Compliance & Risk Assessment
By creating a culture that rewards hazard reporting instead of punishing it, you encourage more reports. This leads to earlier intervention, which reduces the chances of unsafe acts and ultimately the risk of fatalities.
REHUMANISING MANAGEMENT
In early 2025, Geobear introduced a new initiative called ‘A Day in the Life’, where managers step into the shoes of operational workers at least four times a year. This approach allows leadership to experience how day- to-day projects work.
This approach allows leadership to experience day-to- day project work, with the aim of identifying site-level issues, enabling direct communication with on-site staff, and building greater respect across all levels.
This initiative has already shown to break down communication barriers. Workers feel heard, while managers gain first-person insight into challenges that paperwork fails to demonstrate. It has led to more regular and meaningful site visits, helping to identify and remove ‘blockers’ that might otherwise go unnoticed.
WHAT MORE CAN BE DONE
There are a few easy ways for companies to produce an interdependent company culture to improve health and safety.
One way to do so is by introducing peer-to-peer audits, where individuals assess and provide feedback on the performance, work or combination of their peers. It involved the review and appraisal of a peer’s work based on predetermined criteria or standards. This approach provides real-time feedback, while positive peer recognition acts as a motivator for safe practices and reinforces appropriate behaviours.
Before starting work project managers/team leaders (supervisors) deliver a daily five-minute talk focused on
safety, health, environment, and quality risks and controls to keep these topics at the forefront of daily operations. These talks may also address specific hazards, share lessons learned, or provide general safety reminders.
Organisations should go beyond top-down safety directives by including site teams in risk assessments and method statements. When employees help shape the rules, they’re more likely to follow them and hold others accountable too.
BUILDING BRILLIANT CAREERS
Inclusivity is an important aspect of safety culture. A safe workplace is also one that welcomes diverse perspectives and backgrounds.
Over 12,400 UK organisations have signed the Armed Forces Covenant. The Covenant aims to support members of the Armed Forces community in the workplace, offering opportunities for veterans and reservists who bring discipline and situational awareness to high-risk environments like construction.
Construction companies are already making this step. Morgan Sindall Construction, for example, has just been awarded the Defence Employer Recognition Scheme (ERS) Silver accreditation under the Armed Forces Covenant.
The first and largest step to a safer workplace is reshaping workplace culture. This involves implementing maturity models like the Bradley Curve to progress from reactive compliance to an interdependent culture where colleagues actively look out for one another. Through initiatives like ‘A Day in the Life’ and encouraging hazard reporting, organisations can integrate safety into daily operations.
www.geobear.com
23
WWW.TOMORROWSHS.COM
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42
