Targeted Methods for Obtaining Feedback on Your EH&S Program

1. Targeted Methods for Obtaining Feedback on Your EH&S Program Robert Emery, DrPH, CHP, CIH, CBSP, CSP, CHMM, ARM, CPP Vice President for Safety, Health, Environment & Risk Management The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston Professor of Occupational Health The University of Texas School of Public Health

2. Change in Focus • EH&S programs have changed in recent years • Originally “command and control”, regulatory driven • Now service oriented, with goal to support the organizational goals

3. Soliciting Feedback • As part of this service orientation, reliance on feedback is crucial • Feedback is typically obtained in four ways: • Unsolicited: usually complaints, rarely compliments • Training courses: smile sheets • A few generic questions as part of a larger organizational survey • Passive link on website: “let us know how we did”

4. Previous Efforts • Previous client satisfaction work at UTHSCH focused on routine safety surveillance program • Intended to evaluate staff performance in 5 persistently problematic areas • Interruptions, discourteous, • unknowledgeable, not technically proficient, • and waste not picked up • Results overwhelmingly positive >90% approval ratings • Unanticipated results – written comments: “thanks for asking!” • Powerful tool for demonstrating program goodwill value to upper management

5. Major Challenge • Feedback from surveys can be skewed or misleading if client expectations are not understood first • The trick is to first understand what client expectation are, and then to conduct operations accordingly

6. Two Types of Client Expectations • Realistic expectations that are perceived as not being achieved • Solution: recalibrate operations to meet expectations • Unrealistic expectations that can never be met • Solution: educate client so that expectations can be adjusted

7. Measuring Expectations and Perceptions • SERVQUAL tool • Developed by Parasuraman et al. under the auspices of the Marketing Science Institute • Research shows that customers evaluate firms by comparing service performance (perceptions) with service expectations

8. Five Dimensions of Service Quality • Tangibles – appearance of staff, facilities • Reliability – ability to perform promised service dependably and reliably • Responsiveness – willingness to help clients and provide prompt service • Assurance – knowledge and courtesy of staff which instills trust and confidence • Empathy – caring, individualized attention

9. SERVQUAL Tool • 22 paired statements split into two sections • Expectations • Perceptions • Example: “When excellent cable TV companies promise to do something by a certain time, they will do it” • Each statement evaluated on a 7 point Leikert scale • Data summarized and graphically displayed, comparing expectations versus perceptions

10. Methods • Modified questionnaire developed, consisting of 7 paired statements about EH&S program services • Areas of concentration: reliability, responsiveness, assurance, empathy • Distributed to 280 principle investigators in paper form with a personalized, signed cover memo • Survey form pre-labeled for return via campus mail

11. Results • By the end of a 3 week period, 32% return rate • Data entered into a spreadsheet and displayed graphically • Overtly display to various stakeholders!

14. Benefits • Results provide tangible evidence of program meeting the expectations of an excellent EH&S program • Powerful leverage tool to gain needed resources • Written comments identified other areas of concern • Great for staff morale – feedback for work rarely acknowledged

15. Other Examples Clients of Radiation Safety Program Clients of Chemical Safety Program Clients who interact with Administrative Support Staff Employees and Supervisors Reporting Injuries Clients of Environmental Protection Program Services Determining the Level of Informed Risk

16. Administrative Support Staff Survey Results Summary distributed to 90 targeted faculty and staff clients across UTHSCH, with 54 responses in 30 days (60% response rate)

17. Administrative Support Program Client Satisfaction Survey (distributed to 90 targeted faculty and staff clients across UTHSCH, with 54 responses in 30 days (60% response rate) “ 7) Compared to other administrative personnel you interact with across UTHSCH, please indicate your impression of the level of proficiency of the EH&S Administrative Support Staff member demonstrates during your interaction with them”

18. Employee Population (not reporting any injuries, n = 4,181) Injured Employees Requiring Care and Lost Time (n = 39): Not Included in survey, as each injured worker that accrues lost time is assigned a case manager to personally assist in the rehabilitation process. Survey of Employees and Supervisors Filing UTHSC-H First Reports of Injury in 2007 (Email based Zoomerang survey for period February 2007 to August 31, 2007) Employees requiring care, but no lost time (n = 28) Employees not requiring care, no lost time (n = 179)

20. Summary • Institutional EH&S programs are service intensive operations • Important to understand client expectations before measuring satisfaction • Formal surveys quantify intangibles • Other possible applications surely exist • Great way to capture and display program’s goodwill value!

21. References • Emery, R.J., Sawyer, R.L., Sprau, D.D., "Assessing the Service Provided by an Institutional Radiation Safety Survey Program" Health Physics, 70(5): 741-743, 1996. • Emery, R.J., Savely, S., "The Benefits of Actively Soliciting Worker Concerns During Routine Safety Inspections" Professional Safety, 42(7): 36-38, 1997. • Emery, R.J., "Adding Value to Your Radiation Protection Program", Chapter in Roessler, C.E. Management and Administration of Radiation Safety Programs, Medical Physics Publishing, Madison, WI. 1998. • Parasuraman, A., Berry, L.L., Zeithaml, V.A., Guidelines for measuring service industry quality. Marketing Research, American Marketing Association., December 1990

22. UTH EHS