Safety Diagnostics as a Leading Measure for Construction Safety Planning

How do you target limited resources to achieve a real improvement in safety performance?  Construction safety planning is often based on rear view mirror thinking. What has gone wrong in the past will predict what will go wrong in the future, so the thinking goes. There is real value to be derived from analysis of accidents, incidents and near misses, of course, but correcting past mistakes is not the same as building safety resilience for the future.  John Green HSEQ Director at Laing O’Rourke commented in his recent  Webinar  Safety is Broken, “A paradigm shift in safety management” is needed.

Safety Diagnostics – a tool for resilience

Mapping out the safety culture of the construction workplace is one approach which is both forward looking and evidence based.  Using online and onsite workforce survey data, it is possible to identify the collective groupthink that will influence behaviour.

Understanding the prevailing safety culture will tell a great deal about the resilience of the workforce to face the challenges of the construction workplace and its constantly changing landscape. It will inform the safety planning process by recognising the shared beliefs that underpin behaviour in the workplace.  Crucially, it will tell managers whether their workforce buys in to the safety values on which the system is built.

Monitoring the construction safety climate

Of course understanding safety culture is just the first step.  The construction workplace is in constant flux.  It is vital to be able to monitor how the workforce responds to change.  Workforce surveys can do this on a frequent basis, measuring change in attitudes over time.  Analysis will reveal, for example,  if production imperatives are overwhelming an otherwise cautious and conforming workforce and consequently work programmes can be adjusted to relieve the pressure.  Sometimes an influx of new workers to a project will bring a new set of ideas – perhaps more risky attitudes or a tendency to trust their safety to luck.  Attitudes are viral and understanding how and why they spread is vital to influencing future behaviour.

The ability to plot attitudes that vary from the norm is a powerful tool for those involved in managing safe workforces.  It puts people at the centre of planning.  It looks at the system before anything has gone wrong and judges the resilience of the culture to withstand the forces of change.

 

 

Updates

What shapes tunnelling culture?

Posted - 31. May .23

What makes tunnellers tick? Tunnelling projects exercise a fascination for those who work in or around them and feel instinctively different from other areas of construction. New Safety Diagnostics analysis…Read More

Shaping the culture in tunnelling projects: Safety Diagnostics Report

Posted -

  Culture is a cornerstone of project performance.  Shaping a positive project culture can influence the values and behaviours of the construction team.  Project culture will impact on every aspect…Read More

Respect: the key to positive workplace outcomes?

Posted - 20. Mar .23

What are the most important attributes of a positive safety culture? Data from Safety Diagnostics reveals that building a culture of mutual respect results in improved behaviour and better safety…Read More

Levelling the playing field in construction: International Women’s Day

Posted - 8. Mar .23

Photo by ThisisEngineering RAEng   Even with a database as large as Safety Diagnostics, with more than 60,000 individual cases, producing robust data on women in the construction industry is…Read More

What does it all mean? How to use culture survey data to improve your health and safety planning

Posted - 1. Mar .23

Getting the most out of workforce survey data Have you ever looked at workforce survey data and been completely bamboozled? Graphs, charts and percentages can leave you scratching your head…Read More

OUR CLIENTS

Process

Every Safety Diagnostics survey is tailored to suit the needs of individual businesses, reflecting the unique risk environment, safety culture and structure. Initial qualitative work is undertaken at the outset of the survey process in order to develop a research tool that accurately reflects the workforce structure and the risks they face. This initial research phase is undertaken once only and is not repeated on subsequent iterations of the survey.

Surveys

Safety Diagnostics will help you to create a safer workplace by developing an understanding of your team culture and mind-set.

Using a tailored site-based survey procedure, Safety Diagnostics measures attitudes to safety procedures, personal behaviour, team beliefs and safety values among your workforce, both directly employed and subcontracted. Surveys are conducted as a census so that everyone has the opportunity to give feedback through the system. The process is anonymous and the survey is analysed independently.

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Benefits

Safety Diagnostics surveys provide a leading measure of safety behaviour. Gain detailed analysis of your workforce with targeted action points to improve behavioural safety goals. Measure the effectiveness of your safety initiatives through a confidential, independent and evidence based process.

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Updates

31/05/23 - What shapes tunnelling culture?

[caption id="attachment_341" align="aligncenter" width="1024"] Associated Press[/caption] What makes tunnellers tick? Tunnelling projects exercise a fascination for those who work in ...Read More

- Shaping the culture in tunnelling projects: Safety Diagnostics Report

[caption id="attachment_341" align="aligncenter" width="1024"] Associated Press[/caption]   Culture is a cornerstone of project performance.  Shaping a positive project culture can ...Read More

20/03/23 - Respect: the key to positive workplace outcomes?

What are the most important attributes of a positive safety culture? Data from Safety Diagnostics reveals that building a culture ...Read More

08/03/23 - Levelling the playing field in construction: International Women’s Day

Photo by ThisisEngineering RAEng   Even with a database as large as Safety Diagnostics, with more than 60,000 individual cases, ...Read More