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In these videos, articles and other material you will find a consistent message that will help your employees and leaders to make excellent choices with regard to safety. Some of the videos are short and to the point for a safety contact, while a few are long enough for a one hour safety meeting or training session. Electronic versions of my books are all on this site and can be read on your computer or printed.
All you need is a user name and password that you can purchase here. This gives you full personal access for one year to the material for use in the safety meetings you are responsible for in your organization. If you want to use a video, it is as simple as connecting to the Internet and watching it on your computer, or plugging in an LCD projector. Through the power of this technology, we can work together to help everyone in your organization go home every day without injury. You’ll get:
• more people aware of the hazards around them,
• more consistent messages about targeting a zero-injury workplace,
• more people engaged in your safety process, and
• more days where everyone goes home without injury.
What's inside Carl's library?
Videos
*Who Is Responsible for Safety? Carl Potter is a popular speaker at many state, national and internal safety conferences every year. This motivational, educational and humorous presentation has been delivered to thousands of workers in the U.S. and Canada. This video comes with a handout so that the viewers can follow along. At 54 minutes in length this is a great tool for a safety meeting, safety orientation or training class.
NEW! *Remember Where You're At: A safety lesson from Carl Potter In this 6 minute video Carl Potter, CSP teaches participants how to increase safety awareness through improved communications.
*The ART of Safety Hitting the goal of Nobody Gets Hurt is difficult without applying the ART of Safety. In this safety lesson Carl Potter presents the concept of practicing the premise of what the Chinese General Sun Zu was talking about in his famous writings, ART of War. Good video to prompt discussion in a safety contact, meeting or training. 11 minutes
*Critical Safety Procedures In this video Carl Potter, CSP explains the importance of CSPs or Critical Safety Procedures and the importance of setting them as norms for creating safe/high-performance teams. Running time is about 14 minutes for this video making it perfect for safety contacts, meetings or adding it to a training module.
*Hard Hat Demo In this video Carl Potter with the help of his son, Paul, have fun demonstrating the effectiveness of hard hats. The idea is to protect your ‘melon’. This is the perfect video for a safety contact, meeting or training session about personal protective equipment. 10 minutes
*Hearing Protection In this video Carl Potter is in the tool shed to discuss the importance and use of hearing protection. As always, this has an element of entertainment to spice up the safety meeting, contact, or training session about personal protective equipment. 6 minutes
*What's Your Safety Goal? Carl Potter, CSP, delivers what some may think is a boring topic in a way that engages everyone. Use this video to drive discussion about the safety goal of each individual. Great video for a safety meeting, contact, training session or Safety Stand Down. 12 minutes
*It's All About Safety Carl Potter, CSP, speaks with passion to an audience at a Safety Stand Down meeting. This 10 minute video is a good one to use for safety contacts, meetings and training.
*”Shall” In the Safety Manual What does the word “shall” mean in your safety manual? Carl Potter talks about "shall” in the safety manual and how you can use this to help increase safety awareness. Use this video for safety contacts, meetings, and to supplement your training sessions. 11 minutes video
*Setting the Safety Goal Without selecting common safety goal everybody will go in different directions, somebody will tell you what the goal is going to be, and nobody will buy into the goal. The ultimate goal is, nobody gets hurt and Carl Potter provides his insights into the importance of this goal so that you can create a workplace where everyone can go home every day without injury. 12 minutes video
*Hold Me Accountable for Safety Accountability is important to improving a safety culture. Use this 12 minute video to help your organization’s frontline leaders understand the importance of accountability.
*Roles and Responsibilities Carl Potter describes the roles and responsibilities of safety to a group of frontline leaders to help them realize that their commitment to an injury-free workplace is vital to reaching the desired goal of safety. This video can help to prompt an important discussion for your organization's frontline leaders. Use this 12 minute video to supplement your training and promote leadership at the front line.
*Blind Spot When a State Trooper was killed near his home Carl Potter interviewed one of the troopers former co-workers to find out what happened in this fatality. After the interview Carl went back to his classroom to produce a video to communicate this type of hazard and what can be done to prevent another tragedy. Already Carl has received feedback from viewers who claim that his video may have saved their lives in the same situation. At 7 minutes in length this video is useful for a safety contact, meeting or to supplement drivers training classes.
*I Am Safe! This video goes along with Carl Potter's popular book of the same title. Just saying you are safe doesn't make it so. Being safe means safe behavior. 8 minutes in length makes this video useful for a safety contact, meeting or to supplement training.
*Safety Briefing Carl Potter believes that a good safety briefing is required to create a safe workplace. In this video produced in his classroom he discusses the attributes of a successful safety briefing. 14 minutes
In addition to Carl's videos, you will also have access to OSHA training material, eBooks, and articles as described below...
If you would like to take a demo tour of the resources, CLICK HERE
OSHA Training Material
Vol.1 52 Weeks of Safety:
52 Weeks of Safety is a tool to help anyone understand the application of OSHA Regulations to creating a safe workplace. Written by Carl Potter, CSP, the collection represents each week from the entire book. Once you select the week you wish to use in your meeting, print the number of copies you need to train people in your meeting.
The following are excerpts from each week:
WEEK 1 RESPONSIBILITY OF THE INDIVIDUAL - Who is responsible for safety? Everyone is! This week’s safety questions are the foundation for the safety questions in future weeks. Take time with fellow employees during your weekly safety contact to discuss how the company identifies hazards, develops controls, and assures that everyone complies. Remember the goal is Nobody Gets Hurt.
WEEK 2 PERSONAL PROTECTIVE EQUIPMENT (PPE) - Personal protective equipment (PPE) is the last line of defense that protects the human body from injury. When we can’t abate or control a hazard through administrative controls we must wear our PPE. Would a firefighter go into a burning building without a bunker coat? No way!
WEEK 3 EXCAVATING - When conducting excavations it is important to use all your knowledge for creating an injury-free worksite. For instance, consider when a site requires excavation that causes the ditch to become a confined space. In many cases air quality can be an issue on a hot day when heavy gases that are flammable can find their way into the ditch. Remember that OSHA regulations can be combined to create work practices.
WEEK 4 OSHA INSPECTIONS - “Hello, I’m with OSHA and I am here to help.” These are words that get everyone jittery on a jobsite.
Being prepared for an OSHA inspection is as much a mental exercise, as it is physical. The mental aspect is recognizing that the OSHA inspector really is there to help… really!
