Danny Smith

Through an examination of how the conscious and subconscious mind affect danger and risk, this session introduces two key skills that workers can use to stay safe 24/7 and equips leaders with insights on how to avoid blaming the worker. Backed up with neuroscience and behavioral research, this engaging and interactive presentation is delivered from the down-to-earth perspective of a safety professional.

Blame suffocates culture. The solution is positive accountability. This presentation will give audiences the know-how to diagnose blame within their own work cultures—highlighting the common causes of blame and the misconceptions that allow it to thrive—as well as the tools to cut it out of your organization. Start curating the positive accountability necessary to strengthen your operations and enhance safety.

Nearly every workplace faces challenges in understanding and transforming culture. An organization’s culture forms over a long period, it is deeply ingrained in an organization’s DNA, and it can be hard to change. In contrast to culture, safety climate is defined as employees’ perceptions of safety in their daily work environment. Simply put, safety climate is what is happening right now. The culture is shaped by how the company's processes and systems interact with each other and respond to internal and external changes, while safety climate is more about the current feelings and atmosphere of the workplace. Leaders can have a significant impact on the safety climate.

This interactive workshop will distinguish climate from culture and participants will learn how their safety climate can be influenced. We will use the SafeStart Human Factors Framework as a lens to help us see the connection between individual worker safety and organizational systems. The framework will also be used to identify examples of the human factors that contribute to safety and performance challenges within your workplace.

Organizations looking to influence their safety climate must operate as a learning organization. The quality and quantity of learning opportunities are crucial for creating a learning organization. During the workshop, we will introduce a structured process to learn from hazards and risks and practice the process in groups.

What we say and, more importantly, what we do, effectively convey and reinforce organizational values and a positive safety climate. An introspection exercise will be conducted to help the participants determine what they value personally and how they project those values in the real world. Case studies explaining how verbal and non-verbal cues project values to others will be reviewed. We will work together to develop a prioritized action plan for influencing a positive climate.

This half-day workshop engages participants with role-playing, a risk assessment hazard hunt, a communication exercise and a task of self-reflection. Participants will leave the workshop with a personal development plan and a commitment to use communication skills more deliberately. Developing and sharing personal development plans is the capstone of the workshop.