Nord Safety - Management trend report

SAFETY MANAGEMENT TREND REPORT 2017

TIMO KRONLÖF

Co-Founder, NordSafety

FOREWORD

As we all strive towards improved safety culture, looking ahead to the coming year is an important step in recognising both the challenges faced by the industry, and the resolutions that we can put in place to combat them. Whilst on a day-to-day basis we continually aim to learn from our mistakes and to heed warnings from incidents that we did not successfully prevent, in the long term we must use all the tools at our disposal to predict, manage and avoid these situations from occurring as reasonably as our powers can allow. We must strive to be as informed as possible as to where errors are likely to take place, and to embed safety into the very hearts of our organisations.

In addition to the more conventional ways of measuring safety through the amount and nature of negative incidents that have occurred, what if safety could be calculated through successes instead of failures? With emerging ideas about technology, resilience engineering and a positive approach to safety, is it time to remove Root Cause Analysis, and concentrate on the use of technology to engage people in safety?

To produce a vision of how changes in safety practices may take place, we need to know not only what has happened before and what’s happening right now, but also try to forecast how our current actions will affect safety performance in the future. As working practices and environments continue to alter, we must find new and appropriate ways of adapting our HSEQ requirements, methods for engaging our workforces in their own wellbeing, and utilising the new advancements in technology that are available to us. Within this report, we’ll be discussing these topics, and highlighting the most pressing issues for 2017, and beyond.

With this in mind, NordSafety has assembled a panel of leading industry experts, from a variety of fields across the safety management sphere. Compiling this report, we’ve interviewed a select group of highly qualified contributors as to their invaluable opinions on where the industry currently stands, what we can expect from 2017, and how health and safety can be beneficially shaped over the coming years. These figureheads of industry possess decades’ worth of experience, numerous published studies, and the highest levels of credibility within this industry, and we appreciate and thank them for their time in contributing to this common cause.

Talking with such respected professionals in their fields, with both established and emerging careers to their names, has been profoundly interesting as we look ahead to the trends, problems and priorities that they have outlined for the next twelve months. We hope you’ll find it just as thought-provoking, and provide you with some actionable insights for making your own workplace safer for both today, and tomorrow.

Timo Kronlöf Co-Founder, NordSafety

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

When looking ahead to 2017, our panel agreed on a need for real-time insights, delivering relevant and timely data to both management and employees. Improved end-to-end reporting is a goal for organisations that are looking to boost efficiencies, as well the ability to turn these metrics into positive actions.

The progression of technology was also discussed, looking at how rapid advancements will manifest into practical HSEQ management. Digital tools look to become more widespread, as companies aim to harness the possibilities of big data, and mobile adoption seems set to increase in order to improve safety productivity and communication.

Psychologically, our experts deemed that the biggest shift in thinking would be in moving focus onto the individual. Considering the behavioural patterns that can lead to incidents, and how HSEQ can best function to serve employee well-being, as well as the ethical obligations of better looking after our workforce, will be strong areas of consideration for 2017.

There was also the consensus that improving employee engagement and adjusting HSEQ accountability to fit new and changing ways of working and working environments will be a priority in the months ahead.

When asked about the HSEQ challenges facing businesses in 2017, our experts unanimously agreed on the collection, interpretation and integration of data. As digital reporting and interest in big data increases, organisations look set to receive vast amounts of information – how we best dissect, separate and utilise this data to maintain and improve safety is the issue facing many of us operating in this digital age.

Others commented on the need for management teams to alter perceptions of safety, engaging employees with their surroundings and health and safety practices, and overseeing the embedding of new mobile and digital ways of working into safety cultures.

What are the most important trends in work safety information management in 2017?

What is the biggest challenge in work safety information management in 2017?

Whilst our panellists highlighted the fact that the safety information management industry is slow to remove processes altogether, there were practices that were named as on the brink of gradual extinction. For some, the top-down management hierarchy is becoming a thing of the past, instead promoting the inclusion and engagement of all levels of the workforce. Reinforcing this notion, others predicted that ideas will change as to who is responsible for health and safety issues altogether, with greater accountability being taken by communities as a whole, rather than just those in leadership positions. On a practical level, the reduced reliance on hard

copy paperwork continues to be a recurring theme, with one expert also citing a decline in the use of email for notifying others of safety issues in favour of social media and mobile platforms.

