Safety Leadership & Culture: Executive 5-Day Training Course

Course Overview

This transformational Safety Leadership and Culture training program delivers strategic expertise for executives and managers across the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), Oman, GCC countries (UAE, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain), and Africa. The course covers leadership behaviors, safety culture assessment, behavioral safety, organizational change, performance measurement, and employee engagement strategies essential for building world-class safety performance in oil & gas, petrochemical, construction, mining, and industrial sectors.

With the Middle East and Africa operating high-hazard industries employing millions, this training addresses critical competencies for leaders at Saudi Aramco, SABIC, Ma’aden, PDO (Petroleum Development Oman), ADNOC, Qatar Energy, Dangote, Sasol, driving transformation from compliance-based to values-based safety, achieving zero-harm goals, supporting Saudi Vision 2030 safety excellence and regional industrial competitiveness.

Target Audience

• Senior Executives and C-suite leaders in oil & gas, petrochemical, industrial sectors

• Operations Directors and Plant Managers across Saudi Arabia, Oman, GCC, Africa

• HSE Directors and Safety Managers leading safety programs

• Project Managers managing major construction and industrial projects

• HR Directors integrating safety into organizational culture

• Department Heads responsible for team safety performance

• Site Managers building safety leadership at operational level

Day 1: Safety Leadership Fundamentals

Morning Session: Leadership’s Role in Safety

• Leadership vs. management: inspiring vs. controlling, vision vs. tasks

• Business case for safety: moral, legal, financial imperatives, operational excellence

• Cost of incidents: fatalities, injuries, property damage, business interruption, reputation

• Statistics: GCC industrial safety performance, regional incident trends, benchmarking

• Leadership impact: correlation between leadership engagement and safety outcomes

• Visible felt leadership: site visits, safety conversations, leading by example

• Leadership theories: transformational, servant, authentic leadership applied to safety

• Personal commitment: leaders’ safety values, beliefs, walking the talk

• Regional considerations: diverse workforce (100+ nationalities in GCC), cultural sensitivity

• Case studies: Saudi Aramco safety culture transformation, DuPont safety excellence

Afternoon Session: Safety Culture Framework

• Culture definition: shared values, beliefs, attitudes, behaviors regarding safety

• Culture maturity models: Hudson (pathological to generative), Bradley Curve (reactive to interdependent)

• Five stages: pathological, reactive, calculative, proactive, generative/interdependent

• Characteristics of each stage: blame culture vs. learning culture, compliance vs. commitment

• Current state assessment: where is your organization on maturity curve?

• Vision for target culture: interdependent safety, collective responsibility, continuous learning

• Culture change journey: long-term commitment (3-5 years typical), sustained leadership

• Resistance to change: understanding barriers, addressing skepticism, building momentum

• Workshop: Self-assessment of organizational safety culture maturity

Day 2: Behavioral Safety & Human Factors

Morning Session: Understanding Human Behavior

• Human error: slips, lapses, mistakes, violations, system-induced errors

• Error causation: Swiss cheese model (Reason), latent vs. active failures

• At-risk behaviors: shortcuts, normalization of deviance, production pressure

• Psychological factors: complacency, overconfidence, fatigue, stress

• Situational awareness: recognizing hazards, maintaining focus in routine tasks

• Cognitive biases: confirmation bias, optimism bias, availability heuristic

• Motivation theories: Maslow’s hierarchy, Herzberg two-factor, intrinsic vs. extrinsic

• Why people take risks: time pressure, peer influence, perceived low probability

• Cultural dimensions: Hofstede’s framework (power distance, collectivism) in GCC/Africa context

• Communication across cultures: hierarchical vs. flat, direct vs. indirect

Afternoon Session: Behavioral Safety Programs

• Behavior-Based Safety (BBS): observation, feedback, reinforcement of safe behaviors

• BBS process: define critical behaviors, observe, provide feedback, track trends, intervene

• Observation techniques: non-punitive, focused on behaviors not people, positive reinforcement

