At Darwin’s HSER Forum, 42 HSERs took part in a Safer Together Safety Culture Survey (SCS), with the intent of collating results from a multi-company, multi-site group with the common role of workforce-elected HSE Representative (HSERs) – and present the findings at the afternoon's Industry Safety Forum (ISF).
Facilitated by Brett Howard (Director of Subsea Projects and Operations, TechnipFMC) the Safety Culture Survey was a demonstration of the real-time availability of the survey results. Isaac Kennedy (Marine Technician and HSER, Shell) and Katie Latimore (Operations Technician & HSER, Santos) presented the findings of the HSER Safety Culture Survey to the 150+ ISF delegates.
The initial results from this Survey were presented to industry safety leaders as a real-time pulse-check of a cross-section of industry front line workers (HSERs) – we want to know the issues HSERs are seeing ‘on the ground’ industry-wide.
Safer Together's SCS is an engagement tool available for all Member Companies to assess and measure safety culture maturity, and to identify key areas for focus and improvement – its findings can be broken down into a response to the following three questions:
1. Which safety behaviours are most strongly displayed by:
a) Everyone
b) Supervisor
c) Manager
2. Which safety behaviours are least strongly displayed by:
a) Everyone
b) Supervisor
c) Manager
Which one (or more) behaviours would make the biggest overall improvement in safety by:
a) Everyone
b) Supervisor
c) Manager
The final report with findings from the HSER SCS survey results, combined with findings of the HSER Forum's Menti poll will be used by Safer Together Safety Leaders Group to guide planning priorities for 2023, and will be available for HSERs for safety discussions and recommendations within their peer group and within their own companies.
Results from Part 1 of the SCS ‘Safety Behaviours most Strongly Displayed’ supported the sentiment that we are dealing with a higher-level safety culture than we have in the past:
- People are not afraid to stop the job
- People are not afraid to raise issues
- The issues we need to deal with now are things that people may not in the past have recognised as day-to-day safety issues
In Part 2 of the SCS – ‘Areas for Industry Discussion and Focus’, the survey data highlighted the HSERs view of the most useful areas for improvement, with the issues needing attention being things that people may not in the past have recognised as day-to-day safety issues, such as:
- Achieving High Standards in Maintenance Planning
- Encouraging and Involving the Team and Workforce
- Confronting Risk, Seeking out bad news
The above results were supported with findings from the Forum's Menti poll – with mental health awareness an area HSERs identify as requiring additional attention and resourcing.
HSERs would like more training and support from their organisation to better perform the HSER role and would like more information and shared learnings from Safer Together to share with their colleagues.
Katie and Isaac presented ISF delegates with a rare insight into what the HSERs are seeing and experiencing on the front line – in particular, ISF delegates noted HSERs concern about the impact of maintenance deferred (during COVID) may have on safety.
More detailed results from the Safety Culture Survey and a HSER Menti poll have been shared with Safety Leaders Group to assist in guiding their 2023 planning.
For Safety Culture Survey click here.
For the HSER Forum SCS Results click here.
For HSER Engagement Tools click here.
For Menti Poll Results click here.