Beyond Safety Compliance

Quotes from the industry

After a workplace fatality, an executive team hired Dr Todd Conklin to teach them a bit about this different view of safety. Todd gave his presentation, and with the taxi ready to take him to his next engagement, he shook hands with the executive team. When he got to the CEO, he noticed the CEO did not look well. He asked the CEO if he was okay, the CEO responded that if Todd were to leave then, the CEO could not guarantee that his company would not kill another worker tomorrow.

Todd nearly kissed the floor - he phoned his next client and told them he would be delayed, he told the taxi he didn’t need the ride to the airport after all, changed his flight, and undertook all logistics to stay longer. If the CEO can show such humility, and demonstrate that he was actually listening, Todd told him he would help as much as he possibly could.

Pre Accident Podcast

The head of HSSE for an international oil and gas company in Qatar has, as a mantra, like North American companies had as ISO banners Embrace the Red, Challenge the Green

This executive knew that organizations have organizational deficiencies, and he would rather be aware of them than not be, lest they fester and result in a catastrophe in the future. Furthermore, if all he gets from his sub-ordinates is good news, he believes something is being hidden from him - the organization cannot be functioning perfectly all the time in all aspects.

Pre Accident Podcast #200

I think we may be confusing concepts here - compliance with a standard is just that - compliance with a standard. You could have a standard that has an expectation of an incident investigation process. An incident investigation process could find a guilty party and fire him, which fulfils the standard, but is not safety. If you want safety, you need to go much farther than compliance with a standard.

Glynn Jones, CSSE Eastern Ontario Nov 2018 Meeting

If a company is making money hand over first, at the top of their game, watch their CEO for a while. See, if in the public speeches, there is an acknowledgement of how the company got to where they are. If there isn't - pull your investment out of that company. They might have achieved their success due to luck - unable to handle the perturbations of the marketplace, and will surely fail.

Jim Collins, Health Achieve conference, 2012

Safety and luck are identical twins - and it is a core leadership competency to know the difference.

Podcast (Safety FM?)

I used to think companies are profit maximizers - I now believe companies are self-esteem maximizers… I think companies work to feel the best about themselves. The problem with good risk communication is that it will make you a lot of money and make you feel good in the long term - but in the short term, it feels lousy.

Peter Sandman (Risk = Hazard + Outrage), Implementing Risk Communication, Overcoming the Barriers (recorded presentation)

Harvard Business has a great quote that says that 70% of your business worth of an organization is in your intellectual property and human capital - which is crazy … most companies look at worth through sales and revenues and other things, but that's not true.

Jason Forrest Successful Consulting podcast #124

“As I sat there at the conference listening to one presentation after another highlighting the remarkable and unorthodox activities that have made this organization so healthy, I leaned over and quietly asked the CEO a semi rhetorical question: ‘Why in the world don’t any of your competitors do any of this?’

After a few seconds, he whispered, almost sadly, ‘You know, I honestly believe they think it is beneath them.”

Pat Lencioni, The Advantage, p2

You have to do both. Be performance (customer) oriented, be dignity (employee) oriented, and the combination of those two is what success looks like.

At the Table podcast Ep 32 How do you measure success?

If your team has an audacious goal or is facing a lot of uncertainty, everyone knows, intellectually, that failures will happen and things won’t always go according to plan. But emotionally, most people have a mindset that limits their willingness to take risks and tolerate failures along the way to success. When leaders set the stage by reminding people of the uncertainty that lies ahead, they help people feel more free to speak up with crazy ideas and failures alike. Normalizing uncertainty makes it easier for everyone to talk about it...Acknowledging one’s own doubt is especially powerful because it creates the space for others to do likewise and to offer solutions.

Dr Amy Edmonson, The Power of Psychological Safety in Distributed Workplaces

Company background

“Embrace the Red, Challenge the Green”
Bad news should be welcomed, lest it fester and result in catastrophe. Good news should be greeted with healthy skepticism, lest it hide the reality of the workplace.

Beyond Safety Compliance helps organizations regulated by a safety regulator to create an organizational mirror so that they can understand their starting position in organizational improvement. The concepts in Human and Organizational Performance and Organizational Health have begun to take root in many organizations ( Podcast Episodes ). You can join these successful organizations by deciding to work with Beyond Safety Compliance. For example, having a strong, impenetrable image is replaced with more nuanced humility and acceptance of a non ideal world. Technical competence is augmented with a complementary accent on critical people skills and relationships. These changes transform organizations’ mindsets, setting the stage for less internal dysfunction and misery, and more cohesion and success. Beyond Safety Compliance is ready to help you to undertake this journey.

