Safety And Risk Success Christian Harris

This Safety Roundtable discussion delves into stark statistics highlighting the persistent number of workplace fatalities and injuries, prompting a critical examination of current safety practices and the gap between perception and reality. Christian and a panel of safety professionals explore the challenges of achieving true safety and share insights on how to drive meaningful improvements.
 

Highlights:

- Sobering Reality: Millions of life-changing workplace incidents occur each year, with thousands of direct and indirect fatalities, highlighting a persistent safety challenge.
- Defining Safety: True safety encompasses both physical and psychological well-being, ensuring workers can perform their tasks without harm and return home healthy.
- COVID-19 Disconnect: The pandemic revealed a disconnect between perception and reality, with heightened safety perceptions despite an increase in incidents. This disparity underscores the challenge of effectively assessing and prioritising comparative risks.
- Challenging Assumptions: Tim advocates for a "show me" approach, urging supervisors and managers to actively verify safety measures are properly implemented and not simply assumed to be in place.
- Measuring Inputs: Christian underscores the importance of measuring input metrics alongside output metrics to gain a comprehensive understanding of safety performance and identify areas for improvement.
- Looking in the Mirror: Christian challenges listeners to reflect on their own practices and consider whether they may be inadvertently contributing to the illusion of safety by focusing on familiar approaches without seeking external perspectives and data-driven insights.
 

Actions:
 
Sign up for a future Safety Roundtable: https://safetyroundtable.co.uk/
Connect with Christian on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/christian-harris-slip-safety/

Is your organisation's safety performance truly in your control? This week’s podcast challenges conventional thinking, exploring the powerful influence of external factors on workplace safety. Joining host Christian Harris is Tanya Jenke, a PhD researcher from Corus, who reveals intriguing findings about how economic cycles and even the COVID-19 pandemic have shaped safety outcomes.
 
Highlights:
 
- External Influences: External factors like economic cycles and global events significantly impact safety performance, often in unexpected ways.
- Industry Nuances: Each industry responds differently to external factors, showcasing the importance of industry-specific analysis and interventions.
- Underreporting: Economic downturns can exacerbate underreporting of injuries, hindering accurate risk assessment and proactive safety measures.
- Shifting Focus: The persistent plateau in serious injuries and fatalities necessitates a shift in safety priorities, moving away from over-reliance on injury-based KPIs and towards proactive SIF prevention strategies.
- Redefining Zero Harm: The concept of zero harm requires clearer definition and a nuanced approach, recognising that some level of harm is inevitable while prioritising efforts towards preventing serious injuries and fatalities.
- Empowering Safety Professionals: Organisations should empower safety professionals with greater decision-making authority and board-level representation to drive meaningful change.
 
Join us for a Webinar!
 
Tanya Jenke and Christian Harris will be co-hosting a webinar on Serious Injuries, Fatalities, Technological Trends and Legal Implications on 21st May. Don't miss this opportunity to dive deeper into these critical topics.
 
Register now at: https://event.on24.com/wcc/r/4560885/FCB7FF81F1BDFD7AA9986B2D4367EC77?partnerref=may21partner
 
Actions:
 
Connect with Tanya: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tanyabose/
Connect with Chrisitan: https://www.linkedin.com/in/christian-harris-slip-safety/

Alastair Davey shares his insights and experiences to help us understand how integrating safety strategically can not only mitigate risks but also enhance business efficiency and employee well-being.
 
Episode Highlights:
 
- Defining Strategic Safety: Alastair explains what strategic safety means in the modern workplace and how it differs from traditional safety practices.
- Leadership's Role in Safety Culture: Insights into how leaders at all levels can influence and cultivate a culture that prioritizes safety as a fundamental value.
- Effective Risk Management: Alastair discusses the best practices in risk assessment and management, emphasizing the importance of proactive rather than reactive strategies.
- Real-world Success Stories: Hear about successful safety initiatives Alastair has led or witnessed, detailing the challenges overcome and the outcomes achieved.
- Engaging Employees: Techniques for engaging employees in safety initiatives to ensure widespread adoption and adherence to safety protocols.
- Regulatory Compliance and Beyond: A look at meeting and exceeding regulatory requirements to not only comply with the law but also create a safer workplace.
- Technology in Safety: Exploration of new technologies that are pushing the boundaries of what’s possible in workplace safety and risk management.
 
Actions:
 
Connect with Alastair: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alastairdavey
Connect with Chrisitan: https://www.linkedin.com/in/christian-harris-slip-safety/

In this episode of the Safety and Risk Success podcast, Christian is joined by Karen Hewitt, health & safety consultant and author, to discuss the results of her recent survey on health and safety engagement. The survey delves into how safety professionals define and approach engagement, the challenges they face, and the opportunities for improvement. Karen and Christian explore the importance of strategic planning, leadership buy-in, and effective communication techniques to foster a culture of ownership and involvement in safety.
 
