
Thoughts on Workplace Safety: Hard vs Soft Safety
There’s a lot of literature available on the workplace that emphasizes physical safety. I call this Hard Safety. This encompasses things that are physiological (e.g. limbs) and are addressed through indemnity and workers’ compensation/employers’ liability insurance.
However, I believe there’s another area within workplace safety that is often overlooked. I call this Soft Safety. This encompasses things that are less measurable, but have a high impact on every organization (e.g. having a hostile working environment, discrimination, etc.). The truth is that it’s near impossible to measure the impact of workplace bullying or being able to respectfully voicing disagreement.
My belief is that the key to addressing both Hard and Soft Safety is to create a strong safety culture through active communication, inclusion, and mutual respect. The risk management term is called the Interactive Process (more on that later). As basic as it may seem, I believe a truly safe culture begins with trust in others and open/honest communication that respects one another. Of course, like everything else, it comes down to the execution.
