Is it possible to achieve zero work-related injuries?
Do you think it’s possible to eliminate work-related injuries (in your company)? Is your (company) goal to have zero work-related injuries? I frequently ask these two questions to my clients. The answers (and looks on their faces) are quite varied. There are those who immediately answer the first one by saying it’s “impossible” to have no injuries. I’ve sometimes gotten the sense that they think I’m nuts for even asking the question and thinking that it is possible. With the given response to the first question, their obvious answer to the second question is “No”.
Of course, I’m a strong believer in never taking an answer at face value so I always follow up with my favorite question, “Why?” “Why do you feel that way?” “What facts/data do you have that lead you to that conclusion?” Just because there have always been injuries doesn’t mean they have to continue. The mindset that “It’s always been this way” gets in the way of delving down and truly finding the root cause for the injuries. In fact, I believe that zero work-related injuries is both achievable and realistic with the following caveat—provided the company is truly focused on achieving this goal.
A goal that relates to safety is just as realistic as a goal that relates to performance and revenue. For example, a company may have a goal to achieve 100% increase in sales for product X. Is that an achievable goal? It may be and it maybe not. Compared to zero injuries, I think that goal is even more difficult to achieve because it relies on something the company can’t control—the consumer and the economy. A company will not reach any of their goals unless they have the desire and systems in place to support the achievement of them. So part of attaining zero injuries comes from the need or aspiration to achieve it. The other part is to get everyone “on board” to achieve the goal. Once the goal is defined and broadcast as a “strategic initiative” for the company then everyone within the company knows that it’s important and will strive to meet that goal.
What’s needed to achieve zero work-related injuries?
There are several factors involved in attaining that goal. Some of the factors already mentioned are desire and systems to support the goal. Besides those two, other factors involved include but are not limited to the environment, organizational systems/structure, work flow design, machines/equipment, people, training/skills, communications and culture.
I want to focus on the culture. A company culture that values their employees and strives to continuously improve in performance is one in which zero work-related injuries can be more readily achieved compared to a culture that thinks of injuries as a line item in their business sheet and views performance and productivity as separate from their people.
A company that values their employees knows that the company’s performance depends on their people. Employee engagement, satisfaction and comfort (safety) affects their productivity and efficiency. A company that is focused on improving every aspect of their company will be default be looking for methods and strategies to fine-tune their operations. This again goes back to/relies on their people. People and processes and task they follow and perform respectively make productivity happen.
Ergonomics, human factors, process improvement, lean/Kaizen when combined focus on improving the performance of the system and the well-being of the people within the system. This in turn can be used to drill down to the root causes of poor performance, in the case of why the company is experiencing injuries and find solutions and systems that not only prevent injuries but enhance the performance of their people. The same can be used for companies who aren’t happy with the sales results for product X. (The cause of sales isn’t the focus of this blog won’t be explored at this time. However, there is a definite role in human factors, ergonomics in product design and marketing. Please contact us if you are looking for assistance in that arena)
In my next blog we’ll look at human error and its role in human performance and achieving zero work-related injuries