Building A Safer Workplace - with Kevin Burns

Why Compliance Won't Get Us To Zero

2011-10-19T19:27:00.001-06:00

In general, compliance means conforming to a rule, such as a specification, policy, standard or law. In other words, freedom of choice and freedom of thought are not required. All that is required is a simple adherence to the rules.

But can we take compliance in safety seriously? Yes, compliance got us to where we are in safety today. Yes, it was necessary to clean up the mess we were in. Yes, we had to give the employees a common standard across all industries so that they could adapt their behaviors equally in all workplaces. So there is no question that compliance was necessary -- for a time. The question remains, however, can compliance take us to where safety needs to go? Overwhelmingly, the evidence says no.

Compliance in the workplace is a standard of absolute minimums. It is the line in the sand we cannot cross. It is a bar that has been set so low as to be impossible to go under. In the same way that the construction industry has a building code (a set of standards that a builder must not fall below), and in the same way that governments have instituted minimum-wage requirements (another nice way of saying if I could pay you less I would), compliance was necessary to ensure that workplaces met minimum standards of safety and workers were protected even if it was the employer's choice not to do so.

Can the process that cleaned up our backyard, and got us to our current benchmark, can it be the same process that delivers us to the promised land of Zero? Times are different now. Worker education is different. Workplace processes are different. Worker protection is different, at least in the minimum-standard sort of way. Worker attitudes are for the most part different. And an entire industry has risen up built on a set of absolute minimum standards. Is this really the way we want to carry on -- achieving basic minimum standards?

I remember listening to the occasional Earl Nightingale recording on the radio in the early years of my life. That big, deep, basso profundo voice spoke like the voice of God. Mr. Nightingale, as I recall his words, encouraged me to hang out with successful people if I wanted to achieve success in my own life. If I, according to Nightingale, hung out with slackers and ne'er-do-wells that it was very likely I would become one. But if I were to hang out with successful people then the likelihood was greater that success would show up for me.

That same advice could be applied to an entire industry today. Compliance, for the most part, is the same as hanging out with the D-students: students who are just getting by but flirting with failure if they do just one or two things wrong.

Here is the problem as I see it. Until we start seeing CEOs attending the safety conferences, and not just sending their safety managers, safety will always be an arms-length part of any organization. The people who attend these conferences are the choir of the Church of safety. They already know it's important. It's the decision-makers that need to attend these conferences. It's the people who are in positions of power, who can affect change to the corporate culture of an organization. That's who should be attending these conferences. That's who should be meeting with safety managers. And until the entire team across the top of an organization embraces safety as a viable and necessary part of their organization, safety will always be an arms-length concern.

Corporate America treats safety as the dorky little brother they are forced to bring along when they want to hang out with the cool kids. But safety shouldn't be treated that way. Safety should be permeating the discussions in sales, finance, human resources, marketing, management and every other department. Safety should have an equal seat at the table of all decisions within an organization. We should be having the discussions around safety across all departments of all organizations. But we don't. Safety isn't readily visible, well at least not in the same way as Ireland and the UK. In those countries, you can purchase safety wear, high visibility clothing and some personal protective equipment and department stores - not from hidden specialty stores and industrial catalogues like we have here in North America.

The saying "out of sight, out of mind" really rings true in this regard. If we could readily purchase safety clothing and equipment in the same way we could buy power tools, wouldn't it stand to reason that we might be willing to accept safety more readily? If we could see it everywhere, it would likely be embraced more.

But because of its primarily industrial-focus, (with a few exceptions) safety is aimed squarely at the blue-collar worker who apparently has little capacity to think for himself. It's why we force blue-collar workers to pee into a cup, but turn a blind eye to the white-collar executive who has the two-martini power lunch and then drives back to the office. It's why we send a blue-collar worker home because they wore the wrong PPE yet continue the practice of sending executives off to exotic management retreats and allowing them to make cloudy-headed decisions on the future of the company, while suffering the ill effects of the open bar from the night before.

For the most part, safety takes a top-down philosophy. Those at the top, or at least those with letters behind their name, make the rules, procedures and processes for others to follow. And is it working? Not really. In fact, incident numbers are rising.

Einstein said, "Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results." I learned a long time ago that if you keep doing what you've always done you're going to keep getting what you always got. Regardless of whether safety numbers have flatlined or are on the rise, something needs to change. The numbers are not heading in the right direction. That means, what we are doing has been useful in getting us to where we are, but it might be time to upgrade to a new vehicle -- something that can get us to where we need to go.

Maybe it's time we asked our young workers to come up with solutions to stem the rising numbers in their own age category. After all, presupposing that old safety managers can develop strategies that will resonate with younger workers sounds like a recipe for disaster. You can't develop full buy-in by thrusting rules and regulations upon your people. Making them feel as though you know what's best for them better than they do creates push-back. Blind compliance fails over time.

Expecting people to blindly follow because of someone's says-so doesn't make sense any more - especially as the workplace changes its age. Generation Y doesn't subscribe to a "because that's the rule" philosophy. They want to know why (hence the name Gen Y). They don't have the same propensity for blindly following as those who make the rules so if you want to get your organization to Zero, you had better start including them in the discussions. They have ideas. They have suggestions. Employees will embrace anything that they themselves had a hand in creating.

Without appealing to the hearts and minds of your workers, you create an us-versus-them adversarial relationship that too, will fail over time. Sure we need to have minimums (for those that would try to do less) but the focus shouldn't be on achieving minimums. We should be shooting for something far beyond minimums. Minimums are for the lazy.

Safety, as we know it, needs a facelift. Top-down may have worked for a while but maybe it's time for a grassroots-up strategy. Maybe it's time to begin to think more collaboratively -- to get everyone involved -- not just a select few who have managed to achieve some sort of certification. Safety is not a club -- it's an attitude.

If you seriously want to achieve Zero, you had better be prepared to give up your titles and your organizational hierarchy. There is no place for any of it in safety. Safety is something that should transcend position, power and place and consider all of your employees as equals. That's the only way it works in the future. You can't legislate conformity - which means compliance is on its last legs.

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Kevin Burns – Workplace Expert - Management Consultant - Keynote Speaker

The Future Of Safety Is Uncertain

2011-10-10T22:23:00.001-06:00

Video games now outsell music and movie recordings combined. E-books now outsell traditional books meaning consumers can get what they want to read in an instant without leaving the bathtub to go to a store - and it's cheaper. Newspapers show up in your inbox or on your iPad (many are free for now) instead of being delivered to your doorstep for a monthly fee. You don't have to be home to get your morning paper.

Trips to the video store are a thing of the past as more retailers go out of business because Netflix let's you stream your movie to your TV right now and offers unlimited movies for the same fee as a single video rental at the store.

By the time a university student gets to university, they have already spent 20,000 hours online and an additional 10,000 hours spent playing video games.

The average worker is exposed to between 3,000 and 5,000 marketing messages per day. The average consumer can download music, videos and the like for next to nothing or for free. They can purchase goods in the middle of the night and have them shipped next day.

So what does this all mean to safety?

It means that how you recruit, choose, equip and train your people in the ways of safety are far different than they were even ten years ago. So why are you trying to make a broken model work?

If an employee can find a lesson on how to unclog a drain by watching a YouTube video, then wouldn't it figure that they would go to the same place to learn how to do their jobs? Why aren't your training lessons in the same place? Why is your training still being done in the old, broken classroom and paper manual way?

The worker of tomorrow doesn't remember anything except where to find the information they are looking for. They won't remember the procedure in the manual but they will remember where to find the video that reminds them of the procedure.

Stop thinking that every worker has the same capacity for memory and recall as Baby Boomers. They don't. Start looking toward the future and digitize your training utilizing on-demand video, text message and easy access to information.

If you want to engage your people to reduce workplace incidents, start thinking like they think. Make it easy for them to make the right decisions - don't expect that they will just because you told them once.

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Kevin Burns - Workplace Expert and Speaker

Health Canada Weighs In On Cell Phone Use

2011-10-05T20:38:00.001-06:00

Health Canada released guidelines this week on how cellphone users can reduce the risk of certain types of cancer. This, despite scientific evidence that says it is far from conclusive that cancer and cellphone use are linked.

You should read this story from the Calgary Herald.

So far, the best evidence is that handsfree Bluetooth units still provide better protection (1/1000th the radiation) rather than putting the cell phone next to your head. Air tube headsets seem to provide the best protection.

At any rate, get the phones away from your head.

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Why Your Hotel Room Safe Is Not Safe

2011-09-30T09:38:00.003-06:00

When The Crap Hits

2011-09-28T18:29:00.001-06:00

Following a cattle-hauler is stressful enough (been hit more than once by a gooey brown substance that slips off the truck in the wind). But following this particular cattle-hauler was a little more stressful: weaving side to side in and out of his lane and traveling well below the posted speed.

Once we saw an opening we went past only to find the driver reading some sort of manual while he was driving. The company name was written across the side of the truck and the unit number on the front fender. But it didn't end there. While we drove in front of the truck, a large dog began to make its way out onto the highway. I swerved and was able to avoid missing the dog. The truck driver, seemingly unaware of the dog's presence on the road, hit the dog squarely at highway speed and kept driving as though oblivious to what had just happened.

