Deming's 14 Points Applied to Safety
Point 11: Eliminate numerical quotas and goals for the workforce and management. Substitute leadership.
The problem with measuring the success of a company's safety effort using incident rates is that once the rate has been reduced to what management feels is an acceptable level, complacency sets in, the effort to reduce incident rates relaxes, and incident rates begin the inevitable rise to previous unacceptable levels. Management reacts to the increase in incident rate with a renewed safety emphasis. This reactive management approach to loss control, based on end-results (defects), creates an endless cycle of rising and falling incident rates.
Deming would look upon such a situation with dissatisfaction (and wonder). He would probably encourage management to do away with any numerical quotas or goals based solely on unpredictable measures such as accident frequency rates. He would stress the need to measure upstream activities such as the degree of safety education and training, number of safety meetings, individual safe work behaviors, and the safety of materials, chemicals, and equipment purchased by the company.
In emphasizing continuous improvement principles, the company may never realize sustained zero accident rates, but the critically important ingredient in a successful process, that of continually journeying closer to that end state would be realized. Focus on the journey, not the result.
Relying solely on quotas in the "production" system results in management looking the other way, when unsafe work practices and hazardous conditions exist. A macho (it is part of the job) attitude by management, under pressure to produce the numbers, results in higher rates of injury and illness. Very little thought is given to the human tragedy involved with serious injuries or fatalities. Even less thought to the indirect and 'unknown and unknowable' losses to the company. Management must understand the danger of the pressure ever-increasing quotas place on supervisors and employees. Short cuts in work practices are inevitable, and along with them, injuries and illnesses.
Remember, managers and employees should be held accountable only for what they can control. It's difficult to control statistical results. However, as we learned earlier, they can control activities.
Knowledge Check Choose the best answer for the question.
8-11. Which of the following is an upstream activity encouraged by W. Edwards Deming as a continuous improvement strategy?
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