Searching for breakthrough change in occupational health and safety performance: emerging themes

1. Searching for breakthrough change in occupational health and safety performance: emerging themes Siobhan Cardoso Project Coordinator Institute for Work & Health, Toronto, Ontario Safety Service Nova Scotia Conference March 21 2013

2. Presenting the work of: • Lynda S. Robson, PhD (Principal Investigator) • Associate Scientist, Institute for Work & Health • and • Cindy Moser1, Ben Amick(Co-PI)1,2, Michael Swift1, Mark Pagell3, Sheilah Hogg-Johnson1,4, Harry S. Shannon5, Liz Mansfield1, Harriet South1, Siobhan Cardoso1 • 1 Institute for Work & Health, Toronto, ON, 2 University of Texas School of Public Health, Houston, TX, USA, 3 UCD Michael Smurfit Graduate Business School, University College Dublin, Ireland, 4Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, 5 McMaster University, Hamilton, ON

3. What will you learn today? • What is “breakthrough change” • Large, intentional, firm-level improvement in the prevention of injury or illness • Key elements of BTC • Why these elements are important in OHS improvment

4. Why focus on breakthrough change? • Past research identified differences between firms that are low and high performing in OHS • OHS mgmt standards specify a high performance set of structures and processes • A good understanding of the change between low and high performance is lacking • What motivates the change? • How do they do it?

5. What we did • Phase 1: Searched for companies that were undergoing a large decline in claim rates; briefly interviewed them on why their claims were decreasing. • Phase 2: in-depth case studies that reflected what we saw in the statistics

6. Definition of large changefor screening WSIB statisticsExample 1: From rank of ≥ 50% in claim rate To rank of ≤ 20% in claim rate Could be gradual change

7. Definition of large changefor screening WSIB statisticsExample 2: From rank of ≥ 50% in claim rate To rank of ≤ 20% in claim rate Could be sudden change

8. Occurrence of BTC is 1 in 200 over a decade! Firms ≥ 75 FTE over 1998-2008 (n = 2,599) Firms changing from ≥ 50th to ≤ 20th percentile rank (n = 67) Firms in which change was more certain (n = 32) Firms briefly interviewed by IWH (n = 15) Intentional change confirmed in interview(n=12) • BTC CASES www.iwh.on.ca

9. Change is complex • No magic bullet story here! • Six to 12 distinct internal changes mentioned per case • Primary prevention involved in all cases (n = 11) • Primary prevention only (n = 5) • Secondary prevention only (n = 0) • Mix of primary and secondary (n = 6) www.iwh.on.ca

12. Was there anything that you were surprised to see among the changes?

13. Who drove the change internally in BTC firms? # of firms reporting www.iwh.on.ca

14. www.iwh.on.ca

15. Key elements of BTC (so far!) • Change is complex and varied • Internal personnel drives change • External prevention system helped motivate BTC www.iwh.on.ca

16. Anything you want to talk about? www.iwh.on.ca

17. Phase 2: Case Studies • Key elements of success and what they look like in practice • What is a key element? • An aspect of the context, process and content of the BTC that likely or potentially contributed to its occurrence. www.iwh.on.ca

18. Case study sites www.iwh.on.ca

19. How we collected the data • Timeframe: • Site visits: 2 researchers, 2 days • 2.Worksite tour • Guided tour around worksite with a knowledgeable OHS employee • Interviews participants: • Variety of roles and levels • Senior manager • Supervisor • Front-line worker • Management designate in OHS • JHSC members • Long tenure employees preferred • 3. Document review • JHSC minutes, • Annual reports, • Internal statistics reports, • WSIB statements, etc. www.iwh.on.ca

20. What we found www.iwh.on.ca

21. Key elements • External triggers that motivate BTC • New external OHS knowledge acquisition • Knowledge transformation leaders are important • Alignment of key elements • Organizational context is important for BTC • Dedicated OHS personnel • Safety committees help drive/sustain change • Simultaneous organizational improvements add to OHS

22. External influences that motivated BTC • played a highly significant role in the initiation of BTC • Examples: • regulatory, • financial incentives through the market, • knowledge about OHS risk and its management • External customer demands acted as a motivator: • ... We started looking at our safety programs and, actually what happened was a lot of customers who wanted to get on board with them, as being a supplier, big customers like {large petroleum company}, they wanted a track of our safety records cos I guess they always just want to be affiliated with companies in good standing as well. So that was also I guess part of one the things I brought…a little bit more emphasis on safety back in the late 90s. • (Firm 16, Patrick, Safety coordinator & process engineer) • External public consultant as motivation for change: • ….But that relationship has really been the biggest and most significant driving force over the years…I mean it was a driving force in the sense that it was the impetus to change…it’s more of a resource in they would have knowledge and information saying ‘you know you should be thinking about this, and you should be thinking of that’. • (Firm 55, Stan, HR manager) www.iwh.on.ca

