An original Barry Spud satire.

I was delighted to discover the concept of 1% Safer.

Finally, a safety slogan with a number attached. All the reassurance of mathematics without the inconvenience of specifying what we’re measuring.

The underlying idea involves making practical improvements.

Naturally, I could see room for improvement.

Why do one useful thing when you could announce a hundred?

Welcome to Spud’s Accelerated Percentage Programme™.

Same workplace. Faster claims.

My professional colleague Sadie Tater has already prepared the certificates. We find it motivating to complete those before establishing what anyone has achieved.

Rob Long’s Zero in 100 Days, I’m 1% Safer questions the numerical message and argues that it can repackage familiar zero thinking.

Personally, I was appalled.

A hundred days?

What are these people doing all afternoon?

First, avoid defining the percentage

A worker asked: “One percent of what?”

This is exactly the sort of negativity that delays transformation.

Does he mean injury probability? Exposure? Severity? Equipment reliability? The percentage of workers who pretend to enjoy my toolbox talks?

Once you define something, people start expecting evidence.

I explained that “safer” was a holistic organisational aspiration.

He asked why it had a decimal point.

Sadie recorded a communication barrier.

Then, improve the arithmetic

My initial plan was simple.

One hundred employees. Each becomes 1% safer.

One hundred percent safer by morning tea.

An engineer pointed out that percentages from different people cannot simply be added.

I thanked her for identifying a limitation in engineering thinking.

She then explained that reducing a defined risk by 1% repeatedly would not eliminate it after a hundred reductions.

Apparently, some risk would remain.

I reminded her that we were trying to eliminate negativity as well.

Count each improvement several times

Yesterday, we replaced a damaged handrail.

Maintenance recorded one repair.

Amateurs.

I recorded hazard identification, consultation, procurement, installation, verification, communication and close-out.

Seven improvements.

Seven percent safer.

Then I photographed the handrail for LinkedIn.

Eight.

Sadie suggested a photograph of me pointing at the photograph.

Leadership visibility.

Nine.

The handrail was doing excellent work for our performance indicators.

Choose improvements that photograph well

A worker suggested repairing the extraction system.

I suggested putting fresh tape around the noticeboard.

Both are improvements, but only one could be completed before the quarterly presentation.

This is the beauty of counting activities without establishing their significance. A new poster can compete directly with controlling a serious exposure.

The poster usually wins.

It has fewer procurement requirements and a better relationship with my printer.

Keep the gains. Ignore the losses

During our campaign, we added three checklists, two briefings and another approval stage.

We awarded ourselves six percentage points.

Workers reported delays, overtime and growing frustration.

We thanked them for the feedback.

Our dashboard records improvements. It has no column for difficulties created by improvements.

Including one would undermine the clarity of the presentation.

Sadie calls this positive reporting.

I call it protecting the denominator.

Make the risk matrix work harder

One supervisor asked how we could demonstrate progress without changing the equipment.

Simple.

Reassess it.

Yesterday, the risk was red. Today, after an awareness session, it was amber.

The machine was identical, but everyone had signed something.

Tomorrow, we’re aiming for green.

Our graphic designer has confirmed this is achievable.

Never let critical thinking interrupt momentum

SafetyRisk’s discussion of the seduction of slogans raises awkward questions about what attractive phrases simplify or conceal.

I have addressed this by making our phrase more attractive.

“1% SAFER. 100% COMMITTED. BASELINE PENDING.”

Rob Long’s critique of Safety=Zero culture also challenges the idea that changing the branding necessarily changes the underlying ideology.

Fortunately, our branding consultant assures me that changing the branding definitely changes the invoice.

That is one measurable outcome we can all understand.

Introduce a premium package

Our standard programme delivers 1% safer.

Silver delivers 10%.

Gold delivers 100%.

Platinum delivers 110%, because leadership should always give more.

Someone asked how a workplace could be more than completely safe.

I explained that this was an executive package. Operational staff weren’t expected to understand it.

Finally, celebrate before anyone checks

At our launch, a fitter asked:

“Could we spend less time calculating imaginary safety and more time fixing what we already know is wrong?”

I considered this carefully.

It was practical. Specific. Potentially useful.

Unfortunately, it contained no percentage.

We referred him to the suggestion scheme.

Meanwhile, Sadie unveiled our final certificate:

“100% SAFER — AS MEASURED BY THE PEOPLE SELLING THE PROGRAMME.”

Small improvements can take patience, judgement and follow-through.

My method takes a calculator.

And if you still aren’t convinced?

For a modest additional fee, I’ll make the calculator say whatever you need.