Name 3 important influencers to follow in the field of work safety for 2017?

When asked for recommendations of the most important safety influencers to keep an eye on in 2017, names included those were already established, and some less-familiar emerging new talents. To keep yourself up to date during the year, and to monitor the progress being made by these forward-thinking individuals, we suggest that you follow the ongoing achievements of the nominees.

What is your wish regarding work safety information management in 2017?

The hopes laid out by our contributors varied for 2017, ranging from the standardised collection of information between organisations, to the widespread use of mobile technology. Many required practical solutions for their companies, such as the analysis of monthly graphs and access to easy reporting tools, while others focused on broader concepts, such as integrating HSEQ into all elements of a company, forming a culture of prevention, and making zero-accident visions a global reality.

Do you see a practice or a way of working that is going to disappear from work safety information management in 2017?

MEET THE EXPERTS

Andrew Sharman is CEO of international safety culture consultancy RMS Switzerland. With a safety career spanning two decades he’s guided global leaders in their commitment to zero and towards safety excellence in a range of sectors. Andrew speaks extensively on the subjects of risk management, safety culture, leadership and organizational behaviour with corporations, NGOs, and is Professor of Leadership & Safety Culture at INSEAD’s Centre for Executive Development.

Ho Siong Hin is the Commissioner for Workplace Safety and Health (WSH). He holds a concurrent position as the Divisional Director for the Ministry of Manpower’s (MOM) Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) Division. He has extensive experience in WSH Inspection and investigation of accidents, including complex cases. He was instrumental in the implementation of the iReport system, an online accident and ill-health reporting system for employers and workers. In 2005, Ho was appointed to lead OSH reform in Singapore.

HO SIONG HIN DR. DOMINIC

SIDNEY DEKKER

Sidney Dekker (PhD Ohio State University, USA, 1996) is Professor of Social Science at Griffith University in Brisbane, Australia, where he runs the Safety Science Innovation Lab. He is also Professor (Hon.) of psychology at The University of Queensland, and Professor (Hon.) of Human Factors and Patient Safety at the Lady Cilento Children’s Hospital in Brisbane. Previously, he was Professor of Human Factors and System Safety at Lund University in Sweden. He has won worldwide acclaim for his ground-breaking work in human factors and safety, and is a best-selling author of numerous HESQ titles.

Jop Groeneweg is Assistant Professor at the Unit of Cognitive Psychology and Project Manager for Human Error at the Centre for Safety Research at Leiden University, in the Netherlands. He is also a part-time senior researcher at the Dutch Research Institute for Applied Science TNO. As a part-time lecturer at The Netherlands School of Public Administration (NSOB) and the Dutch Academy for Occupational Health and Safety (TNO-PHOV), he presents safety courses to a wide range of companies and organisations. Groeneweg is a member of several committees of the Dutch National Health Council, advising the Dutch government on safety and occupational health matters. Recent projects include the development of accident investigation tools for the Dutch Safety Board, and researching critical success factors of Safety Management Systems for the Dutch Transport Department.

An award-winning author, Dominic Cooper is a Chartered Psychologist, Associate Fellow of the British Psychological Society (BPS), Chartered Fellow of the Institute of Occupational Safety & Health (IOSH), a Member of the American Society of Safety Engineers (ASSE) and the Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE). From 1989-1992, Dominic pioneered the use of behavioural safety in the UK construction industry on behalf of the British Health & Safety Executive (HSE) while studying his Ph.D. in the School of Management at the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology (UMIST).

Erik Hollnagel is a Professor at the University of Southern Denmark and Chief Consultant at the Centre for Quality Improvement, Region of Southern Denmark. He is a globally recognised specialist in the fields of resilience engineering, system safety, human reliability analysis, cognitive systems engineering, and intelligent man-machine systems. Hollnagel has also authored over 500 publications including twenty-two books, articles from recognised journals, conference papers, and reports.

ANDREW SHARMAN

JOP GROENEWEG

COOPER

ERIK HOLLNAGEL

Before we examine the safety management trends of the year ahead in more detail, let’s get to know the trusted industry professionals who dedicated their time and effort in sharing their insights on the topic.

