eBook

Light the Fire Within: How

to Build Stronger Employee
Engagement for Safety
Table of Contents
Introduction 03

Why engagement is so important 05

Give your workers a voice 09

Trust your people to do the right (and safe) thing 13

Act on the feedback you receive 16

Involve front-line employees in safety decision-making 19

Provide workers with the right data to make the right decisions 22

Create a psychologically safe workplace 24

Measure employee engagement 27

Final thoughts 29
Introduction

More and more, businesses are shifting their Shared values, leadership commitment, Sean Baldry, CRSP
safety strategy toward a focus on safety effective communication, continuous learning, Product Marketing
culture – the truths, ideas and beliefs all just culture – these are just a few of the Manager, Safety & Health
Solutions
members of an organization share toward elements deemed critical for safety culture
workplace risk, injuries and prevention.1 And success. Recognizing the effect that
while consensus has been growing for over discretionary effort can have on business
40 years that strong safety cultures beget outcomes, employers are placing renewed
sustainable safety performance, companies emphasis on employee engagement as a key
continue to search in earnest for the perfect ingredient to building world-class safety
safety culture “recipe”. cultures that reduce the risk of workplace harm.

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 But what can (and should) your company do
to create the levels of employee
engagement needed for safety excellence?

In this eBook, we'll explore some of the

ways your organization can encourage
greater employee engagement in your
health & safety programs, leading to
stronger safety cultures and more
predictable safety performance. Where
applicable, we’ll also look at how
technology can support your initiatives
to boost safety engagement and
worker empowerment across the
enterprise.

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Why engagement
is so important
Employee engagement describes the
extent to which an employee is emotionally
committed to and enthusiastic about their Pro Tip: Organizations who
work and the organization they belong to.
want to accelerate safety
It describes degree of discretionary effort
they’re willing to put in to advance the performance need to focus
interests of the organization. Similarly, an on further engaging their
employee who is fully engaged in safety is
workforce in safety.
one who is invested in the organizations’
safety ambitions demonstrated through
discretionary action.

Organizations who want to accelerate safety

performance need to focus on further
engaging their workforce in safety. A 2016
Gallup study of over 1.8 million workers
found that businesses rated in the top
quartile for employee engagement had
70% fewer workplace incidents than those
in the bottom quartile.2 In fact, employee
engagement is becoming so important that
worker participation and consultation are now
frequently included in new safety regulations
and international standards like ISO 45001.

But building a more engaged workforce isn’t

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 easy. While safety engagement is positively
correlated with lower injury rates, 85% of
employees are not engaged or actively
disengaged at work, according to Gallup’s
2017 State of the Global Workplace report.3

So, with that in mind, let’s explore some

simple things that your organization can do to
promote better employee engagement in
safety. By focusing on ways to increase worker
involvement and empowerment in safety, your
company will set itself on a solid path for
future success.

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 Engagement Rates:

Based on data aggregated from Gallup World Polls (2014-2016)

World 15% 67% 18%

North America 31% 52% 17%

South America 27% 59% 14%

Western Asia 25% 61% 14%

Southeast Asia 19% 70% 11%

Southern Africa 17% 65% 18%

Eastern Europe 15% 69% 16%

Australia/NZ 14% 71% 15%

Middle East/North Africa 14% 64% 22%

South Asia 14% 65% 21%

Western Europe 10% 71% 19%

East Asia 6% 74% 20%

% Engaged % Not Engaged % Actively Disengaged Source: Gallup 2017 State of the Global Workforce Report

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Chapter 1

Give workers a voice

It's surprising to learn how many
organizations fail to actively seek out the
ideas, thoughts and opinions of their front- Pro Tip: Better safety
line workers when tackling health & safety
engagement starts with
challenges. Considering that front-line
employees are often most knowledgeable of creating conditions and
the risks present in their work environment, providing solutions that
and how to control those risks, failing to take
make it easier for workers to
their perspectives into account when
developing your safety strategy is a wasted share their ideas, opinions,
opportunity. And it can lead to further concerns and challenges
problems. with management and their
Every employee exerts a significant social
peers.
power in the workplace that influences the
perceptions and beliefs of their co-workers.
When enough workers feel that their opinions
do not matter, this collective social power can
quickly turn negative and undermine key
company safety initiatives4, increasing the risk
of injury. A study conducted by Queen’s
School of Business found that disengaged
workers were 50% more likely to be involved
in a workplace accident.5

