REFLECT

As 2012 draws to an end, I thought I would take this opportunity to REFLECT upon my posts from 2012.  I decided that the proper way to end 2012 is to create a list of  five key take-away’s from my postings throughout the year.   While I find it difficult to come up with only five, I wanted to create a list that sums up my feelings toward safety:

 

1.  Leadership is the key to safety success.

2.  We, as business leaders,  have an obligation to provide a safe workplace.

3.  Safety culture is behavioral and can not be changed with threats, empty promises, or bureaucracy.

4.  It is unacceptable for anybody to get injured, no matter how minor.

5.  Changing safety culture is a journey and you eat the elephant one bite at a time.

 

As you REFLECT upon this posting, I leave 2012 with one question:  What can you do to be safer in 2013?

 

STAY SAFE!     **  Jeff  **   214-215-2434

PLEASE SANTA

I read multiple blogs, newsletters, e-mails and magazines each week related to safety.   One I look forward to each month is by Matt Forck.   Mr. Forck has a way to relate a real life situation to safety.   His e-mail this month I found very moving.  I cut and pasted his e-mail story below – it’s called  PLEASE SANTA:

“They are a traditional and rather successful small town American family. Mom and Dad had raised five boys and four girls, now all adults with families of their own. Dad was an electrician, and started his own business back in the late ’50s. All of the boys grew up working in the business, first as grunts, then apprentices. Four of the five earned their journey electrician card. Today, three still work for ‘the business.’ Of the two that do not work for the family, one started his own business in a near-by town and the other recently passed away. It was the death of one of the brothers that made this Thanksgiving holiday a little harder than most.

Thanksgiving, as with all of the major holidays, was a time for the family to come together at the farm and celebrate. And, Thanksgiving was a special treat for the children as Santa Claus always made a stop near the end of the day. Each child would sit on Santa’s lap and reveal the wishes and dreams they held for the next Holiday.

So, as the fall sun slowly sank upon the farm the children eagerly awaited Santa. They were restless and eager and finally, when it seemed that he would never arrive, he did…appearing in the doorway out of nowhere sounding off a loud “Ho Ho Ho, Merry Christmas.” The entire family gathered around. Santa seated himself in the same kitchen chair that he had last year and for many years past. There, one by one, he welcomed each child to his lap…all twenty-seven of them.

When it was Ben’s turn Santa seemed a little uneasy, for it was Ben, age five, who had lost his dad earlier in the year. Ben was shy of the big bearded man dressed in red and talked slowly and quietly. He told Santa that he wanted a Spiderman and backpack. He said he wanted a Shrek DVD…his voice trailed off and he finally looked into Santa’s giving brown eyes and said, “Please…Please Santa, I just want my dad back…”

The room fell silent. For a long moment the only sound was the drip of the kitchen sink. Ben’s mother finally pulled him from Santa’s lap and hugged him tight. Santa, with over a dozen children waiting in line said, “Ho, Ho, I’ll be right back” As he stepped quickly for the door he uttered something about needing to check the reindeer.

Once outside, Santa pulled off the white beard and fell to his knees. He wiped his tears on the sleeve of his red velvet jacket. By day Santa was Uncle Jack; he was a brother and co-worker to Ben’s father. All that Ben knew was that his father was killed in an accident. But Santa knew the truth. He and his dad were in a hurry. They cut some corners and broke some safety rules; but it was okay, it was no big deal. After all, they had done it before and wouldn’t be hurt. But, this time it was different and things went wrong. Ben’s dad was killed and Jack watched it happen. He could have stopped it…he should have stopped it, if he had only stopped it.

Santa couldn’t give Ben his father back. It was too late. There was nothing he, or even the real Santa, could do now. That was the horrible truth…Santa wiped his tears, put his beard back on his cheeks, stood and walked back into the house. “Please Santa” would ring in his ears forever…

Matt Forck, CSP & JLW is a noted safety speaker addressing today’s most urgent topics including culture, accountability, leadership and employee engagement. Sign up for Matt’s FREE safety resources at http://www.safestrat.com.”

We all make choices – choices to be safe and choices to break the rules.   In the PLEASE SANTA story – two men who knew better made the choice to cut corners and break the rules.    I never want to hear a story like PLEASE SANTA in real life – what  about you?

