Brian Fitzpatrick

Chief Health and Safety Officer @Haley & Aldrich

Burlington, MA

As the Executive Team member responsible for health and safety I develop, promote, and execute the health and safety strategy. There is a strong Lean flavor to how I lead continuous improvement in the organization. As a student of Shigeo Shingo, I firmly believe that Ideal Results are driven by Ideal Behaviors, which must be supported by and influence appropriate systems and tools. Leaders must commit to doing the hard work of creating and reinforcing a culture where ideal behaviors are expected and evident. As a student of HOP, Safety Differently, and complex systems, I lead through focusing on developing each staff member’s capacity to critically think and respond to varying conditions in their work by consciously focusing on increasing worker capacity to handle all safety-related situations, understanding that:• The unique ability of staff to adapt creatively to changing circumstances is a strength that we need to bring to bear on the complex problems they face.• Staff at all levels in the organization are constantly facing the realities of these complex problems.• Staff closest to the work are in the best position to identify innovative solutions, or at least to assist in identifying problems, so we can ensure everyone’s safety• Staff must be engaged in the relentless pursuit of continuous improvement of health and safety performance as measured by key behavioral and key performance indicators.These beliefs have led to developing a safety culture resulting in a 40% improvement in our Experience Modification Rate, and a 60% improvement in the Incident Rate while driving the severe injury rate to 0.