The Human Element in Data-Driven Safety Transformation
Scott Gaddis
October 2, 2019
The idea of human capital comes to mind as we consider transformation. This term is defined as production factors coming from workers who are used to produce goods or provide services. It is the worker’s knowledge, abilities, talents, skills, intelligence, training, and judgment. Experience, wisdom, individuality, and connectedness are also key, however.
If transformational change is influenced by human capital, is there a way to measure the system to show the robustness of a relationship between the worker and the organization?
Safety Engagement
From an organizational business perspective, workplace safety is the more common area where transformational change is best realized using human capital. Safety is the part of the management system that is easiest to gain buy-in from workers and management. Regardless of position, safety almost always is a shared value. Delving into this idea further, however, requires understanding of how we have judged engagement.Historically, behavior-based safety (BBS) has been the gold standard in measuring safety engagement. In its broadest terms, behavior-based safety is a process that observes and changes unsafe behaviors in the workplace. It seeks to identify, through discussion and feedback, the cause of undesired behaviors and then applies techniques to eliminate them.
Recently, another approach called Human and Organization Performance (HOP) has gained momentum. This method comes from the efforts of Sidney Dekker and James Reason and begins with the supposition that human error is inevitable and is a symptom of gaps within the management system. Getting engagement using this process requires employing purposeful leading metrics and increasing worker participation through things like actionable reporting. It also requires lessening the negative consequences that affect learning and worker morale, as well as including those closest to where the work happens to partner in driving safety solutions.
Leveraging Data for Engagement
The way we measure engagement today will not necessarily be how we will do it in the future. The next step in the Industrial Revolution moves us from Industry 3.0, where information technology aided the assembly line to perform some human tasks, to that where computers are connected and communicate with one another to ultimately make decisions without human involvement at all. It is a combination of cyber-physical systems, the Internet of Things and the Internet of Systems that promotes the idea of intelligent machines getting smarter as they get access to more data. The network of these machines that are digitally connected to create and share information is what drives the real power of Industry 4.0.It is clear that big data sets and how organizations use them is a good source in understanding how engagement will happen. In her article “4 Ways Big Data Can Improve Employee Engagement in Real-Time,” business technology consultant Sarah Daren writes: “terabytes of data and innovative reports have no value unless enterprise leaders use the information to plan for improvement and successfully rally stakeholders to support change.”
Daren goes on to state the opportunities for big data technology to improve employee engagement, including:
- Numbers motivate. To improve employee engagement, organizational leaders adopt a policy of making decisions based on empirical evidence generated by data analysis. Furthermore, executives promote a culture where all employees and business unit leaders participate in making data-driven decisions.
- Performance analytics and human connection. Data analytics help employees visualize the connection between their daily activities and the organization’s goals, making workers feel like active participants in enterprise outcomes. Simply put, the organization produces reports or views process signals from the actionable inputs of people participating in the system. The organization can then evaluate such data within an analytics program in, or close to, real time. The information can be understood locally, or across the broader enterprise, to acknowledge improvement or drive decisions to change, tweak or even tune an output, or what could be a gap within the management system.
Safety Engagement Score
An exciting development in understanding engagement through data is through tools such as Intelex’s Safety Engagement Score. The Safety Engagement Score provides an evidence-based assessment of your organization’s safety engagement health based on advanced analytics. The Safety Engagement Score approach reveals the excellent safety performers across your organization with a standard set of leading indicators, including:- Incident Investigations: Investigations are assigned, performed and completed on schedule.
- Audits: Audits are conducted on a scheduled basis, and corrective actions are completed.
- Safe Observations: Employees report safety concerns and observations.
- Unsafe Observations: Unsafe behavioral observations are reported with follow-ups and mitigation completed.
- Training Management: Safety training is completed to plan.
- Action Management: Corrective actions are added to the system from across the system platform, monitored and completed on time.
- Workplace Hazards: Hazards are identified, and concerns are reported with mitigation plans documented.
- Meetings Management: Safety meetings are completed to plan for all employees.
- Information Distribution: Safety documentation is reviewed, and safety communications are delivered to plan.
Understanding Engagement Through Data
The road to business improvement in the 21st century, regardless of industry or the specific processes that need improving, will be paved with robust, meaningful data. Fortunately, the emergence of cutting-edge technologies, such as lightning-fast network connectivity, sophisticated enterprise software like the Safety Engagement Score, and new architectures such as the Internet of Things, allows businesses to understand their operations in ways far deeper than ever before possible.Additional Reading:
Building a World-Class Safety Culture
10 Steps to Take Your Safety Management System from Good to Great
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About the Author
Scott Gaddis
Intelex
Scott is an Environment, Health and Safety executive with 29+ years experience heading industry-leading organizations. He has extensive domestic and global expertise in regulatory compliance, LEAN based manufacturing, research and development, construction safety, ISO 14001 and 45001, risk management, process development, exposure identification, change management, mergers/acquisitions and due diligence.