Where does safety execution capability come from? That’s how frontline safety managers do it!

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For many frontline safety managers, an awkward situation we encounter in our work is that the rectification of potential hazards at the work site is not carried out or is not implemented properly. Often, I watch it happen with concern, feeling that it’s difficult to carry out the work. To this end, we should confront the shortcomings in our work, be brave enough to make changes, and start by improving our personal ability to ensure safety. Where does safety execution capability come from? 1. Execution stems from the proper assignment of responsibilities. The “Regulations on the Five Implementations and Five Ensurements in the Enterprise’s Safety Production Responsibility System” state that it is essential to ensure that safety responsibilities are properly assigned. I read a short story: there is a Ming Dynasty city wall in Nanjing, and each brick on that wall has a person’s name inscribed on it. During the construction of the city walls, to ensure that the quality of the bricks was high and to avoid defects in the construction, the authorities ordered local officials at all levels – from prefectures and provinces to counties – as well as those in lower-level administrative units, down to those who prepared the brick molds and the craftsmen who baked the bricks – to leave their names on the bricks for inspection purposes. Those whose bricks did not meet the standards were held accountable, and in some cases, they were even executed. This strict \"responsibility system\" ensures the high quality of each brick, which in turn guarantees the high quality of the wall construction. After more than 600 years of trials and tribulations, the city walls of the Ming Dynasty are still well-preserved. It must be said how important it is to have clear responsibilities; only when responsibilities are properly assigned can there be no gaps in execution. Similarly, in hospitals, there is a small card next to each inpatient’s bed; on this card, the patient’s name, age, gender, the disease they suffer from, as well as the name of the attending doctor and the nurse are clearly indicated – everything is assigned to a specific person. This is the responsibility of holding everyone accountable; only when everyone bears this responsibility can execution be improved and ensured. 2 Execution stems from effective communication. Communication is the exchange of ideas and information between people; it is the process by which information is conveyed from one person to another and gradually spread more widely. We need to communicate effectively at work, so as to convey our views or requests accurately to the relevant parties, in order to gain their understanding and support. If communication is not handled properly, it is very likely to lead to a result similar to that in “The Scholar Who Bought Firewood”. A scholar went to buy firewood and said to the wood seller, “Come here, one who carries firewood!” ”The wood seller didn’t understand what it meant, but he could grasp the word “come over,” so he brought the load of wood to the scholar. The scholar asked him, “What is its price?” ”The wood seller didn’t quite understand those words, but he understood the word for “price,” so he told the scholar the price. The scholar then said, “It’s uneven on the outside but weak on the inside; there’s too much of it with too little essence – please reduce it.” ”The wood seller, not understanding what the scholar said, left with his load of wood. From this story, we can learn that when safety managers communicate with employees, they need to be patient and explain those rigid and difficult-to-understand regulatory requirements as well as complex technical specifications in simple terms, so that employees can understand the specific meaning of each item. Only in this way will employees be able to connect your words with their actual work, understand what exactly you want them to do, and engage fully with you to discuss various possible approaches as well as the questions that arise. Effective communication is an important guarantee for us to carry out work tasks. If communication is not proper, it will be very difficult to carry out our work and it will be hard to achieve the desired results. Therefore, the prerequisite for improving safety implementation is to develop one’s communication skills. 3. Execution capability stems from professionalism. To improve our safety execution capabilities, we must first cultivate a sense of professionalism in ourselves. Only by loving one’s work can one do it well. Safety management is a cause that can save lives and property. Safety managers should possess a sense of dedication, which is not only a reverence for life but also a commitment to the health and safety of workers. Only those who are dedicated will strive hard for this cause, remain persistent in the face of difficulties and setbacks to find solutions, thereby improving their ability to ensure safety. As safety managers, there are frequent cases where they fail to fulfill their safety management duties properly, and accidents occur, which constitutes the crime of gross negligence. As a well-known entrepreneur said, “Lacking professionalism means giving up better opportunities for survival; it’s like setting up obstacles on a road that should be freely passable, and it is one’s own self who will end up falling.” ”Therefore, our ability to enforce safety requires professionalism as a foundation. 4. Execution capability comes from monitoring and inspection. In the process of carrying out each safety task, safety managers need to conduct monitoring and inspection. It is possible to find out what stage the work is at, what difficulties have arisen during its execution, and whether there have been any deviations. If problems arise, they can be corrected promptly and solutions found to ensure that execution remains accurate. This is a crucial step to ensure proper implementation, and it represents the direct and ultimate manifestation of execution capability in terms of safety. Let execution fight for results; what execution seeks are good outcomes, not just hard work. People will only do what you check, not what you want. Tracking and checking the specific tasks you have assigned not only helps to keep everyone in step with your work pace, but also prevents those responsible from being perfunctory; it ensures that they carry out their duties strictly in accordance with the established rules and standards, thus ensuring that the work is actually done properly. Safety work has only a starting point, no ending point; safety is an endless pursuit. Strong safety execution capabilities from safety managers are needed to drive and create a safe and healthy working environment for employees. Ensuring proper safety implementation means that another safety hazard has been eliminated; day after day, this will lead to a positive upward trend. If it is not implemented properly, the hidden dangers will remain, gradually spreading and expanding, and who knows when an accident tragedy might occur. Therefore, enhancing our own security implementation capabilities will become an essential “secret weapon” in our work.