20 Questions to Energize Your Safety Process

Did you ever play the game “20 Questions” as a kid? Maybe your mom liked to ask you questions, such as “Where were you?”, “Who are you with?” and “Do you know what time it is?” Most of us don’t like to be hammered with questions, but we do like to give our opinions. Great leaders understand that about people and work to find ways to ask questions that invite input and stimulate dialogue. When it comes to safety, leaders can use questions to gain significant insight into the state of the organization.

Questions: Tools for leaders

When it comes to safety, there’s no such thing as a dumb question. But, some are better than others. Creating questions to gain understanding about your organization requires both art and science. Questions should be open-ended and encourage the participant to answer honestly, not lead the person to give a specific answer. It’s important to develop your ability to ask follow-up questions, too. If you’ve ever watched a lawyer on TV (or a real one, for that matter), you’ve seen this technique in action. The attorney will ask the witness a question and wait for an answer, then follow up with another question based on the answer. You can also learn this technique by watching great talk-show interviewers such as Larry King or Oprah Winfrey. They’ve built their careers on the ability to ask great questions.

Make a list and check it twice
One technique that works is to make a list of open-ended questions and add to it as issues come up. Keep your list in your daily planner and refer to it frequently. Assess your questions and think about how you can improve them.

Here is a list of 20 questions to get you started:

1. How safe do you feel doing your job?

2. What do you hear employees say about safety in our company?

3. What is the last safety training course you attended?

4. What do you like best about the safety meetings in your department?

5. What do you expect of me as a manager when it comes to safety?

6. What safety policy or rule is the most aggravating to you

and why?

7. What is a hazard that you face when doing your job that you think I don’t know about?

8. How are you personally involved in the safety process here?

9. What are your safety goals for this year?

10. How do you like to learn about safety incidents?

11. What did you do in the last job briefing?

12. Who is responsible for safety here?

13. What happens when you have a safety concern?

14. How does the company demonstrate that it cares about your personal safety?

15. What else could we do as a company to show you that we care about safety?

16. When an injury occurs how do employees react in your group?

17. How were you trained to do your job safely?

18. How do you learn about hazards that affect your work?

19. How do you know if you are working safely?

20. If you could change one thing about our safety process, what would it be?

These are just some of the questions you can use to gain insight into your safety management process. Remember, the most important part of the question is the answer you hear, so take time to listen.

Keep Those Questions Coming
Learn all you can about asking good questions by making a list, and by watching and listening to experts who have mastered the art of inquiry. You should also continually practice listening. You’ll be amazed at what happens when people know you care enough to ask them a question and then take the time to listen to their response. You can have a very significant influence on your organization’s safety when you use this technique.

Carl Potter, CSP, CMC and Deb Potter, PhD, CMC work with organizations that target a zero-injury workplace. As advocates of a zero-injury workplace, they are speakers, authors and consultants. For information about their Simply Seamless Safety Services, contact them at Potter and Associates International Inc. 800.259.6209 or www.simplyseamlesssafety.com.