Employees hide making mistakes to avoid criticism
Major occupational accidents could have been avoided if employees just co-operated. A challenge for the management, according to Didrik from Sayfr, who uses software to change the safety culture.
There are procedures and safety plans. Rules, regulations and reporting routines. Employees are being sent on courses. In particular, companies in high-risk industries seem to have everything in place to ensure a safe working environment and avoid accidents.
And yet things still go wrong.
Time and time again.
Workers get into serious accidents at work, it could be a matter of life or death. Is it the employees' fault? The managers'? Are the safety routines not good enough?
- We need to rethink safety. Ironically, the current set of a company’s regulations can, be an obstacle to safety, says Didrik Svendsen, a partner at the culture - and safety company Sayfr.
Companies need to get comfortable with mistakes
There is no shortage of requirements. High-risk industries face strict safety regulations from both the authorities and the industries. The respons from companies is detailed plans and elaborate reporting routines.
- This creates a sense of "we're doing a lot on safety" and that the company is in control. But in many cases, the safety routines are pushed through without motivating employees. And when accidents happen, the immediate response, is to form new plans and procedures, says Svendsen.
Sayfr has 20 years of experience of mapping, changing and monitoring the safety culture in organisations.
- Those who have been involved in safety violations are often sent on new courses, which is often perceived as a kind of punishment. At the same time, leaving the managers satisfied, because they have at least responded to the issue.
Many of Sayfr's customers are major players in the energy and maritime sectors. The consequences of safety breaches in those industries can consequently lead to serious accidents. Consider the Deepwater Horizon accident in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010, where a gas explosion, followed by a fire, led to the deaths of 11 people and 650,000 tonnes of crude oil leaking into the ocean. In retrospect, it turned out that the safety plans all looked good - on paper.
- Many occupational accidents could have been avoided from the start. There is always someone, who knows about an issue prior, but goes about without reporting them. Perhaps it was an engine that has not been maintained, and subsequently it suddenly exploded.
- Why are such errors not reported?
- For employees, it's often easier to hide the mistakes, avoiding the hassle of reporting and being reprimanded. It's human nature to be afraid of making mistakes and distance yourself - not take responsibility. Or act defensively and take constructive criticism personally. This causes two more problems: You and your team don't learn from the mistake. And the mistake escalates. The common experience recorded from major accidents is that certain people knew about the mistakes as they were about to happen, but didn't interact with others to correct the errors - although they had multiple opportunities to do so.
- So people are the problem?
- When everything goes well and safety is good, it's often the system that gets the credit. But if something goes wrong, it's humans who get the blame. Humans aren't perfect, but neither are safety systems. The problem is that the rules and regulations are enforced, and by doing so, create a negative organisational environment. Therefore, the issue must be turned on its head, to include and engage people in governance and compliance. An environment must be nurtured, where it is not only allowed, but expected of people to talk about their mistakes.
8 behaviours that enable great workplace safety
Through research based on data on 350,000 employees in high-risk industries, Sayfr has identified eight leadership behaviours that fuels a good company culture:
Trust employees.
This means honesty, respect and understanding of the opinions of others.Show compassion for colleagues.
Dare to show vulnerability and listen to the perspectives of others.Be open about your own mistakes.
Realise that mistakes can happen and that you are not flawless.Learn from mistakes.
See mistakes as an opportunity to learn and improve.Give feedback to others.
Give constructive and honest feedback, without accusations.Speak up about concerns.
Speak up when you have concerns about violating regulations and encourage colleagues to do the same.Collaborate with colleagues.
Talk to colleagues regularly and contribute to making them perform better.Resolve conflicts that arise.
Recognise that conflicts can arise and resolve them with respect for the disagreements.
- Coaching these behaviours is the key to the increased sensation of feeling safer together. The higher you score on the behaviours, the better the company culture. It makes employees better at handling big and small errors together, says Svendsen.
Oliver Hayes
Oliver navigates the world of numbers with precision and insight. Outside the office, he's an avid chess player, blending strategic thinking from the boardroom to the chessboard.
The solution: practise real situations using software
How can a company improve these eight behaviours? And succeed in changing the company’s culture?
Sayfr is using software from the technology company Fuse.
- We developed astudio to do simulations. In the studio, we have a library of characters, animations and 3D models where we can study situations from different angles. Fuse has helped us in tailoring this so we can train on real situations at work - causing behavioural change, says Svendsen.
This way, employees make decisive choices about how they would resolve specific situations: What does it mean to be exposed to the culture in your organisation? How does the culture affect your everyday working life? How can you make an impact?
- The solutions assit you making choices for you and your team - choices that are directly related to your relationship with fellow colleagues. This will reveal why some people keep their mouth shut when making mistakes and what it takes for them to have the courage to speak up.
Moreover, this behavioural training can be exectuted on your mobile phone. Fuse has developed an innovative app that communicates clearly and concretely with the user. Giving the sensation of the user standing in front of a department of behavioural psychologists.
- The app has all the content we need to develop the necessary behavioural skills. This allows us to identify the cultural level of the teams/departments in the organisation and how that level corresponds to the risk of serious accidents taking place. It's great to have a professional partner like Fuse handling that part.
Reducing the risk of serious accidents
"With the software we have developed together with Fuse, you are forced to look at safety in a completely new way," says Svendsen. Sayfr has therefore entered into a long-term collaboration with Fuse.
- You become more motivated to contribute when you are included in the safety work. Experience shows that when you are confronted with your own mental barriers, originating from the company culture, it triggers a change process where you have to solve a problem anew. Fuse's software provides this solution. Fuse maintains and runs everything, so you don't have to employ your own IT department.
"Companies that use the knowledge platform have noticed changes," says Svendsen. Serious accidents have been reduced by 50 to 80 per cent. In addition, there has been a sharp increase in the reporting of undesirable incidents in addition to changes in employee behaviour. Furthermore, inproved job satisfaction and increased involvement at work as also been positively reported as a result.
- When does the safety culture become perfect?
- It may never be, but those who plan to improve their safety culture are those who are already well ahead.
Svendsen smiles.
- When you have that attitude, you'll be the best.
Handle failures better,
enhance teamwork skills
All employees,
both at sea and at shore.
Leaders and non-leaders.
Shaping Cultural Influence
In critical incidents, foreseen issues were often met with silence under cultural influence, allowing problems to escalate. SAYFR uses data-driven methodologies to benchmark and enhance organizational culture, drawing on decades of safety expertise to facilitate transformative change.
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