WEEK 5 MATERIAL STORAGE - Mabel (not her real name), the warehouse worker, came to work on a certain day not expecting to leave work early, much less in an ambulance. After all, she didn’t really work in a hazardous environment. At about 9:10 am her world came crashing down around her -- literally.
WEEK 6 FORK LIFT OPERATION - In some workplaces you would think there is a forklift race happening. Forklifts are zipping in and out with the engines operating at high RPMs. When operated correctly and professionally a forklift is one of the most versatile tools in a warehouse or on a jobsite. But a forklift with an operator who thinks he or she is in a speed race or lifting contest can create deadly results.
WEEK 7 RIGGING AND HOISTING - Have you ever seen the pictures of a guy riding a hook or load in old workplace photos? Most of these pictures show a guy not even wearing a safety belt or harness! What was he thinking? It’s interesting to look at old pictures of worksites to remind us of how far we’ve come in our safety thinking in the USA. Today, one might think about riding a hoist but hopefully would never perform such a feat of stupidity.
WEEK 8 LADDER SAFETY - One of the oldest and most common tools at work, home, and play is the ladder. Ladders are used at work to access material and equipment stored or installed at heights too tall to reach on foot, at home to get up on the roof or go into the attic, and at play to climb on diving platforms or to get to a tree stand when hunting. Ladders were used by Indians in the southwest United States to get up to their cave dwellings. In any case, as handy as they are, ladders can create hazards.
WEEK 9 HAND TOOLS - Consider this situation. While rebuilding a battery rack frame in the communications building, a nut seizes up from corrosion. The only thing to do is get your chisel and cut the nut so it will come loose. However, your chisel head is “mushroomed” creating a known hazard called a projectile. What do you do?
WEEK 10 TAGOUT PROGRAM - During a cultural assessment of a client we discovered that a flaw existed in the lockout/tagout (LOTO) program. When I walked into the break room I noticed lunch boxes with anodized aluminum locks. Knowing that they were locks that are used in the lockout program, I asked if we could visit the locker room and was granted access. Sure enough, most of the lockers had lockout locks being used to secure the doors. This is a violation.
WEEK 11 FIRE CONTROL FOR WELDING AND CUTTING - Hot metal is a major cause of many industrial disasters that have led to people being burned, maimed, killed and the complete destruction of company property. This type of incident is avoidable when following hot work permit procedures, employing fire watchers during welding and cutting operations, and controlling proximity to combustible material.
WEEK 12 COMPRESSED GASSES - Compressed gas cylinders can be a deadly hazard in the workplace when handled improperly. Many cylinders contain pressures in excess of 2000 pounds per square inch (PSI) that can cause them to become a rocket. For this reason, industries that depend on compressed gasses to perform jobs created several important guidelines for storage.
WEEK 13 SAFETY SIGNS - Signs, signs, everywhere there's signs Blockin' up the scenery, breakin' my mind Do this, don't do that, can't you read the sign
- Five Man Electrical Band
Signs are a part of our worksite safety process. In the 1960s the Five Man Electrical Band song was a resistance to the Establishment and being told "what to do." Without signs in the workplace, hazards would not be communicated and personnel might not know what to do to protect themselves. Every location should make safety signs a part of their safety "walk through" inspections.
WEEK 14 WORKING IN CONFINED SPACES - Confined spaces come in different shapes and sizes. They also tend to look safe at first glance to workers who are trying to complete a job that will “just take a minute”. A confined space is one that is not designed for human occupancy. In many fatality cases, the person entered a space that was marked with signage requiring an entry permit.
WEEK 15 TRANSPORTATION - Bobby needed a way to lift a new style of sump pump into position. He was told to use a boom to attach to the company forklift but didn’t have a way to hook-up to the new pump. Bobby was a skilled welder and fitter and thought he could make a fitting that would work. Without knowing that it was unlawful, he crafted a fitting that he believed would do the job.
WEEK 16 LADDER SAFETY - The ladder is one of the most misused and abused pieces of equipment in the workplace. Ladders come in different heights, widths and specifications. A client told me that he was walking through his office area and noticed a mechanical contractor working off of an 8-foot step-ladder with his body extending above the drop ceiling. My client noticed that the individual on the ladder was standing on the top of the ladder, not a safe, lawful or smart thing to do. Standing beside the ladder looking up through the opening was another guy with his hands on his hips – he could have at least been steadying the ladder. My client noticed another ladder lying on the floor. The ladder on the floor was a 10-foot step-ladder!
WEEK 17 WALKING-WORKING SURFACES - Have you ever been to the grocery store and found a spill on the floor? What did you do? Maybe you looked at it thinking, “Oh well I don’t work here” and passed by. Did you do the responsible thing and call someone in the store to come clean it up? If you did the latter, then you have chosen to be safe. When we take responsibility for creating a safe environment wherever we go, our attitude towards safety will spill over into our work life.
WEEK 18 FLAMMABLE AND COMBUSTIBLE LIQUIDS - You know you’ve done it! You are going to mow the lawn on that hot July day before heading to the lake. The mower is not running right, so you remove the sponge filter from the breather and it looks like it has never been cleaned. Using the can of gasoline with which you filled the mower tank, you pour a liberal amount of gas on the sponge then squeeze and knead it until it looks like new. Did it occur to you that (1) the gasoline is soaking into your hand and could cause an illness or (2) the immediate hazard is the low flash point associated with this wonderful cleaning agent?
WEEK 19 WOODEN STEP LADDER SAFETY - I am not a big fan of wooden step ladders, but they exist in the workplace and in homes. Most wooden step ladders are used by small service companies like plumbers, carpenters and painters. They are difficult to maintain in good condition when used in applications that expose them to weather. If you do have wooden ladders in your workplace, it is important to inspect them before each use to ensure that all the nuts and bolts are secure.
WEEK 20 PORTABLE POWERED TOOLS - Years ago, I met a man who had done the same job as I until one day a switch instantly changed his whole life. Before the regulations were written that we will review this week, switches on many portable hand tools had an “on and off” switch that, when turned on, stayed on even when released. They were much like the light switch on your wall.
WEEK 21 BLOODBORNE PATHOGENS - Often we think the hazard of bloodborne pathogens is exclusive to healthcare environments. A bloodborne pathogen is any disease-producing agent, especially a virus, bacterium, or other microorganism. The potential hazard exists in any environment when someone is injured. For instance, if an injury causes bleeding, employees who attempt to help might be exposed to contaminated blood. Blood may contain a pathogen that could lead to serious illnesses. If you or your employees are expected to provide first aid to an injured employee, measures must be taken to control the hazard of possible bloodborne pathogens.
