• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

SafetyRisk.net

Humanising Safety and Embracing Real Risk

  • Home
    • About
      • Privacy Policy
      • Contact
  • FREE
    • Slogans
      • Researchers Reveal the Top 10 Most Effective Safety Slogans Of All Time
      • When Slogans Don’t Work
      • CLASSIC, FAMOUS and INFAMOUS SAFETY QUOTES
      • 500 OF THE BEST WORKPLACE HEALTH and SAFETY SLOGANS 2023
      • CATCHY and FUNNY SAFETY SLOGANS FOR THE WORKPLACE
      • COVID-19 (Coronavirus, Omicron) Health and Safety Slogans and Quotes for the Workplace
      • Safety Acronyms
      • You know Where You Can Stick Your Safety Slogans
      • Sayings, Slogans, Aphorisms and the Discourse of Simple
      • Spanish Safety Slogans – Consignas de seguridad
      • Safety Slogans List
      • Road Safety Slogans 2023
      • How to write your own safety slogans
      • Why Are Safety Slogans Important
      • Safety Slogans Don’t Save Lives
      • 40 Free Safety Slogans For the Workplace
      • Safety Slogans for Work
    • FREE SAFETY eBOOKS
    • Free Hotel and Resort Risk Management Checklist
    • FREE DOWNLOADS
    • TOP 50
    • FREE RISK ASSESSMENT FORMS
    • Find a Safety Consultant
    • Free Safety Program Documents
    • Psychology Of Safety
    • Safety Ideas That Work
    • HEALTH and SAFETY MANUALS
    • FREE SAFE WORK METHOD STATEMENT RESOURCES
    • Whats New In Safety
    • FUN SAFETY STUFF
    • Health and Safety Training
    • SAFETY COURSES
    • Safety Training Needs Analysis and Matrix
    • Top 20 Safety Books
    • This Toaster Is Hot
    • Free Covid-19 Toolbox Talks
    • Download Page – Please Be Patient With Larger Files…….
    • SAFETY IMAGES, Photos, Unsafe Pictures and Funny Fails
    • How to Calculate TRIFR, LTIFR and Other Health and Safety Indicators
    • Download Safety Moments from Human Resources Secretariat
  • Social Psychology Of Risk
    • What is Psychological Health and Safety at Work?
    • Safety Psychology Terminology
    • Some Basics on Social Psychology & Risk
    • Understanding The Social Psychology of Risk – Prof Karl E. Weick
    • The Psychology of Leadership in Risk
    • Conducting a Psychology and Culture Safety Walk
    • The Psychology of Conversion – 20 Tips to get Started
    • Understanding The Social Psychology of Risk And Safety
    • Psychology and safety
    • The Psychology of Safety
    • Hot Toaster
    • TALKING RISK VIDEOS
    • WHAT IS SAFETY
    • THE HOT TOASTER
    • THE ZERO HARM DEBATE
    • SEMIOTICS
    • LEADERSHIP
  • Dr Long Posts
    • ALL POSTS
    • Learning Styles Matter
    • There is no Hierarchy of Controls
    • Scaffolding, Readiness and ZPD in Learning
    • What Can Safety Learn From Playschool?
    • Presentation Tips for Safety People
    • Dialogue Do’s and Don’ts
    • It’s Only a Symbol
    • Ten Cautions About Safety Checklists
    • Zero is Unethical
    • First Report on Zero Survey
    • There is No Objectivity, Deal With it!
  • THEMES
    • Risk Myths
    • Safety Myths
    • Safety Culture Silences
    • Safety Culture
    • Psychological Health and Safety
    • Zero Harm
    • Due Diligence
  • Free Learning
    • Introduction to SPoR – Free
    • FREE RISK and SAFETY EBOOKS
    • FREE ebook – Guidance for the beginning OHS professional
    • Free EBook – Effective Safety Management Systems
    • Free EBook – Lessons I Have Learnt
  • Psychological Safety
    • What is Psychological Health and Safety at Work?
    • Managing psychosocial hazards at work
    • Psychological Safety – has it become the next Maslow’s hammer?
    • What is Psychosocial Safety
    • Psychological Safety Slogans and Quotes
    • What is Psychological Safety?
    • Understanding Psychological Terminology
    • Psycho-Social and Socio-Psychological, What’s the Difference?
    • Build a Psychologically Safe Workplace by Taking Risks and Analysing Failures
    • It’s not weird – it’s a psychological safety initiative!
You are here: Home / Safety Culture / Focus on ‘Meeting’ people, not legislation – a path to risk maturity

Focus on ‘Meeting’ people, not legislation – a path to risk maturity

December 24, 2022 by Rob Sams 2 Comments

Originally posted on February 27, 2015 @ 3:24 PM

Focus on ‘Meeting’ people, not legislation – a path to risk maturity

image‘Due Diligence’ seems a buzz term in health and safety in Australia at the moment. I’ve heard many refer to ‘due diligence’ and it’s six steps, as the answer to what we have long been searching in health and safety. Many believe that it provides the clarity and an objectivity that we need in order to ‘meet’ legislative requirements. But does it really, and further, what does a focus on ‘meeting’ legislation, mean when it comes to ‘meeting’ people?

