Top 3 Roadblocks To Safety Supervisor Success

It’s called “safety management” for a reason. It’s made up of two parts: safety and management. You can’t do one without the other.

top 3 roadbocks to safety supervisor success

Being a safety supervisor is a thankless job. It’s tough when it seems like the only one who loves you is mom - and even she has her days. Experienced safety supervisors can recall how tough it was to get crews to warm up to the new supervisor those first few months on the job.

Some view the safety supervisor as a cop - waiting to pounce. They are the same people who blame real cops for giving them a speeding ticket. When you know you’re stepping outside of the rules, everyone seems like a cop. There are others who understand the need for the safety supervisor and will tolerate the presence of a supervisor. And yet others who buy-in to safety themselves, may still criticize a supervisor’s ability.

Safety is far more accepted today than it was in past. There has never been a time of such high-quality safety processes and procedures. At no time in history have there been more certified safety professionals and supervisors in the workforce. Yet, while we keep certifying more and more people, we are still dealing with injury and incidents.

Supervisors feel responsible for the choices employees make, the safety results, and the culture. Supervisors feel that everyone is watching them when it comes to all things safety at work. Perceived or real, it’s a heavy weight to bear.

So, what sets apart the good ones from the bad ones? Let’s remember, not everyone who passes certification is a quality individual. Certifications do not measure a person’s character, leadership ability or degrees of common decency. In every job, in every profession there are good people and not-so-good people. There are leaders and followers. There are sticklers for the rules and those who encourage creativity. Every profession has them - safety included.

Here are the top 3 roadblocks to success for companies and their safety supervisors:

1Picking the senior employee instead of the best candidate. Companies make this mistake often - because it’s easier. Your best player is not always your best coach. As a supervisor, the key responsibility is to coach - not to enforce. Coaches inspire and motivate. Enforcers penalize. Google’s Project Oxygen identified the eight most admirable traits of quality managers and supervisors. Of the top eight traits, technical expertise (ability to do the job) finished dead last. Coaching ability was #1. Companies need to shift their thinking. Ask what kind of person would engage employees in safety? If he/she doesn’t already work for you, go outside. Find the right supervisor - not a “right now” supervisor.

2Certified in safety but not in simple management skills. It’s called “safety management” for a reason. It’s made up of two parts: safety and management. You can’t do one without the other. But if you had to make a choice, take an existing high-quality manager and get him or her certified in safety. Without management skills, certification puts the focus on learning rules. The better choice is to apply new rules to an already existing management skill set. Once a supervisor starts enforcing rules, getting them to shift to a coaching mindset is difficult. Not impossible, but difficult. For supervisors who have never taken formal management training, fix that deficiency immediately. Be prepared to let go of everything you think you know about managing safety. Build solid management skills as a foundation and add safety certification on top of it.

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3Thinking that their position or title affords them some sort of respect. In case you didn’t get the memo, staff no longer respect a title or position. In fact, staff no longer work for supervisors. Supervisors work for staff. Safety supervisors, your job is not to enforce rules. Your job is to coach the best performance from every employee. A professional sports coach doesn’t teach the rules to his players. He improves individual performance within the parameters of the rules. People respect those supervisors who act selflessly. Supervisors must become selfless. Make it all about them and they will respect you. Remember, when you improve the individuals, the team improves as a result. But you can’t improve the whole team without addressing individual performances.

Safety gets better when the people responsible for safety get better. If you won’t improve, safety won’t either. You lead by example. If you want the job to get better, you have to get better first.

Kevin Burns is a management consultant, safety speaker and author of "The Perfect Safety Meeting." He delivers engaging and entertaining keynote safety presentations for everyone: from front-line staff to senior management. He helps people see the light when it comes to buying-in to the safety program.

(c) Can Stock Photo

Topics: safety leadership