Pieter Jan Bots is a seasoned safety professional, well known for his LinkedIn group EHSQ Elite. The group has over 80,000 members, a community that has helped its members to enhance their overall safety awareness and management by sharing valuable ideas, tips and information. Pieter has an extensive background in safety management, having held different leadership positions in global manufacturing companies Kemira and Ahlstrom.

Karri Koskinen works as a safety expert at Fingrid. Fingrid takes care of the functioning of the nationwide high-voltage grid in Finland, the backbone of electricity transmission.

Wiking Husberg is a Ministerial Advisor on OSH in the Finnish Ministry of Social Affairs and Health, Dept. of OSH. He started working with OSH in 1973 as a safety engineer with the Finnish Government. He has cooperated with the Nordic and European countries concerning machine safety, standardisation and market surveillance. In the 1980s, consultancy work also took him to the Eastern European countries. He was CTA with the ILO in Africa and Team Leader with the European Union/TACIS in Russia in the 1990s. He spent nine years as the senior occupational safety and health specialist in Moscow with the ILO sub regional Office for Eastern Europe and Central Asia, before returning to the ministry in Finland in 2012.

Fredrik is the founder and CEO of NordSafety Ltd, handling the operative management and strategy execution of the leading Scandinavian mobile solution for occupational safety.

Seppo Rytilä works at Eltel Networks as EHQS Manager, with a former career at Shell holding different management positions. Seppo has a wide knowledge and experience in certified safety, quality and environmental management systems.

Walter Eichendorf has been responsible for a number of large international projects for the European Year for Safety and Health at Work, Germany’s Federation for Safety and Health at Work (Basi) and project manager for the thematic area ‘Future of Work’ at EXPO in Hanover. He has also been involved in a number of management and advisory boards at national and international prevention institutions. He has been Vice President of the Research Section of the International Social Security Association (ISSA) since 2003, as well as a member of the International Organising Committee of ISSA and ILO for the OSH World Congress, and Vice President of ISSA’s Prevention Culture Section, both since 2011.

Jukka Rikkinen is an HSE professional with extensive experience in HSE Management, with more than 10 years’ continuous experience in leading the HSE development work in global manufacturing companies. This experience of construction sites and manufacturing related tasks has given Jukka the capabilities to guide different projects and lead HSE cultural change, solving technical, organisational and process problems.

Jari is the Head of Health and Safety at SRV Oyj., one of the biggest construction companies in Finland.

PIETER JAN BOTS

KARRI

KOSKINEN

SEPPO

RYTILÄ

WALTER EICHENDORF

WIKING HUSBERG

FREDRIK LÖFBERG

JUKKA RIKKINEN

JARI KORPISAARI

As Director at the Finnish Worker’s Compensation Centre, Mika’s specialist skills include accident investigation and safety research, risk assessment and management, business environmental scanning and future research, accident insurance (workers’ compensation) systems, safety engineering and management systems and occupational and machine safety legislation.

Head of Safety at Posti Oy, Marjo Rehn is a Health and Safety professional with a passion for developing safety performance and making the working environment a better place to be. Fields of expertise include safety management, legislation, management system standards and behavioural safety.

Marjo is a Graduated Member of IOSH, Certified Lead auditor for ISO 14001 and OHSAS 18001 and holds a Master’s degree in Safety Management.

Nordex Energy Gmbh, QHSE Manager for the Nordic Area. Anna has a Master’s Degree in Environmental and Energy Engineering of Tampere University of Technology with a major in occupational safety engineering. Before joining Nordex, her most recent position was Safety Manager at the OL3 nuclear power plant project on behalf of the owner TVO. Anna has also worked with Neste Oil and Technip Offshore Finland, and has ten years’ experience in HSE management in multinational construction projects.

Jukka is Chairman of the Board at Stockmann and Paroc Group. He has been the President and CEO of Finnair Plc and SRV Plc. He has a wide understanding of safety management at Executive level through his positions in high-risk industries. He values work safety, and is an active investor in technology start-ups.

Antti is an HSEQ Manager at a leading HSEQ consultancy company in Finland, ENW Management Oy. He has a strong HSEQ background, particularly in manufacturing and the metal industries.