Things people ask

Why should I hire Beyond Safety Compliance? +

You should hire Beyond Safety Compliance if you would like to go beyond the minimum bar of compliance, to become a much more effective organization. This choice takes commitment to humility and the long game, but the payoffs are worth this investment.

What if my organization is not regulated by a safety regulator? +

If you are an organization who would like to engage in getting better, willing to look realistically at the organization, and willing to invest some effort and time to do so, Beyond Safety Compliance would love to work with and support you.

What is an “organizational mirror”? +

An “organizational mirror” is a cultural assessment of a workplace. This can take place at various levels, such as with an executive team, with a specific department, or with the front line. It can be done in various ways, through workshops, collecting stories, or a more holistic approach involving many sources of data. An organizational mirror should serve the needs of the organization at the time it is undertaken, which may be unique given the circumstances in which the organization finds itself.

What if I don’t know if I want an organizational mirror? +

Creating an organizational mirror needs some awareness and understanding first. Once you have taken some training from Beyond Safety Compliance, you will be in a better position to know if you would like to create an organizational mirror.

What if this area is new to me, and I don’t know what I want? +

You need not be decided upon your learning journey - in fact, it might be best if you are flexible! Contact Beyond Safety Compliance to learn more about the awareness and training sessions.

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A shift in the world of safety

There has been a shift in the world of safety and organizational health in the last 25 years or so, and you can benefit from approaches that bring a happier workforce, a more fulfilled executive and a more productive organization by hiring Beyond Safety Compliance. These approaches change the focus from “workers being a problem to solve” to “workers being a solution to harness”, and bring a more holistic understanding of the organizational influences on the workplace. Truly starting a journey in this space takes commitment - realizing that the long game and self-reflection are core to this process. Beyond Safety Compliance is ready to assist you on this journey.

Resources

Services we offer

Far from being a universal solution, engagement with Beyond Safety Compliance could start a unique journey of continual improvement. Instead of focussing on fixing problems and generating solutions, you would create an organizational mirror, from which you can derive insight into who the organization is, define more precisely who it wants to be, and construct a path on how to get there.

Awareness Training

Are you interested in learning about this newer approach to safety and organizational health to begin the change in perspective? Beyond Safety Compliance offers training in these concepts, which can be tailored to the needs of your organization, from introductory awareness to in-depth workshops.

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Organizational assessments

Are you interested in beginning your journey of organizational and self-discovery to realize the opportunities of growth? Once familiar with the concepts offered in training, Beyond Safety Compliance can help you choose an organizational mirror to learn who you truly are to enable you to situate your current state of the improvement journey.

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Improvement efforts

Have you looked in and reflected upon your organizational mirror? Are you ready to engage in efforts to operationalize your learnings to become a better organization? Beyond Safety Compliance can assist organizations in their quest for improvement.

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“My professional fulfillment comes from assisting organizations on their learning journey.”

Tanya Hewitt is a lifelong learner. She is passionate about safety science and human and organizational performance. She decided to begin Beyond Safety Compliance when the podcasts she listens to and the people she knows in the field were beginning to reveal that the concepts, ideas and practices of the evolving field of Safety Differently and Organizational Health were taking shape and making a real difference in the organizations that were employing them - from the ground level to the C-Suite. Having spent over 15 years working for a nuclear regulator and delivering many public presentations, Tanya offers rich experience and insight.

, PhD - Founder

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Read what people have to say

Tanya has a love of learning which is not often seen in most people. She is passionate about her work. Her sense of values and integrity guides her in decision making - she thinks very carefully when making decisions.
Suzanne Dolecki, Senior Human and Organizational Performance Specialist
Tanya does what she needs to do to complete a task on time and to the best of her abilities. She achieves this even if there is a high personal cost. Tanya is very thorough in her work. She is also very honest. She has a thirst for knowledge and is passionate about her areas of interest. Tanya is also able to maintain enthusiasm in spite of challenges that are thrown at her.
Helen McRobbie Senior Human and Organizational Performance Specialist
Tanya seems to have a real zest for presenting and takes great enjoyment from the experience. She also has a knack for synthesizing information and pulling examples from varied sources - this is a very complementary skillset for sure. Tanya also conveys her "love of this stuff" which can be quite contagious.
Andrew Stewart Senior Human and Organizational Performance Specialist
Tanya’s writing skills make her reports very easy to read and understandable. She thinks outside the box, but is always based on solid scientific grounds.
Anaïs Nouailles-Mayeur Senior Policy Analyst
Tanya excels at disseminating and interpreting complex and sometimes conflicting information into manageable chunks. She is a natural presenter and engaging speaker. Tanya has a nearly super-human focus when she decides to fully engage with a topic or task.
Victor Goebel Project Officer