Lean Safety ─ Transforming Your Safety Culture With Lean Management

While worker safety is often touted as a company’s first priority, more often than not, safety activity is driven by compliance to legislation rather than any safety improvement initiative. Lean takes a proactive approach – it is not contingent on legislation. A serious Lean effort will tear apart an old inefficient entitlement-riddled culture and build it into something effective.

Lean Safety: Transforming your Safety Culture with Lean Management takes lessons learned from Lean and applies them to the building of a world-class safety-first organization. Based on 30 years of experience with successful implementation of continuous improvement, Robert Hafey focuses the power of Lean improvement on the universal topic of safety. In doing so, he shows how Lean and safety are linked; that the achievement of one is often dependent upon achievement of the other. In this book, written for managers and executives as well as workers on the line, Hafey:


Challenges each stakeholder to think proactively and accept individual responsibility for safety
Emphasizes that the building of a top safety program requires the building of a world-class safety culture
Demonstrates how basic Lean tools are as applicable to safety as they are to Lean, such as the A3 problem-solving process and the facilitated kaizen blitz
Removes fear from the accident investigation process so that root causes are addressed rather than hidden
Establishes standards and metrics for safety management that are clearly definable and measurable


Any lasting improvement must become both institutionalized and perpetually capable of adaptation. World class safety is not about writing correct rules, but more about righting the culture responsible for the well-being of its stakeholders.


Listen to what Robert Hafey has to say about Lean Safety.

Introduction Message for Leaders Message for Lean Thinkers Message for Hourly Safety Team Members Brief Overview of Chapters Why Focus on Safety?Demonstrate That Safety Really Is FirstQuick Guide: Lean Focused Approach to Safety ManagementEndnotes
Change the CultureA Common Goal of Both Lean Philosophy and Safety ProgramsQuick Guide: Change the Culture
Leadership’s RoleFocus Everyone on the ProcessQuick Guide: Leadership’s Role
Lean Tools for SafetyYou Can Continuously Cope or You Can Continuously Improve—The Choice Is YoursLean Tool 5S: A Structured Method of Workplace Organization Sort Set in Order Shine Standardize SustainDisciplined Approach Necessary to Maintain Safety in the WorkplaceLean Tool: Visual FactorySignageChartsSignaling SystemsProcess MappingLean Tool: TrainingLean Tool: Poka-Yoke (Failsafe)Lean Tool: BenchmarkingLean Tool: Continuous Flow/Cycle Time GainsLean Tool: Standard WorkLean Tool: Problem SolvingLean Tool: MetricsLean Tool: TeamsQuick Guide: Lean Tools for SafetyEndnotes
Advanced Lean Tools for SafetyFacilitated Leadership: Changing How People ThinkLean Tool: A3 Problem Solving Step 1: State the Agreed Upon Problem or Need Step 2: Draw the Current State Map or State the Current Condition Step 3: Problem Solving—Use Ask "Why" Five Times Technique to Get to Root Causes Step 4: The Future State—Draw a Map or Describe HowYou Would Like It to Be Step 5: Implementation Plan Step 6: Audit Expected Results Against Actual ResultsLean Tool: Kaizen BlitzPlanning the Kaizen EventFacilitating the Kaizen BlitzKaizen Team PresentationKaizen Event Follow-Up MeetingQuick Guide: Advanced Lean Tools for SafetyEndnote
Safety Program LeadershipIt Doesn’t Have to Be a ManagerTeam LeaderManagement FacilitatorAccident Investigation FacilitatorRecorder KeeperSubteam LeadersHuman Resources (HR) FacilitatorSafety Walk Co-CoordinatorOSHA Knowledge ExpertTraining CoordinatorQuick Guide: Safety Program LeadershipEndnote
Incident/Accident InvestigationGetting to Root Causes and Lasting SolutionsFocus on Process, not PeopleGetting to Root Cause and Corrective ActionsQuick Guide: Lean Approach to Incident and Accident Investigations
Promoting SafetyEngaging Employees to Build Safety Awareness Flash MeetingsBenchmarking (A Standard against Which Something Can BeMeasured or Assessed) Safety Improvement Programs Safety Observation Program Job Safety Analysis Safety Kaizen Blitz EventsQuick Guide: Lean Approach to Internal Safety Promotion
Roadmap to World-Class SafetyPulling the Pieces Together to Build or Rebuild a Safety ProgramSafety Program LeadershipLean Approach to Safety Program LeadershipSafety TeamLean Approach to a Safety TeamOther Team Building OpportunitiesRecordkeepingLean Approach to RecordkeepingSafety Program Outline DocumentsSafety EducationLean Approach to Safety EducationSafety Program Activity ManagementLean Approach to Safety Program Activity ManagementSafety Rule Definition. Lean Approach to Safety Rule Definition Safety CommunicationsLean-Influenced Safety CommunicationsQuick Guide: Roadmap to World-Class Safety
Safety Standard WorkFoundation of Continuous ImprovementQuick Guide: Standard Work for ManagersEndnote
Safety MetricsWhat You Measure Makes a DifferenceLean Approach to Safety MetricsQuick Guide: MetricsConclusion
GlossaryIndex About the Author