Highlights:
•    Defining Engagement: Involving people and creating ownership of safety.
•    Importance of Engagement: Drives ownership and improves safety outcomes.
•    Dedicated Strategy: Needed for long-term impact and consistency.
•    Time Spent: Professionals desire to dedicate more time to engagement.
•    Challenges to Engagement: Lack of time and leadership support.
•    Drivers of Engagement: Primarily health & safety professionals, but HR and comms are key.
•    Hardest to Engage: Senior leaders and office staff.
•    Effective Techniques: Creating opportunities for two-way conversations.
•    Personalization: Adapting messages to different stakeholders and learning styles.
•    Health & Safety Identity: Often seen as trusted advisors, but also as "police".
•    Biggest Fear: Many professionals have no fear, but others may.
•    Improving Engagement: Increased leadership commitment and time are crucial.
•    Actionable Steps: Conduct a stakeholder analysis and prioritize influence.
•    Mindset Shift: View engagement as a continuous improvement process.
•    Empathy is Key: Understanding perspectives to bridge the gap.
 
Actions:
Connect with Karen: https://www.linkedin.com/in/karen-j-hewitt/
Connect with Chrisitan: https://www.linkedin.com/in/christian-harris-slip-safety/

How can we prove that we've achieved safety? Ahead of the release of his new book, Greg Smith joins Christian Harris this week to delve into the intricacies of legal risk management and the often misunderstood concept of safety metrics. Join us as we unravel how organisations can truly benefit from effective safety practices.
 
 
Highlights:
- Introduction to "Proving Safety": Greg Smith introduces his new book, "Proving Safety: Wicked Problems, Legal Risk Management, and the Tyranny of Metrics", discussing the motivation behind it and its focus on the real effectiveness of safety documentation and practices in organisations.
- The Tyranny of Metrics: Greg critiques the common reliance on injury rates and other quantitative metrics as misleading indicators of safety. He argues these often do not reflect the legal or practical reality of workplace safety and can misguide safety assurance efforts.
- Legal Perspective on Safety Metrics: Greg, with his legal background, points out the disconnect between common safety metrics and their utility in legal contexts, highlighting that traditional safety metrics rarely hold up in legal scrutiny during safety prosecutions.
- Moving from Metrics to Narrative: A significant portion of the discussion is dedicated to shifting from metric-focused to narrative-focused safety reporting. Greg emphasises the importance of detailed, qualitative assessments of safety processes rather than relying on quantitative metrics that may not capture the real state of safety.
- The Importance of Criticality in Safety: The conversation covers the concept of focusing on critical risks rather than superficial safety indicators. Greg discusses historical safety failures like the Texas City Refinery explosion and the Deepwater Horizon disaster to illustrate the dangers of overlooking critical safety risks.
- Implications for Safety Professionals: Offering practical advice, Greg suggests how safety professionals can reframe their approach to safety assurance to focus on what genuinely enhances safety rather than what is easily quantifiable.
 
 
Actions:
- Pick up a copy of the Proving Safety book: https://www.waylandlegal.com.au/proving-safety
- Connect with Greg on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/greg-smith-6a63449/
- Connect with Christian: https://www.linkedin.com/in/christian-harris-slip-safety/
- If you enjoyed this episode, please hit follow, share it on social media and give us a positive review

Shonagh Methven brings years of experience from the political arena into the safety sector, providing unique insights into proactive safety measures and people-centred risk management. Let's talk politics vs safety, being "optimistically discontent", safety scaffolding, people-centred risk management, and much more!
 
 
Highlights:
- Transition from Politics to Safety: Shonagh discusses her journey from being a chief whip in Islington Council to spearheading safety initiatives, highlighting the skills and insights transferred between these seemingly disparate fields.
- Award Recognition: Reflection on Shonagh's recent accolade at the Health and Safety Trailblazer QP awards, celebrating innovative approaches in the sector.
- Optimistically Discontent: Exploration of Shonagh’s coined phrase, describing her drive for continual improvement in safety standards despite existing challenges.
- Grenfell Reflections: A sober reflection on the Grenfell tragedy's impact on safety protocols and the necessity for effective, inclusive emergency responses, especially for vulnerable populations.
- Legislative Insights: Discussion on the influence of politics in safety legislation and the balance between libertarian and authoritarian approaches to safety regulation.
- Cultural Empathy in Safety: Shonagh emphasizes the importance of empathy and understanding cultural contexts within safety practices, advocating for approaches that respect and adapt to diverse workplace environments.
 
 
Actions:
- If we've earned it, please hit "follow" and give the podcast a review
- Connect with Shonagh on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shonagh-methven-chartered-mcipd-cmiosh-5b730721/
- Connect with Christian: https://www.linkedin.com/in/christian-harris-slip-safety/