My wife looked up the number on the iPad and we placed a call to the trucking company owner.

Does your workplace have a policy to handle a call like I made? Do you do an investigation? Do you have a zero tolerance policy on distracted driving? Are you prepared to fire an employee who so cavalierly displays little attention to his work?

If you want to build a safer workplace, you take a tough stance on flagrant safety violations. Zero tolerance. Take no crap. Enforce it hard. No exceptions. The rest of your employees will get the message and you will be protecting lives - human and animal. There are NO excuses for being distracted while driving, ever.

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Including Online Safety Builds Better Safety Culture

2011-09-26T18:11:00.001-06:00

Sometimes I don't understand how companies can separate physical worker safety and cyber-safety. Both involve employees. Both involve safety. But one is handled by OH&S and the other by IT - neither of which seems to have a clue about the other.

Safety is safety - whether it's online or in-person. Looking out for the well-being of your employees should take the wholistic approach - not the insular approach.

Building a safer workplace means addressing ALL things that relate to keeping your people safe. And if that means that sometimes one crosses over into the other, then you had better figure out who takes the lead.

Perhaps an overhaul of how you treat safety is in order. Maybe it's time to consider a company-wide Safety And Security Department - marrying OH&S and IT. Wouldn't it make more sense?

If you want your people to take an active role in protecting themselves while the are on the job, you must talk about safety in a wholistic way. Addressing how your workers conduct themselves on a job site but not how they conduct themselves online seems a bit short-sighted and very narrow-focused. Address all of it together and you build a stronger Culture of Safety Attitude.

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Senior Management Needs A Safety Wake-up

2011-09-12T20:07:00.001-06:00

Safety conferences are not just for Safety Managers and EHS personnel. Safety conferences are where we should be seeing presidents, CEOs and senior management personnel who are NOT related directly to OHS in their workplaces.

And until non-EHS senior management takes an active role in safety and the adoption of cultures of safety, safety will never completely take hold in an organization.

Safety needs to be treated on the same level as finance, marketing and sales.

Senior management needs to stop treating the health and safety of their employees as an arm's-length after-thought. Senior managers need to get serious about creating cultures and mindsets of safety in their people, but more importantly, themselves.

If you as a senior manager won't make attending safety functions as paramount in your workplace, neither will your people. People will model the behavior of their leaders. And your people will continue to get hurt because, like you, they don't take safety seriously.

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Kevin Burns - Workplace Expert and Speaker

The Safety Hypocrite

2011-09-08T10:50:00.001-06:00

You put a helmet on your young daughter's head before she took that first solo bicycle ride.

You spent a fortune at the sporting goods store to make sure your son was protected well when he joined his first minor hockey team.

You bought that really good quality car-seat and secured it properly in the back seat before you brought your newborn home from the hospital.

And yet you exceed the speed limit on your way to work, make unsafe lane changes, don't regularly check your car lights, don't do walkarounds before you get into your vehicle and you complain about the new regulations on safety at work.

Hypocrite.

Safety apparently only applies to other people huh? You had better get your own mental house in order. What you say and what you do don't apparently line up. And there are a few young faces looking at you confused that you care about their safety but not your own.

Change your mind. Safety is an Attitude. Get it.

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Safety for Boots AND Suits

2011-09-05T19:40:00.001-06:00

I'm seeing a lot of safety programs supposedly designed to protect workers - but mostly it only applies to workers who wear work boots - not so much the one who wear suits.

Look, safety is for everyone - Boots AND Suits.

If the rules don't apply to senior executives as well as front-line blue-collar staff, then what is the point of having a safety program at all?

This is not a discussion about wearing hard hats on worksites. I'm speaking about things like speeding, cell phone use behind the wheel and serious consequences for serious offenses like drinking and driving convictions. Safety is for everyone. And once the front-line workers see that senior executives MUST play by the same rules, then you stand a better chance of having full compliance and reduced risk on the job.

Safety is an attitude. It's the attitude you build a culture on. Not just safety in certain areas but the wholistic view of safety - safety for everyone on everything.

Does your safety program apply to senior execs and how they drive, text and live their lives outside of work or is it just for those workers who you think can't think for themselves while they are on shift?

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Safety And Mental Health

2011-08-31T22:07:00.001-06:00

Whose responsibility is mental health in the workplace? Is it HR or Health and Safety?

While those two departments play "hot potato" with that one, let me point something out: mental health is everyone's responsibility. So everyone better get good at figuring out what it is and how to deal with it.

Personally, I think it is more than an HR issue. It SHOULD fall under Safety because ultimately safety isn't just about protecting people wearing boots - it's about protecting everyone - including people with mental health issues.

Do you as a Safety Professional know the signs of depression? Are foremen, managers and supervisors in your organization talking to their people often enough to notice subtle changes in behavior?

Safety managers are constantly harping about noticing the little things that could become hazards but are those same managers noticing the little things - like changes in behavior - that could get someone hurt?

Maybe it's time you started looking at Safety in a wholistic way instead of just concentrating on processes and following items listed in a manual. There's more to Safety than that.

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Put Down Your Toys And Drive - Or Pay Up

2011-08-30T22:42:00.001-06:00

If you're a driver in Alberta, today would be a good day to practice hanging up your cell phone while you drive. Thursday, September 1, 2011, Alberta's new Distracted Driving Law comes into effect.

If you talk on a hand-held cell, text, email, use a laptop, video game, camera, MP3 player, program a GPS, read printed material, write, groom yourself whether you're moving in traffic or stopped at a stop light, or if you eat your lunch with two hands, you will face a fine of $172 for each offense.

You can argue with the police officer but the ticket is based on whether the officer thinks you were distracted while driving. Good luck fighting Police Judgment in court. The ticket is more ambiguous than a speeding ticket so if you think you were driving well and the police officer doesn't, you lose.

This new Law is billed as the toughest in all of Canada. I hope the Police give it some teeth.

It's time to put down your playthings in your car and concentrate on driving. Too bad it had to come to becoming a Law - but maybe it's better this way.

Now hang up and drive.

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What The Safety Numbers Don't Tell You

2011-08-29T19:41:00.001-06:00

Companies who claim to have successful Safety Programs still employ people who, on their off-time:
• drive on bald tires
• drive with broken headlights/tail lights/signal lights
• talk on a cell or text while driving
• stand on chairs to reach for things in the kitchen
• mow the lawn in sandals
• don't wear hearing protection when operating home power equipment
• don't wear eye protection when doing home renos
• don't do walk-arounds before backing out of driveways
• don't signal their intentions in parking lots
• cut across three lanes of traffic in one go
• exceed the speed limit
• wrestle with multiple grocery bags while fumbling with keys at the door
• don't wear life jackets in boats
• don't wear sunscreen in the backyard
• leave garden hoses/extension cords running across the grass
• operate propane/gas barbeque grills with faulty controls
• overload home electrical outlets
• (Sigh) and you can add to this list on your own .... you see this stuff everyday.

Are the Safety Programs really successful or is it just the illusion of success because no one has a Lost Time Incident "on the job?"

I would say that if you are going to call your Safety Program successful, you have to take into account the shift in employee attitudes about their home safety. If you don't take into account how your people conduct themselves OFF the job, then you have a successful Compliance Program - not a successful Safety Program.

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How To Find Hidden Clues About People You Work With

2011-08-25T22:31:00.001-06:00

This guy was all set to drive his new fridge home in the trunk of his car (sort of) in Richmond, British Columbia this week. That is until the cops stopped him before he ever left the parking lot (store staff called police when they saw this).

When asked by the police officer if he thought his load was safe, the driver replied that he thought it was indeed safe since it was secured by ropes and the seat belts from the back seat.

Police told him to find another way to transport it home. Seems he was attempting to not pay the $50 delivery fee the store wanted to charge him.

Now while you're chuckling to yourself and shaking your head, think about this: this guy works for someone and wherever it is that he works, he thinks that this is a safe way to transport a refrigerator.

An attitude like this is a possible danger to this guy's co-workers.

You have got to make it clear how important safety is, not just IN the workplace, but outside of the workplace too. The guy with the fridge may abide by safety procedures at work but it is obvious that he doesn't believe in safety or possess a Safety Attitude or mindset.

You can't build a safe place to work on a shaky foundation. Address the attitudes - not just the rules.

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How Earthquakes Toss Safety Procedures Out The Window

2011-08-24T11:17:00.001-06:00

The recent Virginia earthquake was proof-positive that many safety procedures fly in the face of what people are inclined to do. In fact, instinct is more likely to be followed than Safety process when faced with the reality of a quake.

According to FEMA web site, they warn to "stay inside until the shaking stops and it is safe to go outside. Research has shown that most injuries occur when people inside buildings attempt to move to different locations inside the building or try to leave."

