If you have any experience in large organizations, you likely recognized there is a fair amount of “Politics” that manifests itself in many forms, a few of which are: “Personal favoritism,” “Good ole boy,” employees and managers alike all Jockeying for a controlling position at the expense of others, abuse of power and position, “Nepotism,“ personal prejudices, and a host of others. But can these kinds of negative behaviors be present in your safety department as well? From observing multiple safety department environments over the years, I believe it safe to say that, yes, it is! A few examples of this are: A refinery hired a Certified Safety Professional who was the only member of the team with such a certification. The new hire was selected to fill in for the department head while they were out of the office much to the chagrin of the rest of the team who each felt they were entitled to be the chosen one because they were drinking and hunting buddies with the department head, and second, their longevity with the organization. During a two week period while the department head was out of the office on vacation, the Safety Professional attended the VP of refining’s staff meetings. During one meeting, the VP inquired as to the status of one of the safety department individuals projects that was behind schedule and wanted an update ASAP. The safety professional approached the team member and said the VP wanted a response ASAP to which the individual responded: “Look…we don’t mind you covering for the boss while he’s out but we expect you to coast, do not give work direction, do not ask any questions, and mind your own business.” Upon the return of the department head, this was discussed and the offending individual was transferred out of the department to another division.
In another example, a certified safety professional wrote some very detailed confined space entry permit packages for cleaning a below ground sulfur storage pit. One of the other safety department employees who was on duty crossed out some of the safety precautions on the permit during the cleaning phase in response to incessant complaints from the operations department and the involved contractor that the required safety precautions were to “restrictive.” Some sulfur cake was ignited and several contractor employees working below ground in the pit needed off-site medical attention. The safety employee who modified the permits and relaxed the precautions was subsequently terminated.
Often times, operations, maintenance, engineering, and contractors and sub contractors will seek to find the safety person most willing to relax the rules. This is referred to as “Safety Shopping”
The health and safety of employees cannot be compromised by commonplace petty jealousies, bending safety rules and procedures based on an underlying desire to be the most popular and well-liked safety person, and a plethora of other factors.
There are many great health and safety professionals out there who strive daily to do things right, however, If you are a business owner, corporate executive, manager, or supervisor, periodically take an in-depth look at the organizational dynamics in your safety organization and between the safety organization and the people they serve.
Have you had similar experiences? Feel free to share them in this forum and what you did to address similar issues.