( Safety topic: Hazard Identification )

Safety Culture Communication

Introduction

Effective safety communication is vital to maintaining a safety culture. When employees regularly communicate with each other in an open, respectful manner, they are also more willing to give and receive feedback. Effective communication also supports teamwork and coordination between groups.

Employees learn about, and become part of, an organization’s safety culture through communication. Lack of clear communication from management can result in situations where managers say one thing but do another. Employees then spend time and energy trying to interpret the conflicting messages. In such situations, employees will generally interpret a manager’s behavior as the more valid indicator of the organization’s values and priorities. Persistent mismatches between formal and informal communications can lead employees to disregard or develop a cynical view of formal communications. This can lead to ineffective formal communications from management and a weakened safety culture.

Top-down communication is most effective when senior managers communicate directly with immediate supervisors and immediate supervisors communicate with their staff. Ensuring that supervisors are informed about organizational issues, and then allowing them to communicate these issues to their staff, helps create and reinforce the supervisor’s power. Research shows that when employees perceive their supervisor as having power, employees have greater trust in their supervisor, greater desire to communicate with their supervisor, and are more likely to believe the information coming from their supervisor.

Upward communication from workers to managers, and information exchange among workers, is essential for organizational learning and safe operations. An employee’s perceptions about support for safety can strongly influence his or her willingness to speak up. Some common barriers to upward communication include fear of retaliation, concerns that the communication will be filtered as it goes up the chain of command, perceptions that management is resistant to critical feedback, and fear of creating interpersonal conflict. These communication barriers, if unaddressed, can have a negative impact on information exchange, organizational learning, and ultimately safe performance. To facilitate effective upward communication, it is important for managers to create an environment that is supportive, encouraging, and accepting of both positive and negative feedback, so employees always feel free to speak up.

Literature

We communicate in safety to advise, inform, assist, train, learn, direct, warn, seek help, gain respect, acknowledge, reassure, motivate, question and complain. Communication of a threat or benefit is generally absorbed better. Barriers to effective communication can include lack of information or knowledge, lack of attention to detail, not explaining priorities or goals clearly, selective listening, lack of empathy, self-image, status prejudice, accents, differing perception of risk, failure to explore alternative solutions, mind made up/preconceived ideas, poor judgement, and losing patience/allowing decisions to become emotional. Barriers can also occur in the form of communication. For example, the extensive use of email may desensitize some people to safety messages. We can improve our communication skills in the workplace by solving problems together. This challenge includes viewing each encounter as an opportunity to express more appreciation, and each argument as an opportunity to translate complaints into requests or solutions. As a problem-solver, the need to find constructive ways of resolving an issue without blaming others or making unilateral decisions affecting others. We need to communicate about safety with clarity, credibility and impact. We need to be able to make a point/claim, state a fact and provide evidence (prove it, show me how, give me an example) Why do I need to know? What do you mean? With employees from non-English speaking backgrounds, understanding of a task may require demonstration of the activity: “Show me how this is done.” Managers in any organization deal with an enormous range of issues on a daily basis, and face the constant pressure of making decisions to ensure the viability of their business. They must establish priorities for dealing with these issues and take account of health and safety. When communicating about safety with managers, the communication preference will need to be concise, well thought out, in a logical sequence, and relate to their role. As managers have their own priorities and issues, the language used may need to provide examples and solutions that are outcome-focused, relate to risk assessment, provide cost and timesaving (where possible), and preserve or enhance health and wellbeing. Examples may need to draw upon personal reputation and value-adding to the organization to motivate to managers to work safely and to support the safety initiatives.

Conclusion

The communication network provides a cohesive and supportive framework in which people and systems of work can interact purposively and co-operatively. Clear and constructive safety communication provides the mechanism by which knowledge and understanding can be improved to prevent at-risk behaviors and to enhance safety culture. This was illustrated by a case study that showed how an organization responded to a decrease in its injury performance with a variety of safety communication techniques. Effective communication mechanisms are critical to engage employees in safety activities and to gain cooperation and support to maintain a positive safety culture. These mechanisms need to complement the practical and technical safety strategies. Employees with effective communication skills are better able to provide corrective feedback for risky behaviors (thereby decreasing the probability of an injury) as well as rewarding feedback for safe behaviors (thereby increasing the likelihood of future behaviors being performed safely). Visual cues and non-verbal communication contribute to behavior. Staff will mirror the appropriate behaviors of managers and peers. A physical presence and action (i.e., meeting face-to-face) will have a longer-lasting impact on behavior than sending an email or memo that may have unintended negative consequences. To improve safety communication in the workplace:

· Define goals clearly in writing – written rules are easier to understand

· Identify appropriate lines of communication with managers and employees

· Respond to instructions or enquiries promptly and appropriately

· Develop effective questioning and speaking skills to gather and convey information

· Speak in the language of the person with whom you are communicating

· Increase your listening skills – essential in meeting staff’s needs, and Give feedback – reinforce appropriate behavior.

REFRENCE

"Pbadupws.nrc.gov - /." Pbadupws.nrc.gov - /. Web. 20 Mar. 2016.

"Safety Culture Communication Skills." Safety Culture Communication Skills. Web. 20 Mar. 2016.

"Safety Culture: Effective Communication." Randstad's Workforce360. Web. 20 Mar. 2016.

"Communication Strategies for Achieving a Total Safety Culture." Communication Strategies for Achieving a Total Safety Culture. Web. 20 Mar. 2016.