Safety leaders need courage and a good story

In order to engage and influence the board on safety issues, safety professionals need to be good storytellers. They also need to have the courage to intervene when required. But most importantly, they need to make business sense. These were some of the key messages from day one of the OHS Leaders Summit which is being held in Noosa.

The ‘Sunshine State’ didn’t exactly live up to its name with rain and high winds resulting in some of the delegates’ flights being diverted back to Brisbane. But the show went on and got off to an entertaining start with Director at One Thousand & One, Yamini Naidu’s opening keynote on the power of storytelling.  She says safety is often about stating the “bleeding obvious”. So why is it hard to get the message across? It would be simple if everyone followed logic (the hard data), but they don’t.  In order to change behaviour, Yamini says you must reach people on three levels - the first being logic, the second is ethos (gaining their trust) and the third is pathos (getting to their emotions). A good way to get to the emotional side, engage people, communicate your message and make them remember it is through a story. Research has indicated that emotion is a fast track to the brain, she says, but at the same time the details of the story must remain authentic.

A panel discussion on engaging and influencing followed with Dean Matthews, Director - Safety & Environment at Yarra Trams, pointing out that a good safety leader must not only be a role model but have the courage to intervene when required. He says you can’t forget the fundamentals, you must be risk aware, make sure controls are clear and understood and look around you; and if you see something, you can’t walk past it - a good safety leader must have to have the courage to act.

The difficulties being faced with our ageing workforce were also under discussion with some interesting stats on the growth rate of the 60+ workforce being around 200%. Businesses that do not embrace this ageing workforce are going to face difficulties because migration and the younger generation won’t be enough says Susan Ryan, Age Discrimination Commissioner on a video link. She says there should be no retirement age but instead a work capacity test that judges whether you can do the job rather than just basing a decision on a number. Jason Allison, Chief Workers Compensation Underwriting & Portfolio Management at GIO, says insurance issues associated with the ageing workforce are being addressed because it’s no good having a workforce that can’t be insured. His company is working on managing this issue so that the costs don’t spiral out of control.

But, at the end of the day, any investment in safety at the board level must make business sense, so this is the key message that needs to be communicated says Wayne Harris, Chairman and Board Member at ISQEM and WSO.