WEEK 22 ELECTRICAL SAFETY - Electricity is a hazard that many workers (including electricians) tend to overlook with devastating results. Technically, we control the hazard of electricity to allow us to live, work, and play where it is present. We direct it through wires, transformers, switches and motors to service our needs. When controlling electricity to do work or prevent injury it is important to know the level of energy you are dealing with. The common levels of electrical energy are measured in voltage and amperage.
WEEK 23 SAFETY RESPONSIBILITY - During one of my Safety and the Supervisor Seminars, a participant remarked that he had trouble with the idea that he was responsible for other employees including those that report to him. So I asked him, “What do you think it means for you to take responsibility for safety?” He said, “I should always wear my PPE so that I lead by example.” I asked, “Is that it?” He responded, “Yep.” That’s probably the narrowest definition of “taking responsibility for safety” that I’ve ever heard.
WEEK 24 FIRE PROTECTION - Imagine that you hear the words exclaimed loudly, “FIRE!-FIRE!-FIRE!” These words are so chilling that I once heard a self-defense trainer teach women to yell those words if being attacked or abducted. Fire is an asset to humanity when under control, but when not contained, it can be devastating. To protect workers from fires in the workplace, fire extinguishing equipment and training should be provided.
WEEK 25 PERSONAL PROTECTIVE EQUIPMENT (PPE) - To wear or not wear the PPE--that is the decision. Every day people are injured by cuts, scrapes, bruises and inclusions (foreign matter such as a splinter in the body). There is a 99.9% chance that every injured person could have been protected by personal protective equipment (PPE).
WEEK 26 FALL PROTECTION - "Watch that first step!" Working at heights presents the obvious hazard. It isn't the fall that hurts you, it's the sudden stop. When protecting ourselves from the sudden stop, the idea is to prevent the fall by applying controls. Workers at construction sites continually have to deal with changing conditions that create fall hazards. In fixed worksites such as manufacturing plants, warehouses, or offices it is easy to get complacent in this area.
WEEK 27 HAND TOOLS - “Ouch! I gotta get that fixed!” This is a common statement made by users of wood-handled tools. Another one is, “Oh, that’s going to leave a mark!” as the head of the hammer comes loose and goes flying through the air. When using wood-handled tools, the user must be aware of all the hazards. Technology has come a long way in helping us prevent hand injuries with new designs in hand tools.
WEEK 28 HOUSEKEEPING - Recently my friend Bill called me with a safety problem. He operates a shop where he works on airplanes at the airport where I keep my Cessna 182 airplane. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) had been to his small job shop to inspect it for, among other things, safety. The one issue they found had to do with housekeeping. Being a guy who never throws anything away, Bill has a fine collection of new and partially used aerosol spray paint cans, lubricants, and cleaners on an open shelf. All of the items on the shelf were flammable and the FAA wanted him to get a flammable storage cabinet. When Bill checked a safety catalog, he was blown away by the cost of the cabinets. That’s when he called and asked me, “Is there anything else I can do?”
WEEK 29 EMERGENCY RESPONSE - When a hazardous substance is spilled, unprepared employees are often quick to respond – too quickly. Employees must understand the critical nature substances such as chemicals, acids, caustics, contaminated water, etc. that falls under the description of hazardous. If your organization has a plan for handling the containment and or clean-up of these substances, do all employees know their roles?
WEEK 30 HEARING CONSERVATION - “What did you say?” I wished I had a dime for every time I said that line. When I worked in a powerplant in the late 1970s, the use of hearing protection was nothing more than a suggestion. Later I noticed (actual my wife Dr. Deb noticed) that I was not hearing clearly.
“Carl, what time is it?” “You bet!” “No, I said, „What time is it?’” “Okay, make it a large order of fries.”
WEEK 31 GAS CYLINDER SAFETY - “THERE SHE BLOWS, MATE!”
That might be what a sightseer on a whale watching tour boat wants to hear when off the coast of Hawaii, but it is not what you want to happen in a workplace that uses compressed gases.
WEEK 32 MATERIAL STORAGE - During a walk-through of a client’s warehouse, I noticed that the “bumper posts” on the corners of every aisle were scratched and dented. The cause became apparent when I found several pieces of equipment, namely a forklift and a motorized pallet jack with tell-tale signs of paint.
WEEK 33 LAWNMOWER SAFETY - Did you know that OSHA has regulations regarding lawnmower operation? Obviously, your home lawnmower does not fall under 1910.243 but you might be operating one at work and need to know the following information.
WEEK 34 PAINT AND SOLVENTS - In the past, a farmer, mechanic or industrial worker could die of cancer or respiratory failure for apparently no reason. After years of study, researchers found that the human body can absorb chemicals and toxins through the skin. Some of these chemicals will stay in the body while others dissipate over a period of time. The problem is that users of the chemicals didn’t know the harm of constant exposure without protection.
WEEK 35 LADDER SAFETY - Approximately 90,000 people are injured every year using ladders. Ladders are designed to meet a wide variety of jobs and users must be aware of those designs. When at work or home, everyone must take the responsibility of choosing the correct ladder and using the ladder within its design limits.
WEEK 36 HAND PROTECTION - Hand injuries are typically written off as first-aid usage and near-misses. Many workers consider the use of gloves hard to comply with and unnecessary. In this day and time, technology has provided us with a glove for every hazard (almost). Carefully identifying the need, then selecting a glove with the appropriate performance parameters can prevent many injuries.
WEEK 37 POWER, MACHINE, AND PNEUMATIC TOOLS - BOOM! A flash, pressure wave, and heat can be the result of using electrical power tools in a work place where flammable liquids are stored or used improperly. Dust can also be a combustible. The hazard of combustibles should not be taken lightly – it is one that can sneak up on you if you are unaware.
WEEK 38 CRANE SAFETY - A graduate of our Simply Seamless Safety® Leadership Development process suggested this subject. Thanks, Tim, for the reminder to never walk, work or loiter under loads held by a crane. A crane can fail without warning.
WEEK 39 HAZARDOUS ENERGY CONTROL - It is amazing how many people are injured, maimed and killed each year when energy that runs machines is not controlled. Often, the individual who was injured was the person who could have done the most to control the energy. Hazardous energy control is a term that we use to describe the act of containing and managing the energy used to operate machinery. The energy may be in any form including electrical, steam, kinetic, spring tension, gravity, or hydraulic. The key to preventing an injury is to control the recognized hazard.
