【國際譯文】守護安全文化！國際級企業Top3最常面對的安全挑戰

本文統整在國際級企業中，最為常見的三大安全挑戰，並分析挑戰發生的原因與解決方法。

三大挑戰分別為：

- 工作者敬業度（Employee Engagement）
- 工作者試圖走捷徑或漠視規則（Employees Taking Shortcuts or Ignoring Rules）
- 高階主管參與安全相關計劃（Supervisor Participation in Safety Programs）

工作者敬業度（Employee Engagement）

工作者的敬業度並非只關乎安全、勞動力的問題，敬業度的議題涉及廣泛，處理不當可能會對整體安全文化及安全績效造成負面的影響。對環安衛管理人員而言，安全的好處顯而易見，然而其他工作者在配合階段可能會納悶：「這與我的工作關聯是？」
以下有幾個實施方法供環安衛人員參考：

採納安全建議
創造一個匿名的環境（或以線上的形式）使工作者擁有提出改變的環境、發出意見的空間，並消除工作者害怕被事後舉發的疑慮。
舉辦論壇、讀書會
將不同部門的工作者集合在一起討論對於安全的相關議題，除可使他們透過交流而有新的見解外，還可凝聚組織中的向心力。
利用中場休息
利用工作休息的短暫時間來執行安全文化宣導：
(1) 彰顯企業對於安全的重視
(2) 教導員工們如何避免及解決危害和事故
(3) 促進員工間進行提升安全與敬業度的對話

工作者試圖走捷徑或漠視規則（Employees Taking Shortcuts or Ignoring Rules）

有許多因素導致工作者不在看見危險因子或舉動時發聲，例如：

抗拒
這是人類行使自主權和獨立性的特性，此情緒使人做出被告知的相反舉動。當有人出聲反抗不安全的舉動，則可能觸發被指正者的叛逆情緒，研究顯示，在各行業中有28%被指正工作者會因此感到被冒犯，而6個人中有1位會因此憤怒。
社會不一致
此為當我們與他人產生衝突時所感受到壓力。人類是群體生物，和他人社交是我們的一部分，而特別去指正某人或某事將可能面臨與對方的衝突，我們往往傾向於讓自己避免那些壓力。
確認偏差
人們擅長證明自己的觀點是對的，我們很常忽略否定自己觀點的細節，只關注於想要相信的事物。與此相關的想法包括：「沒有人表示出來，所以這樣做沒關係。」或「我的表達不會改變任何事情。」

高階主管參與安全相關計劃（Supervisor Participation in Safety Programs）

解決方法是提醒在作業前線的主管能每日傳達安全訊息，這不需要做得太複雜，事實上，一旦主管習慣了，這將成為平日與員工的日常互動。

關鍵點是經常提及安全相關的議題，涵蓋範圍可從簡單的問話，例如：「你目前的工作環境安全嗎？」到更加積極的：「你的這項舉動很棒，能夠使你的作業更加安全。」又或輕微的指正：「你有沒有想過這樣做會導致你的哪部位受傷？」等來觸發安全文化的提升機會。

獨家文章轉載請註明來源：威煦軟體
本篇文章內容僅供參考，原文刊載於：ESH Daily Advisor
文章作者：Justin Scace （The Top 3 Safety Challenges of 2019）
編輯翻譯：威煦軟體

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

﹝原文對照﹞

The Top 3 Safety Challenges of 2019
The 2019 Annual Safety Progress Report, based on a yearly survey conducted by the EHS Daily Advisor and SafeStart, is our latest record of how safety professionals in the real world are identifying and overcoming common safety challenges. The top 3 challenges we’ve identified for 2019 are familiar to environment, health, and safety (EHS) pros—but the concern surrounding them is growing.

For three years running, our Annual Safety Progress Report has identified the same three top safety challenges. (You can download the full 2019 report here for free.) However, the share of survey respondents that identify these as their top challenges has grown year over year. These challenges are:

Employee engagement.
This challenge was selected as a pressing concern for 54% of survey participants—the highest percentage ever recorded in our Annual Progress Survey, and up from 48% in our 2018 poll.
Employees taking shortcuts or ignoring rules.
46% of those polled cited this as one of their current challenges, an increase from 44% in 2018.
Supervisor participation in safety programs.
Once again, this was our #3 top challenge identified by survey respondents. However, the share of respondents that noted this challenge increased from 38% in 2018 to 42% in this year’s survey.

