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There are many articles and blogs about employee engagement and getting through to the C-Suite (CEO, etc.) but this blog is about how to create a firmly engaged middle management.  An effective Safety culture requires Supervisor engagement opportunities in all aspects of Safety in order to ensure their commitment and participation. 

Because Supervisors represent upper management, they must visibly support Safety activities, procedures, and process implementation before employees will feel it is safe to participate.  To do that your business must

1. Clearly define what is expected from Supervisors. A few examples include:
   1. Participation in the development of Safety Audits or Job Hazard Analysis.
   2. Pre-shift crew meetings on work steps, their hazards, controls required and PPE.
   3. Provision or facilitation of Toolbox Talks and other training.
   4. Contributing to new employee orientation or mentoring to communicate safety expectations.
   5. Participation in non-mandatory Safety activities.
   6. Ensure employee compliance with Safety rules and participation in Safety activities.
   7. Be present and active in all of the company’s safety activities.
2. Coach, train, and mentor Supervisors to ensure they understand the reasons behind these expectations. If they don’t understand it Safety is just one more thing they are told to do. 
3. Identify and track Key Performance Indicators, KPI, that provide an effective and unbiased assessment of Safety involvement.

Successful businesses develop plans and strategies and put in place systems to measure what is important to them.  When a business sets Safety KPI for Supervisors and employees it places safety in-line with other business priorities.  It also makes it possible to have the shared beliefs, practices, and attitudes required in a sustainable Safety culture.

Other advantages to measuring KPI include

1. Identifying gaps, and the reasons for them, in compliance with Safety expectations.
2. Identifying policies, programs, or processes that are not performing as expected.
3. Encouraging and tracking changes in performance.
4. The ability to provide timely feedback and support.

Like most of us, when Supervisors are aware that their Safety performance is being observed by upper management, they tend to improve their performance.  Having the ability to track involvement enables the business to provide encouragement and correction as often as needed. 

This is why Simple Safety Coach software includes the ability to set reward points for specific Safety activities.  There is no extra work involved, the Supervisor, or employee, logs in to perform an activity and the points are automatically awarded to them.  They can see their points status on their dashboard. 

If you are interested in learning more about how Simple Safety Coach helps you involve supervisors in change using our rewards and tracking tools please don’t hesitate to contact us.

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