"Get REAL About Safety"
Safety Management Articles by PROSAFE Solutions
In this section, we will begin posting safety management articles on a quarterly basis. The articles will be titled "GET REAL About Safety" and will be based on improving the safety process for optimal performance. Far too often, companies get "unreal" in their approaches to managing safety in the workplace. Safety often becomes an exercise in reacting to incidents, outcome numbers, or a financial crisis related to losses. In some organizations, safety may become little more than simply "window-dressing".
Each quarter we will address real-world safety management issues. We will discuss items that both impede safety performance and items that propel it forward. Articles will include topics on safety trends in general, safety performance improvement, professional safety practices, and other hot safety management topics.
All articles are written by the company founders.
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Get Real About Risk Takers
On any given job it is typical to hear safety people and supervisors bemoan the “stupid, careless” employees that keep getting hurt in the workplace. The solution often is to “weed out” the more “accident prone” employees Continued...
Getting Real About Accountability
Back in the 1980's, author Dan Petersen stated "The greatest safety system failure in corporate America today is a lack of accountability". Some twenty years later, this still seems to be the case with many organizations. Continued...
Get REAL About Safety TrainingHow effective is your safety training and education? Do employees comprehend and utilize what they learn? This article will explore some common problems and solutions to help improve comprehension, retention of knowledge and application of practical skills in safety. Continued...
It's OK to Kill a Few...But Don't Get Mud on the RoadTake a short drive and look at a few construction sites and you will see miles of silt fence installed to protect roads and streams from storm water runoff. At these same jobsites you often see people working at heights with no fall protection or other personal protective equipment Continued...
Just Do This and Just Do That - Avoiding the Quick-Fix Mentality
In an effort to improve safety performance, organizations often find themselves seeking the magic bullet. Millions of dollars are spent annually by organizations on what Dan Petersen describes as "islands of safety". In other words, these are stand-alone programs that are believed (and even touted by some) to be the holy grail of safety. Continued...
Exposing Reality
Today, many organizations are interested in improving safety performance. It has become common knowledge that traditional regulatory compliance-based "safety programs" simply will not produce results of excellence. To achieve world-class performance in safety, organizations must integrate safety into the work process through the development and nurturing of a proactive safety culture. Continued...
It's the Culture
During the 1992 presidential campaign, president-elect Bill Clinton had a banner erected in his campaign headquarters that stated, "It's the Economy, Stupid". He did this to remind himself that the major issue in the campaign was the current state of the U.S. economy.
Today, most organizations would do well to remind themselves that the major determining factor in the performance of their safety process is the culture of the organization. Organizational culture can be defined as a shared set of assumptions, beliefs, philosophies, and perceptions that shape the behaviors of managers and employees. Culture can be described as an invisible force that, to a large degree, dictates how employees go about their work. In other words, culture defines what is really valued in the organization. Continued...
Residential Safety-The New Frontier
In the past twenty years, construction safety has made significant strides. Where fall protection was once unheard of, many large contractors have adopted fall policies more stringent than the OSHA 1926 Subpart M requirements. Injury rates, while still unacceptable, have declined. Use of personal protective equipment is Continued...
How Much Are You Paying For Your Insurance Provider's Safety Services?
You are paying for the safety services provided by your insurance carrier. The question becomes, how much am I paying and what am I supposed to get for my money? You have every right to ask that these costs be quantified, for services to be clearly defined, and to decline services you do not wish to pay for Continued...
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