Improving Safety Culture In Company N: Survey Results And Recommendations

Survey Results

Question 1
Your first task is to assess the current safety culture level of company N. You decided to design a BBS survey to be conducted at the company. You intend to design your questions based on three elements below: 
1. Leadership
2. People
3. Process
Design FIFTEEN (15) questions (5 questions per element) for this survey. Collect at least FIVE (5) samples of data from the survey. Evaluate, analyse and present your data in the form of charts or diagrams and discuss the results. You are to derive the formula for calculating safety culture and determine the safety culture value from this survey.
Question 2
After viewing their observation methodology and tools, you proceed to develop an observation checklist that is tailored to the nature of their job.
Create a behavioural based checklist suitable for the production line covering the following identified attributes:
1. Body use
2. Tools and equipment
3. Personal protection equipment 
Illustrate at least FIVE (5) elements under each attribute.
Question 3
In order to raise awareness of the BBS program and provide a guideline for its implementation, design a BBS standard operating procedure (SOP) for the company. 
Using a standard SOP format, develop a BBS SOP and explain how BBS processes can be implemented and maintained for Company N. Discuss if the various workplaces (operation rooms, production line, warehousing, loading bay, etc.) are able to either use the same SOP, or if each requires its own SOP.
Question 4
You realised that company N’s BBS program will not be effective unless it utilises analysis tools to solve their at-risk behaviour problems. Hence, you decided to teach the BBS working committee to apply the ABC analysis. To reinforce the knowledge, you decided to give an illustration of the model based on actual problems.
Conduct the ABC analysis for Company N. Illustrate TWO (2) at-risk behaviours from the production line and warehouse (one from each location). Present both answers onto TWO (2)separate ABC analysis templates.
Question 5
After the BBS program is developed and implemented for a period of time, the site will need to conduct a BBS sustainability assessment to determine if the BBS program will continue to run or it will gradually become obsolete. As the BBS facilitator, design a BBS sustainability matrix for the site.
The table below contains five BBS sustainability factors against five BBS sustainability levels in ascending order. Explain how each factor serves as indicators of BBS program sustainability. In each box, describe the conditions or observations that the organisation should have in order to be classified in that sustainability level against each factor.

Proposed Questions for the Survey Leadership

• Please tick the safety culture model that you think is prevailing in the current conditions.

1. Reactive Culture
2. Calculative Culture
3. Proactive Culture

• Every safety culture model demands certain approaches to create an environment where safety can become a primary concern. Please tick the area where you think that improvement is needed. You can choose multiple options.

1. Information connected to the safety hazards is traveling frequently.
2. All the departments are sharing the responsibilities connected to the safety
3. Do we have a culture of calling an inquiry in the case of a failure
4. Do we have a think tank like body working to generate safety hazard connected areas?

• Are you aware of the WSH culture connected to the safety?

1. Yes
2. No

• What strategy do you think is apt for the implementation of a BBS model? Please tick on the strategy from the list?

1. Top-Down Control
2. Bottom Up involvement
3. A mix of both

• According to you what is the status of WSH recommendation in the existing organization?

1. Top Priority
2. Moderate Priority
3. Not in the Priority list.

• While moving in a team are you aware of your accountability towards the safety?  

1. Yes
2. No

• Have you ever come across as any document that can be considered as a safety manual? Please don't count the machine's user manual? The only mention about the manuals was behavior based safety measures are present.

1. Yes
2. No
3. Have you ever been a part of any inquiry conducted by the authorities with an intention to fix the accountability for a mishap or an accident?
4. A) Yes
5. B) No
6. Have you ever been a part of any first response training conducted by your organization or any other organization?
7. A) Yes
8. B) No
9. Have you ever been a part of an accident that took place during your working?
10. A) Yes
11. B) No

• Do we have proper retiring rooms for the drivers and others that are working with heavy machinery?

1. Yes
2. No

• The safety charts and guidelines in their pictorial form are plastered on all the sites and vehicles?

1. Yes
2. No

• How many seminars on the safety have been conducted during the previous fiscal year?

Please specify the number…..

• How many times they go for a regular fitness test of the machines and vehicles in a given fiscal year.

Please specify the Number….

• What is the role of the supervisors in the process of training the staff for the safety based behaviors?

1. Check and balance
2. Checks on a regular basis
3. They remind us prior to assigning every new task?
4. They conduct mock drills with probable safety hazards.
5. None of the Above

Based on the facts given in the current case study the results of the survey gives us an indication that the safety culture model of the organization is in a pathological model (Mathis, 2013). A paradigm shift in policies and the approaches is required.

Most of our responses can be judged on the scale of Likert, where we tried to check the attitude of the respondents in the process (Azzara, 2010). The facts presented in the prescribed case study also gave us certain insights connected to the safety culture of the organization.

For the leadership part, we were having a sample of more than 300 people.