This AP video, shows people did the exact wrong thing during the quake. In fact, the video also emphasizes the dangers of what could happen when exiting a building during or right after an earthquake: getting hit by falling debris.

It's great that you THINK you have a Safety Plan in an emergency. But until you address the underlying attitudes and fight-or-flight response mechanisms of your people that will instinctively overrule your Safety Plan in an emergency, you have a worthless piece of paper when the time comes.

You may have developed a set of rules and procedures that are logical in an emergency, but during times of crisis, people don't act logically nor do they think logically because your rules fly in the face of everything that is ingrained through a lifetime of their experience.

When faced with a crisis, people will act in the same way as they always have because their behaviors are habitual. You, as a Safety Professional, have to change that - and it will take more than an amendment to your Safety Manual. It takes getting into your people's psyche and changing their fight-or-flight programming.

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Safety Compliance Is Not Logical

2011-08-23T23:12:00.001-06:00

Zero incidents in the workplace is ultimately the goal of every safety strategy - but it is a goal often missed or if it is hit, it is not held into perpetuity. And there is a simple reason why it is elusive: because safety is not linear and certainly not logical.

Most Workplace Safety programs are based on the premise that if you develop a set of rules, procedures and policies, and police your people into complying with the rules, that you will have no workplace incidents. In other words, line them up, make them do the same things, train them the same, blanket-policy everything and take away the ability to choose, you should have a safe workplace.

But it doesn't work.

Although processes might be uniform, people are not. People get bored when their freedom of choice is taken away. People mentally check-out when independence is impugned. People are illogical because each thinks a little differently. Trying to get everyone focused on-task at every waking moment is like herding cats.

Thoughts are not linear. They are random.

Building a Culture of Safety for the future, because our attention span is shrinking daily, will have to appeal to more than just uniform policy and complete compliance. People are going to be distracted. When they are distracted they are not focused on the task at hand - an opportunity for incident.

The Safety Manager of the future is going to need to be part psychologist. As the 9-second-attention-span-new-worker numbers begin to dominate the workplace, organizations will need to address each individual's underlying attitudes toward personal safety to achieve positive OH&S results.

Expecting to achieve zero without addressing the underlying attitudes is like painting a car and hoping the new paint will stop the engine from burning oil.

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What Safety Managers Do NOT Want To Hear

2011-08-22T11:25:00.001-06:00

Safety, in the workplace, is an all-encompassing term. Unfortunately, in most organizations, safety has taken a very narrow focus as addressing only those items in the Occupational Health and Safety Act.

But safety is much more broad than that. Safety should also encompass worker security and workplace property security and risk-aversion.

Here are a few examples: Facebook informs "followers" when someone has checked-in at a social gathering. Foursquare announces your location in a city. Tweeters can, without thinking, tweet that they are having supper at a restaurant. All of these can, without thinking, be informing strangers of the location of company vehicles.

Most Safety Managers do not have a plan to address using social media that identifies your location by GPS or "check-ins" - especially dangerous if your employee drives a company vehicle.

Your people may be oblivious to the fact that they are even announcing, at times, when they are working alone - putting them at risk.

Does your Safety Strategy address the use of technology fully (including the safe use of social media) or does it simply state that employees shouldn't be on the phone while driving?

Safety Managers, it may not be what you want to hear, but your job is a whole lot more involved. If you're going to keep them safe, you've got to keep them "fully" safe - not just from falling or getting physically injured. How your people conduct themselves online should a safety issue of grave concern to you.

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Why Are Safety Managers Considered The Bad Guy?

2011-08-17T11:43:00.001-06:00

I find it funny, if not strange, how the one guy in your organization who cares perhaps more about your own safety than you do and wants to ensure you go home to your family at the end of your shift, is the bad guy.

Workers who try to work without the required PPE or take safety shortcuts because the the safety manager isn't around, should be summarily fired at first opportunity.

When we see people interviewed after near-misses in their lives, sometimes we hear them say that they had a guardian angel telling them to do something that helped them avoid being hurt. But strange how no one ever seems to credit their safety supervisor for the same thing.

They will listen to imaginary voices but shun the voices that speak out loud.

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Are Safety Professionals Becoming Robots?

2011-08-16T11:37:00.001-06:00

An industrial company with an outstanding corporate safety record held a meeting of all of their safety personnel at a conference facility. They had been meeting for four hours already by the time I took to the stage. When I stepped upon the stage, my first view of the stage was a mess of loose extension cords, strewn VGA cables for the projector, cables running around the legs of the large video screen and unsecured cables running from the stage to the A/V cart four feet back of the stage. Not a single cable was taped down. I refused to speak until the mess had been cleared.

Had this been a job site, someone would have been reprimanded for blatant violations of basic safety procedure. Heaven help them had an OH&S inspector showed up. But this was a conference facility set up by the facility staff and apparently safety only applies to one's own workplace.

Forty-six safety "professionals" were in this room and no one noticed at least 100 feet of loose cable running across the floor? Was this a case of "not my job - not my responsibility?"

So here is the question: are repetitive Safety Procedures creating a workforce that doesn't think anymore? Are Safety Professionals becoming robots? Has "routine" and repetitive behavior closed our eyes to safety outside of the job? The evidence this day would suggest "yes!"

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The Right Answer

2011-08-15T16:25:00.001-06:00

It's an entry rug with "bacon" sides and it lay in front of a busy entrance to a Denny's restaurant. In the first half hour or so, I watched about a dozen people catch their feet (mostly those wearing flip-floppy sandals) and stumble forward.

I pointed it out to our hostess who claimed she was too busy to deal with it right now. Yeah, safety can always wait (sarcasm). After another 20 minutes and another 7 people stumbling, I asked our waitress to get her manager.

He came over a few moments later. I introduced myself as a safety consultant and pointed out the rug and the safety issue.

Without hesitation, he summoned a staffer to remove the rug altogether - because that's the right answer.

The second right answer, is to refuse any further rugs with bacon edges from their supplier.

Your right answer is to say something to someone, to bring it the attention of someone who can address it and not let it go until it has been addressed. Your responsibility for safety doesn't end at the door to your workplace. Safety, yours and others, is a 24/7 thing.

Vacation Time

2011-06-28T23:30:00.001-06:00

I will be taking a little time off over the next month or so to spend some time relaxing, some time thinking and some time writing. Most of all, I want to spend some time developing new strategies to help you build better workplaces. I will return here in August.

Meanwhile, for our Canadian readers, Happy Canada Day on Friday (July 1). For our American readers, Happy Fourth of July on Monday.

Be safe, be courteous and continue to make building a better workplace a priority in your respective workplace.

Kevin

Video: Are You Putting Your People At Risk?

2011-06-21T16:00:00.000-06:00

Are You Actively Putting Your People At Risk? from Kevin Burns on Vimeo.

Workplace Expert, Kevin Burns argues that companies who do not care about their people enough to ensure that they follow safe procedures it could be argued do not care about their customers either. How you do one thing is how you do everything. How can you say you care about your customers but not the people who serve your customers?

How To Tell If Your Foreman Is Paying Attention

2011-04-05T12:19:00.000-06:00

As a Safety Professional, I know that you can have tough days. How about a few "head-shaking" moments to consider not just the safety violations in the following photos, but the incompetence of the job-site foremen. Oh, and once you stop laughing, feel free to pass these along.

One last thing, I apologize if any of this work is yours....

Kevin Burns - Corporate Safety Attitude/Culture Strategist
http://kevburns.com/speaking/safety-attitude-adjustment
Toll Free 1-877-287-6711
Creator of the 90-Day System To Improve Safety Culture!

Study Explains All The Crappy Drivers

2010-10-11T13:15:00.000-06:00

A recent study by the Alberta Motor Association Foundation For Traffic Safety had me scratching my head and being a little more vigilant in my defensive driving:

89% of Alberta drivers on the road today couldn't pass the written Learner's test if they had to write it today.
82.3% of survey participants reported having more than 10 years experience

Umm, that's not good news. That means that 89% of your drivers, driving their own vehicles and likely some company vehicles couldn't pass the Learner's Permit Written Test.

How about over the next week or so, you ask each of your drivers on-staff to take the Class 7 Driver’s License Free Online Practice Test Questions. I jumped the gun a little on a few questions and didn't think them through and scored a 94%. What would happen if, for just a moment, one of your people jumped the gun and wasn't thinking clearly about what they were doing in the moment?

Let's make sure that basic safety is instilled. Don't ever assume that your people know the rules of the road just because they have a driver's license already. A lifetime of bad habits can make a bad driver forget the rules.

Parents Influence With Unsafe Actions

2010-06-23T08:23:00.001-06:00

Safety Attitude extends beyond the company walls and far beyond the 8-4 workday. Safety Attitude is what you need to help your people develop so that they can go home and stress the importance of a Safety Attitude amongst their family members.

