Leading the way on safety

New advice to help business leaders understand the importance of human factors and the difference it can make has been published by an employers’ organisation to help improve worker safety. The guidance, called Safety, Leadership and Learning – A practical guide to human organisational performance (HOP), has been released by the Federation of Norwegian Industries.

It provides an easy-to-understand introduction to a systems-based approach to safety and how to tackle human error and non-compliance. And it includes practical tips, such as checklists for risk assessments and developing procedures, advice on producing incident reports and suggestions for shaping safety culture as a leader.

As well as the downloadable guide, the resources also include a presentation that can be shared with staff and a list of answers to common questions. Stein Lier-Hansen, Chief Executive Officer of the Federation of Norwegian Industries, said: “Prevention has always been paramount in Norwegian HSE [health, safety & environment]-work. The premise of this guide is that HSE can be further enhanced, based on some simple, yet vital, concepts: Rules alone don’t create safe workplaces. Those doing the job know best where the challenges lie. Leaders need to earn the trust of those doing the job to be informed about these issues. These concepts might appear straightforward on paper, but they’re often challenging in practice.”

Find out more and download the new guide