Creating a positive H&S Culture is very much the buzzword these days but what does it mean? All too often we can be aiming for a perceived goal without backing them up or supporting them with the appropriate processes or policies and then effectively communicating them. This can result in a fear of failing to comply or follow processes because people just don’t know what they are supposed to do, so in turn they don’t do it!

As an example an employee was absent from work for a period of months due to illness, and in her absence a colleague had been shown how to conduct the weekly fire alarm test on the alarm panel and where to record this test in the office health and safety file. On her return to work she found that fire alarm tests had not been recorded for several weeks. An investigation led her to find that although the tests had been done, her colleague had run out of room on the form and didn’t know where to find the right template to print another so didn’t make any more entries.

This example is indicative of some people’s fear of getting business compliance or processes ‘wrong’. The excuse of not being able to find the right form is worrying but quite understandable. An ingrained sense of urgency to comply with each letter of every rule can create a fear that doesn’t help at all. It’s reasonable to say in this instance that there are lessons to learn; some re-training on accessing the office controlled documents and procedures, however, to be so concerned about getting it wrong they weren’t comfortable with making up a temporary form, or even a handwritten record that a fire alarm was tested, in order to get it right, speaks a little of how some of us try a little too hard to enforce the ‘culture’ we are all striving to create…..

When writing your policies have a think about the following:
Are there to many policies and processes, can they be simplified?
Have people been trained on the processes and do they know how to implement them?
Have processes incorporated changes in technology, working practice or legislation?

 

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