Simply Seamless Safety Culture: Addressing the Issues in Organizational Safety Culture

Dr. Deb Potter - an advocate for a zero-injury workplace

Deb Potter is a safety champion that works with organizations that want a Simply Seamless Safety ^SM culture where everyone is committed to a zero injury workplace so everyone can go home every day without injury.

Programs & Assessments & Improvement Initiatives

Dr. Deb offers:

• Programs designed to help leaders understand how to improve safety culture
• Organizational safety management assessments
• Safety culture improvement initiatives

Author of:

• Simply Seamless Safety ^SM :  Using OSHA's VPP Criteria to Improve your Safety Culture
• ZERO!  Responsible Safety Management by Design, with Carl Potter, CSP, CMC

When you work with Deb, you get:

•  More injury-free days
• More managers who understand how to manage the work safely
• More congruency between employees' and managers' perceptions of safety
• More people who go home every day without injury.

"Safety is a direct outcome of your organization's culture..."
- Deb Potter, PhD

A Simply Seamless Safety culture is one where every employee at every level is committed to a safe workplace. The results are that everyone goes home every day without injury. It is the answer to the problem we face in the United States today: annually over 5000 employees die at work. Workplace injuries and death occur because of poor safety cultures that lead to poor safety performance.

Traditional safety management methods tend to rely heavily on compliance with regulation and have a focus on lagging indicators such as injuries and severity rates. The approach is to focus on job design, equipment engineering, safety work practice development, and, finally, protective equipment provision.
 
While these are important, they do not encompass all it takes to create an environment where employees know their health and safety is valued and where they are expected to perform their work safely. The achievement of zero injuries is possible when the organization's values, beliefs, policies, procedures, actions, and behaviors are laser-focused on safety at every level. Isn't that a goal you want for your organization?

An improved safety culture drives improved safety performance and results in injuries being eliminated and lives saved. WHO WOULDN'T WANT THAT?

The Simply Seamless Safety culture model helps managers and leaders to:

• Understand how to evaluate the state of the safety culture in their organization
• Set high expectations for workplace health and safety culture and performance
• Build safety into all production processes
• Emphasize safety as a core value along with production and quality
• Hold managers and employees accountable for safe behavior and performance
• Make resources available for improvements, training, and personal protective equipment

No matter the problem, no matter the question, no matter the issue, managers and executives can create sustainable, positive change when it comes to safety and health. They do this when they develop a philosophy that promotes safety and health throughout their organizations and de-emphasizes the current focus on compliance. This philosophy must give equal weight to five areas:

1. Management commitment
2. Employee involvement
3. Worksite analysis
4. Hazard prevention and control
5. Health and safety training 

THIS IS NOT A COOKIE-CUTTER APPROACH

Dr. Deb uses the Criteria for Safety Excellence" that she developed along with Carl Potter, CSP to assess your safety culture.  The Criteria is based on five areas that have been proven to be the foundation of injury-free workplaces:  management commitment, employee involvement, worksite analysis, hazard prevention and control, and health and safety training.

Dr. Deb uses a qualitative approach to help you develop a deep understanding of where your safety management process is working and where it needs improvement. 

RESPONSIBLE SAFETY MANAGEMENT BY DESIGN

Dr. Deb works with your organization to identify and develop initiatives that will move your safety management process to a zero-injury workplace.

Deb Potter, PhD, CMC, and Safety Champion  works with organizations that want to develop a Simply Seamless Safety^SM culture where every person at every level is committed to a safe workplace, so everyone can go home every day without injury.

To learn more about how Dr. Deb can help your organization achieve a zero-injury workplace so everyone can go home every day without injury, give her a call at 800-259-6209.

Visit www.SafetyBooks.com for more information on Dr. Deb's books.