Accountability for Safety
Accountability ranks right at the top with management commitment as a critical ingredient in a company's safety and health management system. Why do we behave the way we do in the workplace? Perceived consequences. Why do we take the unsafe shortcut? Again, perceived consequences.
Accountability may be thought of as establishing the "obligation to fulfill a task to standard or else." When you are held accountable, your performance is measured against specific criteria and consequences are applied appropriate to the level or quality of that performance.
Management may impose all kinds of safety policies, programs, written plans, directives, rules, and training, yet if the appropriate application of effective consequences does not exist, desired safety behaviors will not be sustained. If employees do not believe they are going to be held accountable for their performance, the effectiveness of the safety management system will ultimately fail.
Example: If a builder has built a house for a man and his work is not strong, and if the house he has built falls in and kills the householder, that builder shall be slain. (King Hammurabi of Babylon, 18th Century B.C.)
Example: "The ancient Romans had a tradition: whenever one of their engineers constructed an arch, as the capstone was hoisted into place, the engineer assumed accountability for his work in the most profound way possible: he stood under the arch." (Michael Armstrong)
Six important elements that should be present in an employer safety accountability system include:
- formal standards of performance;
- adequate resources and psychosocial support;
- a system of performance measurement;
- application of effective consequences;
- appropriate application of consequences; and
- continuous evaluation of the accountability system.
If you believe there are weaknesses in your employer's accountability system, make sure to document the behaviors and conditions you see in the workplace that may be pointing to accountability system policies, plans, processes, procedures and practices that are inadequate or missing. You can learn more about accountability systems in Courses 116 and 712.
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1-4. What ensures an employer's safety management system will ultimately fail?
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