John
This is a charicature or stereotype, although, of course, there is
some truth in it and is the same in nearly every walk of life. It
is about the outlook of the individual.
I would say some people have a tick box approach, these tend to be
the hurdle builders, people that do not fully understand the
principles of health & safety management and then you have
those that understand the goal, and find the best way to achieve it
in each case. In other words they support other people in achieving
their own goals, which is to complete a task they have been
set.
The difference between these two outlooks is massive and will have
a huge impact on atitudes to health and safety.
If you consider the concepts in behavioural safety programmes,
these are about learning and transparancy. Learning both the poor
practices (and avoiding them in the future) and the best practices
(and aspiring towards them), it is about constructive critisism
within a group of peers. Here the safety advisor acts as coach,
helping everyone, rather than a traffic warden creating his own
HSE Myth of
the Month.
One is supportive, proactive, goal oriented, the other is
obstructive, reactive and rule oriented.
