Hi All, I'm having a struggle at present at my site trying to get workforce to engage on H&S matters. We have tried lots of methods over the last 2 years but we still keep getting the same old lack of involvement, ownership and involvement. We have provided notice boards, plasma screens running H&S info, H&S Intranet, monthly H&S Focus topics, weekly briefing, new e-learning programme, pay-slip communucations, monthly H&S Committee meetings with published minutes and progress reports, new hazard and safety suggestion reporting system which is easy & simple (lots of admin for me) & designed with H&S Committee, Charity donatations to promote hazard reporting increasing (charity elected by committee), we involve in RA revision programme, involved in new equipment purchase (little feedback from mass). We have provided NEBOSH General training for dept managers, IOSH 4 Day for all supervisors, monthly H&S Module training for all staff and have so much awareness programmes around the site. We have also invested alot in last 2years on safety improvements at site (e.g. PTW, LOTO systems, Confined Space) We have just run the HSL Climate survey to try and get some feedback and we ended up with with a 20% return rate from workforce. Hazard reporting is only done by management team and because they have a minimum target per month and nex to none from workforce. The majority of the reports come from me each month. I'm really at a lost as to what to do next?? I have tried so much to engage and get interest but there is nothing coming back.

Thanks Kate for the reply. I agree there is prob things i could/should do better but i think i have provided so many ways for them to provide a voice to be heard. The hazard reporting system allows them to write down on a simple sheet any hazards they see, any practices they see or any safety improvement they want to see. I produce a report every week that is provided for everyone to see what has been completed and how many actions we close from raised reports. We actively use the committee and make improvements from what they say they want/suggest - although this comes from a small group of people. The aim of the climate survey was exactly that, to let all employees have a forum to document their opinions of H&S at the site, positives and negatives and what they would like to see happening. I thought that would be a perfect method of getting a message from workforce. Guess what i'm trying to do do by this posting is ask how others have approached a similar problem and how they got the movement i'm seeking.....

I agree with Kate’s response. Additionally Just because you have these wonderful ways of responding, does not mean they want to or are comfortable doing so. Think about it for a moment, if you point out a poor working practice, you may cause problems for a friend or even your supervisor. I think if I was a supervisor I would prefer someone on my team talk to ME not rat me out to the H&S dept. The employee will know /feel his supervisor would think like this, so best keep quite ( not my job anyway). You get what I mean here I hope - no offence to you. I had a similar problem of complete apathy when I took control of H&S. I talked to a previous safety committee member and asked why they didn't want to be part of it. I told them the information was just for me and nobody else needed to know. Their response was that things appeared to be done about issues brought out, but soon things went back to normal. They felt some of the senior management didn't take things seriously (which was not true), but this was their view. The best thing I ever did was get all the ROES together give them info on an accident review I had completed and discussed a survey similar to yours (just me and them in a meeting room, I made coffee and bought the biscuits). What we came up with was they had the survey sheets and went and asked everyone in their dept./ area the questions. It could then be seen as being anonymous; they returned the sheets on block. This worked wonders for me and they appeared to like being actively involved. They also helped come up with solutions to recurring safety issues. Just them and me, no minutes, no other senior managers, no come back.

Safetyman, Like Kate has said "you need to listen" sometimes just taking a wander around the workplace and having a chat with people will have more of an effect. I often go and have a chat with our operatives hear what they have to say, take a note and if I can action something along the lines of what has been said I do. If not I go back and tell them it's not possible at this moment and tell them why, then invite them to the next H & S Meeting. Once they realise you will action something if its within your power, you will have won over their trust and people will buy in. Unfortunately it is not an overnight thing as we are creatures of habit and like our comfort zones. Keep plugging away & good luck Clive

Safetyman Your story - I have tried so much to engage and get interest but there is nothing coming back - reads as if you're pushing a boulder uphill endlessly Brief comments 1. Not bothering to engage as you describe it is part of the historical culture of your organisation: why should managers and staff change when you indicate you want them to? If there no more fulfilling motives for them, it may feel quite reasonable to them not to 'engage'. 2. While you use the expression 'engagement', you make no reference to any reliable, valid way of measuring it other than a survey; less intrusive methods of measurement require a lot less effort by workers and managers yet can give you a lot of useful data if you frame your methods of data collection wisefly. 3. While listening and other conversational interaction can be useful, the outcomes depend on the cultural context as much as the efforts of a conscientious safety professional (who may be demonstrating risks of hyperstress). 4. The option of well-designed focus groups with line managers can combine 'listening' with starting to use behaivoural measures effectively. They can become the stepping stones to creating a forum for negotiating regular gathering of behavioural actions relevant to safety, waste and production, with approrpriate feedback and rewards for improvements.