For CHS Inc. McPherson Refinery Safety Manager Scott Swanson, protecting workers is a journey that is never complete.
"For any of us who have been involved in any form of safety program or process, you know that the work is never done," Swanson said. "Changing the safety and organizational culture is not a sprint. It's a marathon. It takes time."
Sustaining a successful program or process and keeping people engaged is, in many ways, more difficult than the original achievement of obtaining that goal, Swanson said. "That is why it has been important for us to be consistent over the years in our review of this process," he explained.
Every year since 2008, the Kansas-based CHS McPherson Refinery has conducted a review that assesses and gauges the current perceptions of the company's employees.
"We need to look at ourselves in the mirror and evaluate ways to do our transformational growth as leaders," he said. "When we talk about transformational leadership, we view this as developing behaviors, strategies and actions that really challenge the 'this is how we have always done it' mentality."
This self-evaluation also allows leadership to better understand the assumptions that are held by all levels of the organization - whether those assumptions are true or untrue - and helps leaders gauge their understanding of the current culture, Swanson explained.
"It gives them direction for opportunities of improvement and inspires them to change expectations," Swanson said. "Understanding those perceptions [helps] motivate others toward your common goals."
While this "grassroots safety culture" has measurable benefits, Swanson said that both management and advanced team leadership "must know the limits of some of the grassroots team projects, and then be willing to assume responsibility of certain actions beyond the level of what the grassroots teams control."
Still, according to Swanson, the importance of this metric is matched by the necessity for managers to "share successes along the way, regardless of how large or small" with their workers.
"This is not something that comes naturally to our Midwest mentality," Swanson admitted during a recent webinar from the Voluntary Protection Program Participants' Association. "Often, we tend to focus on the things that don't go the way we planned."
Safety begins with teamwork
Swanson cited the old adage that "one step forward in success is worth a quarter, but one step backward costs you $20."
"That really emphasizes that the impact of just one failure or simple misstep can wipe out normal successes in your culture," he said. "Ultimate success is the result of preparation, hard work and learning from our failures."
"Ultimate success is the result of preparation, hard work and learning from our failures." - Scott Swanson, CHS Inc.
Swanson reminded industry leaders and managers to recognize the contributions their front-line workers make not only to the company's financial bottom line, but also to the company's safety culture.
"The front-line employees who are out there in the field each day are the ones who are conducting the work. Who else is better suited to help identify and engage the measures to help improve that risk situation to ensure a safer workplace?" he observed. "There are so many informal leaders within the union ranks that the opportunity can have a major impact on success. We do not want to forget to recognize workers for their efforts. It may be a simple 'thank you' for a job well done, or a more formal acknowledgment for those who have championed the safety culture process or safety program."
Over the years, participation in the safety culture process by many of his company's informal union leaders has allowed for the opportunity to progress and grow, Swanson said.
Regardless of whether the employees continue to have union representation or have moved into management roles, Swanson said, they continue to greatly influence change in the process "because they understand the value it brings each day, as well as to the long term."
"For us, so much of the safety culture process was building relationships and trust and providing an opportunity for employees who were silent to have some honest discussion and dialogue about ways to make the refinery safer," Swanson concluded.