I followed a car on the highway for about 20 miles last weekend. The car had originally passed me while a 30-something female driver was text messaging on her phone. Once past me, she pulled into the lane in front of me and drove the same speed as I was driving. I watched her SUV sway from side-to-side in the lane, occasionally hitting the shoulder or putting two wheels over the line. After witnessing this stupid behavior for some 20 miles, I pulled alongside (never exceeding the speed limit since in addition to side-to-side driving, her speed was erratic) and finally blew my horn while wagging my finger at her. She finally put her phone down because she knew what she was doing was wrong and she had been caught.

Yep, she's going to be a great mom - showing her children the unsafe way to drive. Any advice she gave to her children to the contrary would be hypocritical.

Please, please, please start an initiative at your workplace to educate your people about the dangers of texting while driving as well as the dangers of talking on the phone while driving. Teenagers don't normally use their phones for talking - unless they're driving. If they need to talk with someone so badly, encourage them to travel with a friend who can text for them. Do something to help the kids understand that they're flirting with disaster.

Suggest to your employees to check their kid's phones and to be diligent about matching up texting times with driving times and to take their phones and car privileges away if they break the rules.

The last thing your workplace needs is to be attending the funeral of a co-worker whose child was tragically killed while texting or talking on the cell phone in the car.

--

Kevin Burns - Corporate Safety Attitude/Culture Strategist
www.safety.kevburns.com
Toll Free 1-877-287-6711
Creator of the 90-Day System To Improve Safety Culture!

Highest Workplace Suicide Professions

2010-06-15T20:59:00.002-06:00

Think that dentists have one of the highest suicide rates of all professions? No so fast.

According to a new report from the Institute for Work & Health, heavy equipment operators and truck drivers are taking their lives more now than ever. Also, skilled/technical/supervisory workers along with semi-skilled workers account for two-thirds of all suicides among Canadian men in the workplace.

Men commit suicide four times as often as women.

Several other occupations are associated with “protective effects” against suicide for men (which means occupations to watch for signs of suicidal tendencies). They include:

management and administration,
mathematics,
systems analysis,
architects,
engineers,
community planners,
elementary school teachers
commodities traders.

No equivalent occupations for women were identified.

You can read the report yourself. What's your strategy to continue to foster a Culture of Safety at your workplace?

--

Kevin Burns - Corporate Safety Attitude/Culture Strategist
www.safety.kevburns.com
Toll Free 1-877-287-6711
Creator of the 90-Day System To Improve Safety Culture!

The Bully Is About To Be Bullied

2010-06-14T10:21:00.000-06:00

So what do you think happens when a high-school bully enters the work world and has a bully for a boss? The bully learns how the business world works through the eyes of another bully. In fact, the bully becomes just like his boss - so much so that he becomes almost a mirror of his boss. So when it comes time for succession, guess who gets the nod? The guy just like the last guy.

The province of Ontario is set to pass a bill (Bill 168) making workplace harassment illegal. The new law will come into effect this month. It requires employers to develop and communicate workplace violence prevention policies, assess the risks of workplace violence, and take reasonable precautions to protect workers from domestic violence in the workplace. Ontario will be the third province to legislate against workplace violence and harassment, along with Quebec and Saskatchewan.

New research from Queen's University's School of Business indicates that workplace bullying can be more damaging than racial or gender harassment.

"While ethnic harassment and gender harassment can both be attributed to prejudice, general workplace harassment is a subtle form of mistreatment that masks underlying motives, and is not as easily attributed to bias," say report authors Jana Raver of Queen's School of Business and Lisa Nishii of Cornell University,

Caucasians reported higher levels of general workplace harassment than minorities, and women were not more likely than men to experience either gender harassment or general workplace harassment.

Raver and Nishii also found that general workplace harassment may be especially detrimental because unlike gender and ethnic harassment, it is not illegal in most of North America. A study released by Queen's University in 2008 also found workplace harassment to be more harmful than sexual harassment because of a lack of recourse for victims.

So, even if you're not in one of the three provinces affected by the new legislation, are you ahead of this or will you wait until the very last minute - until your legislated to do something about it? You can help your own Corporate Safety & Wellness Culture by being ahead of the legislation.

--

Kevin Burns - Corporate Safety Attitude/Culture Strategist
www.safety.kevburns.com
Toll Free 1-877-287-6711
Creator of the 90-Day System To Improve Safety Culture!

Self Absorbed Drivers and Optional Signal Lights

2010-05-24T20:41:00.000-06:00

Spend a little time in malls these days and you will no doubt hear it too: the cacophony of whiny children crying when they want something, crying when they are denied something, crying because it gets them attention. See the parents of children trying to control their kids (or not) at Starbucks as they attempt to enjoy their lattes while their kids, who need constant stimulation, get bored with a grown-up's coffee shop.

It exactly the way the parents of these children were raised too. They were told they were special and that the world revolves around them. Now they drive. Now they influence how their kids will drive. There are no consequences when they see their kids behind the wheel with phone glued to their ear, or worse, texting while they drive.

Signal lights have become an option in cars or maybe it just seems that way since it's impossible to signal a lane change while holding a phone in your left hand. Courtesy for other drivers is not taught. Hell, courtesy for others is not taught to these little self-absorbed teen and twenty-something drivers who have never been given consequences.

Perhaps mandatory sentences of one year license suspensions to any driver caught texting while driving and perhaps 3-5 demerit points to the parents of new drivers (under 21). Safety on the road is EVERYONE's responsibility, especially the parents of new drivers. Maybe it's time to get tough to ensure parents get their priorities straight, intervene and force courtesy and safety in their children and stop being so self-absorbed themselves.

If it were a job-site and a worker was injured due to the negligence of another worker, that second worker would face charges. So should parents of cell-phone-talking and texting teens while they drive.

--

Kevin Burns - Corporate Safety Attitude/Culture Strategist
www.safety.kevburns.com
Toll Free 1-877-287-6711
Creator of the 90-Day System To Improve Safety Culture!

Overtime Or Heart Attack - You Decide

2010-05-12T14:18:00.001-06:00

Who knew that working overtime could kill you? An 11-year study of 6,000 British civil servants doesn't provide absolute proof that overtime causes heart attacks but it does show a clear link - likely due to stress.

According to the report, "In all, there were 369 cases of death due to heart disease, non-fatal heart attacks and angina among the London-based study group -- and the risk of having an adverse event was 60 percent higher for those who worked three to four hours overtime. Working an extra one to two hours beyond a normal seven-hour day was not associated with increased risk."

Work/Life Balance is a key to health in the workplace. Giving every waking moment to your job is a lousy way of maintaining your physical and mental health. In fact, long hours creates other issues: poor diet choices leading to weight gain, improper sleep patterns leading to burnout and increased alcohol consumption in an attempt to wind down. And if you're a smoker, well it gets even worse.

As a manager, asking your employees to work an additional four hours of overtime is creating a health risk. Instead, perhaps offer some telecommuting time (a couple of days working from home where the boundaries between work and home are blurred giving a better sense of not feeling as much like work) or offering your people a chance to come in for a few hours on a weekend during the day so it's not a marathon time stretch.

Oh, and I suppose you might consider one more option instead of overtime: hire more people so you're not so short-staffed.

Feel free to show the news story to your bosses to get a budget bump for more people. Think about what could happen if an Injury Lawyer reads this story and can show that you worked your people too much overtime. It's going to cost you either way. Right now, you decide though.

--

Kevin Burns - Corporate Safety Attitude/Culture Strategist
www.safety.kevburns.com
Toll Free 1-877-287-6711
Creator of the 90-Day System To Improve Safety Culture!

Worker Charged In Co-Worker's Death

2010-05-09T12:05:00.002-06:00

I have said it time and again at each and every Safety Attitude presentation: workers are just as responsible as employers for the safety of their fellow workers.

Reading in the Calgary Herald today that the death of a worker in High River two years ago has created a new charge to be filed against the deceased's co-worker for failing to ensure the safety of his co-worker.

Pay attention Safety Supervisors. This has dire effects on how your crews look out for each other. In Alberta, the OH&S Act clearly states that a worker can be held responsible for the safety of their co-workers. Failure to do so will result in a charge. And the fine cannot be paid by the employer - the employee is on the hook for fines and jail time.

If you want to get the message across at your tailgate meeting today, here's the link to the story. Print it, make as many copies as there are crew members and make them read it in front of you. Then talk about it.

Do not let this opportunity to develop a Culture of Safety pass you by today. This is too important.

--

Kevin Burns - Corporate Safety Attitude/Culture Strategist
www.safety.kevburns.com
Toll Free 1-877-287-6711
Creator of the 90-Day System To Improve Safety Culture!

Necessary Part of Doing Business?

2010-04-16T00:14:00.000-06:00

The recent West Virginia coal mine disaster has some serious implications - even more far-reaching than the deaths of the miners. The mine at Montcoal, West Virginia, is owned by Massey Energy. As reported recently by the New York Times, Massey Energy is one of the leading violators of safety procedures in the coal industry.

In fact, Massey CEO, Don Blankenship, was recently quoted as saying, "Violations are unfortunately a normal part of the mining process."

Did you get that? Safety violations are a normal part of mining? It is unbelievable that a CEO holds so little value in his people that he doesn't care that his operation will break safety rules? People die as a result - and yet he is still CEO and there seem to be no consequences.

