Page 59 - Serious Incident Prevention How to Achieve and Sustain Accident-Free Operations in Your Plant or Company

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C
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Management

Commitment and

Leadership

Benchmarking surveys typically identify management commitment as
a necessity for achieving excellent safety performance. Management’s
critical role may be better described as leadership rather than simply com-
mitment. While many managers seem committed to almost an infinite
number of objectives, most managers can provide the energy, excitement,
and passion needed for true leadership only for a critical few initiatives.
Whether described as commitment or leadership, the message is clear—
management’s role is critical in achieving and sustaining a safe workplace.
Today’s managers generally recognize the importance of safety, in-
cluding serious incident prevention. However, managers are usually feel-
ing the pressure to achieve excellence in numerous key performance areas.
In addition to safe operations, management’s attention is focused on pro-
ductivity, product quality, customer service, and cost control. As a further
complication, these objectives often seem to be in tension with one an-
other, with the manager unable to improve performance in one area with-
out unfavorably impacting the others (Figure 4-1). Although I have yet to
meet a manager who confessed to be against safety, it’s a workplace real-
ity that noble intentions are insufficient to accomplish desired results.
Managers must demonstrate effective leadership in utilizing the organiza-
tion’s finite resources to achieve all that is expected.

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