Correlation Between Culture, Safety, Profitability, and Growth

There is a high correlation between contractors that have consistently GREAT safety records and consistently GREAT profitability, growth, morale, and talent retention.

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About three construction workers died each day in 2017 and thousands more were injured to varying degrees. This hasn't changed much through 2022. Construction is dangerous and there is no getting around that, however we are a long way from being as safe as we could be.  

Leadership Tools: Safety Compliance will only take you so far. Graph representing correlation between compliance and culture.

We are not specialists in construction safety. We work closely with the management teams of contractors, helping them develop sustainably growing businesses. These are our observations regarding safety:

  • Contractors can only get their safety records so good (EMR +/- 0.9) through compliance activities alone, including complex sets of rules, inspections, and punishments.  
  • Contractors who have consistently GREAT (EMR < 0.7) records focus much more on training, planning, and building a culture where team members care so much about each other that they will not let each other do anything that might cause an injury.  
  • This rigorous level of high-involvement planning combined with disciplined daily execution nearly always impacts every other aspect of the business leading to GREAT performance.
  • The leaders at these companies define the culture by not tolerating bad behaviors around safety and planning which are linked as well as being larger-than-life caricatures modeling the behaviors they want. Remember the spotlight of leadership

 

Learn More:

 

Normalization of Deviance - The Biggest Safety Risk (Video Playlist)

 

 




Feeling Safe and Being Safe
These are not the same. Both must be managed. Know which of your actions contribute to each and to what degree. Know that your actions may be interpreted dramatically differently by different people.
Correlation Between Culture, Safety, Profitability, and Growth
There is a high correlation between contractors that have consistently GREAT safety records and consistently GREAT profitability, growth, morale, and talent retention.
Headcount, Management Structure, and Systems
Your management structure and systems must be able to support your forecasted 2-month peak headcount, including the ramp-up to that peak.