23. External OHS consultant infused knowledge and training into safety program and employees: • We tried for a year or two to do it on our own, we found that we were still not getting to where we needed to be, at the same time the Ministry started to work with the Workwell audits…there was a couple of stores that had received Workwells and judging by their scores I knew that we wouldn’t do well either…that was even more of a catalyst to get involved with {consultant}. (Firm 23, John, Store owner) • The owner figured that we needed some help, somebody to lead us into this safety thing that was happening…you got to understand, we will not read every newspaper or everything– instead with her, being what she is, she will look at everything up to date. Everything that has to do with safety, with hazards, and she brings it up to us….this woman that’s coming in, this lady that’s coming in, she’s a great help. She’s a great asset to us. • (Firm 23, Vlad, Produce manager) New external OHS knowledge acquired • Management consultants were common external agents contributing to change • Both private and public consultants made a difference

24. Knowledge transformation leader(s) are key • received/embodied new external OHS knowledge • mobilized organizational skills to support knowledge transformation • were trusted by senior management and workers which gave them authority to act • empowered the JHSC www.iwh.on.ca

25. Example of a knowledge transformation leader: • PATRICK • Process engineer & safety coordinator • Worked at the plant 20+ years • Corporate health and safety personnel for a period of time • Important skills: • Well liked by both worker and management circles • Understood the safety and operation demands www.iwh.on.ca

26. Knowledge transformational leaders make a difference to management and workers • Patrick’s been the real safety leader all these years...He’s done a lot work around the safety program, and really mentoring people and keeping things fresh and in everybody’s ears, you know, always thinking safety. So he’s one of the big, big leaders. • (Firm 16, Danny, plant manager) • Patrick’s a very open person...I perceive it as – you know he would never, ever, like distance himself from anybody. Always out there on the floor – helping. • (Firm 16, Tim, operator)

27. Alignment of key elements leading to change BTC process initiation www.iwh.on.ca

28. When elements align change can occur • …we have more tools now…once you have the tools you get the knowledge right? And we, it’s not that we didn’t care before it’s just that all the tools were not there . We were not emphasizing too much on safety as we do today. • (Firm 23, Vlad, Produce manager) Organizational motivation Knowledge transformation leader Ready source of external OHS knowledge

29. Organizational context is important for BTC • Employee relations were good • Low turnover • Organization had a history of being innovative • Senior management at worksite were competent leaders www.iwh.on.ca

30. Organizational context includes senior managements support • In what forms was their support given? • Senior management was supportive of OHS (including corporate level where applicable) • Resource expenditure • A senior leader scanned the environment, which indicated improvement in OHS was desirable, and then instigated or supported change

31. Dedicated OHS personnel • New hires • New responsibilities for existing personnel

32. Example of a dedicated OHS personnel • TESS • Previously worked on the floor in an automotive plastics manufacturing facility • Had completed her college education in OHS • First EHS coordinator at the plant • Important skills: • she was especially competent, having both OHS knowledge and people skills • highly motivated

33. Dedicated OHS personnel can engage workers & spend time setting, tracking and working towards goals • Tess was really good at getting back to people and closing loops, and then getting more information from people, it becomes a cycle of people being willing to talk more and, to expect more, because they’ve gotten this much, they expect more. • (Firm 12, Sally, HR supervisor) • I do a meeting, it’s a quality plan, but I do an environmental health and safety training plan every year…And I determine what needs to be talked about every year and I try to take this information and I put it into ‘Okay, in January I’m going to do this, in February I’m going to do that, and everything else.’ • (Firm 12, Tess, EHS coordinator) www.iwh.on.ca

34. Safety committee drove or helped sustain change • It was a boring, crappy, dry committee when it first started. And then when we got to see all the really neat stuff that we really needed to do, and it’s very rewarding in that we had nothing and the policies that we have now, and the practices that we have now are significant, and they are to the betterment of the agency, to union people, to the people we support.(Firm 55, Colleen, coordinator) …Never saw them at a safety meeting!

35. Simultaneous organizational improvements add to OHS improvements …you know three thousand bucks a lift is a small price to pay compared to one lost-time claim or something like that. So we’ve bought many lifts since I’ve been here…I’m not sure why they didn’t have more before I was here, but anything like that, that would come to me, almost always I will sort of almost just rubber-stamp approve it, because in the big scheme it’s not a huge cost, it’s a very, very good return on investment . (Firm 55, Gord, Financial director) • There were simultaneous operational improvements directed at its core functions, which contributed to improvement in OHS: • Standard operating procedures put in place • Lean improvements (housekeeping, machine maintenance) • Accreditation • Safety related purchases www.iwh.on.ca

36. Overview: • Reinforces that OHS improvements are complex in nature • External resources can help motivate change • Requires several elements in alignment to motivate change • Sustainability is key for long term benefits www.iwh.on.ca

37. Next steps/ Caveats • These are preliminary findings from the results • Find matched cases from Ontario for all 4 cases • Learn more about sustainable changes

38. Thank you for your time www.iwh.on.ca

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