The concept of safety leadership is something that is very much talked about in various organizations worldwide. It is a term which we also hear quite often after a major work place accident takes place, fingers are pointed and one of the root causes of the event is often mentioned as “Lack of Safety Leadership”.

Safety leadership is defined as the process of interaction between leaders and followers, through which leaders can exert their influence on followers to achieve organizational safety goals. There is always a misconception that safety leadership only refers to the top management of an organization and this could not be any further from the truth.

At FMM everyone is responsible for their own safety and the safety of their colleagues. Every line manager is responsible for ensuring employees and subcontractors under their supervision are aware of the job risks as well as have the right motivation and frame of mind to carry out their day to day work in a safe manner.

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) of the United States developed the 5-STARS model which best highlights what safety leadership entails:

• Supervision: overseeing work activities to make sure employees are safe
• Training: ensuring safety education and training is conducted for all employees under their supervision.
• Accountability: insisting that everyone complies with FMM safety procedures and rules
• Resources: providing physical resources, tools, equipment and materials so employees can work safely
• Support: supervisors to create a supportive psychosocial work environment. They need to consider things such as schedules, workloads, recognition and ensure employees do not work under undue stress.

At the end of the day of course, safety leadership is about caring! Making sure all employees go back home safely after a work day is over.