The specifics of the implementation of industrial safety rules at enterprises were discussed by the participants of the talk show «Leadership development tools in the safety culture». The event took place as part of the IX St. Petersburg International Labor Forum and the CUBE EXPO exhibition «Personnel. Management. Security» at the Expoforum Convention and Exhibition Center.

It is necessary to introduce a safety culture in companies starting from top management.

«From my own experience, I can say that it is important to convey to managers what the positive effect of implementing a safety culture will be, and using concrete examples,» said Pavel Zakharov, Director of HSE of FT Sirius, Talents and Success Foundation, President of the Association of Industrial Safety Directors.

As an example, he cited a case where a safety culture was implemented at an enterprise of 60 thousand people.

All of the company’s top managers began to oversee one area or another, including risk reduction at height, quality management of personal protective equipment, fire safety of facilities, safe handling of loading and unloading operations, and so on. As a result, after a few months, the company not only reduced the level of injuries, but also increased productivity.

«Such initiatives go first through top management and go down,» Pavel Zakharov emphasized.

According to him, next it is necessary to work with middle managers and line staff. Larisa Cheremisina, Head of Occupational Safety at Megafon PJSC, spoke about her experience working with «middle» managers.

«These specialists complain about the inconvenience of occupational safety-related processes. They are inconvenient to perform, and it takes a lot of time. The assessment of occupational risks is also extended for a long time,» she said, «we have created a special group to address these issues, and we have been able to automate the risk assessment process. As a result, injuries decreased to almost zero,» she said.

Nadezhda Belousova, Head of the Occupational Safety Department of the O’Key retail chain, spoke about what methods of staff motivation can be used. According to her, it is important to involve middle managers in the development of rules that will be implemented in the company, and clearly explain to them their areas of responsibility.

«You can also find an informal leader in the team, explain in detail to him why labor protection is important, what it will give the company and the specialist himself. And then, when certain work is done, it is necessary to note that a specific person helps to introduce a safety culture,» explained Nadezhda Belousova.

«As for working with line staff, you do not need to load an employee with rules and schemes, you need to explain in the process of preparing for work why it is important to comply with certain safety rules,» says Ekaterina Tomilova, Head of the Occupational Safety Service at Regional Network of Food Enterprises LLC.

«At the same time, I am against financial motivation in terms of occupational safety: it is strange to give a person a bonus for working without injury,» Ekaterina Tomilova believes. According to her, the work on the introduction of security at the enterprise is practically a volunteer activity, it requires a certain empathy from specialists and an individual approach when working with colleagues.