Biomedical Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
10
How to Manage Safety in an Organization
10
CHAPTER
10.1 MONITORING SAFETY
10.2 REGRESSION EFFECTS
10.3 HR AND SAFETY: REWARDING SAFETY BEHAVIOR?
10.4 SUMMARY
TIPS FOR TRANSFER
10.1 MONITORING SAFETY
In general, a closed feedback loop is necessary to monitor processes.
Monitoring is a key precondition of managing. One of the major
problems presently with safety management is that we mainly monitor
in an old-fashioned way. Recorded incidents are mostly combined with
subgroups of injuries, their treatment, and their results in lost time.
If we examine the basics of management by objectives, we remember
the mnemonic SMART, (Specific, Measurable, Acceptable, Realistic
& Traceable). Traceable means that we can manage only if the path
has enough breadcrumbs to mark it. Without these breadcrumbs, we
have too little information to manage and we lose track. In safety
management, the recorded incidents are usually the breadcrumbs. The
more successful safety management becomes, the fewer incidents,
the less breadcrumps, and the more difficult it becomes for the track to
be followed and monitored.
We can only manage processes that deliver regular feedback.
If a plant has only a few recordable incidents per year, a new way
of monitoring is required. This way must generate more information
more regularly that can be used as feedback. The idea is to develop a
Safety Index, an indicator of the quality and quantity of the actual
level of safety management within an organization or specific depart-
ment. The Safety Index consists of indicators of all the elements of a