• Feedback delivery: timely, specific, constructive, two-way conversation

• Peer-to-peer observations: empowering workforce, building accountability

• Common BBS pitfalls: blame focus, data collection without action, management disengagement

• Integration with systems: combining behavioral and engineering controls

• Stop Work Authority: empowering all employees to intervene, removing fear of retribution

• Near-miss reporting: encouraging proactive hazard identification, learning culture

• Recognition programs: celebrating safe behaviors, team achievements, individual contributions

• Case studies: BBS success at SABIC, ADNOC behavioral programs

• Workshop: Designing effective safety observation process

Day 3: Communication, Engagement & Influence

Morning Session: Safety Communication

• Communication principles: clarity, consistency, frequency, multi-channel approach

• Leadership communication: town halls, toolbox talks, safety moments, personal stories

• Storytelling: using real incidents, near-misses, personal experiences to influence behavior

• Active listening: understanding concerns, addressing barriers, building trust

• Two-way dialogue: encouraging questions, feedback, open discussion without fear

• Visual communication: safety posters, digital displays, dashboards, videos

• Effectiveness in multi-lingual workforce: translation, pictorial, universal symbols

• Safety meetings: effective facilitation, engaging participation, action tracking

• Toolbox talks: short, focused, interactive, relevant to work activities

• Pre-job briefings: hazard identification, task planning, team alignment

• Safety campaigns: themes, sustained messaging, measuring impact

• Digital tools: mobile apps, social media, intranet for safety engagement

• Regional considerations: communication styles in Saudi Arabia, Oman, UAE, Africa

Afternoon Session: Employee Engagement & Empowerment

• Engagement definition: emotional commitment, discretionary effort, ownership

• Engaged vs. disengaged workforce: safety performance correlation

• Building trust: transparency, keeping commitments, admitting mistakes, fairness

• Empowerment: giving authority, resources, training to make safety decisions

• Safety committees: cross-functional, representative, empowered to drive change

• Worker participation: hazard identification, risk assessment, procedure development

• Suggestion programs: encouraging ideas, responding promptly, implementing improvements

• Recognition and reward: monetary vs. non-monetary, individual vs. team

• Fairness and consistency: just culture, accountability without fear

• Frontline supervisor role: critical bridge between management and workforce

• Supervisor development: coaching, leadership skills, safety competencies

• Workshop: Designing employee engagement strategy for your organization

Day 4: Performance Measurement & Continuous Improvement

Morning Session: Safety Performance Metrics

• Lagging indicators: TRIR (Total Recordable Incident Rate), LTIR, fatality rate, severity

• Limitations of lagging indicators: reactive, historical, manipulation risk

• Leading indicators: observations, inspections, training completion, near-miss reports, audits

• Predictive value: correlating leading indicators with injury prevention

• Balanced scorecard approach: combining lagging, leading, culture indicators

• Process safety metrics: API RP 754 Tier 1, Tier 2, Tier 3 events

• OSHA recordkeeping: Saudi Arabia GOSI reporting, GCC requirements, international standards

• Benchmarking: comparing performance against industry, best-in-class (Saudi Aramco, Shell, ExxonMobil)

• Data quality: accurate recording, classification consistency, avoiding underreporting

• Dashboards and visualization: real-time displays, trend analysis, accessibility

• Goal setting: SMART objectives, zero-harm vision, interim targets

• Dangerous metrics: focusing solely on TRIR, unintended consequences, gaming the system

Afternoon Session: Audits, Inspections & Root Cause Analysis

• Safety audits: compliance verification, management system effectiveness

• Behavioral safety audits: assessing leadership, culture, workforce engagement

• Inspection programs: workplace, equipment, PPE, systematic coverage

• Hazard identification: JSA (Job Safety Analysis), HAZOP, pre-task risk assessment

• Incident investigation: comprehensive, timely, blame-free focus on system failures

• Root cause analysis: 5-Why, fishbone, Apollo, TapRooT methodologies

• Learning from incidents: sharing lessons, implementing corrective actions, verification