These challenges clearly are not going away, and they probably cannot be solved once and for all—maintaining engagement and a positive safety culture is an ongoing process. However, safety managers and professionals can take a proactive approach to addressing these challenges at their organizations with the right attitude, the right communication, and the right tools.

Employee Engagement
Employee engagement isn’t just a safety issue—it’s a workforce issue. However, the issue is so all-encompassing that it can have an extremely detrimental effect on your safety culture and safety performance.

While the benefits of safety are inherently obvious to EHS pros, employees may wonder, “What’s in it for me?” There are a variety of benefits that safety managers can communicate, and here are a few quick ideas for boosting engagement:

Safety suggestions. Creating an anonymous space—or an online form—for employees to request change will help give them a voice and relieve them of whistleblower fears in speaking up.
Forums. Bringing together employees from different departments and/or locations to discuss safety topics can give them a fresh perspective on their workplace while also creating a stronger sense of community across your organization.
Stand-down. A stand-down is a work shutdown that can (1) demonstrate how seriously your company takes safety; (2) teach employees how to address hazards and incidents; and (3) contribute to a dialogue with your employees about safety that promotes engagement.

Employees Taking Shortcuts or Ignoring Rules
This is a different angle of employee engagement, one that is more obviously safety-specific. One of your best assets for addressing this challenge is other employees—in an effective safety culture, employees will notice when others are taking unnecessary risks or otherwise behaving unsafely, and with proper training, they will speak up. This communication may mean even more coming from a fellow employee than from management.

Unfortunately, there are a great deal of cognitive factors that prevent employees from speaking up when they see something unsafe. Among other factors, a “perfect storm” of cognitive inhibitions include:

Reactance, or the natural urge to resist or do the opposite of what someone tells you to do—it’s the human need for exercising autonomy and independence. When a worker speaks up against an unsafe action, reactance or defensiveness can be triggered in the other worker who is performing the unsafe action. Research shows that across industries, 28% of “offending” workers become defensive in these situations, and 1 in 6 actually become angry.
Social incongruence, the stress that we feel when we are in tension with others. Part of being human is being social and connected with those around us, and the tension that could result from speaking up is profound. We’re wired to get away from that feeling.
Confirmation bias, where people are extremely good at justifying what they have already concluded. We can rationalize anything by paying attention to things we want to believe and discarding everything to the contrary. Good examples of thought processes rooted in confirmation bias as it relates to safety include, “No one else has said anything, so it must not be that big of a deal,” or “It won’t make a difference if I speak up.”

We have more on this issue here, along with tips for tackling the problem.

Supervisor Participation in Safety Programs
One way to address this challenge is to remind your frontline supervisors to communicate safety every day. This doesn’t have to be a structured, burdensome chore; in fact, once supervisors are in the habit of it, it will come as naturally as any other casual interaction with employees, of which they have hundreds every day.

The key is safety-related verbal contacts, which could range from a passing conversational question (“Are you having a safe shift?”) to positively reaffirming safety (“I saw you bending with your knees as you lifted that. That’s good! It will keep your back healthy.”) to gently corrective inquiries (“Have you thought where your elbow will go when that box is pulled free?”). We have more tips on verbal contacts for supervisors here, and also check out these seven safety leadership tips for supervisors.

For more information on the top safety challenges of 2019, as well as more results from our most recent survey into the current state of workplace safety, download your free copy of the 2019 Annual Safety Progress Report here!

Continuing Research
The EHS Daily Advisor’s research efforts strive to produce a greater understanding about how workplace safety and environmental efforts are taking shape nationwide. On topics ranging from safety’s connection to operational excellence to how professionals can make the business case for EHS to more specific topics like personal protective equipment (PPE) and 5S systems, our surveys help both us and our readers learn more about how these issues are playing out in the real world.

However, we can’t do it without your help! Keep an eye out for new surveys in the EHS Daily Advisor and share your opinion so that you can help shape future safety conversations. Thanks to our sponsors, the resulting reports from our surveys are free to our readers. Check out our resources page to download copies of past reports.