How Does Safety Stack Up? A Survey of Corporate Financial Decision Makers' Perceptions of Safety Performance, Programs And Personnel

Abstract: Top-levelmanagers makeimportant decisionsabout safety-relatedissues, yet little safetyresearch has beendone involving theseindividuals. SH&E pro-fessionals must workwith these managersto access valuedresources, so under-standing their per-ceptions anddecision-makingprocesses is critical.This study involved asurvey of corporatefinancial decisionmakers to gathertheir opinions regard-ing their companies’safety performance,programs and person-nel, as well as thereasoning behindthese opinions. Theobjective was to iden-tify ways to improveoccupational safetyand offer ideas forways SH&E profes-sionals might moreeasily access resourcesfor safety. Summary of Responses How does your company compare to other companies in your industry?Question Not as good The same BetterSafety performance 22 (5.8%) 108 (28.3%) 251 (65.9%)Safety programs 14 (3.8%) 145 (39.7%) 206 (56.4%)Safety personnel 14 (4.0%) 163 (46.6%) 173 (49.4%) Table 1 Table 1 28_DeArmond_Mar2007.qxp 2/12/2007 9:58 AM Page 29