How to create a culture of safety in a metal fabrication facility

Standard Iron & Wire Works has been a family affair since the Demeules brothers—Rollie, Zez, and Heine—founded the business in a former saloon in Minneapolis in 1930. Even with the opening of multiple facilities over the years, the focus on the employees never wavered. In fact, Rusty Demeules, part of the third generation of the family to run the company, was one of the key forces behind the Fabricators & Manufacturers Association’s push to heighten awareness of safety in the metal fabricating industry by leading the organization’s safety committee from 1989 until 1996. If the company’s employees were safe, the company was better for it.

But having a safety culture is not a guarantee against injury. Standard Iron learned that in the spring of 2016 at its Grand Island, Neb., facility. On that March day a forklift was being used to move some racks. As the vehicle moved from a concrete surface to a soft ground, the rack on the forks tipped over and fell on an employee.

An incident like that, as unfortunate as it was, caught the attention of people inside the facility and those that worked at the sister facilities, according to Joanne Forbord, Standard Iron’s director of human resources and a 30-year company veteran.

“It wasn’t that safety wasn’t important to us prior to that, but the incident was kind of a wake-up call for us. It made us say, ‘What do we need to do different?’ and ‘What can we do better to ensure that people are safe?’” Forbord said.

That ensuing discussion led to someone discovering Safety 24/7: Building an Incident-free Culture, written by Greg Anderson and Robert Lorber. The book stresses the importance of creating a culture where safety is a core value, which means it’s stressed at every moment of an employee’s day—at work and outside of work. Getting to that point is the challenge. This type of culture can’t be created with a corporate memo and a newly assigned safety committee that meets when it’s convenient for everyone.

By its definition, culture suggests that beliefs and behaviors are handed down from one generation to the next. In a metal fabrication facility, new workers and contractors pick up on safety behaviors from those around them. If they see someone taking an unnecessary risk, they may be inclined to do the same thing or cut corners if necessary. So a company’s safety culture is really a reflection of the way employees go about their jobs. It can be a culture where co-workers look out for each other and report concerns to management or where it’s not a safety issue until an incident occurs.

That’s why Anderson likes to stress that companies should pursue a “culture of safety.” Everyone knows the focus, and any pursuit that violates safe behavior on the job is questioned.

“Safety has to be a core value rather than a priority because our priorities change when we get behind schedule, we lose money, or something happens negatively,” Anderson said. “So our priorities change, but our values hopefully never do.”

Can safety be a priority? Certainly, Anderson said, especially when it comes into conflict with something else. Organizations with a culture of safety know what becomes a top priority right away because safety is the core value.

To create a culture of safety, Anderson recommends adopting key SAFETY principles.

Support

With safety as a core value, an organization has to show it is willing to support the belief that protecting human life comes before all other demands. This philosophy applies to employees both at work and at home.

Forbord said one of the most visible examples of showing this type of support is Standard Iron’s stance on inclement weather.

“We used to want people to get here when there was bad weather, or otherwise they had to take personal time off,” she said. “We’ve really changed our process. Now if the employee doesn’t think it’s safe to get on the road, he shouldn’t get on the road.”

To keep people thinking about safety, every department in every facility has a short meeting before the shift, and one of the topics always is how to avoid injuries—both at work and at home. There also is a weekly “core value contest,” according to Forbord, which allows employees at all Standard Iron facilities to nominate co-workers who have demonstrated safe behavior.

Standard Iron’s safety incentive program also is built on rewarding positive behaviors, not reporting accidents, which had been the primary guidance given by the Occupational Safety & Health Administration until recent years. Forbord described the program as a “safety pyramid”: every time an employee accomplishes an example of risk-free behavior, he or she completes one block of the pyramid. Upon completing the pyramid, the employee can earn $100 in gift cards.

Accountability

“It should be everyone’s responsibility when they see at-risk behavior to have the courage to speak up,” Anderson said. “It’s about creating a culture of accountability as opposed to one that was about accident avoidance.”

