ONLINE EXCLUSIVE: Reinventing Your Organizational DNA: Change Behaviors, Improve Safety Performance
Greg MacDougall
As a volunteer advisory committee member of Workplaces Safety Prevention Services (WSPS), part of Health and Safety Ontario, I recently provided a talk on how changing the cultural DNA of our organization (Cogent Power Inc.) through deployment of a balanced lean strategy resulted in a safer workplace. Cogent Power, located in Burlington, Ontario, and a subsidiary of Tata Steel (one of the largest global steelmakers), slits electrical steel and manufactures various cores and core assemblies for the power transformation industry.
Our committee’s 2010 strategic improvement report to the board of directors included a recommendation for manufacturers in the Province of Ontario to place a greater emphasis on shared employer/employee accountability in their future safety improvement planning. This article shares how Cogent deployed lean thinking to improve safety performance and the role of change management in that improvement process.
We are governed in Ontario by regulatory Ontario Health and Safety Act (OHSA) controls reflected in our internal management responsibility systems (IRS) for safety. An OSHA warning that companies need to escalate their safety vigilance fueled the WSPS improvement report. In 2009, Ontario Workplace Safety Insurance Board (WSIB) manufacturing sector statistics, though improving, remained a concern: $336 million in company paid premiums, $22.5 million in accident claims, five fatalities, 66 critical injuries, a 6.71 lost time injury rate/200,000 hours resulting in more than 90,000 lost days, and an alarming number of Ministry of Labour (MOL) Inspector issued citations.
The Ontario manufacturing sector needed revolutionary change. Cogent Power acknowledged an urgent need for transforming operating cultures into a future state where risks could be more effectively mitigated.
Behavioral change management begins with leadership and a shift from the conventional, mainstream way of management thinking. At Cogent Power, we were well-aware of those challenges in committing to reinvent our own culture by way of a balanced lean model incorporating a platform of improved accountability.
Life-Changing Transition
We began our life-changing transition in 2004 in the true sense of lean, initially burdened by chronic wastes. We overcame hurdles week to week. Such a transition, according to Roger Connors in The Oz Principle, Getting Results Through Individual and Organizational Accountability, is fueled by engaged and accountable people who must first overcome predisposed beliefs acquired through previous years of negative company experiences. As the number of switched-on people gradually increases, so does their motivation, commitment, and change into habitual practice.
Recognizing the enormity of the task at hand, Cogent Power forged partnerships with academic institutions and other lean learning organizations such as the Association for Manufacturing Excellence (AME), helping the company to close the lean leadership gap. Training Within Industries (TWI), Syracuse, NY, enlisted to improve standard work processes, educated Cogent and its people about the importance of standardized work —repeatable (and accountable) behavior routines. In his Shingo Prize winning book Toyota Kata, Managing People for Improvement, Adaptiveness, and Superior Results, Michigan University professor Mike Rother submits this to be an essential step in achieving sustainable improvement.
Jumpoint© in Burlington, Ontario, and Partners in Leadership© in San Diego, CA, both champions of transformational change, also played a principal role in educating/mentoring Cogent leadership about the concepts of accountability (first getting them to understand the drag on the organization resulting from their own shortfalls as leaders). What became clear: Employees in the new Cogent, or any company involved with a behavioral-based transformation, need to share in the decision-making process. With the act of making decisions comes expectations of accountability. These decisions helped employees better understand the consequences associated with their choices, especially where those workplace decisions can result in potentially dangerous outcomes. They learned how their choices could mitigate the often-negative consequences of taking standard work shortcuts.
One of the upshots of this transition: Cogent Power associates learned more effective strategies for eliminating musculoskeletal disorders (MSD) associated with recordable injuries. With our new, people-centric lean paradigm in place, our employees moved to the forefront as partners in MSD-focused improvement initiatives.
Cogent Power implemented an ergonomic improvement model (involving shared accountability) to mitigate areas of high risk. Trained employee teams worked with a certified ergonomist on ergonomic assessments, engineered equipment solutions, associated procedural changes, and related improvement goals (such as 50 percent MSD recordable injury rate reduction).
Target reductions also included a provision for “leading safety indicators,” a Zero Harm concept (referenced in Wayne G. Herbertson's Practical Safety Guide to Zero Harm) that fits well with lean thinking. Leading indicators typically have causal relationships with lagging indicators such as recordable injuries in safety that, if left unchecked, could result in significant consequences. The Heinrich-Baird Safety Pyramid (referenced in Loss Control Management, Practical Loss Control Leadership) visually demonstrates safety performance and the descending relationships between lagging indicators recorded at the top of the pyramid versus leading indicators noted at the bottom.
Cogent adopted “at-risk behaviors” as a leading measure, focusing on identifying and correcting employee behaviors predominantly attributable to poor decision-making. The resulting turnaround is notable, with first aid injuries reduced 75 percent.
Seven years into our lean enterprise journey, we increasingly realize the benefits of our continuous improvement effort. For example, recordable injuries (including MSDs) decreased by half, thanks to workforce engagement.
According to a 1995-2000 Gallup survey of 10 million manufacturing customers involving 300,000 businesses and 200,000 managers, engaged employees are 86 percent more satisfied with their jobs than those who are disengaged. An engaged employee is necessary for the accountability transformation process experienced by Cogent Power, and for our continued safety performance improvement.
Greg MacDougall, manager, total quality systems, Cogent Power Inc. will be a presenter at the Association for Manufacturing Excellence (AME) Dallas 2011 Excellence Inside Conference.
