Safety and wellbeing through a culture of care
Health and safety professional are already equipped with the skills required to manage mental health in the workplace, they just don't realise it, says Heather Beach.
Whoever thought there would be such a thing as "Safety Wars”!?
I've just returned from the EHS Congress in Berlin where in one seminar Jon Christophe LeCoze who laid out the plethora of branded ideas which have emerged over the last few years: HOP, Safety differently, Safety 2 (and yes, sorry, there is even Safety 3 now!)
Some bemoan the arrival of too much new jargon riddled marketing hype which is detracting from the core of the health and safety professional’s role.
Included in this “War” is the topic of wellbeing and mental health and its part in the health and safety profession, with one faction certain it creates a distraction from the focus of safety injuries or fatality (SIFs) and the sector is not qualified to deal with it.
As an organisational wellbeing consultant and trainer, who has had the privilege of sitting alongside the health and safety profession for the last 35 years running Barbour, the now-retired SHP, IOSH conference, Women in Health and Safety, there has been a quiet but significant transformation – in demographics, in roles and the different skillsets required.
In the early days of the Health and Safety at Work Act the focus, outside of designing out hazard through systems and controls, was largely on compliance – hence the image of the safety professional with the clipboard saying, “No.”
However, the profession is aware that while many problems can - and absolutely should be designed out or robust physical safeguards put in place - but until we are completely replaced by robots, safety isn’t just a design problem, it's a human one. The new models, starting with behaviour-based safety, are all different paradigms to view those human problems through - providing much needed nuance to processes such as risk assessment and incident investigation and training.
Looking at mental health, wellbeing and cultures of care is another nuance and another paradigm. Do you need to be the person driving mental health programmes? Not always. But while other departments may be leading these initiatives (some people and culture directors have embraced systemic initiatives around cultures of care) we already know that there is a health and safety lens which needs applying to an organisational culture; that no matter how well-designed a process or a bit of kit may be, if the culture around it doesn’t support people’s ability to speak up, stay well or think clearly then clearly risk remains.
Speaking up, staying well and thinking clearly
The profession widely accepts that fatigue can underpin error. We can extend this to diagnosed depression and anxiety, and indeed just a poor state of mind (my mind isn’t on the job because I am worrying about money and my kids and in general feeling anxious and stressed, for example) seems to be blindingly obvious.
There are case studies to evidence this – including work produced by the Keil Centre. Research from the airline industry found that pilot state of mind was a key contribution to a number of fatal accidents including Germanwings Flight, which is explored in a recent whitepaper.
Does your accident and incident investigation system go to this level of detail or are the conclusions usually human error that ultimately requires more training. Even if you are using the right tool, you need to have an environment in which people feel safe enough to tell you what is going on. Here is where cultures of care, psychological safety and trust come in to play.
Research by Natalie Abiodun shows that trust is the strongest predictor of safety outcomes but trust isn’t built through checklists,it’s built through relationships, consistent behaviour, and organisational integrity.
What competencies do I need?
Health and safety professionals aren't being asked to become psychologists, as some might think, but there is opportunity to evolve the remit beyond physical hazards to include factors that underpin safety, wellbeing, and performance. Using different toolkits relevant to the organisational context.
At a minimum, from a wellbeing perspective, this means ensuring supervisors and managers are trained to recognise when someone may be struggling emotionally, are able to implement a supportive conversation, and can establish whether that person is fit to work and/or needs to be signposted to an expert for support.
It means that psychosocial risk assessments are conducted, not in isolation, but in coordination with HR and occupational health departments.
It means having oversight of mental health and wellbeing initiatives, including occupational health programmes and critical incident support.
It means reviewing accidents and incidents with fresh eyes; examining not just physical conditions, but the state of mind of those involved. What was their mental load that day? Were they fatigued, anxious, distracted?
Consistent language across cultural programmes
Using concepts such as psychological safety helps bridge disciplines, creating a shared vocabulary across HR, DEI, health and safety, and leadership.
And guess what? Health and safety professionals are well placed to do this. They bring structure, systems thinking and a deep understanding of risk. They don’t need to be experts in every are, they just need to bring a collaborative mindset, ask the right questions, and ensure this work is embedded into the wider safety strategy.
Clipboard to conversation
From clipboard to conversation
In short, the role has moved from clipboard to conversation. And as organisations recognise that care and performance are not at odds—but deeply connected—health and safety professionals will remain vital in driving forward cultures where people can stay well, stay safe, and ultimately, do their best work.
