Success Story: Improving Safety by Improving Processes
Rylie Wieseler, Intern with the Office of Process Improvement
November 17, 2022
Using project management and change management, David Swenka successfully led his Joint Process Review (JPR) "Improve Project Specific Safety Recommendations in the Operations Evaluation” to completion. Through his and his teams’ efforts, they were able to reduce ambiguity and confusion in the safety analysis process and implement statewide training. He attributes this success to his participation in the 3-Day Change Management for Project Leaders Course, which informed the approach he took when planning and implementing his change. David Swenka is a licensed Professional Engineer (PE) in the HQ Traffic Safety Engineering Services Branch at the Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT) whose work focuses on Safety Improvement Programs, Traffic Engineering Support, and Safety Data Analysis. He is also a JPR Project Leader of the Quality Improvement Council (QIC), which is a joint venture between CDOT and the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA). The goal of the QIC is to improve high risk areas in delivering design and construction projects through Joint Process Reviews (JPRs).
David Swenka
As a JPR Leader, David acted as the project lead for the "Improve Project Specific Safety Recommendations in the Operations Evaluation" JPR. The inception of this JPR was spurred both by conversations with the FHWA as well as the decentralized nature of the safety analysis process. Each region has the ability to conduct safety analyses on projects independently and at their own discretion. Although this flexibility allows for adaptability, it has resulted in different levels of analysis across regions and inconsistencies in application of these safety analyses statewide. Consequently, the corresponding safety recommendations do not always sufficiently address potential safety issues that exist along Colorado’s highway system. With this challenge in mind, David’s JPR aimed to increase clarity in the safety evaluation process by reviewing current procedures and implementing a more standardized approach.
Integrating Change Management with Project Management
The need for change management was recognized by several parties, including the Headquarters (HQ) traffic department, the HQ project development team, regional traffic groups from all regions and the FHWA. David notes that all of these groups were valuable team members and contributors to the success of his JPR. Additionally, his experience with the 3-Day Change Management for Project Leaders Course, which is an accredited course by Prosci, augmented the efficacy of his approach. Before the implementation of his JPR, David’s only change management training was the brief half-day Supervisor course. Following his participation in the 3-Day course, he expressed that he had a much more detailed understanding of how to plan and implement change, which ultimately influenced the strategy he used to approach the project. He notes that although he did not follow the change management prescription exactly due to all the moving parts and cross-regional collaboration, the lessons learned from these courses contributed to the overall success of the JPR.
Next Steps
Although David’s JPR has been successfully completed and implemented after roughly two years he envisions a key next-step for this project. Moving forward, he hopes to achieve full implementation statewide and integration with concurrent enhancements of the Operations Evaluations tool, since the safety analysis is an important part of that process.
Conclusion
David’s training and knowledge of change management played a key role in facilitating the successful completion of his JPR "Improve Project Specific Safety Recommendations in the Operations Evaluation.” In addressing the issues of inconsistency and lack of clarity found within the decentralized safety analysis process, he had three key takeaways to pass on to anyone trying to successfully implement change. These key takeaways are as follows:
An example of a cover of a Safety Assessment Report, a typical product from the safety analysis process.
It is crucial to build awareness of the need for the change and the knowledge on how to integrate the change into daily work.
Stakeholder engagement and asking for continual input aids in implementing successful change.
Standardized approaches that allow for regional flexibility work well for decentralized processes like the safety analysis. David notes that each region has a different style in which a one-size-fits-all approach may not be well suited. As such, it is advantageous for HQ to customize support to accommodate these variations in order to best support the regions. However, in the same breath, having some sort of common training and understanding is still necessary for maximum consistency and clarity. With this in mind, David has reported that all the regions have been effectively trained and updated on how to properly assess the level of safety analysis needed depending on the project type.
Want to learn more about Change Management at CDOT? Check out our improvement efforts at the Office of Process Improvement’s website! Or, for CDOT employees, stop by the Change Hub on our Intranet!