Re: Company’s dilemma: safety first？

[Tom]

A company: DILEMMA, at the edge of bankrupcy, is bidding for a
construction project. Sales manager,JOHN knows well that it is the
last survival chance for the company. DILEMMA has failed in a several
project bidding due to higher quotation. To gain a competitive
advantage, JOHN requests to remove safety budget.  He insists that the
company will lose the chance if keep the safety budget. JOHN stresses
it is the last straw.

You, TOUGH, at the age of 58, are the safety manager of DILEMMA.
Currently, you are experiencing some financial difficulty. You clearly
understand the situation of DILEMMA and your own situation. As economy
is down and unemployment rate rising, you know it is difficult to look
for other job. You have been looking for a better job for half of
year.

Occasionally, You know JOHN's suggestion. What you will do?
(copyright reserved, those who join in the discussion will have right
to use the scenario)

[psychologist]

Tom,

In a case like that the H&S practitioner needs to put forward a cost
benefit analysis. So costs may include potential prosecutions, civil
case, increases in insurance premiums and so on. Also you should be
able to show the management how health and safety measures increase
efficiency. If health and safety is integrated into the business that
last point should be a very important one. As health and safety
should increase the efficientcy of operations it should be a small
part of the projects own budget rather than an overhead. I would be
surprised if the entire safety entire budget for the safety manager
rested with one contract. If it does it may be time to leave anyway
because it is not a very secure company.

With regard to budgeting, would any company have a separate budget for
ladders, for hammers, machinery? Unlikely. It is more likely to be
in the general budget and so should health and safety. It should not
form a separate budget on its own. Or if it does you should be able
to show how it benefits each other project and department. If you
can't do that John may be right.

On the plus side, redundancy is not that bad. I have been made
redundant before. Just think of that novel you always wanted to
write, the painting you wanted to complete, setting up your own
business etc. In my case I went into private practice lecturing in
workplace psychology (ironic really).

[Tom]

See more discussions on the topic

-------------- Alan Langstone
Interesting scenerio.

A reduction in the overall safety budget might be a possiblity if the
remaining budget is concentrated on a Site Specific Project Manager
down safety plan.

There is very little expense in breeding a safety culture on site, it
is a matter of belief, attitude and commitment from the top to the
bottom of the organization.

As TOUGH, the Safety Manager in your scenerio, if the safety budget
was removed I would consider resignation. If I approved/took no action
of the removal of the Safety budget and there was an incident. I would
consider this potentially very damaging to my carreer and Resume/CV
not to mention the possibility of statutory or private legal action
being taken against me.


---------------Brian Weatherly, MBA, CSP
This is a business question and one I am passionate about educating
business leaders. Training is only part of the problem. It is how we
do business that is the real issue.

When managers and business owners feel the economic stress such as a
business cycle down turn they are not trying to get someone hurt, they
are trying to do less with more. Where safety falls short the solution
is working with the managers showing them new ways to do the tasks and
also showing them the probable responses (communication and
education). Secondly, safety falls short because we are not talking
the same language, you must put the requirements in the terms they
know such as project time, budget numbers, work delays, etc.

Training is not the only answer here. If you lose the budget, the work
must be done with the supervisors and educating them on hazard
awareness and worker habits. This will help to set a better standard
with less "safety" budget. Don't try and win the whole thing
back(budget, because the executives have probably already cut it), but
work for percentages.
Develop the highest risk applications for training and supervisor
training.

Remember, just because you train, it does not release management from
oversight. Believe me when I say, your co-workers will tell what is
really going on. "Management practices" are established by supervisors
regardless of your documented training and infact, can cause you even
more issues. It is a system approach, this is what must be proven.

So - recap - get the largest percentage of the budget you can get.
Prioritize your training (with supervisors) from the highest risk
activities (you know how your business has done in the past, look at
the records), estalish managment committment on "the right way"
standard and market every little success.

Now, capture people doing right and coach a new way of doing the same
old task that other workers will show other workers. It will all hinge
on the supervisors and foremen first. Your owners, executives must be
sold this. You can have minimal dollars and still get maximum results
from communicating the way business will be done, no execeptions, but
when the stressors hit, what is the game plan then. If there is none,
it will be the same as it was and your business will go down. So you
must plan this for on-site time, as this is where the stressors hit
big and the foremen are trying to make their numbers.

Here is a quick example of a low cost way of helping supervisors with
a work-rest cycle. In the past, safety has been guilty of just telling
the boss, hey we can only do it this way. Well it is not good enough
anymore. As the safety professional, you must help the supervisor with
options. For example, look at the task, number of people, deadline and
requirements, give two ways to get the job done. One, 25 percent go on
break here and 75 percent stay after the rest cycle 25 more rotate
out. Second, 50 percent go and then rotate out at an establish point,
if there is lag time, the others do less stressful work such as
cleaning up. Remember there are too many site specific issues here so
this is only a simple example. The next questions is are you as the
safety professional willing to stay and help manage this as the
supervisor keeps the building process going? It is a team effort. We
have to educate the exectives and owners we can help save money, get
the job done on-time and keep things in compliance. Then you can start
the process of advance EHS culture shift.

Best of luck with this, remember to start by asking the question to
your owner, what would one dealth mean to this company, even if you
get the bid? One injury, how would the delay affect the contract? Are
you working with subcontractors? What is their culture, safety record?
And the most important question we don't know ---

What have you done wrong with safety in the past that makes you want
to eliminate it from the bid? What mistakes have cost you money? Why
have you really lost bids in the past? Then, how much of the budget
can you keep? Zero is not an option or you go into the bid without
knowing a material cost and this can wipe out your entire profit
margin.

Safety is site specific, equipment specific, function specific and
culture specific - so you can do a lot with a little, but it starts at
the top.


-------------Jaspreet (Jesse) K
well...I if the call for tenders does ask for a safety budget, I would
include it, there are no two ways about it. Secondly, given that the
company is on the brink of bankruptcy, I think cutting the safety
budget would be a folly, in case of an accident, would the company
have the resources to pay compensation or delays caused due to
hazardous situations?

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[Tom]

-----------------Dirk Paardekooper wrote:
I recognize this as a dangerous and recognizable management
simplification. "Sorry, safety costs, we have to cut that budget to
survive."
1st. There are other ways to cut budget. Sales manager, look harder
for those solutions!
2nd. Would sales manager do the job without safety measures? If so,
will he phone victims or their relatives after an accident?
3rd. Dutch employers resisted for years and years against safety ropes
for roof workers. The Ministry of Social Affairs forced them.
Afterwards they were quite happy: production rose. Because workers
were secured by the r