Maturity Model descriptors and guidance

1 Health and safety Maturity Model guidance notes A Maturity Model is designed to help an organisation or part of an organisation determine where it is in relation to health and safety Maturity . The concept and content is based on Dupont s Bradley Curve and Shell s Heart s and Minds Programme. The Model below is being used by Thames Water to drive a transformation and cultural change programme. The Model was presented to the Health and Safety Leadership Team and is now being shared with all of our partners. The following topics are covered by the Model : 1. Visible Leadership commitment 2. Safety management systems 3. Responsibilities and accountability 4. Capability and training 5. Communication and employee involvement 6. Performance management, recognition and consequence management 7. Risk identification, assessment and management 8. Asset and operational integrity 9. Management of Change, planning and work delivery 10. Management of contractors 11. H&S specific process: Learning from Incidents, Emergency preparedness 12.

2 Audit and Review Based on the descriptors , an organisation can identify where it currently sits, where it wants to be. This allows an organisation to plan activities and improvements to its culture and health and safety management system. The first step on using the Model is to use the descriptors to determine where you believe the majority of the organisation sits (probably best achieved by sampling a cross section of employees). After that you can decide where you want to be and assign a realistic timescale to get there. As an example, you may be reactive on a descriptor and decide to aim to be dependant in 2 years and independent in 4 years. The descriptors on the Model will also provide a starting point to help you identify the activities that will achieve the desired outcome. Maturity Model descriptors Criteria Reactive Dependent Independent Interdependent Visible Leadership Commitment There are poorly documented or no Vision or Policy statements with little evidence that these have been made available to employees There are clearly articulated Vision and Policy statement that everyone is aware of, that senior managers visibly support and all managers use to engage the H&S agenda Everyone understands the Vision and Policy statement, accept that they shape their behaviour.

3 With managers and leaders committed to making it core to the culture through their visible actions and planning and decision making Everyone believes and is committed to the Vision and Policy statement holding these as a personal value and their daily actions back up this commitment as they live the H&S embedded principles Safety Management Systems An immature safety management system where employees only refer to procedures when there is a heightened focus on H&S, such as after an incident, or if they are told to An integrated management system with structured and documented policies and processes with a focus on following procedures to ensure everyone takes care of themselves Individuals use wide range of tools and behavioural interventions to care for themselves as well as their close colleagues, with managers taking action when poor H&S practices are bought to their attention Everyone takes a proactive approach to support a culture of looking after themselves, others through behavioural interventions (focus on peer-to-peer and equivalent techniques for the unsupervised worker) that are assessed through a continuous improvement cycle and external benchmarking Responsibilities and accountabilities H&S responsibility sits with the function, with individuals rarely taking responsibility believing it is that of the company to provide a safe place of work H&S professionals and managers have clear role definitions and understand their H&S responsibilities and an accountability framework with individuals accepting they will be held accountable for their H&S performance and behaviour Everyone is clear on their personal H&S roles and responsibilities and actively manage against these responsibilities.

4 An accountability framework ensures everyone is clear on their accountabilities and that they are held accountable by managers Individuals accept that responsibility for H&S sits with them and understand the links to the wider H&S responsibilities of their team/ operating unit colleagues. Individuals hold each other accountable and understand the practical implications of being held accountable for H&S performance and their behaviour in terms of their career progression and individual reward incentives Capability management and training Individuals receive a briefing that covers basic health and safety requirements Competencies are available for H&S roles as well as some management and line roles with managers ensuring that individuals meet any minimum standards as required for specific roles; training plans and training are focused on developing H&S skills of individuals; training courses are principally show and tell with some formal evaluation against objectives. All role competencies have been defined with assessments used to support the development of training plans.

