Tappura NES conference 2011

1. NES2011
Promoting Occupational Health, Safety
and Well-being by training managers
Sari Tappura
Researcher, M.Sc. (Eng.)
Center for Safety Management and Engineering
Industrial Management
Tampere University of Technology
sari.tappura (at) tut.fi

2. Introduction
• Safety research addresses managers’ role in promoting
occupational safety
• Managers have the capacity and power to make decisions about
safety investments and can influence a workplace’s safety
culture
• Safety awareness, competence and commitment of managers
are important factors for achieving positive results
• Safety training
• provides managers with competence and tools for safety
management,
• provides managers with knowledge of their responsibilities and
company-wide safety policies and procedures, and
• influences managers’ perceptions and attitudes toward safety.

3. The case company
• Large Finnish manufacturing company, approximately 600
employees
• The occupational-accident rate was high compared to rates of other
companies in the same business sector
• Number of incidents had recently occurred
• Company had several different safety standards and cultures
depending on each department
• Safety methods and rules partly overlapped and were too complex
to follow
• The top management had recognised these safety problems and
wanted to change the situation
• Committed to working on safety, they
1. reorganised the safety organisation of the company,
2. launched a safety programme to improve the safety level and
3. started the training of the line managers to initiate the change
• 19 line managers participated the training (production, maintenance,
quality, safety)

4. Methods
• Safety-training programme for the line managers was planned
out in close collaboration with the safety management of the
company and two safety specialists (the authors).
• It was based on the managers’ safety responsibilities according
to the Finnish Occupational Safety and Health Act
• The training was based on joint participation by the attendees
and on company-specific cases and procedures
• The theoretical background and examples of safety procedures
and methods were presented and practiced, discussed and
developed by the attendees
• Feedback of the training was asked
• instantly after the training
• after one year after the training
• The safety manager was also interviewed regarding his
assessment of the changes made due to the training

5. Results
The jointly developed safety-training outline consisted of:
• Motivation and justification for safety
• An overview of Finnish safety regulations and managers’ safety
responsibilities
• Information about occupational injuries and sickness absences in
Finland
• Economic aspects of safety
• Safety procedures of the company
– occupational injuries reporting and investigating
– risk assessing and anticipating
– safety suggestions and dangerous-situation reporting
– safety-performance measuring and reporting
– corrective-actions control

6. Conclusion
• Since the training, the participants have perceived improvements
in the safety climate and culture due to actions carried out
according to the company safety programme
• There are certain safety issues that should be included in a
management safety training, e.g.
• Management responsibilities
• Continual improvement
• Communication
• Measurement and control
• Emphasis on these issues depends strongly on the current
competence of the managers and the organisation’s level of
safety.

7. Suggestions for effective training
• Joint discussions, even debating, can construct a shared
understanding of safety issues and promote commitment to
safety procedures.
• It is important to use company-specific cases and procedures to
link theory and practice.
• The trainers should only present examples and preliminary
models of safety procedures, which the participants can then
practice, develop and implement by themselves to strengthen
their commitment to these procedures.
• The legal responsibilities of the managers should be
emphasised, and interference with regards to misconduct should
be discussed.
• Understanding the economic aspects of safety would help
prioritise competing goals and motivating all employees to invest
in a safe work environment.

8. Reference
• Tappura, S. & Hämäläinen, P. Promoting occupational health,
safety and well-being by training line managers. In: Lindfors, J,
Savolainen, M. & Väyrynen, S. (Eds.) Proceedings of the 43th
Annual Nordic Ergonomics Society Conference NES 2011, Oulu,
Finland, September 18-21, 2011. Pp. 295-300.