Jan Scheijen is a senior HSE Advisor in the High Voltage. Before going to Tennet TSO in the Netherlands, in 2012, he formed his professional expertise in several branches in The Netherlands, Belgium and Germany. Since 2015, Jan has worked for SAG in Germany, a major contractor in the power industry.

JUKKA HIENONEN

MIKA TYNKKYNEN

MARJO REHN

ANNA LEHTINEN

ANTTI ILVONEN

JAN SCHEIJEN

HSEQ MANAGEMENT TRENDS OF 2017

“Empowering employees and mid-management to make the right decisions, and to make sure safety is one of the core values in decision making.” Jukka Rikkinen

“Safety cultures will improve. In the Netherlands, the first companies are being certified for the safety culture ladder, developed by the Dutch railway’s owner “Prorail,” out of the hearts and minds from Shell. Tenet adapted the SCL after Prorail had handed it over to the NEN (Dutch Norm Institute).”

Jan Scheijen

“Improving end-to-end supply chain performance and reporting, and an increased focus on the culture of safety.” Seppo Rytilä

“In 2017, leadership in safety will be the key enabler to safety excellence - and the main barrier, too. Great safety leaders enable excellence by setting clear expectations, inspiring vision, role modelling behaviour and encouraging collaboration.”

Andrew Sharman

“Intensive technological advancement is affecting all industries. We’re dealing with significant influence on our working environments and our working lives. This rapid technological evolution is associated with completely new risks and may change the nature of conventional risks. With regard to risk management, it is important to develop international harmonised standards and relevant legislation, at least concerning safety-critical technical regulations and solutions, including effective and agile processes to keep them up-to-date.”

Mika Tynkkynen

“In my opinion, the most important upcoming trend is real-time information. We have talked for a long time about delivering real-time data for management, but I also think that providing real-time information for employees is going to change the way we work. I am particularly interested in new ways to convey this information.” Marjo Rehn

“Behaviour-based safety programs, focusing on the people who are behind most of the incidents. And an increased focus on safety culture - it is one of the most important factors for successful safety management. Without having the vision to improve throughout the entire company, the results will not cover the whole organisation.” Anna Lehtinen

“The most important trend in 2017 is that progress on safety has reached a plateau in many industries. It seems that doing more of the same is simply going to get us more of the same - not something different. Following, and embracing the increasingly global trend of doing ‘safety differently’ will help industries break through this asymptote by seeing their people as their resource to harness, by no longer obsessing over achieving the lowest number of negative events, and by once again embracing safety as an ethical responsibility for people, rather than as a bureaucratic accountability to people.”

Sidney Dekker

“New forms of work require new forms of prevention. This is particularly true for digital work with its new spatial and temporal flexibility.” Walter Eichendorf

“The three biggest trends I see is firstly linking safety culture assessments to actual safety performance; in effect, companies are trying to create a safety partnership between management and employees. The science shows that safety culture perception surveys are not linked to actual safety performance and incident rates. That is why people are now seeing a huge growth in structured safety culture assessment workshops, where facilitators work face-to-face with people identifying the issues. In turn, this leads to specific outcome strategies tailored to the company’s needs that drive the company toward safety culture excellence.

Secondly is safety leadership observations and conversations being used to identify potential serious injuries and fatalities (SIFs) under-pinned by the recording and monitoring of each safety leader’s observations to identify systemic root causes. Safety leadership is the key factor in creating and maintaining a company’s safety culture as leaders set the company’s safety goals and expectations, which are reinforced by their managerial practices. Good safety leadership is known to reduce incident rates by around 35-45% per annum. The best way for leaders to show they are committed to driving safety performance is to conduct face-to-face safety observations and hold safety conversations with employees twice weekly. This also allows them to identify unsafe behaviours that could potentially lead to a serious injury or fatality (SIF), and capture the underlying reasons for the unsafe behaviour.

What are the most important trends in workplace and site HSEQ management in 2017?

Safety Management Report 2017

Thirdly, a wider acceptance of employee engagement in safety beyond safety committees. An engaged employee is 5 times less likely to be involved in a safety incident, and 7 times less likely to be involved in an SIF. Many companies are now trying to widen the scope of traditional employee engagement beyond safety committee attendance. Good employee engagement initiatives include employee’s hazard hunting, conducting risk assessments, developing and delivering toolbox talks, reviewing and revising rules & procedures, mentoring new hires, running behaviour-based safety processes, and participating in incident investigations.” Dr Dominic Cooper

“Learning from incidents: many organisations are faced with up to 90% ‘recurrent accidents’, indicating that lessons are being effectively learnt to prevent reoccurrence. A ‘just culture’ needs to be in place that allows for open reporting and investigation of issues.