According to Blankenship's words, if he has to risk lives to get the job done, he will choose chunks of rock over human life.

Is your safety program really based on protecting your people or are you just giving an illusion of safety?

Safety Attitude starts at the top and makes no room for "necessary" violations.

But it raises this question: how would you like to be the Supervisor of Safety working under this guy?

--

Kevin Burns - Corporate Safety Attitude/Culture Strategist
www.safety.kevburns.com
Toll Free 1-877-287-6711

Creator of the 90-Day System To Improve Safety Culture!

Embrace Life - Wear a Seatbelt - Video

2010-03-31T14:40:00.001-06:00

Absolutely brilliant video for wearing a seatbelt. Safety Attitude begins at home - with family who want you to come home at the end of the day.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h-8PBx7isoM
--

Kevin Burns - Corporate Safety Attitude/Culture Strategist
www.safety.kevburns.com
Toll Free 1-877-287-6711

Creator of the 90-Day System To Improve Safety Culture!

Security, Safety and Middle-Age

2010-01-22T06:55:00.000-07:00

How old is Middle-Age? Is it 40 or 45 years-old or even 50? Isn't middle-age supposed to be the mid-point of your life? If you die in a car accident at age 40, was your middle-age then twenty years ago at age 20?

I ask this question because I was recently driving along a busy four-lane roadway with plenty of traffic signals and a lot of traffic. Traffic was moving at just under the posted speed of 60 kmh but there were lots of vehicles making lane changes, turning onto and out of side streets and, as a driver, you had to pay close attention.

Scanning my lane and the other westbound lane on my right, I caught a flash of a cell phone being used through the driver's window. As I pulled up alongside, the woman driving was texting on her phone. She was about 40 years-old - middle age.

I laid on the horn in an effort to scare her into paying attention to her driving. She got the message right away, dropped her phone into the passenger seat and shielded her face with her hand.

C'mon folks, safety isn't just a discussion for "boots" (people who wear work boots), safety is a discussion for "suits" too. Your family's future security depends upon your safety attitude in this moment.

How ironic would it be to be killed in a car wreck because you were texting new instructions to your Financial Planner about your retirement security?

Smarten up. Stop thinking safety doesn't affect you because you wear a suit to work.
--

Kevin Burns - Corporate Safety Attitude/Culture Strategist
www.safety.kevburns.com
Toll Free 1-877-287-6711

Creator of the 90-Day System To Improve Safety Culture!

Safety Culture By Fear is a Waste of Time

2010-01-04T10:52:00.000-07:00

You will never achieve a Culture of Safety by attempting to scare the crap out of your people. That means that pictures of dismembered bodies, videos of workers with missing limbs and even bringing in speakers who have had terrible accidents happen (mostly through carelessness) does not create a Culture of Safety.

If you want to create a Culture of Safety you have to change the varying opinions of the workers. Culture is nothing more than a collection of attitudes within an organization. If you want to really develop a Culture of Safety, then you have got to change the attitudes that are driving your organization right now. Shocking and scaring your people into a safety mindset never lasts or ever takes off for that matter.

No safety program has had success because your employees were once shown a picture of a guy losing his arm in a machine. No safety program has ever had success because your employees watched a video of someone in the midst of a reportable incident. No safety program ever succeeded because you hired an accident-victim-turned-motivational-speaker to teach your people, "don't do what I did."

No, if you want to instill a Culture of Safety, you need to get the majority of your people on-side and create a self-policing, peer-based safety culture that looks out for each other, makes sure that everyone is working safely and chastises and ridicules those who chose to operate outside of the safety program. You need to find a way to get your people to make those who don't follow the safety culture to feel like outsiders and to be ostracized.

"We operate with a safety mindset around here," your people need to say. "If you don't want to play the way we play, then we don't want you around here. We're going to get you fired. Either get in line or get a new job."

That's the Culture of Safety you want. If that's not the culture you have right now, then your safety program isn't working.

Zero is real on every job site. There are no excuses - unless your culture accepts excuses.
--

Kevin Burns - Corporate Safety Attitude/Culture Strategist
www.safety.kevburns.com
Toll Free 1-877-287-6711

Creator of the 90-Day System To Improve Safety Culture!

Stop Wellness Programs ...

2009-12-16T10:32:00.000-07:00

... and instead, create a company-wide wellness culture.

Research shows a direct correlation between effective workplace health programs and return on investment as building a culture of health improvement can result in lower costs and improved performance according to Towers Perrin's 2009 Health Care Cost Survey.

Did you catch the last part of that first sentence? "Building a culture of health improvement can result in lower costs and improved performance."

You have to build a culture - not just a program. That means that your people have got to want to embrace health improvement in order to create a company-wide culture. Is one person, the Director of Health and Safety, going to be able to create that culture right across the entire company? No. Not likely. It's more than a one-person job but it is important and needs to move way up in the priority rankings.

In the same way that an organization develops a strategic plan to capture more and new customers, the organization should also be required to develop a strategy to capture the hearts and minds of its own people and move them toward a culture of health improvement - which is a culture of wellness. In other words, there needs to be a plan to involve all of your people in not just adhering to the rules of safety but in actually thinking health and safety. Since you have a plan to capture new revenues (customers), shouldn't you also have a plan to reduce your expenses (health-related costs and absenteeism)?

Once a Culture of Wellness takes root, here's what happens:

absenteeism rates drop dramatically
employee productivity and engagement spikes
attrition and turnover numbers drop
costs due to absenteeism drop drastically
staff morale rises dramatically
communication improves through all levels
demand for Stress Management programs will drop
people begin to love their work and spread the word about the company attracting new people.

Or, you could keep with the same program you have, continue to handle high absenteeism rates, watch your staff continue to turn over, pay the costs of constantly retraining (about 1.5 times the annual salary of the worker being replaced), deal with the petty arguments amongst staff and have to recruit like crazy to get more people to come work for you.

I don't know. It seems like a no-brainer to me. But then, that's just me. What about you? Are you ready to change your safety and wellness program into a full-blown corporate culture of wellness?
--

Kevin Burns - Corporate Safety Attitude/Culture Strategist
Creator of the 90-Day System To Improve Safety Culture!
www.safety.kevburns.com
Toll Free 1-877-287-6711

Build Safety Culture - Not Just Safety Programs

2009-12-15T12:58:00.000-07:00

Is your safety program addressing responsibility, accountability, leadership and values?

Why not? I mean, come on, you look for these traits when you hire someone don't you? What do you look for on a resume? Accountability, responsibility, leadership (personal), initiative, values and history. The very things that you choose to hire someone on are the very things that are absent from your safety program.

If they are not important enough to address in your safety program then why don't you just hire based on the employee's past safety record? Why do you need a model employee when you could just have some safety cowboy who has somehow managed to remain unscathed over his lifetime of safety infractions? No, you want responsible people who are able to think outside of themselves. But you don't train them in how to do that do you?

You say you want your employees to watch out for each other and to take responsibility for keeping the job site safe. You want your employees to be accountable when they mess up as well as when they act proactively. You want your people to be present on the job so that they can provide for their families. You want all of these things from a good employee and yet you leave the soft-skills training right out of your safety program. Well that's not a safety and wellness program then - it's a compliance program.

Maybe you just want your people to blindly follow the rules. Maybe you just don't trust them enough to be able to think on their own - and I'm sure we've all worked with with one or two people like that but let's not penalize the whole crew because one or two have a hard time locating their backsides with both hands.

The problem is that the vast majority of safety programs were written in reaction to dumb things people have done on the job. Safety programs, by their very nature, are reactive. Incidents have happened in the past and that's why there are now new rules and procedures. But is that how you want your safety and wellness program to work - constantly reacting to incidents?

A successful safety culture needs to be built - not just a safety program. A safety culture can only be erected on a foundation of responsibility, accountability, leadership and values. Once you've established the big four, then, and only then, can you build your successful safety and wellness program.

It may mean that you stop hiring the "accident-survivor-turned-safety-speaker" who can not clearly demonstrate their accountability, responsibility or leadership by their past actions. If your culture is one of "this could happen to you," then it probably will.

Be careful of the message that remains top-of-mind for your people. Talk about "leadership" and watch your people become leaders in safety. It's why I choose to work in building safety culture and safety attitude - not just safety programs.
--

Kevin Burns - Corporate Safety Attitude/Culture Strategist
www.safety.kevburns.com
Toll Free 1-877-287-6711

Safety Professionals Must Raise The Bar

2009-12-07T19:21:00.003-07:00

I got the opportunity to join nearly 100 safety professionals for lunch Monday. The Calgary Chapter of CSSE invited me to speak on Attitude of Safety.

Calgary went face-to-face with Old Man Winter on the weekend and so the remnants of over a foot of snow combined with blustery cold temperatures of minus 20 Celsius made for tough driving conditions. But the room was filled to capacity regardless.

The weather provided a perfect example of an Attitude of Safety. The "Safety Professional" who preaches safety on the job yet drives to the safety meeting on all-season radials does not possess an Attitude of Safety.That is a Tolerance of Safety - and there's a huge difference.

