From Blame to Learning: A HOP Transformation in the Utility Sector
For more than four years, a major North American electric and energy utility has partnered with Tricon to build something that doesn’t show up on an org chart: a culture that learns from mistakes instead of punishing them.
Spanning project management, business analysis, instructional design, adult learning, and organizational change management, the engagement has moved from initial design into long-term reinforcement — with measurable results.
The challengeThe client started this work with a traditional safety approach: a culture of blame and punishment that expected worker perfection and met incidents with discipline designed to "blame, shame, and re-train." The pattern was familiar. Near misses and minor incidents went underground. Frontline feedback on safety improvements went quiet.
The system kept reacting to incidents instead of building the capacity to prevent them or fail safely. These dynamics showed up in hallway conversations, in how leaders responded at incident scenes, and in what crews chose not to say.
The ApproachThe Human and Organizational Safety Performance (HOP) program did not begin as “a HOP program".” It evolved through stages, with each one revealing the next problem worth solving.
Stage 1: Regulatory training compliance
A focused 30/60/90-day corrective action project brought all Field Services staff up to current standards for required training (WHMIS, H2S, and the rest). Tricon led the project management. The work delivered on schedule and surfaced a deeper issue underneath.
Stage 2: SOP and SWOP modernization
More than 100 Standard Operating Procedures and Safe Work Operating Procedures were redesigned, rebuilt, and put on a maintenance basis, so reference documents were easy to use when needed. Tricon stood up the instructional design team that delivered it.
Stage 3: HOP transformation begins (2022)
After a utility-industry conference, the client's leadership brought Human & Organizational Performance in-house. They engaged Tricon for change management and adult-learning expertise to shape the strategy and the organizational change approach.
Year one delivered the foundations: HOP Fundamentals training and coaching for leaders to shift leader response to incidents; an Accountability Response Model distinguishing human error, at-risk behaviour, and reckless behaviour; the High-Risk Task (HRT) program with a Learning Team methodology; and a Safety Classification and Learning model aligned to HOP principles. Proactive individual safety goals for union members were also introduced, rewarding proactive safety behaviours rather than penalizing incidents — a deliberate shift in how performance was measured.
Stage 4: Going wider, going deeper (2023-2024)
HOP Essentials rolled out to the front line. Partner groups were brought into HOP Fundamentals. Learning teams continued the most critical HRTs and began to be used for incident learning. Safety documentation began moving into a digital portal, so the right procedure was easy to find the moment it was needed.
Stage 5: Energy-Based Safety (2025 onward)
The client is now extending the HOP foundation with an energy-based approach focused on preventing serious injuries and fatalities. The work introduces the Energy Wheel for hazard identification, prioritizes high-energy hazards (or the “Stuff That Kills You” (STKY)), and is focused on strengthening direct controls. Work is underway to set up a proactive metric (High Energy Controls Assessment (HECA) to measure control strength in real time.
The OutcomesThe most important outcomes are not new training catalogues or refreshed documents. They are about how people in the organization talk, listen, and decide.
A culture shift from blame to learning: Errors are treated as information about the system, not as character failures — reflected in a significant increase in near-miss and hazard reporting as psychological safety takes hold.
Increase in near-miss and hazard reporting: Psychological safety is established for reporting, enabling the organization to address systemic issues proactively - before a serious incident happens.
Increased employee engagement: Treating workers as partners in the solution and giving frontline crews the power to shape safety controls has boosted morale, demonstrated by significant increase in engagement scores.
Improved corrective actions (control improvements): The teams go beyond superficial fixes (ex. Re-train) to solutions that are feasible and practical.
Safer work, designed with the workers: The HRT program has produced concrete control improvements on the tasks most likely to cause harm, with frontline crews shaping the solutions.
Where things standThe program is in the reinforcement stage: principles in place, language shared, operational learning activated, and the work continues with ongoing alignment of processes and systems. Tricon remains embedded in organizational change management and project management / business analysis as Energy-Based Safety is integrated into hazard identification, planning, and field conversations.
For any organization weighing what it takes to move from reactive safety to a proactive, learning-oriented culture, the lessons here are simple: start where the organization is, change leaders before changing the front line, treat workers as partners in the solution, and stay long enough for it to take.
Considering a HOP or safety-culture shift?Reach out to Tricon Solutions to scope change management, instructional design, or organizational learning support for your next safety transformation.
This is Project Victory. This is the Tricon way.
