Psychological Science Predictions Are Coming True

In my presentation (HSE DAYS project), I highlighted collaboration with psychologists as one of my chosen "breakthrough" directions for minimizing "operator error." My heart as an industrial safety methodologist rejoices because the predictions of psychological science are coming true: on the path to the so-called "team" level of safety culture development, the primary incentive will not be material reward, but pride in one's "team" (one's shop, shift...), and in the successes achieved in safety and productive labor.

And here are the facts that inspired me. While serving as Deputy General Director for HSE at Kemerovo "AZOT" and later performing a similar role at the "Togliattiazot" corporation, I implemented the "Leader-Winner" material motivation program.

The program is also an example of a wise, balanced approach that considers psychological science. Thus, motivation is a tool for encouraging and influencing people so that they work differently and behave differently. The program accounts for the fact that, on average, in such factory collectives, there are 10% of employees sincerely committed to safety (let's call them safety "Leaders"), 10% are conservatives ("outright" safety violators), and the remaining 80% are the so-called "followers." Based on the results of implementing the "Program...", after just the first quarter, we managed to sway the large group of "followers" to the side of those sincerely committed to safety. While this program was initially intended to motivate workers in blue-collar occupations regarding industrial and environmental safety, after the first quarter, employees from almost all shops expressed a desire to participate in this Program.

I wanted to stimulate proactive personal contributions to identifying and eliminating hazards and risks in the workplace and their active stance on health and safety issues. I aimed to significantly bolster the ranks of those sincerely committed to the safety culture at the plants ("safety by conviction," "in the mind"). Unlike Kemerovo OJSC "AZOT," where a similar program was implemented for blue-collar workers, at Togliattiazot, all HSE authorized representatives (most of whom are blue-collar workers), as well as foremen and senior foremen, also wished to become participants. This is a relatively small quantitative "addition," but an active and significant one. Soon after, I witnessed the instructive effect of the voluntary transformation of the material motivation of Leaders and Winners into "non-material" motivation: after receiving several rewards, they began voluntarily spending the earned funds for the benefit of their teams (modernizing HSE and cultural news boards, buying useful literature, coffee makers, and additional microwaves for break rooms... so that these rooms would be well-stocked and pleasant for the entire collective).

Just as the leader of the proletariat once saw an example of a new communist attitude toward labor in the instances of proactive unpaid labor during a "subbotnik" at the Moskva-Sortirovochnaya station, I am inclined to see an example of the proactive, or so-called "independent," level of safety culture development at the plant in these cases of boards decorated with heart and at one's own expense.

I even thought that the seeds of this attitude come from my and your childhood and youth! Just remember your school years. Back then, like you probably did, I played football as part of our "street against street" or "district against district" team. The prize for the winning team was a bag of "Duchess" hard candies, for which we all "chipped in." But those candies were sweeter and more desirable to me and my teammates than any "Kara-Kum" or "Mishka na Severe" chocolates that we had previously swooned over and looked for first in our New Year's gift boxes. We were proud of the team and our mutual victory. And we shared the "Duchess" candies with the losers. Everyone was happy in the end. Football won. And in our case, Industrial Safety and Production Culture will win. That is when the "Interdependent" ("Team") stage of safety culture development will arrive. Let's work for that!