It’s that

So many time of
issues to year Where
deal again!!! do I
with!! begin?
“SH&E Strategic Planning: Maturity-
Criticality Approach to Continuous
Improvement”

David Steinbacher, MPH,

CSP
 Goals & benefits of systematic risk-based
planning
 Elements of SH&E strategic planning
 Evaluating program maturity & criticality to

prioritize initiatives
 Maturity-Criticality Rating Scheme design,

evaluation and risk ranking

 Planning for continuous improvement
Building a Rationale for
Selecting Your Initiatives
 Use a shotgun approach – “spray & pray”
 Focus on injury & illness rates
 Rely on intuition to determine areas of
improvement
 Work on things you like to work on
 Jump on the “hot fad”
 “Firefight” current areas of weakness or concern
 Just implement goals provided by a higher
organizational level
Systematic Risk-Based
Prioritization
 Builds a logical rationale for initiatives in a way
that makes sense to management!
 Aligns initiatives to the needs of the business
 Provides basis for setting priorities with limited
resources
 Makes functional & individual goal-setting much
easier!
Can be as simple or complex as you want it to be
A High Level View
 Example: Interactive Planning (Russell Ackoff)
 A novel planning approach that can be applied to
any type of planning
 Design a “desired present” and implement the
means to approximate it as closely as possible
◦ Formulate the Mess (Situation Now)
 System analysis
Risk-Based
◦ Ends Planning - Idealized design (Your Vision) Analysis
◦ Means Planning - Identify gaps & ways to bridge them & Prioritization
◦ Resource Planning
◦ Implementation & Control
 Applied to SH&E management at DuPont by James
Leemann

How do we reach our idealized design (Vision) now?

 What are your SH&E aspirations for
your organization?
 Is it aligned with your overall business
direction and goals?
 Is it realistic or “pie in the sky”?
 Is it unique to your organization?
 Does it address all stakeholders?
 Does it inspire people?
 Is it vague (“world class”) or is it well
defined with specific attributes that
paint a picture of where you want to
be?
 Verbalized in a “Mission Statement”
◦ ;
 Existing EHS
Management System
Elements
(what maturity
improvement is
needed?)

What new EHS

program elements or
concepts are
necessary to achieve
visualized EHS Integrate EHS Strategic Planning EHS
design? Vision

EHS initiatives
needed to address
specific business
needs / response to
environmental
drivers
 Effective EHS
planning cannot
occur in a vacuum
 Understanding the
key drivers that
impact your
business, the
company culture
& the EHS system
are essential!
 Gather all the data you can to understand the state of
your EHS systems
◦ Perception surveys (employee attitudes & safety culture)
◦ Hazard & vulnerability assessments
◦ Needs surveys and analyses
◦ Key performance indicators
◦ Audits and reviews
◦ Behavioral observations
◦ Incident exposure ($$$)
◦ Feedback from the community
◦ Interaction with regulatory agencies
◦ Benchmarking
 How effective are your systems?
 What are the weaknesses and opportunities?
 Is your system aligned with stakeholder expectations?
A “Maturity-Criticality
Approach” can be a useful
tool
 Maturity Criticality List of Elements
List of key
OUTPUTS EHS
definitions definitions Calcuated ideas for ranked by
& scoring & scoring MC Scores each MC score
elements
system system element & maturity

Create Create
Identify Identify
PROCESS Maturity Criticality Conduct Prioritize EHS
Process Improvement
FLOW Elements
Rating Rating Review
Opportunities
Elements
Scheme Scheme

Integrate with Strategic Direction & Goal-Setting

 Break down to level of detail and
specialization appropriate for your situation:
◦ Less mature systems – more general
◦ Greater maturity – more detailed to fine tune
 Consider management systems (e.g. OHSAS
18001, OSHA VPP) that use prescribed
elements or categories
 Breakdown by specific programs or sub-

elements
 Consider company culture aspects
 Assessing maturity helps to clarify the current
state of your programs and processes
 Useful to use a quantifiable measuring stick:
◦ Design a rating system that makes sense for your
organization
◦ Use definitions that are unique/useful for your industry
 Be honest in your assessment
 Program maturity can improve or deteriorate
 Look for gaps between the current state of your
programs and your vision
◦ Gaps can also be “obstructions” to achieving your
vision (organizational, cultural, process) that must be
taken into account
Maturity Maturity Definition
Score Level
1 Introduction System element does not exist or is in early
stage of development. Major gaps exist
between vision/idealized design and current
state.
2 Informal Early stages of a formal system. Moderate
gaps still exist between vision/ idealized
design and present state.
3 Functional Formal system established. Functions in well-
managed and controlled fashion. Minor or no
gaps exist between vision/idealized design
and present state
4 Model Model process that is a benchmark for others.
 Rating a program’s maturity
reveals areas that need to be
further developed and
improved; however:
◦ What do we do if we have many
programs at a low maturity level?
What do we work on first?
◦ Which ones pose the most risk to
the organization if not
adequately developed and
controlled?
◦ Which ones will give us the most
impact for our efforts?
 Aids in prioritization by introducing risk into the
planning process
◦ What is the impact to the organization if this
program/process is not effectively implemented?
◦ What are the unintended consequences?
 Helps us focus on those program elements that
should be addressed first to bridge the most
critical gaps
 Design a criticality rating system appropriate for
your organization