Ensuring one's family members are driving on winter tires in frigid temperatures and snowy and icy conditions means that they display an Attitude of Safety.Not ensuring that family vehicles are not outfitted with winter tires sends a strong message: unfortunately the wrong message.

It is incumbent upon every safety professional to do everything within their power to ensure that seemingly ordinary daily tasks are conducted safely. All season tires harden like hockey pucks below -7 degrees. There is virtually no traction and consequently, less safety on all-season tires in cold and snowy weather.

Here's a novel idea for companies to help their people think safety: search out a tire shop willing to offer a volume discount for employees to purchase winter treads. Then give the employee an hour or so to have the tires installed.Let them ride one winter on snow-grips and they'll never drive on all-seasons again. You've, in fact, raised their standard of acceptable safety.

As a safety professional, demonstrate your Attitude of Safety by making sure your people are safe both on and off the job. It will go a long way to getting your employees to think about safety for themselves. In fact, winter tires might just be the catalyst that kicks your safety program into high gear.

Demonstrate your Attitude of Safety whenever possible. The difference you make impacts not just your workplace but your community as well. And isn't that really what safety is about? Safety for everyone?

--

Kevin Burns - Corporate Safety Attitude/Culture Strategist
www.safety.kevburns.com
Toll Free 1-877-287-6711

Get Tough: Cell-Phones And Snow Tires

2009-12-02T21:41:00.000-07:00

Employees driving a company vehicle from Steels Industrial Products can be fired if they are caught using any kind of cellphone or texting device while driving -- period. Hooray. Steels president Jim Sidwell laid down the law to his 180 workers in British Columbia and Alberta a few weeks ago. Similar policies are in force at large companies such as Finning Canada, Husky Energy, Halliburton and ConocoPhilipps.

Studies show that drivers who talk on cellphones are six times more likely to be involved in dangerous collisions. And they are 23 times more likely to have a crash if they're texting and driving, according to the Insurance Bureau of Canada. People who chat on cellphones or text are 10 times more likely to run a stop sign.

It's a safety issue. And personally, I would like to see a way to enact legislation to company employees who freely chat or text on the cell phones while OFF the job too. Hey if they only do it while on the job, it's proof positive that those people do not possess a Safety Attitude. They just tolerate the rules at work. And they will cut corners in safety.

Oh, and speaking of Safety Attitude, let's make sure that if you really want to walk the safety-talk, let's make sure that there are winter tires on those company vehicles if they run where there is snow on the ground for long periods of time.

It's December and snow is falling. There is no comparison between driving on all-season tires and driving on winter tires. People though, whine about the additional expense. There is NO additional expense. Running winter tires for six months extends your all-season tires by six months every season. So a set of tires that may have lasted three years should last six by rotating all-seasons and winter tires.

Sorry but if you're in Safety and you don't have winter tires on your company vehicle AND your personal vehicle, then you're a hypocrite and as a safety supervisor, you don't walk your talk. Safety is an Attitude. Safety is more than just wearing your PPE on the job. Safety is about protecting yourself, your family and the general public off the job too.

I would encourage organizations to find a way to get personal vehicles outfitted with winter tires in snow-belt areas. I'm not saying that companies should pay for winter tires for their employees but make a deal at a tire shop and offer your people an hour off to get them changed over. If you preach safety, then make off-the-job-safety a part of your safety culture.

If you've never thought that way, then you aren't going to convince others of a safety attitude - and you could use my help to shift your culture to a Safety Culture.
--

Kevin Burns - Corporate Safety Attitude/Culture Strategist
www.safety.kevburns.com
Toll Free 1-877-287-6711

When Workers Hate Their Bosses

2009-11-26T19:11:00.000-07:00

When workers hate their bosses, you can't always openly tell. Some have disliked their bosses from Day 1. Others learn to increasingly disrespect their bosses and begin to shut down over time - eventually arriving to that point where they actually, in their minds, resign from the job. They end up doing just enough to not get fired.

Now before you go thinking that as long as they continue to do their jobs all is OK, let me clue you in. The levels of employee motivation have tangible ramifications for your organization:

Rates of jobsite theft will rise.
Quality of work will drop creating unsafe conditions.
Safety incident numbers rise.
Turnover and absenteeism both increase.
Profitability of the department drops.

If you've got any of these issues, then you've got a group of workers who have become disillusioned with their immediate boss. People who shut down like this don't have it in for the company (in most instances), they have it in for their immediate manager. It's not the corporate culture that irritates people over time, it's usually an immediate supervisor. Once an employee loses respect for their boss, good luck getting them motivated and engaged again. If they're not engaged and motivated, they are cutting corners - safety corners.

Stop buying the excuses of department managers who always have an excuse for why theft is up, safety incidents are up, reports are late, turnover is high or why so many people seem to be sick. They're sick alright - sick of their boss.

Act quickly when you see the signs.
--

Kevin Burns - Corporate Safety Attitude/Culture Strategist
www.safety.kevburns.com
Toll Free 1-877-287-6711

Forgotten Hardhat But Outstanding

2009-11-02T13:28:00.000-07:00

I was passed this video link from @WorkSafeBC on Twitter. As they said, don't ever try something like this without a hard hat. This German construction worker is some kind of talented though. (There are no subtitles but you don't need them to see the talent).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f2isWkvUqfM

Safety Supervisors, stress to your guys the ignored safety attitude and missing PPE while you applaud the art. Must have been a slow construction season to get that good at his art - but outstanding nonetheless.
--

Kevin Burns - Corporate Safety Attitude/Culture Strategist
www.safety.kevburns.com
Toll Free 1-877-287-6711

Safety Culture Requires A Strong Attitude First

2009-11-01T10:40:00.000-07:00

Colin was just 19 when he got the call to join the paving crew for the summer. He had worked fast-food restaurants and warehouse work in past but he really wanted to be outside. The job promised good money, long hours and plenty of time in the sun.

Living in a hotel was a new experience for him. Being on the road, away from friends and family for weeks at a time and working 14 hours a day left no time for social activities so he was banking his money quickly. In his mind, he had the world by the tail and when the summer was over, he would have enough money to buy himself the car he'd always wanted.

The job only lasted three weeks before Safety Inspectors shut down the crew for failing to meet minimum training and safety standards. The crew chief was a family friend of Colin's whose lack of safety attitude caused Colin to be back working the fast-food restaurants and his dream of his new car gone with the work.

Safety Cowboys, old-school workers who just refuse to accept the new procedures, undermine your safety program, the livelihood of honest workers who just want to work and, in fact, work directly in opposition to your ability to establish a strong, cohesive culture of safety in your organizations. The last thing your organization needs happen is for your cowboys to influencing your green hands.

Safety needs to become an ingrained attitude in each and every worker. Without an attitude of safety, you, as a Safety Supervisor, will never create a "culture" of safety. You can't build a culture of safety with people who don't hold an attitude of of safety. You need a solid foundation before you can lay asphalt. The same is true about a culture of safety: you need a strong safety attitude first.
--

Kevin Burns - Corporate Safety Attitude/Culture Strategist
www.safety.kevburns.com
Toll Free 1-877-287-6711

Is It Labour Or Work?

2009-09-07T11:30:00.000-06:00

It's Labour Day as I write this. Labour is defined as productive work, especially manual work which is done for wages.

Given the choice, most of us would like to be able to define what we do on a daily basis as labour. But is it? Is what we do really considered labour? I am not asking the question as to whether you work or not, I am asking whether the work you do could be considered labour. My feeling is that if you don't come home at the end of the day sweaty, smelly and clothes dirty and you probably didn't do labour. If you sit at a computer terminal all day it's work, not labour.

Yet most of us enjoy the benefits of the Labour Day holiday regardless of whether we labour or simply work. Perhaps we don't give enough credit to the folks who do labour.

This year marks an increase in the minimum wage in the United States. The US federal minimum wage now stands at $7.25 per hour with a few exceptions. If you're a waiter or waitress in many states you might be paid as low as $2.65 per hour because you have the ability to earn tips. Those tips you earn become part of your hourly wage determination. However, if even with tips you still have not earned $7.25 per hour on average, your employer is required to make up the difference. But heaven help you if you're an agricultural worker in Massachusetts because you can be paid as low as $1.60 per hour (room and board may make up the difference).

It's rare that you see a white collar job for minimum wage. Minimum wage recipients are usually people who labour for a living. And why these people continue to work for such low wages might be a mystery for some, it's the difference between groceries on the table or not for others.

Unfortunately, some folks look down their noses at those who labour for a living. They look down their noses at the people who built their 5000 ft.² house, the people who carved their marble countertop, who make their yards look beautiful, who ensure their luxury cars continue to run well, who prepare their lunches in restaurants, who work in the blazing sun to harvest that lettuce in your salad, who catch the crab and caviar, who come running in the middle of the night when your toilet overflows, who repair the potholes on the streets and who handle airline baggage so that you and your family might vacation in a country where there is no minimum wage for workers who come home at the end of the day sweaty, smelly and clothes dirty.

