The Survival of a Cultural Change Programme Relies Heavily upon Continual Innovation, Evolution and Maintenance of Focus: The 8 Years Long History of Leadership in Health and Safety Programme.
Authors: Scotti D. , Matkin D. 
Published: March 2016

Demonstrating dramatic improvements in safety performance related to culture requires a long-term aggressive approach, with the constant innovation, maintenance and plugin of new evolving tools. Exploring the elements of a time-tested and highly successful cultural change model, along with the interventions which anchored the process within the organisations foundations.

An established holistic, long-term approach is taken toward cultural change, utilising one tool, system, or procedure produces little sustained safety performance improvement.

A dedicated department develops innovative and impactful tools which provide practical and cognitive stimulation, whilst triggering powerful emotional connection to personal and organisational values. Relentless focus amplifies management commitment and workforce engagement, exploiting the latest social trends to evidence change and establish safe behaviours through peer-to-peer conformity. This is set within a multi-phase process, launching tools, workshops, contests and campaigns companywide which support and accelerate cultural development. This approach is further tailored to specific operating contexts, maximising the processes effectiveness.

Since its launch in 2007 Saipem's Leadership in Health & Safety programme became truly embedded in the organisations DNA, within daily actions and decisions, and the unseen mind-set triggering this. This is achieved through long-term investment toward continual development and release of multiple ‘phases’ which ensure the change process is nurtured and remains omnipresent.

Staggering improvements are evident in terms of organisational safety performance, a very definite year-on-year accident frequency reduction totalling over 60% since the LiHS process was launched, whilst proactive safety observations increased by 600%. Organisational locations where the program implementation was poorly communicated (mainly due to local commitment), sees these positive results lagging. A strong correlation exists between sharp increases in proactive safety observation, with launching of new phases. Reporting gradually decreases over several months, and again spikes with in line with new phase releases. The change process is still ongoing, and constant feeding is critical to ensure high level s of visibility is maintained. The ‘feeding’ is also critical, touching the heart and mind, creating management commitment and workforce engagement, can only effectively be achieved and maintained using the latest communication tools, innovations and linking to global social trends. Long term focus is key to change.

Cultural change processes are mostly campaign based, and rarely embedded as a way of life. Change is dynamic, unpredictable and requires response from a team capable to adjust approaches, inject new tools to fill identified, and above all proactively and systematically share a ‘belief’ that the culture is changing through the population. This paper describes the necessary fundamental ingredients behind long-term cultural change and proven tools to achieve it, going far beyond traditional campaign based change.