In this episode of the Scratchie Safety Podcast, we dive deep into the world of workplace safety, employee engagement, and the crucial role of leadership with Peter Berry, Managing Director at Peter Berry Consultancy. With decades of experience in organisational psychology and safety management, Peter shares valuable insights that could revolutionize how we approach safety in the workplace.
Key Takeaways:
- Safety as a Subset of Culture: Peter emphasises that safety is not an isolated concept but a critical component of overall workplace culture. "You could go to a building site and very quickly determine whether it had good culture or not," he notes.
- The Impact of Leadership: According to Peter, leadership accounts for 50-70% of the total workforce experience. This underscores the importance of effective leaders in fostering a safety-oriented culture.
- The Power of Engagement: Peter highlights the direct correlation between employee engagement and safety performance. He cites Shell as an example, where "for every single one point increase in employee engagement, there's a correlated increase in safety performance."
- The Importance of Teams: One of the most striking insights from the conversation is the often-overlooked importance of teams in driving safety and performance. As Peter puts it, "The team is the unit of performance."
- Personality and Safety: Peter introduces the concept of using personality assessments, such as the Hogan Personality Inventory, to identify individuals with a "safety profile". He explains that traits like adjustment (ability to handle stress) and prudence (rule-following tendency) are strong predictors of safe behavior.
The Scratchie Approach
James Kell, co-founder of Scratchie, shares how these insights align with Scratchie's innovative approach to safety. Scratchie's on-the-spot, categorised rewards system for safe behavior is designed to create positive reinforcement and engagement around safety practices.
A key revelation from the conversation is the potential for Scratchie to evolve its platform to focus more on team-based rewards. As James notes, "We designed this for the individual. But here people [are] naturally coalescing into teams."
The Business Case for Safety
Peter Berry emphasizes that prioritising safety and engagement isn't just about avoiding accidents – it's good for business. He points out multiple benefits:
- Increased productivity
- Lower workers' compensation costs
- Reduced employee turnover
- Enhanced reputation
- Avoidance of fines and sanctions
As Peter puts it, "Engagement pays. Safety pays, and the better employers get that."
Conclusion
This conversation with Peter Berry offers valuable insights into the interconnected nature of safety, culture, leadership, and team dynamics in the workplace. It underscores the potential for innovative approaches, like Scratchie's reward-based system, to drive meaningful improvements in safety outcomes.
As Peter concludes, "Safety's got to be seen as part of the overall culture. And we need to understand that leaders and teams are the drivers of a great culture. And if you do that well, it just pays handsomely."
If you're interested in learning how you can improve safety in your workplace through encouragement, reward, and recognition, reach out to james@scratchie.com.
