Module 12 Study Guide

Leading Cultural Change

Module 12 Leading Cultural Change: Study Guide

Module Learning Objectives

1. Help improve your company’s safety culture.
2. Be a good neighbor to the community.
3. Advocate for inclusive PPE.

Module Summary

Learning Objective 1. Help improve your company’s safety culture.

In a good safety culture, everyone in the company should be alert for hazards and report any
they see. While it’s the employer’s responsibility to keep the workplace safe, they need your
help identifying and addressing hazards.

You should always report:

• Unsafe situations.
• Unhealthy conditions.
• Work-related injuries and illnesses.
• Near misses.

Near-miss reports contain a lot of important information:

• They help assess hazards on site.
• They help determine how well hazard controls are working.
• They can help the company address hazards before someone gets hurt.

If you notice a problem or hazard, communicate it immediately, before anyone gets hurt.

Follow your company’s protocol for reporting. That usually means reporting to your supervisor
first. Your supervisor may contact a safety professional.

You should also alert other workers in the area who might be at risk.

Stay alert and be vocal. Participate in your safety program.

Safety culture is about protecting things that can’t be replaced—like people.

© ClickSafety, Inc. 1
 Module 12 Study Guide
Leading Cultural Change

Safety needs to be a part of daily work. That means everyone needs to meet a certain
standard. When people don’t meet these standards, employers need to hold them
accountable.

For everyone’s safety, including your own, you should:

• Follow your company’s safety practices.
• Give coworkers reminders when necessary.
• Hold each other accountable for putting yourselves or others in danger.

Near-miss reports let you focus your prevention efforts where they’ll make the most
difference.

Other types of information that can help your safety program include tracking leading and
lagging indicators.

Leading Indicators A leading indicator looks forward. It

measures how much you’re doing to prevent
incidents. Examples include:
• Near misses
• Training completions
• Incident reviews
• Equipment upkeep
• Safety observations
• Risk assessment
Lagging Indicators A lagging indicator looks backward. It
measures how many incidents there have
been, and how severe. Examples include:
• Injuries and fatalities
• Injuries due to lack of training
• Productivity lost due to injuries or
illnesses
• Equipment failures
• OSHA citations
• Worker’s compensation claims

To keep the workplace safe, practice good housekeeping by keeping the work area tidy and
clean and storing things in their proper areas.

Poor housekeeping can lead to injuries.

• People could slip or trip on objects in walkways.
• If cords aren’t arranged properly, they could fray and cause electric shocks.
• Anything blocking the view of vehicles could lead to struck-by incidents.
• If loose objects are on a higher level, they could fall and hit people.

© ClickSafety, Inc. 2
 Module 12 Study Guide
Leading Cultural Change

Other ways to contribute to a safety culture include:

• Actively participating in safety meetings
• Joining toolbox talks
• Joining safety committees
• Bringing diverse perspectives to meet the needs of all workers

Your safety is a partnership between you and your employer. You should share your ideas for
preventing future accidents to your supervisor or employer.

Here are some examples of good and bad safety cultures for workers:

In a bad safety culture, workers: In a strong safety culture, workers:

• Leave it to the safety professional to
find hazards.
• Wait to communicate safety issues.
• Aren’t always disciplined.
• Are afraid to report concerns or
incidents.
• Stop following safety rules as soon
as the safety officer leaves.
• Don’t say much in safety meetings.
• Keep ideas to themselves.
• Don’t see much point in participating
in the safety program.
• Let maintenance and housekeeping
slide as long as work is getting done.
• Stay alert for hazards and report
them.
• Communicate safety issues
immediately.
• Follow safety rules all the time, no
matter what.
• Participate in safety meetings,
toolbox talks, and safety
committees.
• Voice ideas for addressing hazards.
• Take inspections, maintenance, and
housekeeping seriously.

Here are some examples of good and bad safety cultures for management:

In a bad safety culture, management: In a strong safety culture, management:

• Punishes workers for reporting • Encourages workers to report
problems. problems.
• Ignores problems. • Investigates reports of problems,
• Only investigates to find someone to finds root causes, and
blame. communicates them.
• Sets a bad example by not “walking • Follows their own safety rules.
the talk.” • Consistently holds people
• Let’s it slide when people break accountable for breaking safety
minor safety rules. rules.
• Only addresses hazards after • Uses near-miss reports to prevent
someone gets hurt. accidents.

© ClickSafety, Inc. 3
 Module 12 Study Guide
Leading Cultural Change

• Rarely communicates about safety. • Encourages workers to participate in

• Is inconsistent about disciplining the safety program.
workers.
• Keeps incidents under wraps and
doesn’t communicate results of
investigations.

There are several things you can do if you’re punished unfairly for raising a safety concern at
work.
1. You could escalate the matter to the manager’s boss.
2. If you’re in a union, you can get your union rep involved.
3. If those approaches don’t work, or if it doesn’t look like the culture will change, you can
quit and work for a company with a better culture.
4. You could file a whistleblower complaint with OSHA.

All trades should keep their work areas clean.

If the debris tripped someone and they got hurt, it would be everyone’s fault.

Don’t wait for an incident to start caring about safety culture.