STAY SAFE!     **  Jeff  **   214-215-2434

TIME

I host a safety call each month for the manufacturing leadership teams at each of our facilities in North America.   We had our November call two weeks ago with 140 people on the call.   We use this monthly call to build our safety culture and reinforce certain safety items.   An activity that we have performed over the past three years is to develop a safety calendar for the upcoming year.   We asked each facility to submit artwork from their employees and their families that will be used in the calendar.   We kicked off this in August and have the artwork due in October (three months).   In addition to the three monthly meetings that occur during this period, I sent out two e-mail reminders to each facility leader.

We have some facilities that have a great participation percentage and we have some that did not participate.   On our November call, I asked the facilities that did not participate why they didn’t participate?   The first facility leader spoke up and said that from August through October they were busy and didn’t have TIME.   The second facility leader piped in and said that was the same for their facility and that we should kick off the 2014 calendar earlier in the year, they too didn’t have TIME.   A third facility leader added that they were busy and also didn’t have TIME.    I immediately said “OK – for 2014 start in March!”  You could hear a pin drop at this point.   Everyone on the call understood – these three facilities just threw out a lame excuse and I called them on it!  I was/am extremely upset and disappointed.

Another interesting item about the facilities that didn’t participate and didn’t have TIME – they account for a vast majority of our accidents over the past year!   It does not take a rocket scientist to see this correlation:  These facilities don’t embrace our safety program and are incurring a majority of the accidents.

I have let two weeks go by since this incident because it upset me so much.   I will call each of the facility leaders that didn’t make TIME and let them know how disappointed I am in them.   I will further point out the correlation between embracing our safety program and accidents.    What would you do in this situation?

STAY SAFE!     **  Jeff  **   214-215-2434

OSHA VPP

I was at manufacturing site this week that I have written about before – the facility in Colorado that “gets it”.   I had a lunch meeting with their manufacturing leadership team and congratulated them on their safety efforts.   I also asked: “How can we make our safety program better?”  The team had two main items:   First, they would like to have a peer to peer safety audit – have the leadership team from another facility that is not familiar with their operation perform a meaningful safety audit.  They admit that they don’t always “see the forest for the trees”.   Second, they would like to obtain OSHA VPP status.   They want to be the first facility within our company that has obtained this honor and would also be the first window manufacturing company in Colorado to fly the OSHA VPP flag.  I completely support both of these initiatives!

I can make the peer to peer review happen very quickly.   I will select another facility that “gets it” and arrange the visit.   Obtaining OSHA VPP status will take a little longer.   I have asked the facility leader to provide an overview and timeline (what I call a road map) on obtaining OSHA VPP status.  From everything that I have read on the subject, this will take one to two years to obtain.   The certification will take some serious effort by the leadership team and require a dedication of time and resources.

You will never finish the race until you take the first step.   I am excited to support this facility on their journey to OSHA VPP certification.   What will you do to raise the bar?

STAY SAFE! ** Jeff ** 214-215-2434

ELECTION

As you are aware, yesterday was ELECTION day in the United States.   What does this have to do with workplace safety you might ask?   The people in the States of Colorado and Washington voted to legalize marijuana – this has plenty to do with workplace safety.  Companies need to ensure that their work rules are updated prohibiting employees from using marijuana, just like alcohol.   Obviously, legalization and/or relaxed restrictions is the new trend in our society.   In the safety world, we must not stick our head in the sand and ignore this trend.  We must accept it and ensure we have programs in place to ensure the safety of our employees.   We have an obligation to provide a safe workplace and it is unacceptable for any employee to be injured on the job, no matter how minor it may be.

Whatever changes are made because of the ELECTION, I chose to accept that our society is evolving and I will protect our employees – What will you do?

STAY SAFE!     **  Jeff  **   214-215-2434

GETS IT!

I was at a manufacturing plant this week that GETS IT!   This particular plant is located  in Colorado and manufactures windows and doors.   As you might imagine, cutting and handling glass, lifting large patio doors, working with saws, working with hand tools, etc. creates plenty of opportunities for accidents.   This particular plant has gone over two years without an accident!   Why is this plant so successful in terms of safety while other plants (most of which are less riskier) not so successful?   It’s simple – it’s because this plant GETS IT!

