By Ntombi Mazibuko, Head of SHERQ: SPM
Every operational environment carries risk. It exists in every instruction, movement, and decision made on site. It is present in the space between what is planned and what actually happens. Risk, in its most practical sense, is dynamic, shaped by people, systems, and the conditions under which they work. That is why safety cannot depend solely on rules or oversight. It must be lived through personal responsibility and collective awareness.
In many organisations, the management of risk still sits too high up the chain. It is held by departments and specialists who provide oversight and enforce compliance. These structures are important, but they can create distance between those who identify risk and those empowered to act on it. When that gap widens, incidents are no longer a surprise; they are the delayed result of missed ownership.
To build lasting safety performance, ownership has to shift from policy to practice. It begins when every person, regardless of role, sees safety as part of their professional integrity. A well-designed system gives them the knowledge and tools to act, but the decision to use that system, to pause, report, question, or correct, comes from personal conviction. This is where real maturity lies: when safety is seen not as an instruction to follow but as a responsibility to uphold.
SHERQ’s role is to make that level of ownership possible. It does so by ensuring systems are clear, data is credible, and processes are practical. Strong SHERQ leadership creates the framework within which others can lead safely. It removes confusion, standardises expectations, and keeps information visible. Yet its success depends on what happens beyond its direct control: the choices people make when the day gets busy, the schedule tightens, and the pressure builds.
That is where leadership becomes decisive. Culture follows example. Teams observe how leaders behave when deadlines and safety compete for attention. They notice whether leaders stop to ask questions or push forward in silence. The tone set in those moments defines what safety means in practice. When leaders treat it as a non-negotiable standard, it becomes embedded in decision-making. When they treat it as an operational hurdle, it fades into compliance formality.
Accountability holds the system together. It is not about fault but about insight, asking whether the organisation recognised early warnings, whether people felt heard, and whether controls worked as designed. Accountability is a mirror that reflects how honestly leadership is willing to look at its own influence on outcomes. That self-discipline builds trust across the organisation and prevents small risks from growing into larger ones.
Technology has changed how we track and predict risk, but it cannot replace awareness. Dashboards and digital tools help identify trends, yet the most valuable control remains a person who notices something, speaks up, and acts. Vigilance cannot be automated. It must be cultivated through communication, competence, and visible leadership presence.
When risk ownership is shared, organisations become more adaptive. Small issues are addressed early, lessons are shared quickly, and learning becomes continuous. This responsiveness is what resilience looks like, not resistance to failure but readiness to act before it occurs. Sustaining it requires constancy. Ownership weakens when priorities shift or when productivity overshadows prudence. Leaders must keep connecting safety practices to purpose so that vigilance stays active and meaningful.
Two organisations can have identical systems and achieve very different outcomes. The difference is leadership conviction. Where SHERQ is embedded as a strategic function, not a compliance obligation, performance stabilises and improves. Where it is treated as an afterthought, gaps widen.
Safety is not a department. It is a collective standard of behaviour that defines how work is done and how people lead. When everyone understands that risk belongs to them, the organisation becomes both safer and stronger. Ownership then stops being an expectation and becomes a defining characteristic of how the organisation operates.
That is what it means to lead through safety: consistent actions, clear purpose, and shared accountability that endures long after the policy is read.
