Bosses or Leaders? The crucial role of middle managers in changing the prevention culture
The importance of middle managers in building an effective preventive culture. Find out how investing in leadership and soft skills impacts occupational safety and health.
· 6 minutos · Segurança no Trabalho
Throughout our lives, we dedicate a significant part of our time to work – between a third and a quarter of our waking hours –, often more than the time we spend sleeping to recover energy. This fact underlines the profound influence that the working environment exerts on our personal well-being.
If we use Maslow's Pyramid as a reference to analyse the factors affecting individual satisfaction, we realise that the priority is to have a job that guarantees income for basic needs. Subsequently, stability is sought and, once these objectives are achieved, one attempts to satisfy the need for affiliation, recognition and pride of belonging, improving labour relations.
In this value chain, the first question an employer can ask themselves is: what does their company offer to its employees? If the only thing is employment and salary, there is a long way to go. However, for a company that has already overcome this initial phase and seeks to continue moving forward, the key is "Occupational Health and Safety".
Companies, especially those with more than 10 workers, are increasingly aware of the importance of having middle managers who exercise persuasive leadership. This leadership must be reflected in a well-functioning organisation, generating satisfaction in both clients and workers, and contributing to solid financial health that ensures the continuity of the business activity in the long term.
For this to become a reality, the first step is a rigorous selection of the people who will occupy leadership positions, directors, managers, etc. These professionals must be good communicators, have a great capacity for organisation and adaptation to change, be agile in conflict resolution, proactive in decision-making and, above all, have a vocation of service towards their employees. Many of these qualities can be innate, but companies can and must work on soft skills (transversal skills) through various training programmes.
Vocational Training and Leadership
Any programme that a company plans to implement must answer the following question:
- Is it possible to achieve a safe and healthy organisation without addressing the conduct and behaviours of the people who comprise it?
The answer is no. It is essential to work on a programme that integrates conventional occupational risk prevention measures with advanced behaviour-based safety techniques. This programme can be implemented in several stages:
- Initial diagnosis: Assessment of the level of preventive culture existing in the company.
- Strategic plan: Definition of objectives, actions and deadlines, in agreement with senior management.
- Continuous training: Training of the entire hierarchical line, introducing new work dynamics, and training for all workers with a new practical approach that includes behaviour-based safety techniques. In Portugal, continuous vocational training is a right and a duty, as established in Article 131 of the Portuguese Labour Code, which provides for a minimum of 40 annual hours of training for each worker.
- New work dynamics: Implementation of practices such as:
- Daily/weekly micro-meetings for work planning.
- Working committees for the analysis of accidents and incidents.
- Verification of critical conditions for occupational health and safety.
- Encouraging the reporting of incidents with risk potential.
- Periodic evaluation: Continuous measurement of results and the level of preventive culture.
- Continuity plan: Maintenance and improvement of the programme over time.
Initially, it is advisable to focus the programme on the line management to reinforce knowledge and tools, thus allowing the integration of Occupational Risk Prevention into their duties and improving the working conditions of their employees. However, the programme must include activities for all workers in order to achieve a greater commitment to Safety and Health.
Practical Success Example
A successful example of this approach is the "Safety Leaders" programme by DHL Parcel. This programme develops innovative work dynamics, such as the creation of a preventive observations notebook. In 2021, with the collaboration of prevention specialists, the entire hierarchical line was trained, achieving a high level of satisfaction and contributing to a more robust safety culture.