Recently ASSP published a report based on views and experiences from business leaders who were involved in its Corporate Listening Tour.
Here are some themes and comments from leaders:
Workforce Challenges: The Shifting Labor Market
This theme explores workforce instability and retention; the development of company leaders; and mental health and psychological safety.
"We’re trying to use turnover data and other operational metrics to dictate future learning,” says Michael Finnamore, president of environmental, health and safety for Medtronic, explaining how his firm is using workforce trends and HR data to anticipate safety risks and improve training.
“Not only is it more expensive to train and onboard new employees to replace somebody, it also takes 12 to 18 months to get them fully acclimatized to our manufacturing areas and operating at an equivalent level as a seasoned employee,” says Finnamore. “To me, hiring practices, flexibility, staffing and recruiting are integral in the performance of your safety program.”
The report offers three actions steps:
Develop leadership-specific safety training. Equip supervisors with skills in communication,
coaching and conflict resolution to improve team safety engagement.
Create a safety toolkit for new leaders. Provide clear guidelines and resources to help supervisors
manage safety conversations and discuss policies effectively.
Pair new supervisors with experienced mentors. Foster leadership confidence by providing
real-world guidance on effective safety management.
Aligning Safety With Business Strategy
This theme examines leadership commitment and decision making; risk management and connecting safety to the bottom line; and going beyond legal compliance.
“When you are able to invest in employees and work with clients that ‘get it,’ it creates a culture that brings you together for the common goal,” said Matt Compher, senior vice president of safety, health and environmental with Quanta Services. "says. “To have a learning environment, you need a system that is repeatable, sustainable and flexible. The system ensures safety remains at the heart of the business.”
Action steps for this area:
Make safety a core leadership metric. Create defined accountability for safety to reinforce its
importance at all levels of the organization.
Involve senior leaders in safety programs. Engage executives to participate in site visits, audits
and safety discussions.
Recognize leaders who actively champion safety. Motivate individuals to stay engaged and set
a strong example for others to foster a safer and more proactive workplace environment.
Safety Leadership and Culture
This theme involves moving from compliance to influence; using safety as a competitive advantage; and strengthening employee engagement.
"Some organizations will say that ‘safety is the presence of safeguards,’ but then they measure it
with recordable injury rates,” explains Matthew Hallowell, Ph.D., professor at the University of Colorado and executive director of the Construction Safety Research Alliance (CSRA).. “If you think safety is about safeguards but measure it by the absence of injuries, you’re completely misaligned.”
Action steps in this area:
Use data for proactive decision-making. Use both leading (e.g., near misses, safety observations)
and lagging (e.g., injury rates, lost-time incidents) indicators to drive improvements.
Use technology to enhance safety. Implement digital tools such as wearable safety devices, AI driven risk assessments or real-time monitoring systems to proactively identify and address hazards.
Adopt a learning-based approach to incidents. Use incident reviews and investigations as
opportunities to learn and improve processes.
“The report proposes a set of questions to help spark discussions among safety teams and with their colleagues and corporate leaders,” said ASSP President Pam Walaski, in a statement. “It’s through proactive conversations about trends and potential risks that we can better integrate program improvements to reduce worker injuries, illnesses and fatalities.”