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 Organizations looking to strengthen safety EHS apps is fortunately providing new
culture must therefore look for ways to give avenues to help front-line workers overcome
workers a “bigger voice” in health & safety. It communication barriers and share safety
starts with creating conditions and providing information more quickly.
solutions that make it easier for workers to
share their ideas, opinions, concerns and Mobile solutions provide a quick and reliable
challenges with management and their peers. way for employees at all levels to collect and
share data about incidents, observations, or
With operating footprints growing, and hazards across the enterprise in real-time,
businesses relying on less supervision and eliminating administrative effort and errors
more self-directed teams, it's becoming more linked to managing paper-based records,
difficult for front-line workers to share ideas, while reducing the lead-time between when
report problems or communicate challenges. an issue is discovered and when action can be
Workers may not have face-to-face interaction taken to address it.
with their supervisors for hours or even days
at a time, creating a real barrier to share Simplified user interfaces and multi-language
information in a timely manner to support capabilities are helping make mobile solutions
better work planning and risk-based decision more intuitive and user-friendly, speeding
making. Additionally, their limited access to up adoption and reducing training time,
information from other parts of the business especially for global enterprises operating in
can impede broader organizational learning multiple countries. And offline capabilities
needed for sustainable safety improvement. allow workers to continue to share insights
or report issues anywhere, at any time, with
information stored on the app and transferred
when WiFi connectivity is reestablished. If
What you can do: The growth in mobile you're looking to give your workforce

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a bigger voice, you should really consider
an investment in EHS mobility, to ensure
you can reach even the farthest corners of Re-think your safety meetings
your organization.
If your safety meetings normally involve management “talking
at” employees, you’re likely on a surefire path to worker
disengagement. Instead, try this:

At your next safety meeting, instead of spending time reviewing the

most recent safety stats, pick a notable incident, and explore it in
detail with your workforce. Ask your employees their opinions
about what happened and why it happened. What do they see from
a front-line worker’s perspective that management might not see?
What ideas do they have to prevent it from happening again?

Pick 1-2 solution ideas to implement and then review the effect of
these ideas at your next meeting. Showing that management
is listening to and applying their ideas is a great way to foster
employee engagement.

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Chapter 2

Trust your people to

do the right (and safe)
thing
A few years ago, a colleague was complaining
to me about how a manager from another
department wasn’t taking a key safety initiative
seriously. “He’s barely doing anything about
it,” my colleague argued. “And when he does,
he isn’t following any of the processes I set
out.”

“Look,” I replied gently, “you can either ask him

to take care of the situation and accept the
way he does it, or you can direct how he’s
supposed to address it, but accept that he’ll
likely take no responsibility for the outcome.
You can’t have it both ways.”

Ownership requires two things: accountability

and autonomy. While people need to be
accountable to their commitments, they will
only accept that accountability if they are given
the freedom to determine the best course of
action to fulfill those commitments.

Building an empowered workforce – one in

which the people at the lowest levels of the
organization feel ownership for workplace
safety – is only truly possible if leaders at the
top are willing to trust them to make safe
choices when confronted with risk6. In many 14
 weak cultures, employees feel that their only expertise at their discretion to address known
job is to report problems. In others, they problems - will lead to more immediate risk
decline to take action to address problems for mitigation while contributing to greater trust
fear of being blamed if something goes wrong between management and employees needed
when they do. for better engagement.

Instead of taking action workers wait to be told Your organization can further drive
what to do – even when they often have the engagement by providing workers with tools
most knowledge in the company to deal with that help them manage and complete their
the issues raised. Unfortunately, this approach assigned tasks and actions wherever they are.
paralyzes the safety program, since it funnels Virtually all mobile EHS apps offer users the
all issues to a single function which can ability to access and view assigned tasks, as
become quickly overwhelmed. As a result, risk well as update the status of these tasks in real-
exposure persists and doubt creeps into the time right from the field. Automated alerts
minds of employees about the organization’s ensure that individuals are aware of tasks the
commitment to safety – since nothing seems moment they’re assigned, and real-time
to get done. updates on mobile devices ensure that leaders
are always looking at the most accurate
What you can do: To build greater safety information, helping to drive better decisions
ownership within your workforce, start by on priorities and resource use.
establishing simple guidelines to clarify what
types of issues must be elevated through the
management team, and which issues can be
resolved by the employee. This simple shift –
empowering workers to apply their skills and