WEEK 40 ARC WELDING - Arc welding has some obvious hazards, many of which are related to combustible material being stored or used in the area were sparks can cause ignition. Yet, another hazard may not be as apparent until it is too late. The potential for electrical shock severe enough to stop the heart or do nerve damage is often overlooked in welding operations.
WEEK 41 HAZARD COMMUNICATION - If you are using a chemical cleaner at work and start to feel as if you are getting an upset stomach, how can you know if the chemical is the cause? Material Safety Data Sheets (MSDS) were designed to provide information about the affects of being exposed to workplace chemicals. This is a result of the work done to create the hazard communications systems in workplaces across the United States. It is the responsibility of the company (employer) to both recognize and control all known hazards faced by their employees.
WEEK 42 SCAFFOLD SAFETY - Description coming soon... please check back
WEEK 43 WALKING-WORKING SURFACES - Slips, trips, and falls are typically the most cited reason for workplace injuries, as well as those that occur around the house. One might think that winter weather is a primary cause of slips. Obviously, the presence of ice and snow increases the number of injuries, but throughout the year, slips and falls are a constant source of pain. When available – and when they are used - handrails can help to diminish the number of slips, trips, and falls.
WEEK 44 FORK LIFT OPERATIONS - One of my clients experienced a horrendous fatality several years ago with a forklift. The fatality occurred because the operator did not follow the procedures he learned in forklift operations class. In order to pick a load from a shelf that was approximately 10 feet off the floor, the operator decided to push the load straight with the forks so that it would be balanced. That was the first mistake.
WEEK 45 TRANSPORTING GAS CYLINDERS - When I was in high school, our shop teacher taught us how to handle compressed gas cylinders in the welding shop. About that time, an incident in Memphis, Tennessee got our attention.
WEEK 46 EYE PROTECTION - When it comes to proper eye protection, safety glasses may not be enough. I encounter situations where there seems to be confusion about the type of eye protection required. The question is not, “What does the rule say?” The big question is, “What is the hazard being controlled?” Simply put, “The hazard sets the requirement.”
WEEK 47 RIGGING AND HOISTING - In the past several years we have witnessed some horrendous crane failures. As a result, crane inspection as well as operator training is coming under scrutiny. Many businesses require the use of cranes and owners are concerned. My clients in the construction business depend on union operators and, in some cases, operators who have attended a crane operator certification course. Union operators are likely qualified on equipment because of the seniority requirements. Non-union operators may also be well trained through crane operator courses. Regardless, the superintendant, supervisor or job site safety professional has to make decisions on certification and qualifications for their operators.
WEEK 48 PROTECTIVE FOOTWEAR - “Wow! That‟s gotta hurt!”
Imagine you are working in a workplace with uninstalled pipes or utility poles and one of them rolls over your toes. This can be extremely painful. Heavy construction and maintenance work can sometimes include an arch- and toe-crushing hazard with large steel parts, yet workers complain that steel toes are too heavy. It really is a simple matter. If you want to avoid the pain of a crushed toe or permanent damage to your foot when working around such hazards, decide to wear available protection.
WEEK 49 LADDER SAFETY - Ladder safety is a topic I cover frequently. Ladders are so common that it‟s easy to get complacent in using them. In fact, let‟s coin a phrase, “Everything can become a ladder.” For examples, a 55 gallon drum, a stack of cardboard boxes, a wooden pallet or anything that is perceived to be able to support one‟s weight can provide a platform for reaching an overhead item.
WEEK 50 VEHICLE MOVEMENT - Depending on your position, failure to inspect and follow through with rigging and hoisting procedures could land you in jail. You may have read about the crane that fell in New York City killing seven people. If the fatalities are not enough to get attention, then maybe the fact that the Master Rigger with seven counts of manslaughter in the second degree, criminally negligent homicide and various other charges that all account for a total of 28 years of prison and up to $20,000.00 in fines will cause you to sit up and take notice.
WEEK 51 POWER, MACHINE, AND PNEUMATIC TOOLS - Recently I read about a worker who shot a nail through his foot with a pneumatic nail gun. It seems the worker reached down and pulled up on the interlock that prevents the tool from shooting a nail. Who knows why? The gun went off and the result was a nasty wound and a trip to the hospital.
WEEK 52 RESPONSIBILITY OF THE INDIVIDUAL - Workplace safety must begin with an attitude towards injury prevention. My good friend Brad Miles said, “We don‟t work in a dangerous environment. We work in a hazardous environment that we make dangerous when we don‟t follow safety procedures and wear our PPE.”
*You are licensed to print the purchased week for your own use. Forwarding any part of this material from your computer is a copyright violation.
Books
All of Carl's books in PDF for you to use.
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Who is responsible for safe working conditions? Executives? Supervisors? Safety department staff? Or you? This book is tailored to organizations that intend to create anenvironment of trust where everyone is responsible for safety. It may be used in safety meetings, safety seminars and workshops, or independent learning situations.
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Read this book if you are: · An employee who considers yourself safe and needs to be re-energized · A worker who thinks the company’s approach to safety is unreasonable · A leader who is at your wits end with workers who won’t follow the safe work practices · A safety manager who is frustrated with pressure to lower incident rates · Anyone who is concerned about the impact that workplace injuries have on people’s lives. You’ll find the book I Am Safe! filled with practical information that can make a difference in the way you look at your workplace and safety.
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Have you ever wondered how to build an environment where everyone has safety on their mind, where safety is a natural part of the day-to-day thought process? Safety On My Mind describes the change many workers go through when given the responsibility of safety in their workplace. Once employees and management understand the process of developing a safety mindset, they begin to notice safety in a different way because they understand their personal accountability. Safety On My Mind challenges everyone to develop and maintain a safety mind, the mind of a safety professional. (48 pages designed for everyone in the organization)
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Would you like to be part of a winning safety team? Are you willing to participate as a player and learn your position? You are needed! Without your commitment to the team, there will be a gap in the roster. In this book, Carl Potter will describe to you what it takes to be a safety team player. Your particular behavior style and natural thinking approach places you in a position on the team to help others go home every day without injury. When you catch the concept of the safety team, you will win every day and you will go home to your family the same way you came to work. Safety Is A Team Sport... wanna play?
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Oh no, not again! That is the feeling when change begins. Not being able to recognize it and deal with it will drive a person up the wall. Change can take the focus off of your personal commitment to safety. Don't let times of corporate chaos cause you to lose your sense of safety.