This plant embraces safety and has created a culture where it is unacceptable for any employee to be injured – no matter how minor.   Therefore, everybody at the plant has the responsibility to remove potential hazards, enforce the safety rules, and be responsible for safety.   They have embraced their responsibility for safety and have not pushed that responsibility to the “Corporate Safety Guy”.   This plant GETS IT!

It is refreshing to see a plant and talk to leadership that GETS IT!   I applaud their efforts and hope this culture becomes contagious.

STAY SAFE!     **  Jeff  **   214-215-2434

ENGAGE THE EMPLOYEES

We create and produce our own safety training videos in-house.  We have a team that records the audio tracks from a script that has been written and we have various facilities shoot video at their location of the subject matter.   We bring all of this together, add titles, edit, and produce the video.  We presently have approximately 20 videos produced and posted on our safety website.   The intention of these videos is to complement our weekly safety training.   Most of these videos are three to seven minutes long and cover the basics of the topic presented.   My goal is to have 52 training videos (one for each week), which will send a consistent message across the organization.

Up until the past few weeks, we have asked for volunteers to shoot the video footage at their location.  We had approximately 10 different facilities volunteer and have started to have the same facilities volunteer multiple times.  Here is an observation on these videos – the 10 facilities that have volunteered have fewer accidents than the group of facilities that have not volunteered.   Further, the facilities that have volunteered multiple times have fewer accidents than the facilities that volunteered once and the facilities that have not volunteered at all.    Why?   It’s obvious to me – the facilities that have volunteered are the facilities that “get it”.   These are also the facilities where the  facility leader embraces our safety program and ENGAGES THE EMPLOYEES.

In in effort to “jump start” a couple of facilities, I decided to assign the filming for the next two videos rather than ask for volunteers.   I thought this would help the facility leader ENGAGE THE EMPLOYEES and promote safety.   I chose two facilities that are on “safety auto pilot” and asked if they would film at their location.   I explained that they do not need to worry about audio, editing, etc – we just need raw video footage of the subject matter.  I further explained that it was a great opportunity to ENGAGE THE EMPLOYEES at the facility and to have a little fun.   The first facility embraced the opportunity and was excited that they were asked to do this assignment.   The second facility shot me a note back declining the invitation.   The facility leader explained that he “asked around” and “no employees were interested” (red flag……red flag……red flag!!!).    I shot a note back to this facility leader, a little stronger in tone, explaining what a great opportunity this was to ENGAGE THE EMPLOYEES and this project wasn’t voluntary but an assignment.     The facility leader shot me another note back trying to get out of the assignment again (red flag…..red flag…..red flag!!!).   I decided to call this facility leader and discuss the opportunity to ENGAGE THE EMPLOYEES and how as a leader, he can use this as an opportunity to directly involve people in our safety program.   The call went about as expected – the facility leader said they would get it done and he couldn’t wait to get off the phone.

We have data that supports when you ENGAGE THE EMPLOYEES, your results are better.   There are thousands of books written on this subject.   I mentioned a Chinese Proverb on a previous post that I will use again here:  “Tell me, and I will forget; show me, and I may remember; involve me, and I will understand”!

I will always ENGAGE THE EMPLOYEES – What will you do?

STAY SAFE!     **  Jeff  **   214-215-2434

RISK vs REWARD

Why do employees take unnecessary risks and put themselves in harms way?   Let’s review basic behavior in a RISK vs REWARD model.   In simple terms, all behaviors can be placed in one of four quadrants as depicted here:

Our goal is to move all jobs / tasks from high risk to low risk.   When specific jobs or tasks can not be engineered to be low risk, we rely on procedures and humans to make the correct decisions.   We want employees to change their behaviors from high risk (right two quadrants) to low risk (left two quadrants).   Let’s reviews examples the high risk quadrants:

High Risk / Low Reward – In a manufacturing environment, an example of a high risk behavior with low reward is not following lock-out / tag-out procedures.   Why would someone want to do something that is high risk when there is little or no reward?   When you peel the onion back further you find the reasons for this behavior include lack of training or understanding, lack of readily available tools (locks),  and a belief that the behavior is not high risk.    Other examples of high risk behaviors with low rewards include running machinery without proper guards in place, not using fall protection when working at elevated heights, and not using proper PPE on a specific job.   All of these situations are completely avoidable with a robust safety culture and proper leadership.