All organizations have limited resources!

Criticality Criticality Definition
Score Level
1 Business Required for sustained business operation. If
Critical lacking, potential for significant regulatory
non-compliance, fatality or serious injury,
penalties and fines, major adverse event,
adverse public relations.
5 Core Key element or required process essential for
proper management of EHS functional aspects

7 Improvement Element part of ongoing process improvement

Oriented to enhance the EHS management system.

Greater weight given to criticality – more

differentiation
 Prioritization can be aided by considering
both maturity and criticality.
 MC Score
◦ Maturity X Criticality = MC
◦ The lower the number, the higher the priority
 Similar concepts used in hazard analysis
(e.g. FMECA)
Element M C MC Improvement Opportunities

Fleet Safety 1 1 1 Vehicle selection & safe driving

program for sales
Blood Program 3 1 3 LEAN initiative eliminate waste
& reduce cost
CAPA System for 1 5 5 Create cost effective system
EHS
Leading 2 7 14 KPI tracking system
Indicators
Ergonomics 3 5 15 Discomfort survey to identify at-
risk employees

Economic driver: need lower program cost

 Figure 4 MC Decision Matrix
 Highly critical
programs Model (4) 4 20 28

must always
Functional (3) 3 15 21
be closely
assessed Informal (2) 2 10 14
regardless of
M

Introduction
tu
yig
s
aIn
re
c

maturity (1)
1 5 7

 Programs can Business Critical Core Improvement-

(1) (5) Oriented
deteriorate! (7)

Increasing Criticality

High Priority Medium Priority Low Priority

  Have you considered all program/process
aspects?
 Drill down to assess at more detailed level

 Example:
Training Aspect SH&E Training Program (M3/C5)
Maturity Rating
Training Needs Analysis M2 (Informal)
Quality of training content M3 (Functional)
Training participation/attendance M3 (Functional)
Use of computer-based modules M1 (Introduction)
Training documentation system M4 (Model)
Evaluation of training effectiveness M2 (Informal)
 Identify
constraints
 Determine what
will be required to
bridge the gaps
 Is it feasible?
 Brainstorm
opportunities
 Are there
programs that
need to be
discontinued?
 Depends on the company’s goal-setting and
budget process
 Give yourself enough lead time to gather

information and evaluate

◦ Prior to budget cycle is preferred
◦ Aligned with performance process
Use Visual Indicators to
Monitor Improvement
 Focus on Maturity Baseline Year-3 Projected Maturity
Distribution

moving 30
M1 30
processes 20 M2
20
M1
M2

out of M1 mH
10
M3
M4
10 M3

and M2
n
tsS
E
le
M4

m
nH
S
E
0

ts
le
0

categorie
s
 Driven by Year 1 Maturity Distribution Goal
priority
Year-2 Projected Maturity
Distribution

30 30
M1 M1
20 M2 20 M2

10 M3 10 M3
M4 M4
m

m
H

H
S
E

S
E
n

n
ts
le

ts
le
0 0
 Projected and actual improvement in scores:
◦ Average cumulative maturity score (all programs or
categories)
◦ Also used for average MC score
Projected Maturity Transition

4.00

3.00

2.00

1.00
S
o
c
iyM
tu
gA
ra
e
v

0.00
Baseline Year-1 Year-2 Year-3
Goal Goal Goal
 Consider risk aspects in your planning process
 Be objective and critical when evaluating your
programs and processes
 Obtain perspectives from other people in the
organization
 Take time to identify the needs of the business and
stakeholders
 Adjustments may be needed based on business
needs and environmental factors
 Mature processes can deteriorate and all processes
can be improved
 Anthony Smith (Co-Author)
 Shinko Campos (ZymoGenetics – Retired)
 Russell Ackoff & James Leemann (Interactive
Planning)

 Suggested Reading:
◦ Re-Creating the Corporation: Design of Organizations
for the 21st Century by Russell Ackoff

 Contact Info: Dave Steinbacher

dast@zgi.com|206-442-6791