To maintain and continuously improve work health and safety (WHS) performance in this environment, leaders must help workers to resolve two fundamental dilemmas. The first dilemma involves how safety goals are framed, and is between preventing negative outcomes (i.e., the absence of safety) and promoting positive outcomes (i.e., the presence of safety). The second dilemma involves how uncertainty is managed, and is between achieving stability (i.e., exploiting existing capabilities) and achieving flexibility (i.e., exploring new capabilities).

Following on from these dilemmas, leadership can no longer be considered as a static or stable phenomenon. Leadership, and indeed safety leadership (as a subset of ‘good’ leadership) is in a constant state of flux, changing in response to the threats, demands, and opportunities conveyed by the current work situation.

This is the LEAD model. Developed by the Office of Industrial Relations with Curtin University and the University of Queensland, the LEAD model provides a scaffold that guides when and how to apply certain safety leadership tactics to produce the best results. This course introduces and reinforces the LEADmodel. It is suited for leaders in safety-critical industries, or those who simply want to learn more about how to improve team performance.

Importantly, the LEAD model is supported by a growing base of evidence. Across 30 organisations, we found that workers’ perceptions of the LEAD elements predicted safety compliance and proactivity (i.e., offering ideas to improve WHS) through creating or inducing a specific mindset. Also, we found that LEAD behaviours create a shared experience around WHS (the ‘safety climate’), which assists organisations to implement safety management strategies more effectively.