In April 2022, I shared a piece on what safety means to me in honour of the National Day of Mourning for employees killed or injured on the job.
I was overwhelmed with the response I received, including a number of touching personal stories from colleagues sharing the stories of those they had lost in workplace accidents.
Their stories remind me that safety goes far beyond policies and procedures in a handbook. It is not an initiative or project to be updated once a year. Safety must be a core value in our daily work.
As a university, we are inherently a people organization, delivering on our purpose through the talent and care of the people in our community. What could be more important than ensuring the safety and well-being of our employees and students - our most important assets?
We tend to think of safety as simply a matter of physical security, but in truth it extends far beyond that to include cultural and mental well-being. This is why I believe safety must be thought of as a value.
You might ask if all of this is just a matter of semantics. What exactly is the difference between a value and a priority?
I think of a priority as something that has a time and a season; it changes, whether due to new influences, changing demands, or the winds blowing in a new direction.
A value is quite different. It’s something lasting, permanent. Something beyond outside influences.
For a culture of safety to catch on, it must be more than a priority, susceptible to being discarded. We must truly value it.
Values are part of the fibre of the university. They do not change depending on the season. Values are lived in the daily decisions of all members of our organization. Safety must become part of the value system for each university member, regardless of their role.
What will be different when we think of safety as a value instead of a priority?
For an organization with safety as a core value, safety becomes a way of life. The cliché "safety is everyone's responsibility" becomes reality.
There is work to do to create a safer culture that we can all be proud of. The work starts when we each commit to safety as one of our shared core values.
About Tanya
Tanya Wick is the Associate Vice-President of Human Resources, Health, Safety and Environment at the U of A. With more than 20 years in human resources and leadership, Tanya has a talent for building accountable work cultures and teams. Her leadership expertise spans a wide range of operational functions, including human resources, procurement, administration, payroll and communications. Add to this her many years of leveraging HR metrics to influence corporate decisions and she is a well-rounded business leader equipped and driven to manage critical change and strategic objectives.