In the last article (in case you missed it: You have SMS program, but employees just ignore it? Here is why. ) first thing mentioned as a reason why employees are ignoring SMS program is a lack of good management skills.
So, in this article, I decided to show what are the qualities that good safety manager must possess.
- Good communication skills
First of all, communication. To be a good manager you need to be a good and effective communicator, using open communication to improve safety culture. One of the strategies of maintaining good communication is regular meetings where you will listen to employees ideas and worries. Those kind of meetings will show employees that their safety is important. Furthermore, to be a good manager you need to understand people around you emotionally. Manager with high emotional intelligence knows that emotions lead people into actions. Be consistent; let your words and actions match.
- Making safety all about people
Dedicated leaders whose main goal is to prevent employees from getting hurt are crucial for strong safety culture. They care about safety promotion by enabling training and education for employees, because they know that human factors can contribute to incidents. When employees are not focused or trained enough, they make mistakes. As a good safety manager, make sure that your employees are trained by competent professional, there is no better way to improve safety culture than strengthening employees safety skills. The consequences of poor training, auditing and conducting inspections could be fatal.
- Never-ending learning
Good leaders have a dedication to continuous personal improvement. Learning new things will help you to become a great leader, who can implement a safety program and create a strong safety culture in the workplace. If you want to become an effective manager who is respected you need to influence people to follow your directions, and you will achieve it by being a good example, motivated for learning new things and improving old knowledge. Make sure you are respected for your knowledge, and your advice will be appreciated at all levels of the organization.
- Good organizational skills
A well-organized aviation safety manager usually administers an efficiently functioning SMS. Lack of organizational skills will make you look unprofessional. As a safety manager make sure you make a safety plan and find a way to enforce the rules, you need to be consistent in following rules. It is your role to oversee all details necessary for the safety excellence. Plan everything! Because without a plan, a goal is only a wish. Keep up to date, ensure regular checks, audits, and observations are performed, document and communicate effectively, create teamwork atmosphere and delegate tasks to other people in your team.
- Using modern SMS program
Good safety manager pays attention to the SMS program. Good SMS will help you to stay organized and more effective through modules such as audit, inspection, promotion, meetings, and documentation module. Implementation of safety apps is necessary to provide immediate assistance to employees whenever they need it.
In the conclusion, it is important to highlight that being safety manager is not only the job, but it is also a vocation. Being a safety manager means you are responsible for saving people’s lives and preventing accidents. Remember, if the safety isn’t the priority, accidents are unavoidable. Pay attention to people, take care of them and assure them proper education. Focus more on the safety promotion. A common mistake is that managers don’t pay as much attention as they should on the safety promotion. And above all, try to make everyone’s job easier by using modern SMS program.
