Learning the Hard Way: Why “Good Safety Programs” Still Fail on the Floor

If you’ve ever stood on the floor with a clipboard full of “closed” action items and still felt that cold little certainty that something wasn’t actually safe, you’re not alone. 

EHS leaders live in the space between what the system promises and what the work demands, where procedures are clean, training is complete… but the work is moving too fast. The hardest part isn’t knowing the rules. It’s watching good people bend those rules to get the job done and realizing the problem isn’t their attitude, it’s the conditions you all inherited. 

In the first installment of YellowBird’s Voices from the Field series, we profile Hannah McClellan, an EHS Coordinator who learned this lesson early in her career. Launched into her first site safety lead role with no formal training, Hannah was responsible for safety in a tightly regulated manufacturing environment where production pressure never slowed and the margin for error was thin. 

What she discovered early on challenged some of the most common assumptions in EHS: that strong documentation ensures safe work, that training closes risk gaps, and that unsafe behavior is the root of most problems.

Through her experience, Hannah came to see safety not as a program to enforce, but as an outcome of how work is designed, supported, and led. In this article, she shares the hard-earned lessons that reshaped her approach, and offers practical insights for safety leaders who want their programs to hold up where it matters most: in the reality of everyday work.

1. Treat Safety as a System Outcome, Not a Standalone Program

“Sustainable behavior change comes from designing systems that make safe work the easiest option,” Hannah says. “People respond when expectations are clear, support is visible, and leaders show genuine interest in understanding how work is performed.”

Safety as a system that’s part of everyday operational decisions will always be valued more than safety regarded as an “add on” or “nice to have.”   

What to do:

• Evaluate safety performance alongside process design, staffing levels, tooling, and production pressure.
• When incidents or near misses occur, ask what system conditions shaped decisions before focusing on individual behavior.
• Partner closely with operations and quality. Safety cannot succeed in isolation.

2. Don’t Assume Documentation Equals Safety

Early in her safety career, Hannah placed a lot of confidence in documentation. After all, it’s the first thing leadership asks for. It shows proof of due diligence and compliance. 

But great procedures and flawless safety programs didn’t automatically lead to safer outcomes. On paper, everything looked right. In practice, it rarely was. 

What to do:

• Regularly compare written procedures to how work is actually performed.
• Observe normal work, not just audits or investigations.
• Use gaps between written and real work as learning opportunities, not compliance failures.

3. Look for Adaptations, Not Violations

“I learned that people routinely adapt their work to manage system limitations,” Hannah says. “Things like time pressure, equipment constraints, or unclear processes. Those adaptations aren’t signs of carelessness; they’re often how work gets done.”

One of the toughest safety-related decisions Hannah has faced involved work that appeared unsafe on the surface. “The easy response would have been to focus solely on correcting behavior and moving on,” she says. “But that wouldn’t have addressed the underlying issue.”

Instead, she chose to pause and adjust the work. “The harder decision was to pause and adjust the work, even under pressure, while taking the time to understand what people were actually dealing with.”

What to do:

• When you see workarounds, ask what problem they are solving.
• Track recurring adaptations as signals of system weakness.
• Fix the condition driving the workaround instead of retraining the person.
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4. Make Frontline Feedback a Formal Input

It turns out that small safety improvements can create a disproportionately large impact. But finding ways to make those changes requires creating consistent ways to capture and act on frontline feedback. 

“Trust is built through consistent, everyday actions,” Hannah says. “That starts with listening to understand how work is really done, acknowledging constraints, and following through on commitments.”

Relationships matter, too. “It’s also important to really get to know the people that you work with. Tough conversations land better when there is established communication.” 

What to do:

• Establish simple, repeatable channels for frontline input.
• Prioritize quick wins like tool access, process simplification, or removing recurring frustrations.
• Close the loop by showing what changed as a result of feedback.

5. Be Cautious About Over-Relying on Training

“Training is important and necessary for compliance,” Hannah says, “but it often assumes work is performed exactly as designed and doesn’t account for process drift and varying conditions.”

In reality, work is dynamic.

“Training alone can’t compensate for poorly designed processes, inadequate tools, or competing priorities,” she says. “Without addressing those underlying system factors, even well-intended training tends to fall short in the real world.”

What to do:

• Use training to support systems, not replace them.
• Before adding new training, ask what system gap you are trying to cover.
• Revisit training content when processes drift or conditions change.

Staying Focused and Motivated by the Future of EHS

Hannah is encouraged by where the profession is headed, as there’s a “continued shift toward more system-based, human-centric approaches to safety.” She sees a  growing recognition that safety performance is shaped by design, leadership, and organizational decisions. Not just individuals in being “in compliance.”

“What keeps me motivated is the people,” Hannah says. “I work alongside individuals who care deeply about their jobs and take pride in what they do. Being able to contribute to systems that better support them through improved processes, clearer expectations, or better tools is meaningful work… Even small, incremental improvements can have a lasting impact.” 

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