Many of the requirements of ‘due diligence’ are subjective. For example, there is a strong emphasis on terms such as ‘appropriate’ and ‘reasonably practical’. For this reason, it is not possible to state categorically whether an organisation ‘meets’ it’s legislative requirements.

What is more useful than considering ‘compliance’ in relation to ‘due diligence’ and legislation, is to consider organisational cultural maturity and in the context of risk and safety. Organisations that are mature in their approach to risk and safety understand that it is a focus on ‘meeting’ people, rather than ‘meeting legislation’ that is most effective. So what does this mean in practice?

I’ve worked with a number of organisations where the conversations began at ‘due diligence’ and compliance, however quickly turned to maturity and understanding culture. When we conduct a review of ‘due diligence’ or culture in an organisation, our approach contrasts the traditional path that typically includes a policing of process, systems and hazards. While these aspects are necessary and important, mature organisations know it is a focus on people and culture that is required in dealing with risk, not just hazards and objects.

While ‘due diligence’ requires a management system to be in place, mature organisations know that they are required to go beyond an approach that focuses on systems. They know that you have to have a supportive culture and a level of leadership in place that not only embraces the implementation of the system, but also understands how people work within the system, and how people work together in ‘sub-cultures’ throughout the organisation. So you’d think that our peak legislative bodies would be a good starting point it comes to understand what’s required wouldn’t you?

Unfortunately, the State regulators (for example WorkCover NSW and Queensland) guidance material on what ‘knowledge’ we need to have is developed at a very basic level that most mature organisations exceed anyway. The regulators suggest a focus on low-level activities (e.g. investigate current industry issues through conferences, seminars, industry groups, newsletters).

I recently attended a national summit in Melbourne where a senior executive from the States health and safety regulator talked about what they were doing in relation to safety culture. The slide that she spoke to on culture (page 8 of the slide pack) included only numbers; LTI’s, claims and days off work. When this is how the regulators talk about culture, is it any wonder that most in the industry seem fixated on measuring and talking about safety culture only in terms of numbers? Is this really the ‘knowledge’ we need to have about health and safety?

This is not particularly useful in supporting either us as individuals, or our organisations, to mature in our approach to risk and safety. When ‘knowing’ in risk and safety is focused only on measuring injuries, how can this lead to maturity? How can this be part of ‘due diligence’?

So if the regulators information on what ‘knowledge’ means when it comes to risk and safety, what else do we need to know?

While understanding and having ‘knowledge’ of newsletters laws and systems may have some limited use, I also argue they can be dangerous as they can distract people from truely ‘meeting’ each other. When considering a definition of ‘knowledge’ it may be more useful to explore this further by understanding epistemology. That is, the study of knowledge and its recognition that ‘knowledge’ is far more complex and detailed than an understanding of legislation, Codes and similar matters as outlined by WorkCover NSW in their publications.

It is for this reason, that we need to explore beyond the basic six steps of ‘due diligence’ provided by the Regulators and consider further and more mature ways for Officers may to demonstrate ‘knowledge’ of WHS matters.

A great model to prompt thinking and discussion on this is the Safety and Risk Maturity Matrix. The Matrix outlines a journey to maturity, that importantly includes systems, but also recognises that one cannot be mature in risk and safety unless there is a deep understanding of people and culture. (see the video below) So what else do mature organisations ‘know’?

Mature organisations ‘know’ that safety is a ‘wicked problem’. That is, it involves the complexities of human decision-making and judgment. They know that focusing on systems and compliance (the red part of the Matrix) leads to over regulation and ‘flooding’ which means that people revert to intuition and gut feelings when making decisions (i.e. non-rational in the unconscious as outlined by my friend Hayden Collins). This type of thinking enables people to cope without overloading their conscious minds. So what does it mean if our goal is for our organisations to mature by focusing beyond the traditional approach of systems and hazards?

Mature organisations ‘know’ that ‘meeting’ people rather than on ‘meeting’ legislation is a much more effective way to deal with risk.

Does your organisation focus on ‘meeting’ people or legislation?

As usual, I’d love to hear your thoughts, experiences and comments

 

Author: Robert Sams

Email: robert@dolphyn.com.au

Web: www.dolphyn.com.au

Human Dymensions Risk and Safety Maturity Matrix from Human Dymensions on Vimeo.

  • Bio
  • Latest Posts
  • More about Rob
Rob Sams

Rob Sams

Owner at Dolphyn
Rob Sams

Latest posts by Rob Sams (see all)

  • Am I stupid? I didn’t think of that… - January 13, 2023
  • I’m just not that into safety anymore - December 30, 2022
  • Focus on ‘Meeting’ people, not legislation – a path to risk maturity - December 24, 2022
  • Just Toolbox it! - December 3, 2022
  • Do we Need a Different Way of Being in Safety? - December 1, 2022
Rob Sams
Rob is an experienced safety and people professional, having worked in a broad range of industries and work environments, including manufacturing, professional services (building and facilities maintenance), healthcare, transport, automotive, sales and marketing. He is a passionate leader who enjoys supporting people and organizations through periods of change. Rob specializes in making the challenges of risk and safety more understandable in the workplace. He uses his substantial skills and formal training in leadership, social psychology of risk and coaching to help organizations understand how to better manage people, risk and performance. Rob builds relationships and "scaffolds" people development and change so that organizations can achieve the meaningful goals they set for themselves. While Rob has specialist knowledge in systems, his passion is in making systems useable for people and organizations. In many ways, Rob is a translator; he interprets the complex language of processes, regulations and legislation into meaningful and practical tasks. Rob uses his knowledge of social psychology to help people and organizations filter the many pressures they are made anxious about by regulators and various media. He is able to bring the many complexities of systems demands down to earth to a relevant and practical level.

Please share our posts

  • Click to print (Opens in new window)
  • Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)

Related

Filed Under: Safety Culture, Safety Legislation, Social Psychology of Risk, Wicked Problems Tagged With: Legislation, matrix, maturity, people

Reader Interactions

Do you have any thoughts? Please share them below Cancel reply

Primary Sidebar

Search and Discover More on this Site

Never miss a post - Subscribe via Email

Enter your email address and join other discerning risk and safety people who receive notifications of new posts by email

Join 7,495 other subscribers

Introduction to SPOR – FREE!!

SAFETY MYTHS SERIES

The Mythic Symbology of Safety

Posture Myths and Holistic Ergonomics

Safety Mythbusters

Don’t Be Emotional! Another Safety Myth

Tackling the Challenge of Heuristics in Safety

The Myth of Normal

NEW! Free Download

Please take our 2 minute zero survey

Recent Comments

  • Rob long on Welcome to the Nightmare, Safety Creates its Own Minefield (as usual)
  • Matt Thorne on Welcome to the Nightmare, Safety Creates its Own Minefield (as usual)
  • Anonymous on Welcome to the Nightmare, Safety Creates its Own Minefield (as usual)
  • Jason on How Bias Inhibits Learning in Safety
  • Rob Long on How Bias Inhibits Learning in Safety
  • Admin on How Bias Inhibits Learning in Safety
  • Rob Long on 400,000 Free Downloads
  • Gustavo Saralegui on 400,000 Free Downloads
  • Rob long on To Err is Human, You Better Believe It
  • Wynand on To Err is Human, You Better Believe It
  • Rob Long on To Err is Human, You Better Believe It
  • simon cassin on To Err is Human, You Better Believe It
  • Rob Long on Records of safety activities: evidence of safety or non-compliance?
  • Matt Thorne on Free Online Workshops
  • Rob long on No Good Reason to Follow Reason
  • Brian Edwin Darlington on No Good Reason to Follow Reason
  • Risk Diversity on Book Launch – For the Love of Zero – in Portuguese
  • Rob Long on No Good Reason to Follow Reason
  • Risk Culture Builder on No Good Reason to Follow Reason
  • Mark Taylor on All Things Must Pass in Risk

FREE eBOOK DOWNLOADS

Footer

VIRAL POST – The Risk Matrix Myth

Top Posts & Pages. Sad that most are so dumb but this is what safety luves

  • Free Safety Moments and Toolbox Talk Examples, Tips and Resources
  • 500 OF THE BEST WORKPLACE HEALTH and SAFETY SLOGANS 2023
  • Road Safety Slogans 2023
  • Download Safety Moments from Human Resources Secretariat
  • CATCHY and FUNNY SAFETY SLOGANS FOR THE WORKPLACE
  • Welcome to the Nightmare, Safety Creates its Own Minefield (as usual)
  • Safety Acronyms
  • How to Calculate TRIFR, LTIFR and Other Health and Safety Indicators
  • 15 Safety Precautions When Working With Electricity
  • FREE RISK ASSESSMENT FORMS, CHECKISTS, REGISTERS, TEMPLATES and APPS

Recent Posts

  • Welcome to the Nightmare, Safety Creates its Own Minefield (as usual)
  • Foresight Blindness, Hindsight Bias and Risk
  • Getting the Balance Right in Tackling Risk
  • What is SPoR?
  • How Bias Inhibits Learning in Safety
  • Afraid to Let Go of What Doesn’t Work in Safety
  • When You Don’t Know What to do in Safety, Have Another Blitz!!!
  • Gloves and Glasses Compliance
  • A Case of Desensitisation – What Would You Do?
  • How to Leave the Safety Industry
  • The Mythic Symbology of Safety
  • Dark Waters, The True Story of DuPont and Zero
  • 400,000 Free Downloads
  • Am I stupid? I didn’t think of that…
  • Don’t Look Now Safety, Your Metaphor is Showing
  • Ratio Delusions and Heinrich’s Hoax
  • To Err is Human, You Better Believe It
  • Culture as a Wicked Problem, for Safety
  • Safety Leadership Training
  • Cultural Orientation in Risk
  • The Stanford Experiment and The Social Psychology of Risk
  • Objectivity, Audits and Attribution When Calculating Risk
  • Records of safety activities: evidence of safety or non-compliance?
  • Zero, The Seeking of Infinity
  • Safety Leadership Essentials
  • What Can Indiana Jones Tell Us About Culture
  • Safety as a Worldview
  • The Loathing of Limits
  • Culture Cannot be Framed Through Safety
  • Free Online Workshops
  • Safety Culture–Hudson’s Model
  • Book Launch – For the Love of Zero – in Portuguese
  • Advancing Backwards in Safety
  • The ‘Noise’ of Safety, Silence and Practicing of Mindfulness
  • All Things Must Pass in Risk
  • I’m just not that into safety anymore
  • Sticks and Stones and the Nonsense of Zero Harm
  • Courting Infallibility in Safety
  • Indicators of Risk
  • What Can Safety Learn From Playschool?
  • No Good Reason to Follow Reason
  • Just as Well Culture Doesn’t Listen to Safety
  • What Are the Benefits Of Social Psychology of Risk?
  • Short-Sighted Lenses by Safety
  • Is Safety the Empire of Non-Sense?
  • No Wonder Safety is Confused About Culture
  • Building High Performance Safety Cultures
  • Understanding iCue, a Visual, Verbal, Semiotic Method for Tackling Risk
  • On Culture and Safety
  • Focus on ‘Meeting’ people, not legislation – a path to risk maturity

VIRAL POST!!! HOW TO QUIT THE SAFETY INDUSTRY

FEATURED POSTS

Conforming and Questioning in Safety

A must watch risk and safety video

Learning Styles Matter

STEM Safety in Drag

Risk and Safety Matrices and the Psychology of Colour

Banning Head Protection is Safer

WARNING: Not Your Typical Safety Nonsense

Free Online Workshops

THE INFLUENCE OF VISUAL STIMULI ON THE UNCONSCIOUS

The Social Psychology of Risk Handbook, i-thou

The Domino Delusion in Safety

The Quantitative and Qualitative Divide in Safety

Safety Superstitions

I was just trying to Help

Free Safety and Risk Lunch n Learn

The Sacred Bra Tree

And the Enemy of Safety is? … Humans!

The Visionary Imagination and Marion Mahoney Griffin

Safety – Learning by Doing and Learning by Theory

Why is fallibility so challenging in the workplace?

Is Safetyism Destroying a Generation?

Do Not Go Gently, SPoR and the Civility Myth

Its all About Behaviours

Don’t mention the ‘V’ Word

Anchoring Safety to Objects

Developing Our Inner Introversion

Something Different To Safety

Who Said We Don’t Need Systems?

Anchoring, Framing and Priming Risk

Tensions and Faultiness in Risk

The Language of Priorities

Safety Isn’t Sexy, and it Shouldn’t Be!

Ethics, Morality and an Ethic of Risk

The Idealization of Humans and The Zero Delusion

I’ve got a feeling this isn’t right, but…..

Free Online Module: Introduction to The Social Psychology of Risk

Risky Conversations, The Law, Social Psychology and Risk

Risk You Can Eat

Freedom in Necessity

Are You a Safety Fool?

More Posts from this Category

Subscribe to Blog via Email

Enter your email address and join other discerning risk and safety people who receive notifications of new posts by email

Join 7,495 other subscribers

How we pay for the high cost of running of this site – try it for free on your site

WHAT IS PSYCHOLOGICAL SAFETY?

What is Psychological Safety at Work?