Practitioner viewpoint - September 24

HOW OFTEN do you launch a new safety campaign in your organisation? 

Many businesses aspire to have a new safety campaign every year, and while this drive for improvement is laudable, it is not necessarily achievable or realistic.

Campaigns should be about driving positive change, and the time required to embed change very much depends on the specific circumstances in each case; the amount of change required; the nature of that change; the size of the population affected etc.

By focusing on launching a new campaign every year, we risk failing to properly embed change in the organisation, by switching focus before the process is complete. Thus reducing the positive impact of the campaign, and failing to achieve the target condition and associated safety benefits.

So how can we satisfy organisational aspirations for continual improvement without compromising the benefit of our safety campaigns?

It’s really important to start with a clear Project Definition Document. This should set out the current condition and the target condition. What is the situation that the campaign seeks to address? And if the campaign is successful what will the situation be once the change is fully realised? 

The Document should also establish a clear programme for the campaign. What activities will be undertaken to move towards the target condition? Who will be responsible for these? What are the key assumptions and dependencies? What metrics will be used to monitor progress towards the target condition? And most importantly of all, what is the timeline for completion of the activities and therefore achievement of the target condition?

The project definition document should be clear and concise, designed to set out the purpose, process and outcome in a clear and concise way so that everyone can understand the rationale for the campaign and how it will deliver safety improvement. You can then use this to engage key stakeholders, support the business case for change, and, importantly, to manage expectations and ensure that everyone understands the timeline required to properly embed the process and to achieve the desired target condition. 

Of course, most projects don’t run smoothly. There will be challenges along the way. Activities may take longer than anticipated, circumstances may change, and other priorities may distract key stakeholders. This can be frustrating, but your Project Definition Document can help you to replan and re-prioritise as required so that the campaign continues and is supported until the target condition is fully achieved, rather than being halted by a pre-set deadline before the real benefits have been achieved and embedded in the business.

None of this is rocket science! It’s basic project management process. But by applying this discipline to safety campaigns we can help to ensure that the continual improvement cycle is fully achieved and that the benefits are fully realised by the business, before we move on to the next campaign.

It can also help to support a positive safety culture. People are much more willing to engage in activities where they can see how the outcome will deliver benefit, and are more likely to support the next campaign when they can see that the benefits of the previous one have been fully achieved before the focus moves on.

In my experience, this can help to avoid campaign fatigue and support a fully effective cycle of continual improvement in your business adding significantly more value than an arbitrarily applying an annual cycle to safety improvement campaigns.

Louise Ward is safety & sustainability director at G&W UK – Safety. For more information, visit www.gwrr.co.uk