The Role of Leadership in Job Site Safety

Without a good leader in place, job site safety becomes a major uphill battle. Leaders are there to establish and enforce a consistent culture, as well as guide people to better decision making and step in to intervene whenever necessary.

But why is it, exactly, that leaders are so indispensable in safety culture? And what can you do to foster and encourage good leadership within your organization?

The Value of Strong Leaders

Let’s start by examining why leaders are so valuable for promoting safety in a construction job site environment.

·       Setting the example. First, your leaders are setting an example, whether they realize it or not. All your employees are going to follow the examples set by their leaders, both consciously and unconsciously. This is a natural byproduct of any environment with a hierarchy; the people at the bottom learn from and model the people at the top. If all your leaders are consistently conscious of safety and working toward higher safety standards, your employees are going to take safety more seriously as well.

·       Guiding new workers. Leaders are also instrumental in guiding and training new workers. These are often the people most responsible for training and educating new hires, as well as helping them acclimate to a new and potentially unfamiliar environment. Without proper training and onboarding, even relatively experienced workers can neglect safety.

·       Enforcing the rules. Employees may make recommendations to each other or teach each other, but it’s a leader’s responsibility to enforce the rules. If and when the people on your team violate safety rules or fail to address particular hazards, leaders are the ones who step in to correct the environment and, at times, issue disciplinary action.

·       Identifying problematic conditions. There are many conditions that can lead to safety policy violations, including time pressure and tight deadlines, overconfidence (often from younger workers), multitasking, distractions, peer pressure, and excessive stress. Because leaders have more experience and the privilege of viewing these conditions from a removed position, they have more power and ability to identify those problematic conditions and correct them (or at least compensate for them).

·       Monitoring and intervening. Leaders can intervene whenever they feel it’s necessary. If they catch a worker interacting with a hazard or violating safety protocols, they may be able to move in before it’s too late.

·       Making adjustments. Leaders are often responsible for setting safety standards and updating those standards as necessary. Only they can make adjustments to improve safety across the organization.

Who Is a Leader?

When we think about leaders on the job site, we generally think of the highest-level supervisors. However, almost anyone can serve a leadership role, provided they have the maturity and experience to do it. Encourage all your best employees to act as leaders in the environment, identifying problematic behaviors, holding people accountable for following the rules, and exemplifying safety conscious work throughout the job site.

Toward Better Safety Leadership

What can we do to foster better leadership for greater job site safety?

·       Hire, train, and nurture the best people. You need the absolute best people in your leadership positions. That means it’s your responsibility to scout, hire, train, and nurture the best people within your organization – and potentially recruit people from outside of it.

·       Make sure leaders are prime examples. Every leader within your organization needs to be a model for all your other employees. Anyone who violates safety policies with abandon or doesn’t seem consistent in their application of safety procedures should be retrained and conditioned to be better.

·       Reward in addition to disciplining. You need both the “carrot” and the “stick” to cultivate meaningful change in a construction environment. That means issuing disciplinary action to people who violate safety policies, but also rewarding employees who consistently follow them. Good leaders are able to do both, as appropriate.

·       Practice open communication. Construction job sites flow much more smoothly and safely when people are in clear, open communication with each other. Make sure your leaders always prioritize clear and transparent communication.

·       Follow ongoing education. Safety standards and safety equipment are always evolving. Since your leaders are disproportionately responsible for cultivating a safety culture, they should prioritize ongoing education. Even a few classes, seminars, and training opportunities a year can make a big impact on how they treat the job site.

·       Continuously retrain and reassess. Your work in job site safety is never done as a leader. It’s your responsibility to continuously retrain and reassess your employees – especially your leaders – to ensure they’re up to date and confident in preserving safety.

A safer job site is a more productive, happier, more profitable job site. And one of the best ways to achieve this goal is to prioritize safety focused leadership. With better, safer leaders in place, your organization has the potential to thrive like never before.