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Now, more than any other time in our history, executives, managers, and supervisors are being held morally and legally accountable for workplace injuries and fatalities. Companies are making decisions to work with other companies that have a successful safety process in place. To have a successful safety process they are looking for a safety philosophy that will get the desired results. Zero! outlines the Criteria for Safety ExcellenceTM. When used to assess and design your company's safety management process zero-injuries become possible and every employee can go home to their families and loved ones every day without injury.
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*You are licensed to print the purchased E-book for your own use. Forwarding any e-book is a copyright violation.
If you would like to take a demo tour of the resources, CLICK HERE
Articles
Articles are suitable for use in safety contacts, meetings and as supplemental material for training you are conducting. Simply make a selection of the topic you want to cover, and *print the number of copies you need for your meeting. More than 65 articles currently available.
The following are excerpts from each week:
5 Fatal Distractions - It is always difficult to read or hear the news of a workplace fatality. Root cause analyses often indicate that someone was distracted on the job, leading to the devastation of a life needlessly lost. Sometimes, though, the root cause analysis doesn’t show all of the other potential areas of distraction. This article will describe five distractions that can lead directly or indirectly to injury or death in the workplace.
A Change in Plans - Description coming soon...
A Series of Bad Decisions - I recently read a sad story in the Casper, Wyoming Star-Tribune about a family who had lost their mother in an automobile crash and their uninsured home and possessions to a fire. Two sons had narrowly escaped death in a rollover auto accident. The family is suffering from a series of bad decisions. Choices were made about driving and about not insuring valuable assets that have left loved ones to determine how they will survive.
A Shortcut to Safety - It’s human nature. People are always looking for faster and better ways to do things. Some even look for a short cut to safety. But, when it comes to safety, there are no short cuts, only short cuts to injury.
Are You a Safety Hottie? - Are you a hottie? That’s a term that most teenagers are very familiar with. You may or may not be a “hottie” based on the current popular definition. If your employees are exposed to high temperatures when doing work either in or out of doors, become a safety “hottie” and learn what you can do to protect workers from heat-related illness.
Are You Taking a Back Seat to Safety? - Why Can’t I Just do My Job? After we presented a program to an association recently, one of the people in the audience came up to us and asked, “Why can’t I just do my job and leave the safety stuff up to the Safety Department?” We said, “Safety is what you do… it’s part of your job!”
Be Sure You Are DWI - Five tips for Driving While Interested I’m a big advocate of DWI – driving while interested. No one should ever be on the road DWI – driving while intoxicated or driving under the influence. DWI, using my definition, is so important because it is so easy to be distracted. Research shows that most drivers are focused on things other than just operating the vehicle: cell phones, loud music, intense conversations with passengers, or any variety of other diversions. Not too long ago, I found myself the passenger in a car driven by a twenty-something year old who suddenly started texting on the cell phone – using a knee to steer the car. That lasted only as second, as I explained the urgency of keeping focused while driving, especially when I’m in the car!
Beware the Latest Distractions - In virtually every injury investigation, we find that someone did something to get themselves or someone else hurt. Why? Maybe it’s all of the social distractions of the day. It doesn’t matter if you are for McCain or Obama, you are likely sick of all political rhetoric. If that isn’t enough, your organization wants more of your time and so does your family. Now add that to the price of a tank of gas for you car, lawn mower or boat and you’ve got plenty to distract you this week! What is a person to do?
Bust: Working While Distracted - How many times have you found yourself running out of the door, rushing to get to work with a thousand thoughts racing through your mind? Think about your trip to work today. Were you focused on driving or were you multi-tasking, perhaps talking on your cell phone, checking your email on your PDA, or even putting on make-up or combing your hair. Or, if you weren’t doing these things, did you notice other drivers who were? Driving distracted is a big issue and it’s even getting lots of attention in the media. While many people drive to their jobs and as a part of their jobs, stop and consider the impact of working while distracted.
Don't Lose Your Voice - Do you realize how valuable your voice is? I’m not talking about the sound of your voice – but rather the fact that you can have a say in a lot of things. First, realize that you have a voice in safety – yours and others around you. Don’t lose your voice when it comes to speaking up when you see something amiss – a hazard that’s being ignored, a safe work procedure that’s not being followed, or PPE or PPE that’s not being used. Speak up! Let others know that you are paying attention and don’t want anyone to take a short cut that can lead to injury. When we don’t speak up, it as if we are in silent agreement with what is happening.
Driving and Texting Costs Thousands - WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood Wednesday called distracted driving a serious epidemic with more than 5,800 annual U.S. traffic deaths tied to motorists who failed to keep their eyes on the road.
Finding the Path to Safety - Often organizational leaders ask what the answer is to their safety issues – unrecognized hazards, broken rules, complacent employees and injured workers. It’s as if they want a very specific road map to lead them to a workplace where nobody gets hurt. Rather than looking for the perfect predefined path, set the course for safety in your organization and stick with it. The reality is, safety is more like a compass than a map.
First Break All the Rules - I‟m guessing that when you read the title of this week‟s article you thought, there he goes, Carl‟s finally lost his mind. Nope. I haven‟t. Here‟s why.
Get Competent to Work Safe - Taking the Mystery out of Competency In the business of safety, we talk about competency and use the term “competent person.” OSHA refers to and requires competent persons in several of its standards and defines the term as : "one who is capable of identifying existing and predictable hazards in the surroundings or working conditions which are unsanitary, hazardous, or dangerous to employees, and who has authorization to take prompt corrective measures to eliminate them".
Getting to Know Safety - What you don’t know can get you hurt and what you think you know can get you hurt as well. When it comes to safety the person who is at risk for injury must be aware of the hazard and what can be done to control the hazard and prevent injury. This is one of the three e’s of safety : evaluation, education, and enforcement.
Great Leaders Ask Great Questions - Questions – A tool for leaders Did you ever play the game “Twenty Questions” as a kid? Maybe your mom liked to ask you questions, such as “Where were you?” “Who were you with?” “Do you know what time it is?” Most of us don’t like to be hammered with questions, but we do like to give our opinions. Great leaders understand that about people and work to find ways to ask questions that invite input and stimulate dialog. When it comes to safety, leaders can use questions to gain significant insight into the state of the organization.
Hijacking Safety - Not long ago my wife, Deb, and I were standing in line at the bank to do business when a lady in the line next to us began a tirade about a check she was trying to cash. I'm not clear what the problem was, but the teller tried diligently to communicate with the customer that the transaction was not legal. After some very loud, obnoxious comments by the customer, the guard woke up and took notice and he and one of the bank supervisors came over to help calm the situation.
