GrafTech International

It feels like we have come a long way in keeping people safe at work, doesn’t it? Your company trains people and fixes most things around here. You take safety seriously. There has been progress… But more is needed. 

According to the most recent Bureau of Labor Statistics report, 5,486 people were killed on the job in 2022, which is the highest number of lives lost between 2013 and then. That is, one life ended every 96 minutes. Most of those people and the organizations they worked for were sure it would not happen to them. Yet it did, 5,486 times. That's 5,486 people who did not return home from work that day to their spouses, children, friends and neighbors, whose lives are changed forever after the loss of their loved one. Please pause a moment and consider this. 

Now that we have a dose of reality to ground our perception of just where we are in terms of keeping all employees safe at work let's set our minds on making some game-changing progress. But where do we start? I see three areas that create a significant opportunity to improve the prevention of injuries in general and fatalities in particular. These are leadership, employee engagement, a broad approach to injury avoidance, and promotion of well-being.

Changing people's behavior or motivating a group of people starts with leadership. People follow the leader's vision, which aligns with their values and promises a better future for them. To successfully reduce injuries in the 21^st century, leaders must create a different vision and set of expectations for those they lead. Studies have found that the quality of leadership and the organizational culture that results from leadership were the most important factors in predicting safety improvement success.

We live in dynamic times that also make our workplaces go through waves of challenge and change. A style of leadership has developed that can be effective in steering people through these chaotic environments. Resilient leadership is a form of leading people where the leader has the ability to sustain their energy level under pressure by coping with disruptive changes and adapting. They can overcome these dynamic challenges without taking on dysfunctional behaviors. Leaders who learn to be adept at fostering a communicative environment that allows trust between members to develop, enables collaboration and is inclusive are needed to counteract the rising trend of deaths at work.

Engagement of employees in the activities of sites, including safety, remains an opportunity to release the increased capabilities of injury prevention needed to reverse this trend. Research has determined, time and time again, that a significant positive correlation exists between safety outcomes and the engagement of employees. These studies find that engaged employees are five times less likely to have a safety-related incident. By utilizing a strengths-based approach to employee engagement, leaders can focus on recognizing and developing the strengths of employees, matching those capabilities with tasks related to the safety program while, in the process, creating a more inclusive and diverse environment. 

Of course, fundamental safety engineering and regulatory compliance remain the foundation of protecting people at work. However, additional tools are needed to break through the plateau. In recent years, the concept of Total Worker Health has come to the forefront as a missing piece of the toolbox for advancing the prevention of injuries and fatalities. To meet future challenges, another facet of driving a dramatic shift in the occupational setting is letting go of the notion that concepts like machine guarding and safety policies alone will move the industry to the next level of safety. A holistic approach is needed that takes into consideration the many other emotional, cognitive, physical, and social factors of individuals that affect their behavior and performance, ultimately helping them avoid injury or become more susceptible to the causes of injuries and accidents. 

NIOSH has been energetically advancing the concept of total worker health (TWH) for a number of years, developing an impressive body of research and a conceptual framework on the subject. TWH is a comprehensive view of worker well-being that encompasses a diverse range of health-impacting factors: control of hazards and exposures, organization of work, the built environment supports, leadership, compensation and benefits, community supports, changing workplace demographics, policy issues and new employment patterns. Implementation of TWH focuses on opportunities to protect workers and advance their health and well-being by improving work conditions through workplace policies, processes, and practices. Implementation strategies often center on five elements:  leadership commitment, design of work with reduced hazards and promote well-being, active worker engagement, confidentiality and privacy, and integrated systems to advance worker well-being. 

By using the capabilities built through resilient leadership and employee engagement discussed above, the concepts of TWH can be absorbed into the team’s thinking and then acted on through their collaborative efforts. In this way, a more resilient, performance-focused, and wholistically managed organization is developed that is up to the challenge of driving organizational activities and group norms in the direction needed to send all employees home after their shift each day at least as healthy and whole as they were when they came to work.   

This quote starts us down the path to realizing the vision of providing a safe workplace equal to the potential of our 21st century:

“Human progress isn't measured by industry; it's measured by the value you put on a life.”  ― Abhijit Naskar