Safe Align Solution Overview
Safe Align® Safety Leadership Development System
When safety improvement focuses on front-line behaviors, organizations see improvement. And when organizations engage their senior leaders, they gain dramatically better results. Why? Because when senior leaders participate in safety improvement, front-line safety behaviors connect purposely with the company’s vision.
But a key component is missing. What is needed are supervisors and managers who are responsible for getting the work done. These middle management leaders bridge strategy and performance by communicating the organization’s vision, getting the work done, and unifying the organization behind a common cause: safety.
Equipping managers and supervisors with skills to drive exposure control is essential to achieving and sustaining safety goals.
The SafeAlign® System is the foundation of DEKRA’s safety leadership development process for managers and supervisors. They learn to strengthen critical safety activities and develop transformational safety leadership skills. In other words, this system consolidates an exposure-reduction approach and builds a culture of commitment and responsibility at every level of the organization.
THE SAFEALIGN® METHODOLOGY
The SafeAlign Leadership Development System provides supervisors and managers with the tools to lead front-line safety performance with confidence. This real-time data, real-time tracking, and convenient web-based learning reinforces critical leadership skills and safety behaviors and processes. It also aligns front-line behaviors with the organization’s strategy—while enabling middle management leaders to make decisions that ensure exposure is controlled.
The SafeAlign System consists of the following principles:
- Laying the Foundation
- Developing Skills
- Tracking the Level of Engagement and Effectiveness
- Building Sustainability
Effective leadership development systems require customization. The content must draw from real issues and exposures and use the language of the organization. In addition, it is essential that the training content incorporate a strong understanding of workflow and processes. In this step, the organization establishes the foundational elements required for the highest probability of success and establishes functioning governance, including structure and chartering. This step also requires creating a schedule to support the governing of safety.
Every manager and front-line leader must participate in this safety leadership development effort. A multiplatform learning approach enhances the effectiveness of specific safety activities and best practices.
The system captures data on safety leadership activities, including both measuring frequency of activities and the quality of activities. In the SafeAlign system, counting the number of critical safety activities is not enough. Success requires that leaders gain insight into the quality of safety conversations, understanding the pool of exposure and building knowledge of any barriers that could prevent successful exposure control.
This step addresses the attributes of a sustainable safety improvement process—and a mechanism for achieving it. The SafeAlign System discusses such practical tools as governance and oversight, tracking of leader participation, and coaching to help with sustainability. Safety leadership must be committed to the organization’s culture and demonstrate a relentless focus on controlling exposure resilient to organizational changes.
The DEKRA Approach:
Sustainable Safety Improvement
The SafeAlign System has seven core learning modules. Leaders learn to recognize critical safety exposures, how to engage front-line employees in important safety conversations and then master critical safety activities and key leadership practices in the path of their work. The unique combination of critical safety activities, leadership practices, and practicing in the field with a coach is powerful. Outcomes include fewer injuries, improved exposure control, and employee engagement. Organizations also experience improved team collaboration, a relentless focus on exposure control, and stronger employee, supervisor, and manager relationships. To learn more about the seven modules in detail, click here .
THE SAFEALIGN® ADVANTAGE
- Develops safety leadership confidence and skills.
- Moves the focus from downstream and injury prevention upstream and reduces exposure.
- Provides real-time data for improved decision quality.
- Streamlines data collection, analysis with digital enhancements, and real-time information sharing.
- Provides e-learning and web-based instructional opportunities.
Organizations serious about safety leadership development understand it is crucial to invest in a system that delivers sustainable results. SafeAlign is that system. The system has delivered results for more than a decade, with thousands of leaders driving safety excellence in their organizations. The SafeAlign System's structure ensures consistent deep learning while providing the flexibility to adapt the content and approach to an organization's need.
DEKRA Strategic Consulting has decades of deep knowledge and experience in transforming organizational culture and strengthening organizational functioning. We know how to protect people and install systems that drive safety excellence. The combination of the DEKRA team and the SafeAlign System is unmatched in its achievements.
DEKRA RESOURCES
- Technical White paper: The SafeAlign® Safety Leadership Development System
- White paper: Making Safety Governance Work
- How a Global Food Processing Giant Cut Serious Injuries in Half With DEKRA’s SafeAlign® System
- Client Story: How Yellow (formerly YRC Worldwide) Made Safety a Priority Even During a Pandemic