“OwnerShift” refers to a process that transitions, or shifts, ownership of safety from the exclusive responsibility of the safety department to everyone in the organization. True safety ownership is achieved by engaging employees from all levels of the organization in a data-driven, continuous improvement process focused on positive, proactive accountability. Creating ownership of safety for every employee at all levels of your organization ensures everyone is accountable and empowered to create solutions and continuously improve.

Our customers have responded very positively to this concept as it connects the pains and challenges they’ve experienced to proven strategies for improvement. Traditional safety improvement methods relied on leadership and the safety department to make changes. OwnerShift “shifts” that responsibility to everyone in the organization, thus creating a stronger likelihood that changes will be implemented and sustained by those they affect.

Some of the challenges we often see customers encountering include repeat incidents, lack of employee engagement, policies and procedures inconsistently applied, people not speaking up, communication gaps, lack of accountability, staffing challenges, underdeveloped leaders, and ineffective tools and processes. 

A resilient safety culture consists of four main components – system, mindset, leadership, and ownership. Understanding how your organization is performing in these four areas is the first step to improving culture and ultimately improving business results. That’s the first phase of the continuous improvement method we call OwnerShift:

For more information about how to implement an effective continuous improvement methodology to your safety culture, or to learn more ways to improve safety outcomes, contact the experts at Caterpillar Safety Services today. Want to see an example of how our programs help customers? Watch this video.