Safety Leadership – Key Messages
Inspired by ADNOC Safety Day 2019

I always act safely.

Safety is a commitment. It is my personal choice and my principle in life. I always act safely not because of the implementation of safety rules and the corresponding violations or citations against safety procedures, but rather I am principled and committed to safety.

I don’t compromise safety. It is because unsafe is unsafe even if everybody is doing unsafe act and safe is safe even if nobody or even a single person is doing safely. I always act safely, that is my honor and norm in life.

I walk the talk.

I am a safety leader. To be an effective leader, I must become a good follower. I walk the talk. I lead by example. I put into practice what I am preaching. That is the attitude that is embedded in me. I live what I preach. It is visible in me.

As a good leader I need to be aware of what it takes to bring other employees and contractors along. My leadership lies by being a good follower. When I walk the talk, that is leadership, a safety leadership.

I uphold our safety rules.

My responsibility as a safety leader can be seen with all the behaviors, decisions and actions that I make. That is my accountability. I am the owner of my actions…I establish ownership, accountability, and responsibility. I can do this by upholding safety rules and by proactively building a safe environment for all other workers.

I inspire safe behavior.

My safety leadership does not lie solely on wearing PPE’s or even simply by following safety rules and procedures. Rather, it is to motivate my colleagues by inspiring them to take my lead.

Safety leader is not by acting as a safety police. But rather, by providing the needed support of my colleagues, by playing an active role as a coach, mentor, and a brother for safety. That is the way to inspire safe behavior.

I listen to and welcome feedback.

The challenge to me as a safety leader is to listen to feedback even if it is negative. The problem sometimes is, I simply want to listen to what I want to hear and I discourage our colleagues to speak their hearts out.

I do believe that my colleagues and subordinates will listen to me if and only if I learn how to listen to them. That is by being respectful. If I want to be respected, I must be respectful. For without feedback, I will not learn nor improve to achieve my goal of the 100% HSE.