Page 75 - Advances In Productive, Safe, and Responsible Coal Mining

Productive, safe, and responsible operations are not possible without visible safety leadership 61

management to meet safety goals, not just a top-down pressure felt by employees to
follow rules. Visible safety leadership often involves listening more than speaking.
When the workforce provides valuable insight that can improve the safety system,
management should feel pressured to incorporate that insight and improve the system,
just as employees feel pressured to follow operating procedures and keep themselves
and their coworkers safe from harm.
The level of efficacy at which a safety system operates is measured in terms of
its maturity, so called because achieving a strong safety system with visible safety
leadership at all levels is a slow and gradual process that involves the evolution of
the organization’s culture, and cultural change cannot happen quickly. The maturity
of a safety system and culture can be benchmarked and assessed on seven dimensions:
leadership’s commitment, the view of safety and health as a core value, a visible and
thorough safety management system, buy-in to safety within the culture, respected
safety personnel, continuous learning, and advancing technology. The assessment
of these seven essential aspects can uncover gaps between them that must be filled
to further mature the model and thus improve the safety system.
As part of developing a mature health and safety model, leaders can enhance their
visibility by keeping to a simple roadmap of values regarding their own self-
awareness, effective team building, effective communications, and commitment to
the values and vision of the organization. Enhanced visibility among the safety lead-
ership helps transfer and aligns these values and the commitment to them among all
personnel, thus encouraging active participation at all levels in creating safer, more
productive, and more responsible mining operations.

References

[1] Dunlap ES. Safety leadership: finding common ground. Prof Saf 2011;56(9):44.
[2] Carrillo RA. Breaking the cycle of mistrust to build a positive safety culture. Occup
Hazards 2004;66(7). 7 pp, paragraph 1. Available from: http://ehstoday.com/safety/
best-practices/ehs_imp_37126. Accessed 2 September 2017.
[3] Carrillo RA. Breaking the cycle of mistrust to build a positive safety culture. Occup
Hazards 2004;66(7). paragraph 8.
[4] Carrillo RA. Breaking the cycle of mistrust to build a positive safety culture. Occup
Hazards 2004;66(7). paragraph 9.
[5] Carrillo RA. Breaking the cycle of mistrust to build a positive safety culture. Occup
Hazards 2004;66(7). paragraph 12.
[6] Dunlap, 44.
[7] Dunlap, pp. 42–49.
[8] Jensen J. From me to we. Leadership Excell Essent 2014;31(4):65. paragraph 4.
[9] Jensen J. From me to we. Leadership Excell Essent 2014;31(4):65. 44.
[10] Carrillo, paragraph 14.