Each year many are injured or killed in incidents where following a procedure or using available safety equipment would have saved his or her life. Both managers and safety professionals have asked, “Why do people take short cuts and put themselves at risk?” This article will explore this question ...
If, like me, you are old enough to have watched TV in the late seventies and early eighties, you may recall a slightly offbeat TV show called “In Search of…” The show was narrated by Leonard Nimoy – the famed actor who played Dr. Spock on the original Star Trek television series. The show was often ...
I’ll never forget Fred. He never knew, but he has been one of the people who helped to shape my thinking during my first years as a safety professional. With his lean and not even 1,70 m (~ 5’ 6”) short frame he didn’t have an impressive physical appearance, but his personality and commitment sure ...
Every standard safety manual addresses, at some level, the most basic principles of safety management including the three (3) E’s.
Why is it important for leaders to walk through their facilities and engage in conversations? Conversation and dialogue are essential management tools to manage performance. It is the primary activity to ensure employees are receiving the intended communications and to gather important information ...
Regardless of how it’s done, workplace monitoring is a critical and longstanding function of the safety profession. It’s also encouraging to see line managers and selected employees increasingly involved in this function as well. The goal of safety monitoring is to gain a better understanding of ...
Often in my career of managing safety/risk I've recognized that what I’m really trying to manage is peoples’ perception of risk and not some empirical “risk” value. People don’t tend to solve problems they don’t believe they have, nor do they put a lot of their effort into safety if they believe ...
Management of safety is pretty simple:
I live in an old house, most probably built in the early 1800’s, with doors that don’t close, roof that leak and floors that squeak. My solution? A little WD 40, a little more ‘goop’ around the chimney, and shave a little off the jamb, and, I’ve fixed the problem. Of course it works, but only for a ...
