Safety professionals often can meet resistance from workers when implementing a new rule or a change in personal protective equipment. Workers may resist because they crave familiarity or believe change signals a loss of control, among other reasons.
Safety+Health magazine shares the following tips that can help employees more easily adapt to workplace safety changes.
- Identify barriers. Ron Gantt, vice president of environmental, health and safety at Beale Infrastructure, says identifying barriers can help anticipate employees’ reasons for resistance: “Rather than asking the question, ‘Why aren’t people doing this?’ you could flip that question around and ask, ‘What makes doing this hard?’ That will help you identify barriers, which leads to a more actionable conversation.”
- Gather feedback. Employees can adapt more easily to change if you involve them in the process. They are performing the work daily, so be sure to ask for their input when establishing a new rule or making improvements to safety. This also will help them better understand the changes.
- Get everyone on board. It is important workers understand safety personnel are not alone in leading the change. Conduct sessions with workers affected by the changes so you can listen to their concerns and identify other workers who can be a positive influence and help lead the change.
- Emphasize the positive. Instead of just punishing workers for noncompliance, it can help to reward or acknowledge workers who follow new procedures or wear new PPE.
- Review. New processes always should be reviewed, so it is crucial to regularly check in with employees regarding how the process is going and what obstacles they are experiencing. It also is important to ensure workers have the necessary resources and training to successfully navigate change.
Be sure to check out NRCA's health and safety resources to help your company stay on top of safety.
