Safety management is an integral part of any organisation's operations. It is responsible for identifying and mitigating risks to ensure the safety of employees, customers, and the general public. However, traditional safety management methods can often be fragmented and disconnected from the core functions of an organisation, leading to goal conflict and a lack of prioritisation for safety within the organisation.
To overcome this problem, organisations need to adopt a holistic approach to safety management that integrates safety into the core of the organisation's operations. This approach focuses on reducing goal conflict and negotiating the redistribution of resources to prioritise safety.
One key strategy for building safety into the organisation's core is to monitor goal conflict and create action to alleviate it continuously. This can be done by identifying and understanding the pressures that the organisation faces, such as changes in production targets, financial budgets, and resource levels. By understanding these pressures, organisations can take steps to intervene and reduce goal conflict through adjustments to cost, schedule, and production goals.
Another important strategy is facilitating the reallocation of operational resources to support changes in operational demands. Safety professionals should maintain an inventory of internal and external deployable resources, including technical specialists, key roles, and critical equipment. By monitoring the needs and gaps in resourcing across the organisation, safety professionals can identify and facilitate the redistribution of resources to support changes in operational demands.
Additionally, it's important to build safety into the organisational system and how it continually operates. This can be done by creating and maintaining an understanding of the organisation's total deployable reserve resources. Safety professionals can claim, negotiate, and re-distribute human, financial and technical resources to ensure that safety is prioritised within the organisation.
Furthermore, Safety professionals should aim to create a culture of safety by addressing behavioural risks and compliance requirements, and this can be achieved by involving all workers, creating safety rules and procedures that are clear and easy to follow, providing training, and promoting a safety culture.
In summary, building safety into the organisation's core requires a holistic approach that prioritises safety, reduces goal conflict and negotiates the redistribution of resources. Continuously monitoring goal conflict, intervening when necessary, facilitating the reallocation of resources, building safety into the organisational system and creating a culture of safety are key strategies organisations should adopt to ensure that safety is an integral part of their operations.
If your organisation is struggling with fragmentation in safety management and is looking to integrate safety into the core of your operations, our consulting services can help. Our team of experienced safety professionals has a proven track record of assisting organisations in implementing a holistic approach to safety management that prioritises safety, reduces goal conflict, and negotiates the redistribution of resources. We can help you monitor goal conflict, intervene when necessary, facilitate the reallocation of resources, build safety into the organisational system and create a safety culture. Don't let fragmentation in safety management hold your organisation back. Contact us today to schedule a consultation and start building safety into your organisation's core.