Defining a zero harm positive safety culture by applying mindfulness based high-performance thinking strategies

摘要

Safety management has evolved into a sophisticated function essential for good business outcomes. That said, simple, reoccurring injuries still occur despite extensive analysis of their cause and implementation of practice-based solutions. The analysis of the mental processes involved in these accidents has led to a new safety management approach based on human belief systems and the mind's function. This paper focuses on the utilisation of mindfulness and high-performance thinking strategies, as a way to embed a safety culture that aligns to zero-harm outcomes. A second focus was to determine if a worksite can track and benchmark their safety culture in real-time. The project involved both leadership and workforce roles in this process. The workforce component involved a fusion of risk management training and team-based workshops to assist workers to define the best version of their team, and condition their skills, values and beliefs to create a self-established positive safety culture. The mindful safety leadership component utilised workshops and one-on-one coaching to enable leaders to embed, support and inspire their workforce groups in the context of the desired safety culture. Evidence collected over the six-month project period found that the Mindsense Safety Program improved the safety culture, improved leadership/workforce alignment, improved safety leadership, and lessened the impact of the unstable workplace environment (undergoing restructuring) on the incident frequency rate. The program did not mitigate all injury-causing factors, but did introduce a level of safety resilience within the project group compared with the control group. The program also functioned to minimise cultural impact during a highly challenging business period. The research suggests further understanding of cultural influences external to the worksite, the impact of specific key cultural factors and extended intervention periods.