Leadership
A senior manager not more than one organisational level away from the CEO must have specific accountability for fleet safety. This will ensure that fleet safety is on the organisation’s agenda at the highest level, and provides the appropriate executive line authority for the approval of plans and allocation of resources to enable the organisation to act.
The manager accountable for fleet safety needs to ensure that the subject is included in the organisation’s mission statement, and that key performance indicators are in place and included on the agenda at all regular board meetings.
Leadership and accountability must be linked through all levels of management and supervision throughout the organisation to ensure a joined up approach to the management of fleet safety, and consistent messaging up and down the line.
As detailed in the 'Operational engagment within the organisation' section of this wesite, the introduction of the Fleet Safety Team provides a very practical network of key internal stakeholders available to support management in their leadership task.
Effective health and safety management depends upon the safety leadership skills of supervisors and managers, as they determine the extent to which safety rules and procedures are adhered to in reality. Supervisors and managers also act as the interface between senior management and the workforce and are therefore the prime medium for communication. There are three core elements to effective safety leadership, namely acting as a role model, motivating staff to behave safely and monitoring performance.
An applied research project for the UK Health and Safety Executive and three offshore oil companies revealed that the key attitudes and behaviours required for effective safety leadership include:
• Valuing subordinates
• Visiting the worksite frequently
• Facilitation of work group participation in decision making
• Effective safety communication