Operational integrity: once it is realised that most accidents are the result of deficiencies in the way an organisation operates, the next logical step is to identify and eliminate these weaknesses from the ‘normal’ operational processes. The focus will shift from ‘causes of incidents’ to ‘causes of deviations’ in all aspects of the operations. Although the theory behind this approach is not new (Shewhart, 1931) many organisations realise that the next step forwards in safety management requires an improvement of ‘normal’ operations rather than limiting themselves to eliminate causes of incidents.”

Jop Groeneweg

“The integration of workplace safety and health with workplace health promotion. This is due to the increasing recognition that the health of workers will have an impact on safety at work, while safety issues arising from work will have an impact on the general health of workers. Hence, there is a need to ensure every worker has accessed to total safety and health services.” Ho Siong Hin

“The transfer from full-time employment towards part-time/ fixed term/leased forms of employment combined with distance work, quasi-entrepreneurship and sub-contracting will blur the role of the employer, moving a higher degree of risk assessment to the employee, and making workplace based safety management more difficult. On the other hand, the awareness of the hidden costs of occupational accidents and diseases is increasing, as well as the understanding of the link between good working conditions and productivity.” Wiking Husberg

“The most important trends in 2017 are collecting HSEQ data, managing large amounts of HSEQ data, rapidly changing working environments and getting everyone involved with HSEQ work, including sub-contractors. Companies with zero accident goals have been increasing in the past years, an aim that it is not possible to achieve without the effort of everyone. We need new practices to influence how people are behaving at work, and tools for developing occupational safety in constantly changing work environments.” Karri Koskinen

“Real-time insights into on-site information are crucial for productivity and on-site HSEQ. This will require digital tools and more transparent follow-ups between all stakeholders.”

Fredrik Löfberg

“A growing trend is the importance of managing the supply chain, in terms of supplier / contractor HSEQ management. Client HSEQ and sustainability requirements are transferred to the suppliers and contractors. Requirements are not only set for the individual (occupational safety cards, etc.), but for the company or unit as a whole, using third party and second party HSEQ audits. Also, customer questionnaires in the Code of Conduct and Sustainability field are common. These questionnaires may also be offered as third party web services in a common database, so the same information only needs to be provided once.” Pieter Jan Bots

“2017 will be the breakthrough for the new ISO 9001 and 14001 standards. Hopefully, we will finally see the publication of the long-awaited ISO 45001. More and more companies will need to evaluate their current state of businessprocesses, procedures and daily operations in their whole supply chain. Organisations are forced to identify and assess their risks and opportunities on a more comprehensive level, enhance the visibility of their HSEQ leadership and scale down the complexity and bureaucracy of the way they operate. This means more horizontal and vertical collaboration, more automated and mobile processes, more co-operation between people and more awareness.” Antti Ilvonen

CHALLENGES TO HSEQ INFORMATION MANAGEMENT IN 2017

“To get quick information about new hazards, all incidents, and everything that happens on-site.” Jari Korpisaari

“The amount of the information available and the speed of the change.” Jukka Rikkinen

“Improving end-to-end supply chain performance and reporting, and an increased focus on the culture of safety.” Seppo Rytilä

“The biggest challenge for HSEQ will be, as every year, the improvement of safety awareness, especially for the older generation. I sincerely hope the safety culture ladder can also improve this.” Jan Scheijen

“To collect good quality and timely safety observation reports from organisations that are not used to doing it before. The challenge is driving the cultural change needed to make it happen.” Seppo Rytilä

“Big data has taken safety by storm as we try to gather more data than ever before. Finding a way to manage this vast data in a way that is fast, efficient and makes it easy to utilise in a meaningful way is crucial.” Andrew Sharman

“At the information highway, there’s absolutely enough data and scientifically tested knowledge about safety and best practices to ensure safety at work. The key question here is how to raise the efficiency to exploit all this data and findings. That is, we need to streamline the information flow from scientists to workplaces, and ensure that every piece of new information will be used in developing the process at the sharp end. Thus, more available and usable applications and access to databases is needed.” Mika Tynkkynen

“I think challenges will remain quite traditional, such as how to prioritise key messages and how to reach targets in real-time.” Marjo Rehn

“New forms of work require new forms of prevention. This is particularly true for digital work with its new spatial and temporal flexibility.” Walter Eichendorf

“The challenge is how to communicate that safety is cool and raise awareness. As the aim is to have as much information from the organisation as possible, this could be communicated through informative newsletters and safety bulletins.