Here are a few things to keep in mind:

• It can take weeks, even months, for a worker to recover from a broken bone.
• It can take weeks, even months, to hire and fully train a new worker.
• It can take years for a new worker to learn how to work with the same skill and
efficiency as a senior worker.
• Investigating the cause of an injury can take days of managers’ time.
• A serious incident could create weeks of fallout. The costs of accidents can affect the
whole company and cause big financial problems.
• Cooperating with an OSHA investigation and addressing citations can take days of
management time, even if it’s a straightforward process. Depending on what kind of
incident it was, the investigation could extend into weeks or months.

Safety problems can cause all kinds of delays and expenses, like:
▪ Downtime while workers recover from injuries.
▪ Replacing and training workers.
▪ Managing paperwork and investigations.
▪ Costs from fines, legal fees, and penalties.

Learning Objective 2. Be a good neighbor to the community.

If something unsafe happens on a worksite, you should alert everyone on the site.

© ClickSafety, Inc. 4
 Module 12 Study Guide
Leading Cultural Change

You should also alert any community members who might be affected.

Even if you aren’t required to communicate your construction activities to the community, it’s
often a best practice.

Noise is one of the main ways construction activities can disturb neighbors. There are several
ways to reduce equipment noise:
• Lubricate equipment.
• Seal gaps.
• Perform regular maintenance.
• Use the quietest equipment possible.
• Move equipment further away.
• Block noise with temporary barriers.

If toxic chemicals spill or leak, they could get into the community’s air or water.

Sites with toxic chemicals should have controls to prevent spills. And they should have spill
kits in case of an incident.

Unauthorized visitors haven’t had your safety training or site orientation. They could also be
distracted. You need to get them off the site as quickly as possible!

Learning Objective 3. Advocate for inclusive PPE.

Loose clothing or PPE, like vests, arc-flash gear, or gloves, can get caught in moving parts.
When you get PPE, make sure you try it on and test it. If it’s uncomfortable, doesn’t fit right, or
it’s damaged, it could be dangerous to wear. Talk to your supervisor and get PPE that fits!

Employers must keep a range of different PPE in stock for new workers or if existing workers
need new PPE. This should include stocking PPE in size ranges suitable for women.

Employers should also keep a directory of PPE manufacturers and suppliers for times when
they need to order new PPE.

Knowledge Checks
1. Why are near-miss reports important? (Choose all that apply.)
A. They help assess site hazards.
B. They help determine how well hazard controls are working.
C. The help the company address hazards once someone gets hurt.
D. They protect the company from getting sued by noncompliant workers.

© ClickSafety, Inc. 5
 Module 12 Study Guide
Leading Cultural Change

2. Identify whether each description is an example of a good or bad safety culture.

Good Bad
1. Only supervisors can stop work.
2. Workers aren’t disciplined for not following
safety rules.
3. Management addresses issues after someone
gets hurt.
4. Workers voice ideas for addressing hazards.
5. Management consistently holds people
accountable if they break rules.
6. Workers are disciplined for reporting
problems.
7. Management uses near-miss reports to
prevent accidents.

Key Terms and Definitions

Key Term Definition

Lagging indicator Measures how many incidents there have
been, and how severe.
Leading indicator Measures how much you’re doing to prevent
incidents.
Near-miss report A safe work procedure that aims to eliminate
potential incidents by ensuring that close-
calls or near accidents are proactively
reported to facilitate swift actions that
prevent their reoccurrence.

Resources, Sources, and Links

1. Housekeeping: https://www.osha.gov/laws-
regs/regulations/standardnumber/1926/1926.25
2. Near Miss Reporting Policy: https://www.osha.gov/sites/default/files/2021-
07/Template%20for%20Near%20Miss%20Reporting%20Policy.pdf

© ClickSafety, Inc. 6
 Module 12 Study Guide
Leading Cultural Change

3. Near Miss Incident Report Form: https://www.osha.gov/sites/default/files/2021-

07/Template%20for%20Near%20Miss%20Report%20Form.pdf
4. Recommended Practices for Safety & Health Practices in Construction:
https://www.osha.gov/sites/default/files/OSHA3886.pdf
5. Using Leading Indicators to Improve Safety and Health Outcomes:
https://www.osha.gov/sites/default/files/OSHA_Leading_Indicators.pdf

Answer Key
1. Why are near-miss reports important? (Choose all that apply.)
A. They help assess site hazards. (Correct. This is a reason near miss reports are
important.)
B. They help determine how well hazard controls are working. (Correct. This is a
reason near-miss reports are important.)
C. The help the company address hazards once someone gets hurt. (Incorrect.
Near-miss reports help the company address hazards before someone gets
hurt.)
D. They protect the company from getting sued by noncompliant workers.
(Incorrect. This is not a reason near-miss reports are important.)

2. Identify whether each description is an example of a good or bad safety culture.

Good Bad
1. Only supervisors can stop work. X
2. Workers aren’t disciplined for not X
following safety rules.
3. Management addresses issues after X
someone gets hurt.
4. Workers voice ideas for addressing X
hazards.
5. Management consistently holds people X
accountable if they break rules.
6. Workers are disciplined for reporting X
problems.
7. Management uses near-miss reports to X
prevent accidents.

© ClickSafety, Inc. 7