There are people who work and then there are people who labour. If you can work from home as well as an office, it's probably work -- not labour.

There are families who depend on the fruits of labour -- the paycheck. The people who labour are willing to share their holiday with you. How about you cut a little slack for those folks whose jobs may not be as glamorous as yours but are equally as important. Every job serves someone else. That's an Attitude of Service.

Fifteen Years Prison For Text Messaging

2009-08-30T17:20:00.000-06:00

It’s not very often that the State of Utah gets a round of applause (OK, there was that Olympics thing not too long ago but otherwise…). Today, I want to applaud Utah. While most other US States give someone a slap on the wrist or a measly fine for causing an accident while text messaging behind the wheel, Utah gives you up to fifteen years in prison.

Causing an accident while texting and driving is no longer considered an accident, it’s wilful. That means it becomes a case of reckless driving. Drinking and driving and texting and driving become the same.

Utah is the same state that recognizes talking on the cellphone is as hazardous as a .08 blood-alcohol level. But this new legislation (May 2009) states that there is an assumption that people know the risks and if they intend on texting while driving and caused an accident, then they carried a blatant disregard for others. That’s a wilful act punishable by up to fifteen years in prison.

SAFETY ATTITUDE ADJUSTMENT: Either put down the phone for the short time you’re driving or risk going to prison where you’ll have all of the time in the world to text. Oh right, they take away your cellphone when you go to prison. So either put the phone away for a few moments while you’re driving or put it away for fifteen years. Your call.

Texting While Driving? Wake Up!

2009-08-20T10:16:00.006-06:00

This is a video that every single person who believes they can text while driving needs to see. Make sure you get this video into the hands of your children and all teens and early 20's people. This video is disturbing ... be warned.

Safety Attitude includes making sure you look out for the people who don't bother to look out for themselves. As the video shows, one person texting can have dire consequences for others.

Tell me you won't hear, "I want Mommy to wake up," after you're done watching this video.

Texting While Driving Studied

2009-07-27T23:06:00.002-06:00

It seems incredible that people still don't think that the safe operation of a vehicle is compromised while texting. In fact, just this past week I witnessed three separate incidents of excessive speed, swerving and lane-creep while texting at highway speed.

So when I read an article on just how distracting texting is, I felt it just had to be shared. Here is the link http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/28/technology/28texting.html
--

Rare Alberta OHS Acquittal

2009-07-17T09:02:00.001-06:00

This information is courtesy of Field Law LLP in Calgary.

On July 2, 2009, the Provincial Court of Alberta acquitted a Calgary construction company of three charges under the Occupational Health and Safety Act. The decision is significant, as acquittals are exceedingly rare in OHS cases. Field Law lawyers Steve Eichler and Laura Buckingham represented the accused company.

The company was charged after an experienced heavy-duty mechanic was caught by a hydraulic mechanism underneath a piece of earth-moving equipment.

First, the company was charged with failing to ensure, as far as reasonably practicable, the safety of a worker. The Court found the accident itself was proof that the company failed to ensure the safety of the mechanic. The case therefore turned on whether the employer had done what was reasonably practicable to ensure safety. The Court noted the many steps the company had taken:

Hiring: the company hired a qualified and experienced mechanic who had already taken many safety courses;
Training: the company provided a general safety orientation and further written information;
Manuals: the company provided a general safety manual and service manuals for all equipment, which included specific warnings; and
Supervision: the mechanic regularly met with his supervisor, and had monthly reviews of his performance, including evaluation of safety.

The Court found the specific accident was not foreseeable. As the company had been diligent in addressing foreseeable risks, it was not guilty of the charge.

The company was also acquitted of two specific offenses under the Occupational Health and Safety Code.

The decision is a reminder of the importance of comprehensive and up-to-date safety procedures. An employer must be diligent about identifying and addressing safety issues in the workplace, and consider safety in all aspects of employment and operations. Ideally, a strong safety program prevents accidents. But if an accident occurs, an employer will want to know, and be able to demonstrate, that it did everything possible to protect its workers.

Fourth of July Fireworks

2009-07-07T18:47:00.004-06:00

This past weekend I spent the Fourth of July in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho. On the banks of Coeur d'Alene Lake I witnessed perhaps the most garish spectacle of fireworks, not to mention complete disregard for personal safety, I have ever seen.

Along the banks of the lake were cabins and cottages whose inhabitants each settled on the beach to ignite tens of thousands of dollars of fireworks from the beaches around the lake.

I saw not one pair of safety glasses, protective gloves or any concern for personal safety. Disposing of spent fireworks cartridges into the roaring campfire was the norm. As it turns out, almost ten thousand injuries happen in the United States each year around Independence day weekend. No small wonder.

There are no safe-use handling requirements, you can purchase fireworks by the pallet (yes you can for just over $1000) and there is little regard for personal safety when you're drinking and letting your ten year-old fire off the first few rounds. All of these things I personally witnessed. If I am not exposed to fireworks for a full year, I'll be OK with that.

Not much wonder that so many employers feel resistance to safety training. If the idiots who feel the need to blow hundreds of dollars to watch their children almost get their fingers blown off and call it entertainment, then the chances of a real safety message that could save lives is going to be a tough sell.

140 Character Safety Meeting

2009-06-18T10:51:00.002-06:00

I keep hearing from Safety Supervisors how the new Gen Y workers seem to have a great distaste for safety manuals. And they should. They've never really had to read anything over 140 characters long in the last few years. Oh sure, there was that University thing, but other than that...

Gen Y is the interactive, YouTube-video, short-burst, short-attention-span, make-it-entertaining generation of workers. The old binders full of pages and dividers aren't going to do it for this group.

You have a problem: you need to get what's in those manuals into their heads. They have a problem: it's freakin' boring.

SAFETY ATTITUDE ADJUSTMENT: How about doing what they're doing? Use the technology they're already using to get them where they are. How about text-messaging (SMS) a safety regulation in under 140 characters? Or how about setting up a Twitter account for your safety regs and force them (as a condition of employment) to subscribe to your Twitter feeds. Set up a "hashtag" like #yourcompanysafety and get your Gen Y's to get on board.

Every time they check their cell phones for either text messages or Twitter, you will have placed at least one new safety regulation/tip and it will help them to develop that Attitude of Safety that they need to help get your company to Zero.

Sample ideas:
PPE check. Hat, boots, gloves, eyes, hearing, all good? Look around. Who isn't good? What can you do to fix it right now? (124 characters)
Stop. Look up and all around. There's a potential hazard somewhere. Are you going to ignore it or address it? You choose. (125 characters)
Toolbox meeting at 3pm today. Just inside front gate of site. John has new info on yesterday's near gas breach. (111 characters)

Safety Attitude is about doing what's necessary to make sure crews are safe. Do what you've got to do. And stop thinking about how you've always done it. That's not working anymore.

Scary Survey Numbers Impact Safety

2009-06-08T18:23:00.000-06:00

Do you think that just because your people are still employed in a down economy, that they’re adhering to safety procedures? Don’t bet your life on it. In fact, in desperate times, employees are resorting to desperate measures and are doing desperate things to hang onto their jobs.

According to a recent survey by Adecco, one of the world’s leaders in human resource solutions, an incredible 28 percent of respondents would do something dishonest in order to keep their jobs. These behaviors include blaming coworkers for mistakes, setting up situations for co-workers to fail or even blackmailing colleagues. Gen Y’s numbers are even scarier with 41 percent saying they would do something dishonest.

In the same survey 20 percent of currently employed individuals say current economic conditions have a negative affect upon their mental health.

Finally, 82 percent of respondents said their employers are not paying more attention to performance even as layoffs reduce payrolls to essential employees.

SAFETY ATTITUDE ADJUSTMENT: If you think that simply maintaining your current OH&S program is going to get you to Zero as the world changes – think again. As these times in our economy take their toll on your people, they are willing to sabotage other workers to save their own jobs. IS your OH&S program ready to address this? Seriously?

Twenty percent of your people are feeling that you’re not paying enough attention to their mental health on the job. What are you doing to address this? Someone with mental health problems on the job can be a walking hazard.

The world is changing. The worker on the job is changing. The numbers of Gen Y’s on the job are changing how you handle your safety program. But are you trying to manage the potential fallout using last year’s OH&S model in this year’s economic reality?

Look, if you’re not addressing Safety Attitude on the job, you’re missing a potentially fatal hazard. Workers who are prepared to blame co-workers to simply keep their own jobs are loose-cannons on the job site. You don’t have enough supervisors to watch everyone all of the time. You need to do something different.

Don’t wait until it’s too late. The numbers speak for themselves. You do the math. If you don’t address these new realities now, your safety numbers are going to take a nosedive and your LTI’s are going to cost you a lot of money.