That would also allow the information to be current and give early signals for the management where problems might be and what needs their attention before realising itself as an accident.” Anna Lehtinen

“HSEQ information management needs to track and understand not only why and how things go wrong in the workplace, but more importantly, needs to start understanding and investigating why things go right. Not only do many more things go right than wrong (and we often don’t know why they go right), it is also increasingly clear that the risks of fatalities and life-changing injuries brew and hide in the normal, daily, routine practices that make things go right, and not in the occasional incidents or injuries where something minor went wrong. Learning to do positive investigations is a major and important challenge for HSEQ in 2017.” Sidney Dekker

“Spatial and temporal flexibility result in new expectations from the management and the use of new communication channels.” Walter Eichendorf

“Undoubtedly ‘big data’ will play an important role in HSEQ information management. The main challenge is to find out what must be measured and how that is done. There is little consensus in the industry on how to collect process and safety indicators. Furthermore, it is far from straightforward how the different sources of information can be combined. Finally, the verification process to ensure that the outcomes of ‘big data analysis’ are valid and reliable is far from self-evident. The human brain is not capable of dealing with the volume and complexity of the data, so errors in data collection, storage and processing (e.g. errors in algorithms) might go unnoticed. How to translate the data into information that can be used to improve safety will be another question that needs to be addressed.” Jop Groeneweg

“While it is good to merge HSEQ into a single management system, it does lead to information overload. The biggest challenge is how to get the right information to the right person at the right place and time. This is where technology can help.” Ho Siong Hin

“The challenge is to retrieve OSH information, which is relevant, practical and applicable to micro, small and medium enterprises, from the huge amount of data available.” Wiking Husberg

What is the biggest challenge in HSEQ information management in 2017?

“There are many ways to collect HSEQ information. Information can be collected with mobile applications, via e-mail, discussing with people, by doing audits and so on. The biggest challenge is not how to get the data but how to use it and how we can manage the big data coming from different sources. The purpose of collecting data is to find good practices and deficiencies. It is important that we can continuously develop the work and working environment according the HSEQ indicators. We also need the data for getting good understanding of the HSEQsituation. The challenge is also how to distribute the information efficiently and in such a form that it is understandable and interesting.” Karri Koskinen

“The biggest challenge will be how to understand and lead based on the vast amount of data we receive. When reporting is set up and conducted digitally, the amount of data will explode. The best companies can turn this into competitive advantage.”

Fredrik Löfberg

“I believe the biggest challenge for EHS information systems is to know what data to collect, and how to turn this into useful, practical knowledge that can be used to create safety excellence. For example, many companies address potential serious injuries and fatalities via observations that solely identify precursors (e.g. deviation from normal operations) and exposure categories (e.g. confined space entry). This could lead to an enormous number of issues to control. Going underneath and identifying the systemic root causes for these would reduce the numbers to more manageable, realistic and cost-effective levels

Getting the right information and knowledge, in the right format, to the right people at the right time also presents many challenges that many companies tend to shy away from addressing, as they see the challenge as just too big to tackle.”

Dr Dominic Cooper

“The challenge is in keeping it simple. If you want your employees to use the HSEQ information, it has to be easy and simple to use. Forget about information which is nice to have as a manager - only collect information that is really needed and not available in other ways.” Pieter Jan Bots

“Getting people to realise that even the smallest things matter and they really have the power to change things is a challenge. Furthermore, getting the people in charge to understand that they should allow everyone to participate and be active. If we cannot achieve this, all the fancy systems, applications and processes we create are futile.” Jukka Hienonen

“The biggest challenge is getting people to understand what their own role in this HSEQ fuss is all about and why they should bother themselves in doing anything. Getting people to realize that even the smallest things matter and they really have the power to change things. Furthermore, getting people in charge to understand that they have the possibility to make this happen by providing people the possibility and opportunity to actively participate and be active. If we cannot achieve this, all the fancy systems, applications and processes we create are futile.”