Such was the case when safety cultures focused solely on reporting safety incidences. If a work environment had a record number of days without a lost-time injury and a big bonus was coming for employees if they kept up the streak, would a worker be more or less apt to report an injury? Sure, if the original injury, maybe a cut derived from the pinch point on a machine, was small, it might not be noticeable. Then again, that pinch point likely wouldn’t be corrected, and that could open the door for a much larger injury down the road.

“To build the kind of culture you want, you have to have trust within the culture and ensure that it demonstrates that it has the best interest of everyone at heart,” Anderson said.

Follow-up

A culture of safety creates an environment where employees feel empowered to raise questions about the way a task is done if it encourages at-risk behavior. That’s great, but without the follow-up that helps to close that communication loop, any attempt to maintain an injury-free workplace may be self-defeating. The follow-up demonstrates that management has a personal commitment to safety.

At Standard Iron, all incidents that have occurred at its facilities are reviewed during monthly safety meetings. The circumstances that led to the incident and the steps taken to resolve it then are shared with safety committees at the local level, which ensures the information is shared with employees.

Forbord also said that Standard Iron has begun using visual management boards to keep safety issues front-and-center. Employees can share their observations and concerns on the board, and the discussion will be picked up during one of the daily safety meetings. From there, a team is assigned to help resolve the issue.

Elevate

When it comes to perpetuating a culture of safety, elevating those who support that effort is a good idea. It sends the message that safety is a priority.

Does that mean safe behavior should be an important factor when promoting employees? Why not? People are routinely promoted on technical abilities, Anderson said, so it makes sense that an organization that values safety would consider promoting those who are proponents of risk-free behavior.

“Safety needs to be a critical component when we’re analyzing someone’s aptitude for a promotion,” Anderson said. “We ought to think of it from a safety perspective: That person is going to have a greater influence on current employees and those that will be hired in the future.”

This also means that managers or employees that engage in or tolerate at-risk behavior can’t be rewarded with the spotlight or promotions. They need to change their perspective or risk being forced out by the new emerging culture, Anderson added.

Train

“Training is one of the tools in the toolbox that we have to keep safety in the forefront of everyone’s mind,” Anderson said. “It’s like having our personal protective equipment.”

He added that this training helps to democratize safety knowledge. Safety managers typically have the technical knowledge to spot at-risk behavior, and training helps to share that knowledge with the masses. When most people are instructed in what to look for, they can be more informed observers on the shop floor and in their everyday lives. With a follow-up loop in place, a culture of safety has a good chance to sustain itself.

Anderson added that training also involves guidance on how to have difficult conversations with co-workers who may be involved in risky behavior. It’s one thing to see something dangerous occurring; it’s another to bring up that issue with a peer.

He recommended the following steps:

• Start with the positive. Instead of starting the conversation with what was observed to be wrong, perhaps lead with what was done right. Anything that can keep the start of the conversation positive helps to soften the criticism to come.

• Ask questions of the person. Instead of leading with a direct observation of what was wrong, ask the individual a question, such as “What do you think concerns me about what you were doing?” This transfers the responsibility back to him or her.

• Get the person to agree to a change of behavior. End the conversation by getting the person to agree that he or she is going to pursue the observed activity in a safer manner going forward. This is more likely to get a change in behavior when compared to a threat, and it helps to build the culture of trust.

You

The culture of safety is only attainable if everyone buys into it. Safety policies, procedures, and equipment can only do so much.

Forbord said that the company’s incident ratio has decreased since it started following practices noted in Anderson’s Safety 24/7 book. She believes people are talking more about safety and are more likely to help a co-worker if the opportunity arises. The environment has led to more honest reporting of incidents and near-incidents.

“Now I think it’s a matter of keeping it in front of the employees, keeping people involved, and continuing to talk about it all the time,” she said.

Inevitably, some “fence sitters” emerge even as headway is made trying to promote an organization-wide awareness of safety, according to Anderson. Luckily, these people tend to be in the minority.

“Companies shouldn’t focus their attention on the negative people, because the more people you get to buy in and be onboard with the emerging culture, the more likely the new culture is going to push the negative people out,” he said.

Standard Iron & Wire Works Inc., www.std-iron.com

Safety 24/7, https://safety247.org