9. Assessing the Attitude
Read the walls
Assess housekeeping
Talk with employees on a common ground
Do employees run away from you or to you with ideas?
Is there a spirit of cooperation or annoyance?
Attitude is Everything!
Look for signs of support for employees working safely.
Housekeeping should be well above average for the type of industry. This is such a basic safety and health practice, and can be a great indicator of where a site is in the process. Star sites do not have housekeeping problems. This can be a great indicator of where a site is in its culture
Talk with employees aside from co-workers or immediate supervisors.

10. Ordinary to World Class
Safety is first
Sound S&HMS systems enhance productivity and readiness and reduce costs
Management is responsible for occupational injuries and illnesses
EVERYONE is responsible!
Top down management is the protocol
Top down in addition to bottom up = a partnership that works
Safety is first (as long as it doesn’t interfere with productivity or resource allocations)
The safety and health management system is not just a program or manual. It is a culmination of written safety and health programs, leadership, employee involvement, worksite analysis hazard recognition and control, training, and any additional elements that promote and sustain occupational safety and health.
Often the answers to most issues lie with the people working in the area. They may not have the resources to correct hazards, but they can be the greatest benefit in prevention and resolution of hazards.

11. Ordinary to World Class
Slowly lowering injury/illness/accident goals are established and tracked
ALL injuries, illnesses and near misses are investigated
Incident rates are primary method used to measure performance
Recognize incident rates often measure failure
Use other metrics
Committee meeting participation
Volume of safety related discussions/concerns
Safety and health project completion
Observations of safe work
Safety culture survey results
Investigations of injuries, illnesses, near misses and first aid cases should be investigated with the same rigor as major incidents to determine root causes and prevent future occurrences.
Injury/illness rates may also indicate a recently implemented program is effective. In that instance, a slight upward trend is an indication that awareness has increased and employees are reporting.

12. Ordinary to World Class
Employees sometimes receive special pay or compensation for working safely
Compensating for working safely seldom improves performance
Immediate and visible recognition for S&H performance
All appreciate being recognized
Especially effective when given by senior management in presence of peers
No one can get too much recognition for a good job
Rewarding zero injuries and illnesses often inhibits employees from reporting. Behaviors should be rewarded, and incentives geared toward increased hazard awareness and employee involvement. We should reward the behaviors and celebrate the results of lower injury and illness rates.
Progression from ordinary to world class will require showing immediate change. This may include rewarding and recognizing a work area that reports and offers resolutions to the most hazards, near-miss reporting, awareness campaigns, etc. resulting from behaviors that are to be encouraged will show the workforce that this is truly a new day.

13. Ordinary to World Class
Corrective actions are typically easy to implement
Tend to avoid hard or difficult fixes
Do not typically address personal accountability
Rarely solve the true root cause
Usually do not include input from employees
Address the difficult issues
Always hold personnel accountable for substandard S&H performance
There is a mutual respect between leadership and labor
Solve problems at the true root cause, without a tendency to blame employees

14. Ordinary to World Class
Leaders and employees are sensitive to criticism and tend to avoid it
Leaders and employees focus on resolution, without blame or fear of reprisal
Use feedback to improve performance
Suggestions for improvement are encouraged, received and given openly
Assessments are on-going and areas needing improvement are promptly addressed and freely shared

15. It’s a New Day Management should involve labor as early as possible
Establishing a steering committee, with sub-committees that mirror the VPP model have proven very effective
Ad hoc committees should also be created to address areas that need special attention
Mutual agreement to pursue a world class safety and health management system.
Sub-committees should be co-chaired with employees and managers having equal status.
It is common to visit bases or industrial sites where top management periodically visits work areas to assess problems. In world class organizations, top management also invites employee representatives to visit their offices to show the importance of bottom up communication and support.
The Steering Committee typically jump starts the new S&HMS. However as the system matures, the Steering Committee should provide resources and recognition with the employees taking the lead role in day-to-day operation of the S&HMS.
Sub-committees following the VPP elements include: Management Leadership and Employee Involvement; Worksite Analysis, Hazard Prevention and Control, and Safety and Health Training.
Ad hoc committees should be developed as deemed necessary to address various sub-elements that need special or immediate attention.

16. Continuous Improvement
Routinely take the vital signs of your worksite:
At least annually, analyze the entire S&H management system
Encourage employees to be involved in every level
Detect early signs and causes of negative behaviors/attitudes and adjust accordingly
Visit the work areas, and every shift
Interview managers, supervisors and employees
Review documentation and revise as needed
Reward and recognize (locally, regionally, nationally)
Determine if the culture is improving
Perform periodic climate surveys
Attend conferences/meetings where other industries are in the process of or have achieved a world class safety and health culture
Include areas needing improvement, assign responsible persons, establish target dates for completion, and track to closure.

17. Summary In this session you learned about:
Assesing your site’s current commitment to occupational safety and health, including managers, supervisors, and employees at every level
Your ultimate goal
Feasible objectives to achieve your goals
Assessing your site’s progress and improve attitudes

18. Questions?