Antti Ilvonen

“The biggest challenge is to understand that the challenges of safety management cannot be understood by referring to a simple issue of information management. Information has no meaning in itself, but only when used with a specific purpose (hence interpreted in a specific frame of reference). Just collecting information is of little value - quantity does not substitute for quality.” Erik Hollnagel

PRACTICES THAT ARE DYING OUT IN 2017

“It’s time for clipboards and plastic biros to move over and make way for technology!” Andrew Sharman

“I am not sure if anything is going to disappear but I hope some practices will renew to serve the needs of the day. One example is the safety risk assessment process. Work environment and methods change fast so we need to find effective dynamic ways to do that...and deliver real-time information for the employees.” Marjo Rehn

“I believe and hope that reports on paper will disappear as soon as mobile technology can be utilised better. Empty safety team inspections will disappear as managers take responsibility for clearly leading safety as part of their daily tasks.” Jukka Rikkinen

“From my point of view and business area, I don’t see anything that can disappear from safety management. I even believe there will be things added.” Jan Scheijen

“The HSEQ world is not known for letting approaches disappear. The diversity in safety cultural maturity also necessitates different practices at different levels.” Jop Groeneweg

“We need to shift the focus from a compliance culture type of safety management system to one that is more performancebased. An effective system is one that is focussed on the person at work. In other words, we need to adopt a people-centric prevention approach in modern safety and health management system.” Ho Siong Hin

“Due to the variety and differing sizes of enterprises nothing much will disappear, however electronic information handling and measuring tools will be increasingly used.” Wiking Husberg

“The assumption that someone else is doing the safety for you is disappearing, and the understanding of everyone’s responsibility for safety is increasing. Only the management cannot do risk assessments because the work and working environment is constantly changing so the need for static risk assessments is decreasing. By contrast, dynamic risk assessments done by the workers carrying out the actual work are increasing. In addition, using e-mail for notifying others of safety matters is decreasing and using social media features is taking over.” Karri Koskinen

“I feel that top-down management systems are starting to disappear, it’s not a modern leadership model. The responsibility and freedom should be taken at lower levels. It will be a huge change for safety management, as is it felt that management is responsible for safety.” Fredrik Löfberg

“The integration of HSEQ systems is evolving. Software is moving away from being installed on a local server, to SAAS, offered in the cloud. This also applies to safety management software. We have a huge amount of safety related training cards in use in Finland (occupational safety card, hot work card, road work card, first aid card, hygiene card, electrical work card SFS 6002, WHO work at heights card, to name a few). The question is whether there can be some integration and simplification, and the use of e-learning. All these cards need to be renewed typically every second or third year, meaning a considerable cost. Practical exercises remain important.” Pieter Jan Bots

“The role of the HSEQ organisation is shifting more and more from actually handling the operational daily HSEQ issues to implementing new things, giving guidance and coaching the management and personnel. Maybe not just yet, but in the long run the “HSEQ departments” as such will become obsolete and everyone in their own role will become the HSEQ experts and leaders on their own.

On the more practical side, the days of the hard copy data management and pushing paper at the workplace look to be numbered.” Antti Ilvonen

“I would be delighted if Root Cause Analysis would disappear, but I am not very optimistic. The simplicity of the method and the thinking behind it is too attractive to be overcome by sound arguments against its practical value.” Erik Hollnagel

Do you see a practice or a way of working that is going to disappear from safety management in 2017?

SAFETY INFLUENCERS TO WATCH IN 2017

Jari Nykänen, Occupational Safety authority in Finland - Legislation, TR / MVR measurement.

Mika Santonen, OP Vakuutus - good practices about construction safety problems. Mika has years of safety management know-how and experience from FIOH (Institute of Occupational Health in Finland) and from major companies in different industry sectors.

Professor Andrew Hopkins: Sociological aspects of safety.

Jukka Takala as the president of ICOH, one of the most important worldwide organisations for OSH. (Nominated twice. Contributor to last year’s report.)

