"C" is for Care

Safety coaching starts with caring. Safety coaches genuinely care about the health and safety of their coworkers, and they act on such caring. In other words, they “actively care.” And people are more likely to accept their advice when a safety coach’s words and body language reflect caring.

Many people are unwilling to coach or be coached for safety because they consider safety a matter of individual or personal responsibility. This is reflected in the statement, “If Susan and Chuck want to put themselves at risk, that’s their problem, not mine.” Thus, for some individuals a change in personal perspective or attitude is needed to facilitate the occurrence and acceptance of safety coaching. Everyone needs to consider safety coaching a shared responsibility or an interdependent opportunity to prevent injuries throughout their work culture. This calls for a shift from a win/lose individualistic to a win/win collectivistic frame of reference.