Why build a culture of safety in the workplace?

My career started out in the prison service moving onto a variety of different roles within the safeguarding and social care field. I have always worked within organisations that have had a clear legislative responsibility towards safeguarding both children and adults. So then I guess it's always been something that needed to be done and the relevant guidance usually existed to show us how to do it best. So working in this way was all I knew. Of course there were gaps, gaps in organisations such as working with apprentices and adults within education and work based learning environments which is something I took great pride in trying to fix. By tailoring best practice guidance we can safeguard people of all ages.

However, it has been during the past few years of my career and after deciding to start the company in 2020 that I have found this time to be the most challenging, rewarding, and insightful. Where there is sometimes a lack of legislation or guidance, it can bring an enormous level of uncertainty and seeing many people suffer at the hands of this lack, I decided it was time for change. This is not a sole crusade of mine of course, it is something that people and businesses are starting to really understand and explore. The business has provided me with the opportunity and privilege to work with so many businesses from many industries that have chosen to adopt both a proactive and moral approach to safeguarding their employees, apprentices, and service users/customers. I'd like to make a special mention to construction, engineering, rural services, and office based industries in particular for being instrumental in this movement.

It can be complicated to consider next steps when legal obligations do not exist and people do not know what to do in the best interests of the people within the company. Priorities and worries then factor in when thinking about how far a company should go to protect a colleague. We know of course that fruit bowls and the odd celebration day to raise awareness doesn't quite hit the mark. However this work is still a part of creating a culture of openness and wellbeing. So I ask the question, if you had an employee or colleague who was suffering from mental health issues due to a violent relationship at home or a colleague that was experiencing abuse and hate crime within their community, would you say this is not in our remit, sorry. Of course you wouldn't, you would at least try to explore support for the person and do what you thought was best.

People want to work in a place where they feel both physically and emotionally safe, where they can thrive. We spend an average of 36.5 hours at work per week which is a considerable amount of time and sometimes the workplace is the place that people prefer to be or their place of safety. It is therefore fundamental that we look internally at the current and existing culture of a company and work with the appropriate experts to explore what will work both operationally and culturally in house. It is an employer's duty of care to have the correct guidance in place to support employees and managers in being able to support one-another. You do not have to employ a safeguarding expert but ensure that the right procedures exist and that people are appropriately trained in how to deal with scenarios of concern.

When we consider children and young people particularly young apprentices, it feels like the rules and guidelines appear pretty simple. Of course there are many different concerns and risks that require a tailored response but ordinarily people will be able to access support or create a referral so that the right people can assess the issue. 

With adults, apprentices, and the workplace, it can feel like an enormous task and most leaders and people never really know where to start. Naturally, they could start with psychological safety, wellbeing, and mental health initiatives that could stem from mental health first aid interventions. This is a great start... however it can also lead to enormous risks. Some of these risks are of course surrounding severe mental health conditions worsening, colleagues in these positions not being supported or governed effectively, and the risk of suicide but what can also become lost in translation is that there is an adult who may be experiencing mental health issues due to abuse or exploitation.

We should and can do more here. I have seen it work. Businesses that adopt a mental health and wellbeing strategy that includes support from Employee Assistance Programmes that can support with a whole range of things such as financial and debt advice, GP access, counselling, and fitness support. However it is the businesses that go above and beyond that really succeed, they invest in longer term mental health culture programmes, they invest in safeguarding policies and frameworks to ensure people and employees are safeguarded and finally they invest in awareness training to reinforce the knowledge and skills.

Employees could be faced with a range of colleague issues surrounding domestic abuse, PTSD, mental health conditions, suicide, sexual assault, physical abuse, bullying and discrimination and the list goes on. The first question I ask clients when they are contemplating this type of strategy is "do you have a process and feel equipped with what to do if one of these issues was brought to you?" In most cases the answer is no, and why... because employers never had to deal with these scenarios by law. It is a societal law however to understand that safeguarding is everyone's responsibility and to really drive a culture of safety within the workplace then this means protecting people from the above. 

I am excited to see where the next 20 years take us, watching employers make bold and smart steps in terms of prevention and support for their workforce. These issues will not go away and we are seeing more colleagues coming forward around their social or home issues than ever post covid-19 and within financial crisis. So get started today.... take a look at your culture, what do you want it to represent? Can health and safety and psychological safety be the stepping stone to creating a REAL culture of safety for all? The answer is yes!