Hit the Reset Button for the Year - Greetings for a New Year – It’s the beginning a new year – and a time to refresh and restart. It’s our favorite time of year with a new calendar filled with opportunities and adventures. When it comes to safety, it’s the time of year when many reset the counters to zero. There’s something energizing about getting to start over with a new year. It’s part of the rhythm of life.
How Hard Can Safety Be? - A Common Question One of the most asked questions by managers and supervisors is “why can’t employees just work safe?” That’s a good question! Managers and supervisors often don’t know or have forgotten how hard it is to incorporate safe work practices into the job. Sure, it’s easy for a manager or supervisor to put on a hard hat, safety glasses, and ear protection. But what about the workers who have to deal with machine guards on an assembly line, wear fire retardant clothing in sweltering heat, or put on thick, heavy rubber gloves to tighten a screw or fasten a bolt? Sometimes working safe can be downright hard.
How to Stay Focused When Times are Tough - When the economy is in a slide, as it is now, executives in virtually all industries start asking managers to cut budgets and spending. Once that effort begins, everyone from the individual contributors to the top executives starts getting anxious. Stop and think about it – before you started reading this article, you likely had a conversation sometime today about the economy and your concerns: your job continuity, your retirement funding, your mortgage interest rate, or some other personal economic factor.
Hurry Up and Get Hurt - Root cause analysis is a tool that many safety professionals and organizations use to identify "what caused the injury." This is tough work because the injured party usually says, "Oh, it just happened!" As we dig down and get to the root cause, 97% of the time we find the injured person didn't see the hazard and failed to control it. During the investigation (or as I like to call it, "Interrogation") we often find a competent individual who just got in a hurry and got hurt.
I Am Safe - I Am Safe! Closing the Gap Between Knowing and Doing The current American workforce is the most educated of any generation. Yet, annually over 5500 workers die as a result of workplace injury and over $45 billion is spent on hundreds of thousands of workplace injuries. Knowledge and education aren’t the problem. Today, the burning issue is that people do not apply what they know – a deadly scenario when it comes to workplace safety.
If You Want A Safe Environment - It’s surprising how many people we run across in our business that still believe that safety is someone else’s responsibility. Sometimes I think that we’ve made changes in our society that make it “okay” to not take responsibility for a lot of things, to blame others if something is wrong or doesn’t work. I believe the world is ready for those who will step up and take personal responsibility for their own choices and who will work to make the world a better place. A great place to start is in your own workplace with safety – for yourself and those around you.
Insider Job - Often, it seems like the job of the safety director, manager, or coordinator is a “no win” job. Everyone blames the person in charge of the safety department when the safety performance is poor. Moreover, the safety manager just doesn’t understand why the rest of the company doesn’t “get” safety. Sometimes, it’s a matter of perspective about the role of the safety function in the organization.
Is Your Safety Attitutde Hazardous to Your Health? - Why does a worker make the decision to bypass a safeguard, take a shortcut or not wear personal protective equipment? Such unsafe behavior often leads to injury – to the employee or someone else. A safety director in a utility once remarked, “We don’t work in a dangerous workplace, we work in a hazardous workplace that we make dangerous by not following safety procedures and wearing our PPE.” When workers make decisions that change their workplace from hazardous to dangerous we wonder why. The answer maybe found in what we call the Personal Decision Making Model TM (PDMM).
Keeping Up Appearances - Just Keeping Up Appearances Sometimes people show up at safety meetings just to “make an appearance.” Not too long ago, a human resource director came to a safety meeting that was also attended by employees and supervisors. This was all fine and good until the HR director sat down at a table near the back of the room, brought out a laptop and a pile of paperwork and proceeded to work during the meeting. The director seemed to be “multi-tasking” by working and listening to the speaker. Yet, it was disconcerting for others in the room to see this behavior. What kind of signal was being sent here?
Nobody Wants to Be Number One - Most of us have been schooled, in the US at least, to strive to be #1. A major car rental company used to advertise, “When you’re #2, you try harder.” It’s all about being “Numero Uno” – except when it comes to being the first person in the company or the work team to soil the safety record.
Oh By the Way Safety - What’s Top of Mind in Your Organization? What’s the big emphasis in your organization this year? Is it beating the competition? Is it business growth? Is it streamlining operations? Is it business process improvement? In other words, what are the leaders talking about? No matter what the business initiatives are this year, it’s essential that safety be at the forefront of everyone’s minds.
Overcoming the Negative in Safety - Among the employees in your organization you no doubt know people who are negative about safety. Let's face it... they are likely negative about most things that everyone else considers good. However, in my travels speaking and advising companies, I find a lot of bright spots in safety.
Perfect Practice Can Prevent Injury - While standing in line at the bank, the off-duty police officer notices the bank teller’s fearful eyes at the counter, at the front of the line next to him. Watching carefully, he notices the gun in the hand of the bank robber doing the deed. Thinking quickly, his training kicked in. He reached for his off-duty weapon holstered under his shirt, just like he did in training scenarios, but the result of his actions were different. The weapon would not come out of the holster and he nearly ripped his slacks as he pulled hard on the pistol grips. Then it dawned on him… the snap was fastened to keep the weapon from falling out of the holster. All he was able to accomplish was to get the attention of the criminal.
Practical Safety - Just a few days ago I sat down to work with a safety manager who seemed at his wit’s end. His budget was cut to the bone and he was also told to reduce injuries in the coming year. He said, “Cutting injuries won’t be a problem if we have a layoff!” Maybe, maybe not. The numbers will tell the story, but the numbers will not prevent injuries. With the economy in a tail spin it is easy to see why safety budgets are cut. The truth is, every budget is going to be affected by the economy. So how do we make the best of the situation so workers and the bottom line stay healthy.
Pressed for Time, Look Out Below - Recently a colleague who is a parachute instructor told me that the plane he jumps from crashed. As a pilot, that sent chills up my spine. I guess you don’t have to be a pilot for it to concern you. Of course, I started asking questions. What happened? Was anyone hurt? How did it happen? My incident investigator brain kicked in and I started looking for root causes, lessons learned, so on and so forth. What I learned disturbed me.
Professionalism and Safety - As we conduct seminars and workshops around the country, one of the most frequently asked questions is “What are the barriers to a zero-injury job?” We have asked many groups of people to answer the question individually and in groups. We get many different answers, yet the one that is the most common and that everyone tends to agree on is attitude. Exploring that answer further, we often hear that a professional attitude is what makes the true difference when it comes to creating a safe workplace.
