Topics such as building trust, psychological safety and fostering diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) may seem like they fall under the umbrella of the human resources department, but safety professionals can apply these concepts to improve worker safety and health, too.

A culture of trust that promotes psychological safety can encourage worker participation in problem-solving and enhance tasks and systems to support a strong safety culture, reducing workplace incidents, injuries and illnesses, writes Sharleigh Zavaglia, trucker health advocate at Rising Phoenix Safety LLC, in her Professional Safety article, “ The Safety Professional’s Road Map to Workplace Trust and Psychological Safety.”

Zavaglia’s article provides insight into why safety professionals should embrace their role in developing trust and psychological safety, along with a framework and actionable steps to achieve this.

The Safety Professional’s Role in Psychological Safety

Enhancing DEI and psychological safety is about more than improving company culture. It can also directly benefit safety leaders in several ways:

• Develop deeper insight into workplace operations. Safety leaders who include a diverse range of workers will gain valuable insight into incident prevention.
• Identify new opportunities for hazard reduction. Workers who do not feel their contributions are heard or acted on will begin to distrust leaders and are unlikely to share information about hazards, Zavaglia writes.
• Develop fresh perspectives on safety improvements. Teams recognize that their leaders aren’t great at everything, Zavaglia explains. By tapping workers with specialized skills, safety leaders can fill gaps in their own knowledge and perspectives to identify opportunities for safety enhancements.

These benefits boil down to soliciting and listening to input from workers. Safety leaders who emphasize trust and support psychological safety create a culture where this kind of input is not only possible, but honest and truly valuable.

Build a Framework Through Self-Analysis

To start, Zavaglia recommends that safety leaders analyze their own competency, integrity and generosity, “all of which constitute the bedrock of a robust safety culture,” she writes. Start that process with these questions:

• Do I espouse honesty, reliability and consistency among all employees?
• Do I provide safety materials across diverse contexts, customizing to various learning styles and levels of comprehension?
• Do I invite workers’ ideas and suggestions and integrate them into the strategy for enhancing workplace safety?
• Do I create equitable opportunities for all individuals, whether extroverted or introverted, to express themselves
• Do I demonstrate active listening skills when workers share their safety-enhancing ideas?
• Do I clearly share how workers’ safety suggestions have been incorporated?
• Do I acknowledge workers publicly or privately for their contributions?

When you can demonstrably answer “yes” to these questions, you will have established a framework that fosters trust, builds psychological safety and supports DEI.

Three Steps Safety Leaders Must Take to Establish Trust and Psychological Safety

Zavaglia also offers three concrete steps safety leaders can take to establish or enhance a culture of trust and solidify psychological safety among workers:

1. Promote active listening with follow-through. “When engaging in active listening, many factors require consideration, including tone of response, body language and level of engagement,” Zavaglia writes. “As a leader, it is crucial to demonstrate care and empathy toward workers who rely on us for assistance in various situations and to genuinely comprehend their perspective.”

It’s also important to follow through on the issues workers raise. She recommends initiating a task analysis to identify potential hazards that employees may be concerned about and plan improvements accordingly. This way, workers see that not only did their safety leader listen to them attentively, but also truly heard their concerns and acted on them.

2. Encourage openness and inclusivity in safety meetings. Safety meetings provide an ideal opportunity for workers to share their views and concerns. Zavaglia recommends initiating a discussion topic, such as ergonomics, at the beginning of the week. Workers can create a checklist of areas for improvement within this topic and bring it to the meeting at the end of the week, followed by an open discussion for how improvements can be made. Then, create a game plan for issue resolution. Safety leaders should set the expectation that all workers participate and may decide to have smaller meetings to help more introverted workers to feel comfortable contributing.

3. Use systems analysis to approach concerns with an open mind. When an incident occurs, focus on appraising system failures rather than placing blame. Establish a plan for system analysis and procure feedback from the affected worker and others who have performed the same task to gain insights on root causes. “Looking at issues with an open mind and working together with your team, rather than trying to eliminate an employee, will promote trust building and help the team recognize you as a true leader,” Zavaglia writes.

Zavaglia argues that such steps are vital for any safety leader. Fostering trust can drive safety improvements and improve overall organizational performance, while destroying it will diminish morale, productivity and employee satisfaction.

What Is Total Worker Health^®?