ARE YOU LISTENING INCLUSIVELY? Catherine Baker, Director of CIRAS, talks about how an inclusive approach to listening can help make us all safer.
Everything is awesome when you are part of a team, right? I can think of some great teams I’ve had the privilege to work with, whether as volunteers or in work. You’re all on the same page and everyone is fired up to play their part and overcome challenges together. The event, service or product is delivered with a sense of shared achievement. Awesome. But it is not always like that. I’ve been in groups (hard to call them teams) where everyone else seemed to be on the same page. Maybe it’s the ‘banter’ which borders on offensive, maybe the awkward silence when I walk in the room, or not being given space to speak amongst the dominating voices. It’s hard to deliver your best in that context, and easy to let the majority view win even if it really didn’t seem to be the best solution.
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Racial, language and cultural tensions were factors in the accident Rail Accident Investigation Branch – 2020 Annual report
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S A F E R H I G H WAY S M A G A Z I N E
This is one thing when you are working in an office or running a community event, but out in a safety critical environment this moves to another level. When frontline transport and infrastructure workers raised health, wellbeing or safety concerns through CIRAS in 2020/21: 1 1% chose to report confidentially because of fear of the consequences of voicing them openly. 5 7% did not believe managers would take their concerns seriously if reported directly. Real, recent examples where people got hurt, or were concerned that they could get hurt, but were unable to speak out. Not so awesome. For 25 years, CIRAS has worked across the transport sector to enable workers to speak up with any concerns or ideas that could impact health, wellbeing or safety. By guaranteeing to protect the confidentiality of those who call and taking the time to listen to what they have to say, we enable leaders to hear voices that might otherwise remain unheard. Organisations can access critical intelligence, making it more likely that the workforce and public they serve will go home safe and well every day. We believe that people are a critical part of any health and safety system, all people. Not only as the eyes and ears to know what is actually happening late in a shift on a cold wet night, but also as sensitive monitors of invisible cultural factors which we too often read about in accident reports … when it is too late.
www.saferhighways.co.uk
