Page 71 - Advances In Productive, Safe, and Responsible Coal Mining

Productive, safe, and responsible operations are not possible without visible safety leadership 57

4.4 Applying the push-pull concept

When all members of an organization play a role in management of the safety system,
the fuel of its operation is the reciprocal pressure to meet safety goals. This pressure is
applied both from employees to management and from management to employees.
When communication and cultural barriers are diminished as a result of more
meaningful on-site interaction between employees and management, it can only ben-
efit the circulation of and buy-in to safety as a core value. The alignment of values
across an organization is crucial to the installation and upkeep of its safety culture,
and visible safety leadership is a key component of this alignment. Carillo’s work
demonstrated that managers who “employees felt could be trusted even if the com-
pany could not” were those managers who took time to converse with employees
and learn from their experiences in the worksite [10].
When employees feel as though company policies or procedures, whether related to
safety or operations, are “pushed” on them, it is a natural human tendency to resist the
pressure. Likewise, when employees feel as though supervisors or managers are
“pulling” them in a particular direction, they experience the same natural tendency
to resist. Instead, leaders are most influential and earn the trust and respect of their
crews when they provide a clear path for employees to decide to follow on their
own. Humans, just like animals, will respond to positive stimuli that provide a clear
direction and reason for their involvement.
Visible leaders can respond to this natural human response to resisting the feelings
of being “pushed” or “pulled” to buy-in to safety or any corporate attempt to affect
change in the organizational culture. While it is no easy feat, visible leaders must work
to provide the positive direction and reason for employees to buy-in to safety and a
positive safety culture. This involves ensuring that the values of the organization
are clear and responsibilities across all levels of the organization are defined. Of equal
importance to visible leaders’ behavior is ensuring that employees have the necessary
resources to perform their jobs. Whether necessary resources involve money, time,
manpower, supplies, or equipment, a primary function of visible leaders is to work
with employees to identify what they need and then work to provide the necessary
means for workers to meet expectations.
When employees perceive themselves to be empowered and responsible, rather
than pushed or pulled, they will choose to work with leaders and management toward
achieving organizational goals for safety and production. Visible safety leadership is a
state of being, a developmental process that employees, supervisors, and management
alike can commit to and promote across the organization.

4.5 Health and safety maturity model

Visible safety leadership is best recognized within organizations with a high level of
health and safety maturity. One model of health and safety maturity that can be used as
a benchmarking tool or roadmap is based on seven dimensions. In working toward
safety and health maturity, it is important that organizations: