Safety leadership
Safe and sound: safety leadership in government workplaces
Comcare managed a project on behalf of the National Occupational Health and Safety Commission (NOHSC) to strengthen safety leadership in government workplaces - an initiative under the National OHS Strategy. The project resulted in a report, Safe and Sound: a discussion paper on safety leadership in government workplaces. The report outlines the framework for a model of best practice, recommendations for improving safety leadership in government workplaces and practical tips for leaders.
The model and recommendations were endorsed by NOHSC and, in May 2005, by the Workplace Relations Ministers' Council. An implementation action plan will now be developed through the Office of the Australian Safety and Compensation Council.
Comcare recommends that agencies consider the model of best practice and the practical tips outlined in the report when developing improvement strategies.
Model of best practice
Practical tips for leaders
Practical tips - Psychological injury
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Model of best practice
While it is recognised that regulation is necessary for good OHS, compliance with legislation and a regulatory regime alone does not lead to an outstanding safety record. Commitment and leadership from senior management is also required.
The range of activities being implemented across all levels of government in Australia is clear evidence that the public sector and employee organisations regard OHS and injury management as a critical component of effective organisational and human resource management and labour relations.
What has been missing, however, is a widely-disseminated, comprehensive and integrated model of best practice to guide initiatives in safety leadership.
The research findings indicate a possible framework for a model of best practice for improving safety leadership in government workplaces. The leadership model has five components:
- Commitment. Research indicates that senior management commitment to improved OHS and injury management is critical if improvements are to be realised. However, this commitment must extend beyond satisfying regulatory requirements to achieving improvements in OHS and injury management.
- Systems review and improvement. Leading by example involves improving health and safety at work and efforts to return injured employees to work. This necessitates leaders satisfying themselves that management systems are in place that support prevention, notification of unsafe work practices, early intervention, and safe and sustainable return to work of injured employees.
- Accountability measures. Research indicates a range of strategies for transforming leadership commitment into demonstrable action. These include establishing personal and organisational accountabilities. Personal initiatives include having OHS and injury management performance outcomes in individual contracts and having a senior manager responsible for management systems review and improvement. Organisational initiatives include establishing parliamentary and annual reporting requirements and devolving financial accountability for workers? compensation to business units.
- Executive information. To make an informed and effective contribution to OHS and injury management, leaders require an understanding of the relevant legislation and regulatory frameworks, individual responsibilities and workplace safety risks. Often materials and courses are targeted at practitioners or experts. Addressing leaders? information and training needs will contribute to improved understanding of OHS and injury management and alert them to emerging health, safety and injury management issues.
- Incentives. Incentives that recognise good performance are necessary motivators in OHS and injury management. Awards provide a good source of case study information and signal those governments or government organisations that invest in, and derive a sense of pride from, their excellent OHS and injury management performance.
Practical tips for leaders
Commitment
Improvement targets
- set long-term organisational improvement targets
- as a starting point, adopt the Comcare Health, safety and rehabilitation targets and add targets that drive improvements in areas of identified risk for your organisation
- use the Customer Information System to quantify performance improvements
- compare your organisation?s performance against the targets and against jurisdictional performance
- develop positive performance indicators at organisational or business unit level
- include OHS and injury management data as part of the organisation?s performance measurement framework (for example, balanced scorecard).
Executive focus
- make OHS and injury management a standing item on agendas of executive meetings
- consider OHS and injury management implications when developing organisational change, and human resource and performance management strategies
- make a senior executive accountable for the effectiveness of the organisation?s OHS and injury management systems
- allocate resources to identify, assess and remedy areas of risk
- require line managers to report to the executive on workplace injuries, steps taken to prevent further injury, and the rehabilitation support provided to injured employees
- request Comcare and/or injury management service provider to address the executive meeting on your organisation?s injury and claim trends and costs.
Systems review and improvement
Systems review
- confirm that workplace OHS and injury management policies and procedures are current, effective and available; make sure leaders in your organisation are familiar with them
- review OHS and injury management systems and audit tools
- engage objective, suitably qualified professionals to conduct in-house audits or reviews, with appropriate employee and employer involvement
- incorporate the scheduling of these reviews into agency corporate governance or audit plans
- include in your staff or organisational climate surveys questions that help to measure and track employee perceptions of safety culture, including perceptions of safety leadership style
- develop a plan to remedy deficiencies identified in the audit processes
- seek professional expertise where needed to diagnose or address areas of risk.
Systems improvement
- develop an OHS and injury management improvement plan for your organisation
- identify organisational improvement priorities based on achieving targets and controlling injury risks
- set up a steering committee that includes senior management representatives
- recognise that cultural and attitudinal change may be necessary to improve performance ? and that this takes time
- use the NOSHC benchmarking kit to set up benchmarking arrangements within your organisation
- establish performance benchmarks at organisational or business unit level
- establish benchmarking partnerships and/or mentoring arrangements with public sector agencies with similar functions or injury risk profiles, either in your state or territory or another
Accountability measures
- report organisational OHS and injury management performance in your Annual Report, including the organisation?s performance against targets
- clearly specify management?s OHS and injury management responsibilities in organisational OHS and injury management policies and procedures
- consider using collective or individual workplace agreements, performance development frameworks and job descriptions to improve management?s accountability for OHS and injury management
- introduce financial accountabilities for workplace injury to business units (including for example, through premium devolution).
Executive information
- request briefings on your role and responsibilities in relation to OHS and injury management
- ask Comcare for information on OHS and injury management roles and responsibilities
- develop a strategy to address the information and training needs of the organisation?s senior managers
- include information about management?s role and responsibilities in induction training and management development programs
- use the organisation's intranet or screen savers to reinforce key messages about the role and responsibility of managers
- arrange for updates to be provided to your management group on emerging OHS and injury management issues relevant to your organisation?s business
- attend executive functions, seminars and conferences on OHS and injury management issues.
Incentives
- include consideration of excellent OHS and injury management performance as part of organisational reward and recognition programs
- look to the winners of Safety, Rehabilitation and Compensation Commission Safety Awards for case studies of leadership, excellence and innovation
- invite the winners of these awards to address your executive team or safety and injury management program steering committee
- show-case your organisation's excellent leadership and innovation in OHS and injury management by applying for an award.
Psychological injury and high cost claims
Commitment
Improvement targets
- set long-term improvement targets for high cost injuries, such as psychological injuries, if these are a significant aspect of your agency's claims profile;
- develop positive performance indicators for high cost claims (eg percentage of managers trained to understand the causes of these types of injuries, percentage of managers trained to recognise and respond to the early warning signs).
Executive Focus
- regularly monitor and report indicators of organisational health (such as measures of employee morale and job satisfaction from employee opinion surveys, use of grievance and dispute procedures and employee assistance programmes, absence and turnover data, and workers' compensation claim trends) to executive meetings;
- ensure that risk assessment and management procedures cover the risk of psychological as well as physical injuries;
- promote a supportive leadership culture that does not accept bullying, that encourages and acts on reports of such behaviour and that leads by example;
- consider making a commitment to improving employee health and wellbeing by undertaking to improve people management standards.
Systems review and improvement
Systems review
- review people management systems and strategies and integrate psychological injury risk management with absence management, performance management, recruitment and other people management approaches;
- consider the need for a psychological health and wellbeing policy, an early intervention policy and an absence management policy that clearly defines objectives, roles and expectations of each of the groups of stakeholders;
- develop programs to identify and provide support for employees who are not coping and that reduce the severity of the consequences of stress before they impact on employee health;
- review the training needs of case managers handling potentially high cost claims;
- review arrangements with external providers (such as employee and management assistance programs, mediation and approved rehabilitation providers) to ensure they meet service delivery expectations for potentially high cost claims and are consist with organisational policies.
Systems improvement
- where indicators suggest there is cause for concern, establish a steering committee to drive improvement?recognising the need to integrate psychological injury risk management with other people management strategies when deciding the appropriate composition of such a committee;
- develop and implement an improvement plan to address the workplace factors that are risks of psychological injury (such as unsupportive leadership and poor work team climate)(primary prevention);
- develop programs to identify employees who are not coping, and reduce the severity of the consequences of stress by intervening early to provide support (secondary prevention);
- ensure employees are consulted about ways of improving the situation with a view to securing their support and commitment to remedial action plans.
Accountability measures
- hold managers accountable for people management outcomes and establish clear expectations though workplace agreements and performance development frameworks;
- centrally review the quality of improvement plans and assist workgroups with poor quality plans to improve them to achieve better outcomes;
- follow up to ensure that managers and their work teams implement agreed actions under improvement plans;
- measure and report improvement (eg by comparing work team survey data with that from a previous period) to enhance accountability for outcomes.
Executive information
- provide information to managers about the causes of stress and psychological injury and the incidence, trends and cost of this type of injury for your organisation;
- train managers to assess the risk of potential harm to the health and wellbeing of employees in their workplaces and to develop and implement improvement plans in consultation with their staff;
- train managers to recognise early warning signs of psychological injury and to support at risk employees;
- provide additional information and support for managers where it is necessary for them to manage an employee who has had a psychological injury or other potentially high cost claim;
- provide information to managers to increase their awareness of mental health issues and their understanding of behaviours that assist recovery in the workplace.
Incentives
- consider excellence in supportive leadership and measured improvements in work team climate and/or absence rates when developing organisational reward and recognition programs.
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Page last updated:November 14, 2007