High Risk / High Reward – An example of a high risk behavior with high reward includes firefighters, front line military personnel, bomb squad personnel and similar jobs.   These jobs require intense training and safety is continuously stressed.   Personnel in these occupations are continuously searching for a safer way to perform their jobs and continuously striving to mitigate risk and move into the low risk / high reward quadrant.  Positive safety culture and strong leadership are very prevalent in this quadrant.   In a manufacturing environment, I can not come up with an example of a job where a high risk behavior includes a high reward.

In comparing these two quadrants, it is very obvious what the major differences are – culture and leadership.   In taking this one step further, a positive, strong safety culture does not exist (or last) without leadership.

I prefer to operate in the low risk quadrants – what about you?

STAY SAFE!     **  Jeff  **   214-215-2434

AGREE, SOMEWHAT AGREE or DISAGREE?

I recently came across a safety blog which contained an on-line survey that I found very disturbing (not the survey but the results).  The survey had the readers select one of three answers to the following statement: “Workplace Injury is an Inevitable Part of Life”.   The three answers were: “AGREE – no one or no company is perfect – accidents will always be a part of society”, “SOMEWHAT AGREE – accidents will always be a part of society but we can work on reducing the most tragic accidents” or “DISAGREE – every accident is preventable”.

The disturbing part:  38% of the respondents AGREE or SOMEWHAT AGREE with the statement!  That’s over 1/3 of the people who responded feel that accidents will happen!   The even more disturbing thing is that this safety blog is geared toward safety professionals.   Over 1/3 of the people who establish safety programs, teach our workers about safety, conduct safety self-assessments, etc do not feel that every accident is preventable!   With this type of  feelings toward accidents, how are we ever going to set our self up for success?   We are already accepting the fact that accidents will happen and it’s OK!

In my experience, when leadership believes that every accident is preventable and conveys this message, accident rates are significantly reduced (leaders create culture).   For example, a Facility Leader that believes every accident is preventable, and he/she conveys this message, the safety results will be significantly better than the Facility Leader that believes accidents will always be part of society and feels that safety is somebody else’s job.

I can speak with a Facility Leader and tour their factory and pretty much know what their safety results are.  There is a direct correlation between leadership, culture and safety.  As long as we allow our leaders to accept that accidents are part of society and safety is the responsibility of someone other than themselves, we are going to have accidents.   When our leaders believe (not just say, but believe) that every accident is preventable, we will see an improvement in the safety results.

I am going to change the AGREE’s and SOMEWHAT AGREE’s to DISAGREE’s – what about you?

STAY SAFE!     **  Jeff  **   214-215-2434

SLIPS, TRIPS and FALLS

I was recently reviewing accident data for a company over the past three years to determine where they should be expending their efforts.   It was eye-opening to learn that SLIPS, TRIPS, and FALLS was the number one incident at this particular company.    According to the National Safety Council, SLIPS, TRIPS, and FALLS represent  the most common cause of workplace injuries behind  motor vehicle accidents.   The NSC reports that the the average workers’ comp costs for SLIPS, TRIPS, and FALLS  is over $21,500 per incident.

The Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety reports that 60% of falls happen at the same floor level.  The other 40% are falls from heights.  Even the slightest change in elevation surface (1/4” to ½”) can cause a trip or fall.

Good housekeeping in a business is vital.   Safety and housekeeping go hand in hand, especially when discussing addressing SLIPS, TRIPS, and FALLS.  If  housekeeping habits are poor, there is a good chance that employee injuries, rising insurance costs, and regulatory citations are present.  If a facility is noticeably clean and well organized, it is a good sign and most likely the safety program is effective as well at the facility.  Disorderly work environments can negatively impact the morale of employees who must function in a job site that is dirty, hazardous, and poorly managed.  Because SLIPS, TRIPS, and FALLS occur more than any other occupational injury, it makes good sense to ensure that employees comply with a good housekeeping.  If each individual does his/her part to keep work areas clean, the housekeeping program will be a success.

I’m going to remind employees about SLIPS, TRIPS, and FALLS  and emphasize good housekeeping – what about you?

STAY SAFE!     **  Jeff  **   214-215-2434