When it comes to creating a culture of safety in the workplace, Kevin Burns says seeing workers go home each day without an injury is not enough.
Sidney Cohen/NNSL photo
“That's the least you're allowed to do by law,” the public speaker and management consultant said Monday.
“If we really want to have something to shoot for, it's about sending our people home better than they showed up at work in the morning.”
Based in Calgary, Burns was invited by the Canadian Society of Safety Engineers, North of 60 Chapter, to speak at day-long seminar in Yellowknife in recognition of North American Occupational Safety and Health Week.
Burns's philosophy of workplace safety centres on the worker's emotional well-being.
The best supervisor is a people-person, he says: someone who is attentive and considerate of his or her staff; someone with “soft skills.”
But what are soft skills?
“Caring about people and telling them,” said Burns in an interview following his talk.
“Having those conversations face-to-face that they're valued and that they matter. Those are things that my generation is not used to hearing.”
His generation – workers ages 55 and older – came up believing that if they didn't hear from their bosses for days on end, it meant they were doing a good job, he said.
Burns, who has a background is in human resources, believes communicating with employees about their needs and wants makes for a happier, and ultimately safer, workplace.
“If we're going to change the culture, we can't change it based on rules and regulations,” he told the crowd of a dozen or so people. “Stricter, harder rules doesn't inspire people to want to give their best. It just inspires them to give enough that they don't get fired.”
Nor are guilt and scare tactics effective means of promoting safe work practices, Burns continued.
The key to creating a safe and happy workplace, he said, is appealing to “hearts and minds.”
“We want them to act safely, (but) are we giving them the inspiration and motivation to act safely? It's a tough question,” he said.
Burns said upper management is too far removed from day-to-day life on the job to create and maintain a culture of safety.
Therefore, he continued, it's up to the supervisor to lead the way, to be a “good coach.”
The safety and training manager at Ron's Equipment and Supply, said workers' desires are often overlooked.
Simon McCrady, who attended Burns's talk, said the notion that employees are in it only for money is a misconception.
He alluded to Burns's presentation, which cited a Tinypulse survey that found workers want to feel as though they are part of a team and that their work is meaningful.
“It doesn't actually cost the company more in wages to do that and give the employees more of what they want,” said McCrady.
“And the happier employees are, obviously, the more productive they become, the less incidents they have and... the more buy in you have on safety.”
The Workers' Safety and Compensation Commission recently proposed fining workers and employers who violate occupational health and safety regulations.
McCrady is supportive.
Rather than endure a months-long court process over a safety infraction, he said, fines provide an immediate response.
He believes a ticketing system will help educate the workforce by making people aware that there are consequences for breaking the rules that exist to protect them.
“I've had a fall from heights and I don't want anybody to go through what I did,” said McCrady, who was permanently injured after the incident.
“If (fines) can help prevent that from happening, I think it's a great idea.”
Cara Benoit, chapter chair of the Canadian Society of Safety Engineers, said it can be challenging for small businesses in the Northwest Territories to enforce a robust safety program.
“There's so many different rules and regulations to do with finances... with labour laws, and I think for safety, we just need to give (small businesses) more training, more access to information and be more collaborative,” she said.