Features

Leadership, You, and Working Safely

Trying to hire the “safe personality” seems like a logical choice; after all, one could certainly predict how different personalities would work safely. Review the following figure.

There are four basic personalities based on the combination of being low to high on “assertiveness” and people. “Assertiveness” is the ease of telling people what to do and having energy. “People” is the willingness to take into consideration what people think and feel. Following is a brief description of what could be expected from each personality.

1. Analytical. An analytical employee prefers to follow rules and procedures while striving for perfection. One could expect an analytical employee to work safely.

2. Driver. The driver is driven by results and is apt to “cut corners” to do things more efficiently and faster. Cutting corners may not be the safe thing to do.

3. Expressive. The expressive employee likes to “shoot from the hip” and dislikes the structure of procedures. Thus, this employee is apt to not follow safety procedures.

4. Amiable. The amiable employee likes to please and avoid conflict. Consequently, this employee will want to follow safety procedures because that is what is expected.

Background Checks

Hiring smart can include background checks of criminal activity and credit history in addition to physical fitness. The background check is a truth barometer. Does the employee accurately report any DUI’s, felonies, and a history of violent behavior? Lying about or having a consistent pattern of such activities and/or credit problems suggests the person is not very responsible. The fitness exam helps to determine the degree to which the individual can perform the essential job requirements.
With all the attention focused on the employee, one has to wonder where does leadership fit into the safety formula.

Ignoring Leadership

Emphasizing hiring the “safe personality” has the potential to ignore the impact of leadership. We don’t want to let leaders “off the hook” by minimizing their responsibility to create a safe work climate. Hiring the safe personality could even provide an excuse for safety challenges. In other words, a leader may be tempted to attribute a poor safety record to not hiring “safe people” instead of examining their contributions to their safety record.

Research shows that leadership characteristics play a major role on whether any of the personalities work safely. In other words, in the next article, we begin examining leadership styles that contribute to creating a safe work culture, which leads to an increased interest to maintain and protect personal health. These leadership styles will have a positive impact to help all employees work safely. We will also examine leaders’ behaviors that adversely impact the safety climate and the personal safety of every personality.

Leaders – no excuses! You must accept the fact that your leadership style sets the tone for the work site. And, when employees are not achieving the safety goals, you must first look in the mirror to examine what you may be doing to contribute to the problem.

More to come – keep reading!