Prosperous Safety - A prosperous safety culture, one that is steadily improving and growing, can be the hallmark of a company that will succeed through difficult times. Now it seems that organizations and the people in them need to remember this. Everywhere I go people are distracted by the concerns of the day: the war, the election, and the economy. These are very real issues yet we can’t afford for them to be distractions in our workplaces where people can be maimed or fatally injured.
Safe Expectations - “Maverick, Top Gun rules of engagement are written for your safety and for that of your team. They are not flexible, nor am I. Either obey them or you are history. Is that clear?” In the movie Top Gun, the rogue pilot Maverick (Lt. Pete Mitchell) continually fails to follow the safe expectations of a Naval Aviator. Maverick becomes a hero, but in the real world his bravado and rogue behavior would have cost him his career.
Safe On Purpose - Are you aware that some people are safer because they don't intend to get hurt? Recently I was doing some research and found some information that pointed out that many people are more apt to take a risk than others. At first glance I didn't find this surprising, but further research gave me pause to consider this concept.
Safety Bias - Recently a worker (we'll call him Larry) was working on a piece of equipment that has a machine guard. While he was using the machine, Larry cut his hand severely, had to have surgery, and may not have full use of his hand after he recovers. Larry's co-workers will have to pick up the slack and his family will need to care for him by taking on extra household work and driving him to the doctor. Would you agree, injuries affect more than just the injured?
Safety Begins with Getting Briefed - Description coming soon...
Safety Code of Conduct - WHEN SAFETY ISN’T PERSONAL Far too often, workers ignore even the most basic, yet life-saving safety procedures – procedures like using machine guards, applying appropriate protection when working around electricity, and wearing proper personal protective equipment. On further investigation, we often find that these workers just simply don’t like the safe work procedures of their company. They consider safety something that someone is “doing to them” rather than a way to protect themselves, their co-workers, and their families. They don’t take safety personally.
Safety Culture War - Is there a Culture War in your Workplace? Not too long ago an executive of a large company in a high-risk industry proudly displayed his handsome new shirt. The shirt had a company logo. Below the logo was a large “7” in bright yellow and a line below that read: Reduce Injuries to 7 in 2007.
Safety, I Want it Now - The commercial for a well-known credit card has background singers proclaiming “I want it now! I want it now!” The ad is all about using the credit card to get whatever you want right now. If you could buy safety in your organization, wouldn’t you? Sometimes, though, it seems like even if we could buy it, safety is elusive.
Safety in the Workplace, Rigorous Not Ruthless - You may have read the book, Good to Great, by Jim Collins. In his book he explains how many companies thought being good is… well, "good enough." In these times of constant change and global competition, it is important to always look for improvement --especially when it comes to safety. Who wants to settle for "good enough" safety? In most cases, good means the company is willing to settle for an injury. "Good enough" safety means setting safety goals based on lagging indicators. (An example is to reduce lost time injuries by 10%.) Great safety means setting a rigorous goal of zero injuries. According to Collins, you want to be rigorous and not ruthless when growing your company. This same concept should also apply to safety in the workplace.
Safety In Tough Economic Times - Lately, everyone is talking about is the economic crisis, the election, the war, and whatever else is on the 24/7 news channels. Sure all of these things - and many more - weigh on people’s minds.
Safety Monkeys - One of the Harvard Business Review’s top two selling reprints is the classic article from 1974, Management Time: Who’s Got the Monkey by William Oncken, Jr. and Donald L. Wass. In this article about managing time, the authors give a visual description of how upward delegation from worker to boss is like having a monkey on one’s back. As the boss takes on more and more from their employees, more and more monkeys are on his back. And if you’ve ever watched monkeys, they are not passive, immobile creatures; they are in constant motion, picking and clawing, playing and fussing. The point of the article is that managers are constantly running out of time while their employees seem to be running out of work.
Safety Opinion - Most of us have strong opinions about certain things. Right now, it’s about politics, candidates, party platforms, super delegates and the like. The 24/7 news channels have a new opinion poll about the current administration, the war, and the presidential candidates on a daily basis it seems. And whether you want to hear others’ opinions or not, it’s hard to stay out of it. After all, politics have results that are near and dear to us, our families and our livelihoods. Likewise workplace safety t has results that can affect our lives tremendously.
Safety Resignation - Have You Resigned? When is the last time you gave some thought to your personal attitude concerning safety? My observation as I travel the country is that too many people have “checked out” or resigned themselves to the idea that “injuries just happen.” Read on to consider how resignation in the workplace affects everyone and is a particularly dangerous attitude.
Safety Respond Ability - In my seminars, I talk to workers, supervisors, and management about their responsibility for creating a workplace where nobody gets hurt. Sure, we all have various responsibilities or duties, obligations, or liabilities. When it comes to safety, the company has a responsibility to provide a workplace free of hazards and employees have the obligation to follow the safe work practices prescribed by the company (CFR 1910.269 General Duty Clause). Responsibility is a noun – as a word, it doesn‟t contain any action. The action comes when we respond to our responsibilities.
Safety Rhetoric - Blah, blah, blah said the safety specialist... "Be safe, drive safe, work safe, be careful, blah, blah, blah." Is it all just safety rhetoric? Sometimes it seems that way when I attend a safety conference where I have been asked to speak. Often when I’m working inside a company, I hear someone say, "Do this work long enough and you are bound to get hurt." More blah, blah, blah! In the business of creating zero-injuries in the workplace I find a lot of rhetoric.
Safety Risk and Reward - How safe can you be? As a pilot of a general aviation aircraft, my goal is to reduce the risk to a point where I am 99.7% sure nothing unexpected is going to happen. The .03% is for catastrophic events such as engine failure, a bird strike, or a rare clear air up-draft that could cause structural damage. To handle the catastrophic failure, I train for off-airport landings. If we make it a point to reduce the risk in any activity, the chance of not being injured is greatly reduced. Recently I attended a meeting of pilots where Jack Hastings, a Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) medical examiner (ME) spoke on the subject of "Flying Over 50." It was a very interesting topic (since I am 51) and I came away with some idea of how we can use some of his information with regards to industrial safety.
Safety STP - Workplace safety has many different facets. I’ve found in my work with companies across the country that the focus on safety is often directly correlated with an individual’s responsibilities. Three facets are directly related to the business of safety: Strategic, Tactical, and Personal (STP). Executives and senior managers are often concerned about the strategy, or big picture, of how safety fits into the overall business. Tactical activities are more hands-on and tend to get the attention of managers, supervisors, and front-line leaders. The personal focus on safety often lies with the individual contributors, or front-line workers, in the organization.
