The Critical Role of Safety Leadership: A Perspective Grounded in Experience

Through our combined experience of over six decades in the safety field, we have noticed many organizations believe that safety departments and the safety professionals who work in them are solely responsible for the safety of workers. While safety professionals certainly bring valuable technical knowledge and skills to the table, relying on them alone to manage safety performance is shortsighted, and can even be misguided.

Here’s the hard truth: Safety will never function optimally unless operations leaders are deeply involved. It’s important to recognize that no matter how skilled safety professionals are, they will not have the same influence over the workforce as the direct operations leaders will. Because organizations exist to produce, and because operations leaders lead the organization in this primary focus, workgroups are wired to follow their operations leaders. This is a simple, yet profound reality about how the workplace functions.

Leadership – Safety Disconnect

When organizations fail to acknowledge the critical role that operations leaders play, they often see a plateau in safety results, or even worse, they see safety performance decline. To drive lasting safety improvements, operations leadership’s commitment to safety must be unwavering.  It is in how leaders set the tone, model behaviors, and make decisions that organizations function operationally; good, bad, or somewhere in the middle. The same is true for safety.

The Impact of Operations Leaders on Safety

Let’s look at a practical example of the impact operations leaders can have on safety. Typically, all maintenance teams in a company are well trained in the application of “lockout/tagout” (LO-TO). This is a process designed to prevent serious injuries and fatalities (SIFs) by ensuring that energy sources are properly isolated and controlled during maintenance and repair work. Everyone on a maintenance team knows the risks associated with working on energized equipment and understands the importance of following the LO-TO procedure.

All of this is broadly true, yet the industry doesn’t have a 100% record of compliance with LO-TO. Key reasons for this disconnect are leaders:

• Not having the necessary knowledge of the LO-TO process
• Not believing the process is important
• Letting production become an overriding priority
• Simply not demonstrating that they value the process

This lack of knowledge and/or value, in the context of their focus and actions being geared to operations, can drive leaders to not give their full attention and support to the vital LO-TO process. Without consciously intending to, teams will follow their leaders and also undervalue the importance of the LO-TO process. The result of this is typically lower compliance, which creates exposure – and potentially leaves the door open for catastrophic incidents.

The Power of Leading with Safety

Now imagine a contrasting example of a leader who is truly committed to safety, who engages in LO-TO discussions, provides feedback and reinforcement when others execute LO-TO, and who even reliably sets an example of executing the LO-TO process in view of the team. They are the embodiment of demonstrating VALUE for safety.

This leader creates a new kind of “followership” in safety by not just saying the right words, but by showing value through their actions. This will generate a culture where LO-TO (and safety in general) becomes integral to daily work routines.

To succeed in this way, an operations leader needs to support their team in developing a better understanding the importance of LO-TO, reinforce the importance of LO-TO, and follow the LO-TO process reliably themselves – all the while encouraging and prompting healthy discussions about LO-TO and any barriers to following it. In our time working in the industry, we have seen operations leaders make this shift and become the engines that drive better adaptation of the LO-TO process, and safety in general. 

All of this is true not just for LO-TO, but for any safety related efforts or protocols. Through their actions, leaders determine how safety is valued by the workforce.

Is It Time to Rethink Your Approach to Safety Leadership?

As an organization, it’s essential to reflect on leadership’s role in safety and your expectations for their role. Do your leaders truly value safety, or is safety something relegated to the safety department and the safety professionals? Developing your leaders’ commitment to safety can bring about important improvements, both in the culture of your organization and in safety outcomes. When operations leaders are educated about the true value of safety and are held accountable for fostering a safe environment and work practices, not only do safety metrics improve, but we also see tangible benefits in terms of employee morale, efficiency, and the long-term success of the business.

We have seen firsthand how engaging operations leadership in understanding and embodying the importance of safety has transformed organizations. This isn’t just theory—it’s the experiences of countless organizations who have taken this journey and reaped the benefits.

A Practical Path Forward

We urge you to take a hard look at your operations leadership’s role in safety.

• Are their actions demonstrating value for safety?
• Are they leading by example?
• Are they investing energy and time in their own safety education and understanding of safety?

If not, perhaps it is a good time to prompt a change in focus. By developing leadership’s understanding of the importance of safety and strengthening their competencies in safety, you’ll not only reduce incidents and fatalities, but you’ll also improve the overall performance and sustainability of your business.

Learn more about the impact leaders have on safety in Tom Krause and Kristen Bell’s book, 7 Insights Into Safety Leadership.