Kevin Burns Blog

Building Frontline Safety Culture Without Senior Management Support

Posted by Kevin Burns on November 21, 2025

The safety industry insists that a strong safety culture requires senior management support. This belief has become the favorite excuse for poor frontline performance. The truth is, supervisors create a culture through daily relationships with their crews, not through executive endorsements or corporate policies. The supervisor IS the culture for their crew. Companies that equip supervisors with relationship skills get the safety culture they want, regardless of how visible senior management support appears to be.

Your Safety Department Is Wasting Money Training the Wrong People

Posted by Kevin Burns on July 4, 2025

Your safety programs are well-designed, but they're missing crucial advocates. While most training budgets focus on safety professionals and managers, the real leverage point is developing the one person who either champions or undermines every initiative you launch. It's time to create safety allies where culture is actually made.

The Supervisor's Clarity of the Safety Mission

Posted by Kevin Burns on November 5, 2025

At a mining camp in Canada's Arctic, a team of big city consultants was dispatched to determine the effectiveness of the safety messages throughout the mine site. The walls at the mine were plastered with so many mixed messages that the employees nicknamed them "the wallpaper." Too much noise, too many competing thoughts. First, let's admit it—generic messages like "Safety first" or "Be safe" don't cut it. They become a punchline, undermining the real priority. And in the end, the mission gets lost in "the wallpaper."

When you have buy-in will you even need safety speakers?

Posted by Kevin Burns on October 6, 2021

Safety buy-in happens when you engage your people, simplify the communications, figure out the prime objective, and get supervisors on board. When you have safety buy-in, do you think you will need safety speakers anymore?

Why safety may not be a priority.

Posted by Kevin Burns on September 8, 2021

safety may not be a priority by kevin burns

Episode 6 of the Safety Buy-in video series tackles company priorities and why you may be having a hard time getting buy-in to your safety program by adding safety as one of your priorities.

People buy-in to this before they buy-in to safety.

Posted by Kevin Burns on August 25, 2021

When selling your team on the benefits of safety, you must remember this one key element that is more likely to create buy-in than any compelling argument you may have for safety. Watch the video.

Is "safety" a barrier to safety buy-in?

Posted by Kevin Burns on August 19, 2021

What happens when the word "safety" becomes a barrier to safety buy-in? It is happening with increasing frequency in all sectors and industries. And it's probably happening in your company too.

Negative reinforcement doesn't work. Positive reinforcement builds buy-in.

Posted by Kevin Burns on August 11, 2021

No other department in your organization is focused on negative reinforcement to try to improve performance. How did this happen in safety and why has it lasted so long?

You need engagement to get safety buy-in.

Posted by Kevin Burns on August 4, 2021

If you've been frustrated by failed attempts to get buy-in to safety (something more than just basic minimum compliance), you are going to have to look at your engagement levels first.

Complacency is not the problem.

Posted by Kevin Burns on July 21, 2021

Welcome to a new series of Safety Buy-in videos to help you clarify your safety message, build supervisor support, and get employee buy-in. This week we focus on complacency and adopting a mindset that complacency is a result you get when you don’t engage your people in a meaningful way.

Leadership for frontline industrial supervisors.