• Near-miss potential: Heinrich’s pyramid, recognizing warning signals

• Continuous improvement: PDCA (Plan-Do-Check-Act), Kaizen principles

• Management of change (MOC): assessing safety impact of changes, formal process

• Workshop: Root cause analysis exercise, corrective action development

Day 5: Driving Cultural Transformation

Morning Session: Leading Organizational Change

• Change management models: Kotter’s 8 steps, ADKAR, Lewin’s force field analysis

• Creating urgency: compelling case for change, leadership alignment

• Vision and strategy: defining desired culture, roadmap, milestones

• Communication plan: consistent messaging, addressing concerns, celebrating wins

• Coalition building: engaging champions, middle management buy-in, influencer network

• Overcoming resistance: understanding sources, addressing fears, involving skeptics

• Quick wins: demonstrating progress, building momentum, reinforcing commitment

• Sustaining change: embedding in systems, processes, leadership routines

• Cultural assessment tools: surveys, focus groups, observations, safety perception studies

• Integration with business: connecting safety to operational excellence, quality, reliability

• Contractor safety management: extending culture to contractors (critical in GCC projects)

Afternoon Session: Personal Leadership Development Plan

• Self-assessment: leadership strengths, development areas, blind spots

• Leadership behaviors: visible commitment, vulnerability, courageous conversations

• Psychological safety: creating environment where people speak up without fear

• Emotional intelligence: self-awareness, empathy, relationship management

• Conflict resolution: addressing safety violations, difficult conversations, accountability

• Coaching and mentoring: developing safety leaders at all levels

• Succession planning: building leadership pipeline, identifying high potentials

• Personal action plan: 90-day priorities, behavior changes, measurable outcomes

• Peer accountability: leaders supporting each other, shared commitment

• Measuring leadership impact: 360 feedback, safety climate surveys, observable behaviors

• Organizational roadmap: 1-year, 3-year culture transformation plan

• Commitment and accountability: public declaration, follow-through, review mechanisms

• Final workshop: Personal and organizational safety leadership action plans

• Group presentations and peer feedback

Learning Outcomes

Upon completion, participants will be able to:

• Demonstrate visible felt leadership driving safety culture transformation

• Assess organizational safety culture maturity and develop improvement strategies

• Implement behavioral safety programs changing at-risk behaviors

• Communicate effectively engaging workforce across cultures and languages

• Empower employees fostering ownership and accountability for safety

• Establish meaningful metrics combining lagging and leading indicators

• Lead organizational change overcoming resistance, sustaining momentum

• Develop personal leadership skills enhancing safety influence

• Build interdependent safety culture achieving zero-harm objectives

Course Delivery & Certification

• Format: Interactive workshops, self-assessments, case studies, group discussions, role-plays, action planning

• Facilitator expertise: International safety culture consultants with GCC/Africa experience

• Materials: Leadership manual, assessment tools, action plan templates, case study library

• Certification: Executive certificate recognized across KSA, Oman, UAE, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain, Africa

• Language: English (Arabic support available)

• CPD Credits: Senior leadership development recognition

• Locations: Riyadh, Dhahran (KSA), Muscat (Oman), Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Doha, Lagos, Johannesburg

Why This Course is Strategic

Leadership drives 70-80% of safety culture. Organizations with strong safety leadership achieve 5-10x better safety performance than industry average. GCC Vision 2030 initiatives demand world-class safety. Contractor-heavy projects (NEOM, Duqm, Dangote) require unified safety culture. Reputational risk from incidents threatens social license, investor confidence, government relations. Best performers (Saudi Aramco 0.06 TRIR, Shell, ExxonMobil) attribute success to leadership commitment and strong culture.

This course delivers proven methodologies from global best practices, Saudi Aramco excellence programs, DuPont safety culture, addressing regional workforce diversity, hierarchical cultures, rapid industrial growth, building sustainable safety transformation aligned with Saudi Vision 2030 and regional competitiveness.

Lead with conviction. Transform culture. Achieve zero harm.