by Shane Henson — April 17, 2013—Organizations that discourage their safety, health and environmental (SH&E) professionals from speaking up when they notice a potentially hazardous situation in the workplace could be inviting disaster, warns the American Society of Safety Engineers (ASSE). In fact, one of the greatest risks to worker safety in today’s business climate is the silence of its employees, as detailed in the organization’s peer-reviewed article The Dissenting Voice—Key Factors, Professional Risks and Value Add, published this month in ASSE’s Professional Safety journal.
The article examines how different organizational structures can affect commitment to occupational safety. Organizations known as Hierarchical Bureaucratic Organizations, which have a top-down authoritarian structure and typically reward conformity, are often indifferent to employees and do not look favorably on creativity or dissent. As the article explains, this work environment can be difficult for an SH&E professional who, in an attempt to advance a compliance mentality, may be viewed as a dissenter when pointing out an area of poor performance, or an elevated risk.
On the other hand, an organization that uses a Dual Authority Matrix Structure tends to embrace dissent, and see it as a way to maintain corporate integrity. They also enjoy better safety performance. According to the article, an empowered employee is exposed to far less risk than a worker in an organization that does not tolerate nonconformity.
Safety professionals know that they are always under pressure to show they deliver value to their employer. Working for an organization that embraces dissent will give an SH&E professional a greater opportunity to demonstrate their value. In addition, SH&E professionals must learn the power of influence and persuasion in order to effectively be the voice of dissent, stresses ASSE.