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Chapter 3

Act on the feedback

you receive
When I used to coach management teams on was all that worker could think about – and it
health & safety leadership, I often reminded framed his perception of the company’s entire
them to try to view safety issues from the commitment to safety.
worker’s point of view. Supervisors and
managers are constantly inundated with Failure to respond to issues in a reasonable
problems to resolve, and are invariably forced time erodes trust with the workforce, and
to assess and prioritize issues to determine discourages further participation in the safety
what to address first. While a singular issue program. Employees will begin to wonder
raised by a front-line employee might fall “Why should I bring things forward if
toward the bottom of a supervisor’s priority management won’t do anything about it?”
list, we must remember that it’s still the most And when leaders don’t hear about risks or
important thing to that worker. problems in the field, it doesn’t mean there
aren’t any. It simply means they are not being
They are constantly thinking about it. And identified and addressed, increasing the
when the issue goes unaddressed, or when potential for injuries and illnesses. So, while it
days go by without receiving a response about is critical for employees to raise health &
when it will be resolved, it sends a message safety concerns to the management team, it’s
to that worker that their concerns don’t arguably more important that the
matter. And that can be toxic to workforce management team demonstrates visibly that
engagement. it’s taking action to address those concerns in
a timely manner.
I recall speaking to an hourly construction
worker who was incensed that his request
for a new hard hat hadn’t been addressed
for weeks. The supervisor likely had other
pressing issues to attend to, but this issue

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 What you can do: Providing your workers to communicate with employees every 48
with information that lets them gauge, for hours (at minimum) to provide updates on
themselves, how well the organization is their specific issues. This cadence will show
doing at addressing known problems will help employees that their concerns matter and that
you show that worker concerns aren’t simply leadership is working to provide a suitable
falling into a black hole. Enterprise EHS solution.
software platforms offer extensive capabilities
to visualize key indicators and metrics on
dashboards offering an at-a-glance view of
progress to close H&S actions.

Many platforms extend this dashboard

functionality to EHS mobile apps, providing
front-line workers with the chance to monitor
company progress in real-time wherever they
are. This flexibility helps workers challenge
leaders and hold them accountable to their
commitments to safety.

But remember – reports and dashboards do

not replace the need for your supervisors to
have regular, candid conversations with
employees to keep them apprised of the
status of their concerns and to assure them
that they haven’t been forgotten. A best
practice is to follow the C48 principle –
supervisors should commit
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Chapter 4

Involve front-line
employees in safety
decision-making
Early in my career, I learned an invaluable
lesson about workforce engagement in
safety. At that time, I was working for a Pro Tip: Workers want to
Tier 1 automotive parts supplier building
be part of creating health
components for one of the Detroit “Big 3”
automakers. & safety solutions. Do
your part to include them
Recognizing a need to eliminate production in the conversation.
bottlenecks, the engineering team worked
one weekend to redesign one of the assembly
lines. They were pleased with the results, until
the front-line assembly team arrived at the
plant Monday morning.

Workers were visibly upset. Union reps were

called. Some refused to work, claiming the re-
designed line created new hazards that were
not considered or adequately controlled. We
soon realized that the changes themselves
were not that big of a problem. The problem
was that the changes were made without any
consideration for the thoughts, opinions, ideas
or involvement of the employees who would
be required to work there. Their exclusion was
the issue.

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 So, during the next assembly line re-design, By expanding Management of Change
a group of line workers were brought in to capabilities, EHS mobile apps are now offering
work alongside the engineering group. They firms new ways to further integrate front-line
collectively designed the assembly line layout, workers in safety decision-making. Individuals
including the best position for fixtures, parts, can easily initiate a change request from their
tools, etc., to balance safety and throughput. mobile device, triggering workflows to ensure
And when the rest of the assembly team that proposed changes are thoroughly vetted
arrived at work following the change, there for H&S considerations before approval.
was little dissention. Workers want to be part
of creating health & safety solutions and they Configurable workflows allow your
need to be included in the conversation. organization to include multiple groups in
change validation, from engineers and
What you can do: Whenever contemplating maintenance to safety professionals right
a change in your workplace, it’s essential to down to the front-line operator, all of whom
include employees who will be affected by the can provide feedback right from their mobile
change early in the process. Offer them the device while they review the change in the
opportunity to comment on the purpose and field. And business logic can be leveraged to
expected benefits of the change. Allow them automatically trigger corrective actions
to ask questions or raise concerns. Solicit ensuring identified risks are addressed before
them for ideas to make the change work. And the change is released to full production. It’s
make sure the workforce knows that they just another way technology is supporting
have representation in these discussions – it’ll greater employee engagement in safety.
go a long way to reduce opposition to new
equipment, processes or work methods.

