By Edward DEBRAH
James Clear’s bestselling book, Atomic Habits, suggests that small, consistent changes could transform individual lives, organisational culture and improve workplace health and safety which in turn, affects people and performance positively.
While good policies, procedures, equipment, and training are essential, often times, the power of atomic habits gets overlooked and this could result in how micro-behaviours may lead to near misses and subsequent accidents.
Atomic habits – What are they?
These are tiny habits, routines and behaviours, that when repeated over time, could compound and produce significant results. They are oftentimes, described as building blocks of larger transformations.
For purposes of workplace health and safety, this could mean fostering a culture where everyone feels responsible for their environment and well-being—not through drastic overhauls but through small, actionable steps repeated daily.
Atomic habits and awareness creation
Asking relevant questions as a first step could help unravel what type of habits needs altering at the workplace. Plans, including small actions, could be devised to mitigate against such identified questions that could help improve health and safety at the workplace. Questions including the below could be a great starting point:
- What are the most common risks or hazards in your workplace?
- What are the daily practices that could reduce these risks?
- Where do we see gaps in current safety behaviours or protocols?
For instance, if the workplace is exposed to slipping, tripping and falling hazards including but not limited to, wet surfaces and exposed electrical cables; an atomic habit could be ensuring employees check immediate surroundings for potential examples and fix identified challenges before it metamorphoses into significant accidents.
Make it obvious
Habits are easier to build when they’re visible and accessible. To embed positive health and safety habits into the workplace, it is important to create cues that serve as constant reminders for employees. Posters, checklists, or strategically placed reminders as well as visual aids, can keep health and safety top-of-mind. For instance:
- Fix reminders near exit points to ensure employees use designated pathways and not shortcuts.
- Use color-coded zones to indicate areas requiring specific safety gear.
- Install automatic alerts on machinery to prompt regular checks.
Make it attractive
Appealing and rewarding habits could easily be adopted when available. Workplaces must strive to make health and safety practices something that employees want to engage with and adopt. Consider;
- Institute rewards for teams that consistently follow safety protocols.
- Improve engagement and provide feedback on steps taken to address reported near misses.
- Offer incentives for reporting potential hazards or near-misses.
- Celebrate milestones, such as “100 days without a workplace injury.”
The Easier, the better.
When health and safety practices are simplified, they require less efforts to implement. Habit formation could be an enemy of complexity and to address these, it is important to:
- Streamline and simplify reporting procedures for hazards or incidents.
- Provide easy access to personal protective equipment (PPE).
- Design workflows that naturally encourage safe practices, like placing spill-cleanup kits near high-risk areas.
Make it satisfying
Habits stick when they feel rewarding. Positive reinforcement is key to sustaining safety behaviours. Recognize and celebrate individuals or teams who demonstrate compliance and adherence to safety protocols. Whether through shoutouts in meetings, small tokens of appreciation, or highlighting their efforts in newsletters, these gestures reinforce the value of their actions.
Create a culture of accountability
Atomic habits thrive in an environment of shared accountability. Encourage employees to hold each other accountable in a supportive way by ensuring employers and employees look after each other. Peer-to-peer reminders, team check-ins, or collaborative safety audits can foster a sense of collective responsibility. When everyone feels invested in health and safety, the workplace becomes inherently safer.
Measure, reflect and review
Socrates succinctly stated that, the unexamined life isn’t worth living. It is important to track progress to ensure changing habitual changes made have had any impact on activities.
Metrics such as safety events reported, safety engagements and initiatives implemented, employee feedback on health and safety initiatives are to be used to fact check whether changes made to identified behaviours are effective or otherwise.
The beauty of atomic habits
The beauty of atomic habits could be found in several compounding nature. These single small changes, including encouraging employees to pause, reflect and assess suitability of workplaces prior to starting a task, can spark several chain reactions of positive behaviours.
These habits, over time can help transform workplace health and safety through setting suitable rules and procedures that underpins culture.
By focusing on small, consistent actions and fostering a supportive environment, organizations can improve and affect not just workplace safety but also employee well-being, morale, and productivity. It’s proof that sometimes, the smallest changes truly, may have the biggest impact.
What changes do you think would bring positive health and safety improvement at workplaces?
Edward is the Founder, ED Consults Limited