Professor David M. DeJoy at the University of Georgia has written extensively on Worksite Health Promotion, Safety Culture, Behavioural Theory, and Hazard and Risk Communication over the past 30 years or so, significantly influencing both theory and practice. David’s work on integrating human resources within organisations has inspired new research directions in the field, as well as numerous real-world applications. Today, many of the country’s largest employers, the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention among them, have adopted his methods.

Prof. Dr. Rüdiger Trimpop, Chair of Labour, Business and Organisational Psychology at the University of Jena, Thuringia, Germany has conducted extensive research on the behavioural and organisational causes of incidents since the late 1980s. His work focusing on safety values, risk and decision making is of the highest order. He makes use of this work to bring about meaningful employee engagement and solve organisational problems that in turn is known to reduce incidents by as much as 56%.

Dr. Jeremy M. Beus is an Assistant Professor at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge. Jeremy’s primary research focuses on psychological safety research that includes organisational climate, individual and team performance dynamism, and organisational socialisation. His research has been published in many prestigious journals, and he has recently reviewed the scientific EHS literature and offers practical ways forward for safety researchers and practitioners.

2017 WISH LIST

What is your wish regarding HSEQ and site

information management in 2017?

“Better results to avoid typical construction incidents and to keep zero accident targets simple and achievable for everyone.”

Jari Korpisaari

“For every site manager to have access to easy reporting tools.” Seppo Rytilä

“I’m a huge advocate of the safety culture ladder. This covers the behaviour of the people and not the management systems, unlike all other methods.” Jan Scheijen

“I am happy to see more and more new start-up companies in this field - I hope that the integration of ESHQ information to business data and decision making will get easier in the future with the help of new information management solutions.”

Marjo Rehn

“To have better graphs about the type of events that are happening on a monthly basis. I do not want to spend too much time trying to understand what is happening on each and every site, but to have an indication of whether I have multiple events happening because of the same reason.” Anna Lehtinen

“That we remain open-minded and ready to explore and innovate the ways we do HSEQ and site management.”

Sidney Dekker

“We should define a culture of prevention on a local, national and supranational level.” Walter Eichendorf

“That practical and easy-to-use EHS information systems are used to drive safety leadership from the top down to the frontline supervisor, for the benefit of employee safety. This requires the integration of behaviour-based safety processes, potential serious injury and fatality research, human error and root cause analysis information systems that are provided in a simple digital information system. We have created such a system that has helped companies reduce incident rates by 67% within 12 months, but it would be good to see the EHS community adopt a similar approach, instead of the piecemeal approach that currently seems to be the norm.” Dr. Dominic Cooper

“Standardisation of collecting information between organisations. Many organisations collect many indicators of their safety performance, but there is hardly any overlap between what and how they measure them.” Jop Groeneweg

“The ability to harness information using artificial intelligence to identify potential risks before an incident occurs. Together, with the mindset that every accident or occurrence of ill-health arising from work is preventable, we can make Vision Zero for OSH a global reality.” Ho Siong Hin

“That the European Union would restart its work to improve working conditions, as this will have a positive impact for the whole world.” Wiking Husberg

“Tools for analysing HSEQ information combining HSEQ information coming from different sources. Risk assessment should be dynamic and constantly updated by the new data coming from sites - information flow should go both ways, from management to workers and the other way round.”

Karri Koskinen

“I wish to have more agile implementation and cost effective pricing that correlates with business success. It would make investment decisions easier and speed up the process.” Fredrik Löfberg

“That things are kept simple. Systems are for people, not people for systems.” Pieter Jan Bots

“Mobile reporting tools in everyone’s pocket. Faster and more effective utilisation of data, wherever and whenever it’s most needed. More understanding on the “Why?” to support the “Who?”, “Where?”, “When?” and “How?”” Antti Ilvonen

“That HSEQ and site information management gradually cease to be separate issues, and are instead seen as part of the overall system and performance management.” Erik Hollnagel

NordSafety wants to make safety engaging and productive for every organisation where HSEQ matters. We make it happen with our mobile solution for HSEQ management, saving the time consumed to collect, analyse and utilise relevant data. Safety, environment and quality are becoming more and more important for organisations, and we are here to ensure HSEQ data works for you.