Safety Up - In Oklahoma, the term “cowboy up” means to get ready to ride or work cattle by putting on your boots, chaps, hat, and other equipment needed for the task. I heard someone who was having some legal issues say, "I guess I need to lawyer up!" So when I say, "Safety up!" I'm saying, "Plan your job by protecting yourself , co-workers, and anyone else from hazards to prevent injuries.”
Safety Wise Guys - We often wonder why some people don’t “get safety” especially when those individuals work in a hazardous environment. The question often is “why won’t they work safe.” What we sometimes fail to realize is that safety is a learned process, not an attribute or a trait that people are born with. Developing a sustainable safety management system is often a matter of engaging employees and leaders in the process of learning about safety through experience and knowledge on a day-by-day, job by job basis.
Saved by Procedures - High fives to this lineman and crew. You don't have to be a lineman to appreciate a good safety story like this. Thanks goes to my good friend Clarence Greene and all-time safety champion in the great state of Kentucky.
Scrub Your Safety Assumptions - Far too often we live our lives and do our work under the same assumptions that we used decades ago. This can be costly, dangerous, and even fatal. Actor Alan Alda said, “Begin challenging your own assumptions. Your assumptions are your windows on the world. Scrub them off every once in awhile, or the light won't come in.” Sometimes we have to stop and give our assumptions about safety a good cleaning.
Setting Zero Expectations - Setting the bar high for safety performance is a noble cause. We all like to talk about the seemingly elusive target of “zero injuries.” People generally line up in one of two sides of this goal. There’s the “it’s impossible to have zero injuries” camp and then there’s the “why would we target anything less than zero” camp. (If you’ve read anything we have written in the past, you know which camp we hang out in!) The important thing to recognize is that once you set the expectation – whether it’s for “zero” or a goal that assumes someone will get hurt – it’s hard to go back to a goal where someone is injured. That’s why many corporate leaders are reluctant to set the goal at zero injuries. Yet, we have to ask the question I always ask, “Why would you establish a goal that was anything less than zero?” And when we say “less than zero” we mean setting a safety goal that includes an allowance for injuries. If management establishes a goal of 15 lost time injuries, for example, then the expectation is that employees cannot or will not do their jobs safely.
Snowballs, Butterflies and Safety - Getting your organization’s safety culture going in the right direction can be like a snowball or a butterfly. Now, you may ask, what does safety have to do with either one of those things?
So Few People, So Little Time - It’s Tough Out There "Management is pushing us, customers are pushing us, and we don’t have enough help!" This excuse for taking short cuts is becoming more and more prominent in the workforce. It’s enough to make anyone cringe.
The Biggest (safety) Hurdle - I’ve finally figured it out. After nearly 30 years in the business of safety, I’ve identified the biggest obstacle to zero injuries. I was at a conference the other day and I heard someone say something that really got my attention: The gap between knowing and not doing is much bigger than the gap between knowing and not knowing.
The Billion Dollar Man - Do you remember the show The Six Million Dollar Man in the 1970’s? I thought it was cool – cyborg Steve Austin – better, stronger, faster than he was before. Now, I’ve decided that I want to be the Billion Dollar Man. Don’t get me wrong – I don’t plan on attaching bionic body parts. I have a different idea – but first let me give you some shocking information.
The Gamble of a Lifetime - It’s getting a little ridiculous – all everyone is talking about is their 401Ks and their stock market investments. The cable news networks have to stock exchange board on the screen all day long. Every talk radio host is pontificating about the financial meltdown and how bad it can get. Of course, everyone is concerned. I am too. But you know what? We can’t as individuals do a lot about these things. We just don’t have a lot of control other than about decisions concerning whether to continue to invest or not. It’s all a bit of a gamble, don’t you think. But there’s one other big gamble that we face every day – and we have a lot more control over it. That’s our personal safety.
The Injury that Never Happens - The process of investigating the cause of an injury is easier than finding the cause of a saved injury. Why? Because we don’t know about the injuries that didn’t occur because of safe work practices. Following an injury incident, many organizations send in the investigation team to collect data, interview involved parties and try to find out why the injured person decided to not follow procedures or wear their PPE. Seldom do we say, “Wow! We finished this task and nobody got hurt.” Recently I provided www.safetybooks.com with a Safety Creed Poster that says,...
The Psychological Contract of Safety - One of the most difficult aspects of safety is understanding the role of employee expectations. When employees have expectations about safety that are different than their employer’s, serious issues exist that lead to distractions and ultimately a culture that is disjointed. One way to understand employee expectations is to consider the psychological contract.
The Safest Person I Know - Ask yourself this question, “Who is the safest person I know?” Did you name someone you used to work with or perhaps someone you work with now? Many people do. The answer should be, “me.” If you can‟t say you are the safest person you know, then you might want to think about what it means to make safety a personal thing.
The Unrecognized Hazard - Another day- another dollar! How was yesterday? Did you complete the work assigned to you without an injury? If your answer is “yes”, way to go! If your answer is “no,” what will you do today to prevent injuries – including the one you experienced yesterday? In my work with organizations, I find people who forget to reset the clock – today is a new day. What is your safety goal today? If you read my articles or have heard me speak I hope it is “Nobody Gets Hurt.”
Top Three Safety Myths - How many times have you heard people saying something completely ridiculous or that you know just isn’t right? You don’t have to go very far these days to encounter such statements. With everyone having their say on blogs, YouTube, and even the nightly news, you probably hear things that you just don’t agree with or that you know are fabricated several times a day. Safety is not immune. We’ve been hearing “myths” about safety for years. We took an informal poll recently, and here are our top three safety myths – you’ve probably heard them or something similar a time or two in your career.
Turbulence In the Organization - As I work around the country with various organizations to help them understand their safety culture and the underlying factors that affect it, a question often emerges. Are the safety issues, namely a high number of recordable incidents, caused by organizational unrest or does organizational turmoil contribute to a high number of injuries? The answer is “yes.”
Why Did You Put Your Finger in There? - The comedian Bill Cosby does a routine where he describe a conversation with his young son about a patch of hair missing from his head. Cosby: "What happened to your hair?" Son: (with a slight whine) "I don't know" Cosby: "Was your head with you when your hair was cut?" Son: (same slight whine) "I don't know"
Will You Be Safe? - Remember when your mom told you to wear clean underwear in case you are in an accident? It’s an old joke, yet as funny as this seems, maybe your mom was telling you something about your ability to behave safe. We all need to recognize that our behavior has a great deal to do with outcomes.
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