5 Questions Every Supervisor Should Be Able to Answer About Safety Objectives
What the crew should know, record and flag about this year's aims
Safety objectives are set in offices and won or lost on site. The supervisor stands where the two meet: close enough to the work to see whether an objective fits it, and close enough to management to say so.
If a supervisor can answer the five questions below, the objective is working in their crew. If one of them draws a blank, the blank shows where to start.
This piece is written for supervisors, crew leaders and the people they lead. It is a companion to our field brief on Clause 6.2.1, which reads OH&S objectives as the crew meets them.
Subscribers to the SCAN Series have access to a fuller edition of the brief.
1. What is this site trying to improve this year?
The answer should be one sentence, in the supervisor's own words, saying what will be different about the work. An objective that cannot be said that simply has not reached the crew, however long the noticeboard has carried it.
Test it by asking three people on the crew. Answers in their own words show the aim has landed. Word-perfect quotes from the poster show it was read, not understood.
If nobody can answer, the fix is translation: what does this aim change about this week's tasks?
2. Where did these objectives come from?
Objectives are meant to come from the site's own risks and from what the crew said when it was consulted. A crew that recognises its own hazards in the list works the objective as protection. A crew that cannot see the link works it as paperwork.
A supervisor should know which objectives are legal requirements and which are the site's own ambition, because the two carry different stakes. If the crew gave input and cannot see what it changed, find out and tell them. That is the first thing workers check.
3. What does your crew record that feeds them?
Every objective is steered by indicators, and the indicators run on what the field records: logs, observations, near-miss reports, checks. The objective steers exactly as well as that recording is honest.
That means the unflattering readings go in too. Observation sheets filled in a batch at month end, or reports that only record the good days, feed the system a picture of the work that is not the work. Management then makes decisions on it.
4. When does your crew hear the readings back?
The crew should know where the indicators are read with them: the shop meeting, the toolbox talk, the monthly review board. It should also know what kind of movement sends a task back for a second look.
A scoreboard the crew sees being read keeps the crew recording. A scoreboard that disappears into the office teaches the crew its records do not matter, and the recording quality falls with that lesson.
5. How do you flag an objective that has stopped fitting the work?
Crews notice drift before any review does. The numbers improve while the work feels the same. The aim fights the day's conditions.
A change of contract or kit makes the target meaningless. Each is an early warning, and the supervisor is the one placed to carry it upward.
Know the route before it is needed: the named person, the meeting, the form. When the objective changes in response, the crew should be re-briefed within days, with the reason. A crew still working to last month's aim is a crew pulling the wrong way.
Using the five questions
Run the five questions at the start of each objectives cycle and again after any change. Each blank has a first move.
| Question | If the answer is missing |
|---|---|
| What is the site improving? | Translate the aim into this week's work and re-brief |
| Where did it come from? | Ask which risks and which consultation input it answers |
| What does your crew record? | Name the logs and checks that feed it, and record them honestly |
| When does your crew hear back? | Ask for the readings to come back at an existing meeting |
| How do you flag drift? | Agree the route for flagging drift before it is needed |
Conclusion
An objective a supervisor can explain, trace, feed, read and challenge is an objective the crew is actually working to. One the supervisor cannot answer for is still a poster, whatever the register says.
Read the crew's view in our field brief on Clause 6.2.1. Subscribers to the SCAN Series have access to a fuller edition of the brief.
Set at the top, proven on site: see AIMED in Practice get it right.
The AIMED Framework in Practice takes one objective on site from the crew's first rough wording to the one-page objective they adopt. It is part of the Mission 45001 subscriber edition, with the full briefs and all four worked examples.
Subscribe for full access →Frequently asked questions
Should every worker know the site's safety objectives?
Yes, in their own words. A worker who can say what the site is trying to improve, and what it changes about the day's work, shows the objective has landed. Word-perfect quotes from a poster show it was read, not understood.
What should a supervisor do when a safety objective stops matching the work?
Flag it early through an agreed route: the numbers improving while the work feels the same, or the aim fighting the day's conditions, are the earliest warnings the system gets. When the objective changes, re-brief the crew within days with the reason.
Why does honest recording matter for safety objectives?
The indicators that steer each objective run on what the field records. Batch-filled sheets or reports that leave out the bad days give management a picture of the work that is not the work.