Most of the respondents believe that the organization follows a reactive safety model based culture (McNally, 2018). This culture is not solution oriented and it shows that they are not prepared for the mishaps and other accidents.

Question-related to the WCH priority also gives us an indication that leadership or the top brass and the executive brass of the organization are unaware of the safety threats.

The second and the third part of the survey were aimed at 1300 employees working in the assembly lines and the transportation sector. The accident safety ratio of the organization is healthy. However, the same cannot be said about the preparedness of the team members (Vassie, 2009).

In the above graph, we can see the responses connected to the roles of the supervisors. Most of the respondents reacted that they never received any safety based instruction from the supervisors (Grice, 2009). We should not forget that shoe components are highly inflammable articles. Fire safety hazard is one area where they need to work hard. In the similar fashion, there are no retiring rooms in the sight. It is true that they are giving proper breaks to the drivers. However, the absence of the retiring room denotes a lack in the quality of the rest (Brebbia, 2012). The rest can help them in getting back their energy levels and it will support the cause of the safety based behavior quite considerably.

Name of the observer/ Supervisor

Shift

Unit Location/ Vehicle Route

Time

Date

Number of the Subjects for the Random Checking   

The operations of the company N can be divided into two main areas. The first area is the production area where 1300 workers are making different parts of the shoes. The second area is the transportation line where they are constantly delivering the goods and using the local road network. Ideally, the company should come up with two different SOP Guidelines for each area (Sutton, 2014).

Safety Culture in Company N

The first SOP guideline should be implemented for the production area or the factory area. It should start with the unloading of the raw material prior to the finished work and it should end with the loading of the prepared goods (Moylan, 2017).

• Every shift should have an active observer collecting the feedback from the employees working.
• The fitness of all the safety equipment should be checked on a regular interval.
• Random checking of some employees should be done on a regular basis.
• Every new entrant should be given a due training for safety-related norms.
• Checklists should be provided to all the employees, it should become mandatory for them to fill out the checklist before starting their job.
• Additional time should be given to every employee for the collection of the safety gears and putting them back in the closet after the use.
• During a shift, an employee should take two breaks. First, break after the first half of the work and second break during the second half of the work.
• An active observer should be appointed and he should keep a check on the activities with the help of a paper trail(Dennis Parker, 2013).
• A fire safety survey should be done at regular intervals.

• The active observer should make sure that drivers are not working in long shifts.
• The status of the amenities in the retiring room should be checked after regular intervals.
• An internal department to check the fitness of the vehicles should be maintained.
• The checklists of the fitness of a vehicle should be collected and examined by the active observer.  
• A separate team for the first response can also be installed to support both the areas.
• A fire safety survey should be done after regular intervals.

The objective behind the implementation of the SOP is clear. An active observer should be appointed and he should work on the merits of the check and balance (Barat, 2017). The paperwork associated with the SOP guidelines will help the observer in evaluating the success of the program. Most of the recommendations made in the SOP are habit forming. The formation of a habit for the safety can be considered as the primary objective of any BBS exercise.

In the above diagram, we can have a look at the fire safety hazard in the production area of the plant. Intrinsic factors like certain steps of the processes can invite fire safety hazards. Apart from it external factors like smoking habits of an employee can also do the same thing. The nature of the intervention changes based on the needs, in the current case, we can see that smoking habits of an employee can be tackled differently because we can remove the obstacle or the reason (Blair, 2014). However, we cannot compromise on the process that we are undertaking. This is why we are giving it the term of consequence mitigation instead of consequence removal.

In the above-mentioned diagram, we can see that in the absence of a fitness test vehicles can become prone to the accidents. In order to mitigate this condition, the company can hire the services of a garage for the maintenance of the vehicles. They can also make it mandatory for the drivers to accompany their vehicle during these fitness test and maintenance exercise.

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Brebbia, C. (2012). Risk Analysis VIII. Southampton : WIT Press .

Christina Rudin-Brown, S. J. (2013). Behavioural Adaptation and Road Safety: Theory, Evidence and Action. Florida : CRC Press.

Dennis Parker, J. H. (2013). Hazard Management and Emergency Planning: Perspectives in Britain. Abingdon : Routledge.

Grice, A. (2009). Fire Risk: Fire Safety Law and Its Practical Application. London : Thorogood Publishing .

Mathis, T. L. (2013). Steps to Safety Culture Excellenc, Shawn M Galloway . New Jersey: Wiley .

McNally, C. (2018). Proactive and Reactive Safety in Renewables. Initlafy , https://www.initiafy.com/blog/proactive-and-reactive-safety-in-renewables/.

Moylan, P. W. (2017). Risk and Hazard Management for Festivals and Events. Abingdon : Routledge.

Sutton, I. (2014). Process Risk and Reliability Management. Housten : Gulf Professional Publishing .

Vassie, L. (2009). Safety culture, advice and performance . IOSH Cardiff University , https://www.behavioral-safety.com/articles/cardiff_safety_culture_report.pdf.