5 There is greater integration between an individual's personal development requirements and those sought by the business as detailed in individual training plans there is greater involvement of individuals in design, and evaluation includes course effectiveness back in the workplace. Competency definitions include industry recognised best practice and line managers link competency management to the business planning process. Individuals take control of their own development and training needs with active support from managers. The training uses real work issues, with a focus on behavioural change with external benchmarking undertaken to assess best practice and post training follow up to test effectiveness. Communication and involvement Safety matters are only communicated after an incident, when there is a heightened focus on avoiding a reoccurrence. Safety committees exist to voice health and safety concerns to management. Communication is typically delivered in a one to many format with all managers engaging the H&S agenda with employees at formal events tool box talks and in written communication.

6 Joint management and employee H&S committees meet regularly for discussion of important safety issues with some employee involvement in action items and follow-up Communication on H&S matters is a two-way interactive discussion with the employees having an opportunity to test understanding, with discussion forums in place, and with periodic review. Business Unit Communication supports group messages by making them relevant to operating unit context. All Managers clearly understand the H&S agenda and this is reflected in the content of their daily conversation. They reinforce the words through their visible actions and planning & decision making. Employees are an important part of the H&S team and take part in work place inspections and behavioural observations. Commitment to H&S and the strategic importance of H&S performance and the drive for continuous improvement are recurring themes integrated into all communication and engagement interventions as part of overall group and business unit communication strategies.

7 Common messages for H&S are targeted at specific groups in varying formats ensuring context and culture specificity with standards methods identified for communicating critical information procedures for effective shift handover. Employees are integrated in everything concerning H&S and are empowered to be safety leaders in the workplace. Performance management , recognition and consequence management Only lagging metrics in place with targets set top down. There is little recognition either at individual or team level while the consequence of a poor safety record or incident is often reactive and disproportionate Targets are based on legal minimum standards and /or are in reaction to an event(s), set by H&S personal with minimal effect on individuals behaviour a number of metrics (predominantly lagging) are used across the organisation, with associated targets for managers to drive performance, however individual behaviour is generally not influenced or effected by these metrics or targets.

8 Individuals recognise good and bad H&S behaviours and there is some adhoc recognition of good performance. There is a clear H&S disciplinary code but only serious breaches enforce disciplinary action. H&S performance and behaviour is explicitly a factor at reviews of H&S professionals and is sometimes included as part of a wider conversation with others. The Business Unit determines targets collaboratively with H&S and ensures everyone understands and takes ownership at a personal and team/operating unit level leading indicators will have been introduced with common metrics across operating units, individuals understand and are motivated to improve performance and managers involve their teams in performance review and management. There are a number of formal and informal recognition schemes with mechanisms in place for individuals to make nominations and managers to encourage and support recognition within local schemes. There is a structured consequence management approach, which is applied consistently and appropriately.

9 Everyone includes H&S performance and behaviours in their personal reviews with performance affecting the overall rating; There is greater involvement of individuals in the setting of the targets with a focus increasingly on leading performance indicators a comprehensive suite of metrics will be in use, with regular external benchmarking to include best practice and review to ensure the metrics drive the desired behaviours, widespread involvement of individuals with everyone recognising the value of H&S performance management. Recognition schemes are based around the team, with active participation of individuals and sharing of knowledge, in addition to external benchmarking to assess performance against world class organisations. Everyone sees the value from a consistent consequence management approach, with managers trained to respond to early signs of unsafe acts with appropriate interventions. Consistently high H&S performance and appropriate behaviours is a key component for emerging leaders and promotion.

10 Criteria Reactive Dependent Independent Interdependent Awareness , Identification and management of Risks Individuals are largely unaware of the risks, hazards and impacts their work entails or have no specific training to control these and often cut corners due to production or other priorities are identified and assessed in line with corporate / ISO requirements, however while managed to some extent individuals generally lack a full understanding of these risks, hazards and impacts H&S risk, hazard and impact identification and assessment processes are embedded within other key business processes with individuals empowered to stop work or a process if they feel the controls are not adequate to manage the risk or impact identified A constant state of vulnerability is maintained with individuals continuously looking for indications of new risks, hazards and opportunities.