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Chapter 5

Provide workers
with the right data
to make the right
decisions
One way that organizations can drive better analyses, work instructions, Safety Data
worker engagement, writes Adrienne Selko, is Sheets (SDS), inspection records, or even
by adopting technology that provides workers equipment operating manuals without having
with real-time data to make better decisions.7 to dig through dusty binders or track down
their supervisor, allowing them to make
Safer work comes, in part, from ensuring better decisions that lead to better safety and
that workers have reliable access to the business outcomes.
information they need to plan and carry out
their tasks. While organizations often create And mobile apps allow organizations to easily
procedures or work instructions for specific configure digital checklists and forms to
activities, these procedures often represent support field-based risk analysis and work
an idealized way to complete the task. Yet permitting. This flexibility means that risk
conditions faced by workers are rarely ideal. assessments and permits can be easily
Variability – brought about by time pressures, shared with supervisors, allowing for effective
scope changes, weather events, lack of review and work authorization, even when the
specific tools, etc. – often forces workers to supervisor is not physically on site.
adapt their original plan in order to get the
work done.

Digital tools like EHS mobile apps provide

workers with real-time access to the vital
data they need to make adjustments to work
plans with an appropriate consideration of
the risks involved. Through a mobile device,
workers gain immediate access to critical
data from risk assessments and job hazard

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Chapter 6

Create a
psychologically safe
workplace
In the early 2000s, construction was Investigations into the Deepwater Horizon
completed on two massive offshore oil disaster found that the platform lacked “a
platforms. One platform – Shell’s URSA culture that emphasizes and ensures safety”.9
installation, has since been recognized as one Investigators found that nearly half of workers
of the safest offshore platforms in the world. on the rig feared they’d be disciplined if they
The other – BP’s Deepwater Horizon, was admitted causing equipment damage or
rocked by an explosion in April 2010, claiming forgot to complete an inspection.10 Many
11 lives and causing one of the largest marine workers openly expressed reluctance to raise
oil spills in history. How did two platforms, issues since they didn’t want to negatively
constructed roughly at the same time and with impact the platform’s safety record.
workers from the same part of the world, have
such different stories? Shell URSA took a different approach. It
held a series of workshops with crews in an
Oil rigs are considered some of the most attempt to create a culture on the platform
dangerous workplaces on the planet. And where workers would not feel like they would
these environments have a historical culture be punished or humiliated for speaking up
bias for “roughnecks” – tough individuals with questions, concerns, or most importantly,
valued for their ability to get things done8. admitting when they made mistakes.11 The
But this emphasis on results has a downside. management team at Shell URSA understood
Rig workers, who fear showing any sign of that “if you can’t expose errors and learn from
weakness to their peers, are more likely to them [then] you can’t be safe or effective”.12
avoid asking for help or admitting mistakes.
And that reluctance to share can result in risks When workers feel they can be vulnerable
laying dormant, increasing the chance for with peers and managers – by admitting
harm later on. mistakes and talking openly about failures –
organizations create conditions for real safety

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 performance to grow. Many workers are as the absence of failure.
reluctant to report and discuss when things
go wrong, especially when the company When problems do arise, your organization
places so much emphasis on the importance must create an environment where these
of things going right (i.e. no accidents). If issues can be openly discussed in a blameless
business leaders emphasize that low injury manner. Instead of focusing on who did what,
rates are synonymous with safety success, or or who failed to do what, instead re-frame the
when they respond negatively when problems conversation toward how the failure occurred,
occur, they set a tone that it’s not safe to and what controls are needed to either
admit failures. But openly discussing why prevent the failure or allow that failure to occur
things went differently from what we expected ‘safely’. Learning teams are one way to create
is necessary for organizational learning and an environment where your organization can
continuous improvement. learn from mistakes in an effective way.

What you can do: Your leaders must

recognize the traps they can create by
focusing too heavily on lagging indicators, like
injury rates. Instead, your organization should
look deeper into your results, and identify a
few actionable metrics that influence your
lagging indicators, and focus attention and
effort there. These are leading indicators.
EHS mobile apps are a great way to involve
front-line workers in the reporting of leading
indicators to help manage safety more
proactively, and shift the organization away
from viewing safety solely
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Chapter 7

