Cookie-cutter, one-size-fits-all approaches cannot possibly address the very different needs of each corporate culture. Accordingly, safety "programs", however meritorious in their own right, will often have short-lived results when mandated from corporate, bolted on in an "all or nothing" fashion, or bought as a magical silver bullet that will fix problems in safety performance.
The growing mass marketing of formulaic approaches to safety - whether behavior-based safety, safety incentive campaigns, accident investigation packages, etc. - has made it easier to "shop a solution." After all, if it has worked for others, it should work for my site, too. To the degree that the pre-packaging of safety programs has become big business, it has become even more difficult to slow down the formula gravy train and ask the questions, "Is this right for us? Is this a fit with our business system, organizational structure and culture?"
One of the problems with formulaic or pre-packaged approaches is that even at best, when they promise to "customize" their offering to fit your site, the question is rarely raised whether you need the program at all. If they're selling behavior-based safety, or root cause incident investigation, there's selling their product, whether it's required or not.
The principal goal of establishing a positive, long-lasting safety culture is to create the conditions where leadership, genuine commitment and ownership of safety are in a state of continual growth at all levels of the organization. It is no coincidence that where a safety culture is vital and vibrant, the members of the organizational culture tend to insist that their safety "programs" be developed organically as opposed to simply adopting formulaic bolt-ons superimposed from outside.
The challenge laid out by the Senior Safety Officer at CNA's 44-story office building in downtown Chicago was to test and install a set of safety guidelines while simultaneously building the safety culture necessary for continuous review and improvement of the implementation of those guidelines.
The approach selected was to develop a grassroots safety culture, a culture where safety leadership is firmly planted in the ranks of non-management employees. In this case, underwriter, claim, actuarial and other professionals, along with numerous support functions comprise the several thousand CNA employees who populate its high-rise office building. We believed that office employees would respond better to the opportunity to lead and own the implementation of safety guidelines than if a formulaic program were imposed upon them.
In the midst of putting this initiative in place, the 9/11 terrorist attack on the World Trade Center occurred. Safety culture helps us understand how behavior and attitudes change in response to events. One particular impact of the 9/11 attack upon this culture change initiative - which had started nearly a year earlier - was to increase the willingness to be involved in creating office safety amongst the employees. In the post 9/11 world, employees around the country voiced their concerns about safety and health at an unprecedented level.
