Abstract

The ultimate goal of the safety process is to assist in creating a safe work environment for the organisations employees. In reality a limited number of safety programs/initiatives prove successful in consistently accomplishing this. Safety usually is and has been treated as a separate function from that of the rest of the organisations operations, system, processes and procedures. There are many reasons for this. Some are historical, others are operational, some relate to the basic understanding of core drivers of loss, and still other relate to the organisations values, vision and strategy.

To achieve excellence in safety one must approach the issue holistically. One must start with a vision (what one is trying to accomplish), next assessing the situation (where are we), then selecting the strategies and define the process of how to achieve that goal. This may require corrective action (fixing things), or it may require change (continuous improvement), or it may require innovation (creative change). In this session we will look at how, High Performance Safety initiatives can and will improve the company's bottom line. We will look at the way safety is usually approached (prevailing wisdom), some of the impediments to achieving safety excellence (standards, procedures, behaviours, culture & leadership), and the critical steps (alignment and integration) that will help achieve safety excellence within an organisation.