Measure employee
engagement
There's little point in trying to improve and checklists can be quickly created, and
employee engagement (and by extension assigned to individuals at any level of your
safety culture), if you’re unable to measure organization, which they can access in their
if the things you’re doing are contributing to preferred language on any mobile device.
the results you want. In our companion Questionnaires can include scoring to allow
piece, “Improving Safety Culture: Where to weighting of specific responses, while offering
Focus Your Attention for Maximum Impact”, the ability for employees to add commentary
we talked about how safety culture can be or attach documents or photos to support
divided into 3 interrelated aspects: a their opinions.
psychological aspect, a behavioral aspect
and a situational aspect. Best of all, once questionnaires are submitted,
results can be immediately aggregated,
The psychological aspect encompasses the analyzed and visualized on dashboards to
attitudes, beliefs, perceptions and values provide your employees with a real-time view
held across an organization, often termed of safety climate, while identifying the key
“safety climate”. One of the simplest ways areas of improvement. Perception survey
your organization can gauge the safety results can even be incorporated into other
climate of your workplace is by conducting a metrics like Cority’s Safety Culture Score to
safety perception survey. give your organization a point-in-time account
of employee perceptions and what you need
What you can do: One of the benefits to do to keep your safety maturity moving in
of leveraging a mobile-enabled EHS software the right direction.
application is the ease in which safety
perception surveys can be created,
distributed, collected and analyzed to guide
safety strategy. Digital questionnaires

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Final Thoughts

There’s no silver bullet to improve employee

engagement in safety. Organizations
that commit, however, to making small,
incremental changes that increase the
involvement of workers in safety discussions
and empower them to manage safety on
their own create the foundation for rapid
improvement in safety culture, and by
extension, safety results.

Introducing CorityOne™, the

Technology has a role to play as well. As most comprehensive, human-
organizations become more global, it’s getting centered SaaS platform—designed
by EHS experts for EHS experts
more difficult for business leaders to reach and business leaders. Our global
employees at every corner of the organization enterprise platform unites the full
spectrum of powerful solutions to
and ensure their thoughts, ideas and opinions empower healthier, safer, smarter,
are equally considered in building and and more sustainable outcomes that
fulfill today’s business imperative—
sustaining an effective safety program. EHS
creating a better enterprise for
mobile apps are now offering companies a tomorrow.
way to break down these barriers and ensure
everyone’s voice is heard.

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 References 7
Selko, A. October 23, 2019. Using Technology to Improve
Safety. EHS Today. Accessed at https://www.ehstoday.com/
1
Furst, P. May 12, 2021. Organizational Culture Drives (Safety) safety-technology/article/21920426/using-technology-to-
Performance. OH&S Online. Accessed at https://ohsonline. improve-safety
com/Articles/2021/05/12/Organizational-Culture-Drives-
Safety-Performance.aspx?Page=1
8,12
Ely, R. & Meyerson, D. Unmasking Manly Men. Harvard
Business Review, July-August 2008. Accessed at: https://hbr.
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Rigoni, B., & Nelson, B. May 24, 2016. Engaged Workplaces org/2008/07/unmasking-manly-men
are Safer for Employees. Gallup. Accessed at https://news.
gallup.com/businessjournal/191831/engaged-workplaces-
9
Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and

safer-employees.aspx? Enforcement. Report of Investigation into the Circumstances

Surrounding the Explosion, Fire, Sinking and Loss of Eleven
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2017. State of the Global Workplace. Gallup. Accessed at: Crew Members Aboard the Mobile Offshore Drilling Unit
https://www.gallup.com/workplace/238079/state-global- Deepwater Horizon in the Gulf of Mexico April 20-22, 2010.
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reports/safety/2-deepwaterhorizon-roi-uscg-volume-i-
4
Cobb, K. 2016. Safety from the Shadows. SafeStart.
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Shadows 10
Chernoff, A. July, 22, 2010. Study: Deepwater Horizon
workers were afraid to report safety issues. CNN News.
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Boeldt, M. 2017. How engaged workers are safe employees.
Accessed at: https://www.cnn.com/2010/US/07/22/gulf.oil.
EHS Today. Accessed at https://www.ehstoday.com/safety/
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article/21919203/how-engaged-workers-are-safe-employees
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Delizonna, L. August 24, 2017. High-Performing Teams
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Barrett, J. March 7, 2019. Engage Workers in Workplace
Need Psychological Safety. Here’s How to Create It. Harvard
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performing-teams-need-psychological-safety-heres-how-to-
workplace-safety/2/6141
create-it

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 ONE™
Empowering those who transform the way
the world works

Every day we are committed to

delivering the best solutions to
further the missions of the individuals
and organizations we serve. We put
the power of our technology in their
hands to positively change the future
of business and the impacts on our
health and our planet.

Schedule a Demo

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