“Safety Attitude” Includes Money and Security

2009-06-08T11:55:00.001-06:00

Safety Attitude is just like it reads: an Attitude of Safety. An Attitude of Safety transcends the workplace. An Attitude of Safety doesn’t only work between certain hours. That would be a Tolerance of Safety. Someone with a Tolerance of Safety might be heard saying, “I know the rules and I abide by them at work but after work I’m on my own time and you don’t own me after work. And so I get to choose how I act off the job, not you Mr. Employer.”

Safety, though, transcends personal injury potential. Safety is not just about whether people find a way to avoid being injured physically. It’s not just about finding fire exits in an emergency or wearing a hard hat on a construction site or owning safety gloves and glasses. But safety really is also about how people might avoid being injured - financially and emotionally too. The problem is that current Occupational Health and Safety programs don’t address Safety Attitude. OH&S programs really only address rules and procedures and adherence to those same rules and procedures. OH&S does not address the underlying attitudes that determine how the rules come about. A really successful Attitude of Safety program must include the elements of not just personal safety, but personal security and even money.

Here’s why. You go to work to earn money so that, over time, you can provide some security for your family like a financial nest-egg, life insurance, disability insurance, retirement planning and investments to help take the “living paycheck-to-paycheck” frustration away from your loved ones. When you develop your security strategy, you take the pressure off of your family. They are secure in knowing that if tough times befell you, they would be alright.

When you put together your security strategy, you are, in fact, looking for safety for your family. You have something precious to live for and that one precious thing, your family, is counting on you. When you have something to live for, like a good family life, you won’t take unnecessary risks on the job. You won’t do anything that would jeopardize you or your family’s welfare. When you are able look out for your family, then you are able to look out for your coworkers as well.

But if you won’t look out for your own personal safety and security, how in the world are you able to look for others? How you do one thing is how you do everything. Someone who is a menace to himself on the job is sure as hell going to be a menace to everyone he works with.

Face it, if you’ve got a good money plan in place and your family is well looked after should something tragic happen to you, you have security. Security, for most families, comes from doing the right things with your money.

The challenge for most people though, is that they don’t realize that they’re acting unsafely because they’re not on the job at the time. On payday, plunking a quarter of your paycheck down on the casino card-table or the VLT is not a Safety Attitude. Going to the bar to get liquored-up so that you can feel lousy and not be 100% the next morning is not a Safety Attitude. Driving home with a couple of beers under your belt is not a Safety Attitude. Getting a windfall of money and spending it all foolishly (boats, skidoos, etc) when you could invest it and set yourself up for life is not a Safety Attitude.

SAFETY ATTITUDE ADJUSTMENT: Being foolish with your money shows you don’t care about your long-term security or long-term safety. If you’re willing to take chances with your money, you’ll do the same thing on the job. You may adhere to safety regulations on the job but you really don’t much care for those rules. You simply tolerate them. Anyone who allows him or herself to be foolish with money, show up to work with a hangover, frequently misplace their requisite safety gear or even drive around without a seat belt on are the kinds of people who don’t care about their own personal safety and security. If they don’t care about their own safety and security, what makes you think that they’ll be looking out for the rest of their fellow crew members on the job? Get real.

If you want to increase safety in your workplace then increase security out of the workplace. Help people with their money and increase the security of their loved ones. Give people a reason to be careful and they will. Make them blindly adhere to a bunch of safety regulations and, well, you take your own chances on the success of that program.

How To Not Do Safety - Safety Attitude - Test #04

2009-05-29T14:36:00.003-06:00

Safety Attitude? Huh?

OK, so I'm planning on doing a little restoration work on my own car this weekend but I will guarantee that this is NOT how I will work under it. It seems like this guy perhaps played a few too many football games in High School without a helmet.

Enjoy your weekend. Think Safety Attitude!

Which Is Safer – Home Or Work?

2009-05-25T10:02:00.002-06:00

There’s a different sound in the neighbourhood these days: it’s getting close to summer so the kids who were probably looking for something to do inside during the winter months have now headed outside. The sounds of playing outside are ramping up.

As I watched the neighbourhood kids this past weekend, I noticed that many parents send their kids out with bike helmets, elbow and knee pads for the skateboards and sunscreen for the hot days that were upon us this past weekend. As I opened the newspaper, I read an article that reads that more children are being injured by falling TVs and furniture than ever before. In fact, the number of incidents of kids being injured by falling furniture has increased 41 percent over the past eighteen years.

From the Journal of Clinical Pediatrics, researchers identified that 264,200 injuries – about 21 cases for every 100,000 children – are caused by furniture and TVs falling on them. More than 24 percent of the children injured had inadvertently pulled furniture onto themselves and another 11 percent were found to be climbing on furniture when the incidents occurred. Remember, this is only from the actual numbers of cases reported. Kids who may have hurt themselves but not badly enough to require medical attention are likely not included in this report. But here’s the big number, over half of the tip-overs were from televisions falling on the kids. In every single instance, large pieces of furniture and appliances were not anchored to the wall.

You send your kids outside to play with all of the requisite safety gear yet fail to protect them in their own homes. So what’s the problem? The problem is that you don’t want to “appear” as a bad parent so anything that happens in plain view of other parents; you make sure the kids have the appearance that you are looking after their safety. That’s simply a safety-tolerance attitude: if your neighbours can see our kids, then you’re probably making sure you have the appearance of safety. You don’t want to look like bad parents by letting your kids go into the street without helmets and elbow pads. But it turns out, that the kids are actually safer outside the house than inside.

It may be OK for kids to climb trees but not OK for them to climb bookshelves. Just because it’s not OK, doesn’t mean they don’t do it.

SAFETY ATTITUDE ADJUSTMENT: Safety Attitude means thinking about safety whether the neighbours are watching or not. If you go to work and adhere to the safety procedures, think for just a second about whether your kids would be safer at your place of work or in your own home. You see, someone has already set the rules for safety at work. Technically speaking, it would be safer for the kids, in many instances, to play in the workplace than it would be for them at home.

If you’ve got one of those big-screen TVs, anchor it. Anchor bookshelves, cabinets and anything else that might tip over when you can’t possibly be watching the kids’ every move. So go home and get a screwdriver, anchor straps or L-brackets and anchor your big stuff so the kids don’t hurt themselves. You’re a parent – a leader in your children’s’ lives – set the example for leadership and keep your kids out of the hospital. Show them that you have a Safety Attitude. It’s a small thing like this that will equip your kids when they themselves get ready to enter the workforce.

Kevin's New "Safety Attitude" Web Site

2009-05-22T10:50:00.003-06:00

It's done. My new web site specifically for Safety professionals http://www.safety.kevburns.com

When it comes time for your next safety meeting, make sure that at least part of that meeting is set aside to specifically address Safety Attitude!

What is Safety Attitude? It's how your people think of safety. Is safety something they simply tolerate while on the job or do they actively practice it at home as much as they do at work. A Safety Attitude goes beyond the time clock. A Safety Attitude has no start and end time. A Safety Attitude is a state of mind - not a tolerance for the rules while on shift.

The truth is Safety Attitude, both on and off the job, brings your workers' safety focus to the forefront. It's the attitude of your people, when they drive in traffic, when they cut their lawns, when they operate power equipment at home, when they come to work alert (not hungover or full of cold meds) that can seriously cut the number of incidents on the job. It's Safety Attitude that keeps your people looking out for each other on the job and helps them to realize that "Zero" can be achieved but everyone on the job site needs to buy in. The Safety program may fall under the control of the Safety Supervisor, but carrying out safety on the job is everyone's responsibility.

Safety Attitude is perspective. Change the perspective and you change the results. Once you change someone's perspective, once you change how they see things. Once you change how they respond to hazards, you change results.

There are companies around the world who are achieving Zero on the job. Would you be willing to take the time to find out their secrets? I'll save you the trouble. Companies hit Zero when they don't allow excuses, reasons or justifiers to stand in their way. That's simply "Safety Attitude" in play.

None of it is measurable or tangible. But you won't find a single successful organization without it.

Now, you have two choices: address Safety Attitude at your next safety meeting - or - change the safety culture by continually addressing Safety Attitude as the primary component of a safety culture that works. Either way, we're here to help you get it done.

How To Not Do Safety - Safety Attitude - Test #03

2009-05-14T16:43:00.002-06:00

As you get set to head for the campgrounds and lakes for the long weekend in Canada, remember to tie down your load - but not like this guy.

How Not To Do Safety - Safety Attitude Test #02

2009-05-11T12:10:00.005-06:00

Today's photo is for the weekend landscapers. It involves a few ladders, someone to hold it steady and a very large hedge.

I invite you to offer up your observations as to which safety infractions you can identify. Simply add your comments by clicking "comments" below.

Feel free to forward this post to others by clicking the white envelope (email post) and get them involved in having a little fun with safety.

How Not To Do Safety - Test #01

2009-05-08T12:04:00.006-06:00

Some incredibly hilarious (if not near tragic) photos have made their way to my email recently. I will be sharing them with you over the next little while. The saying is true: "A picture is worth a thousand words" or at the very least, a dozen safety infractions.

I invite you to offer up your observations as to which safety infractions you can identify. Simply add your comments by clicking "comments" below.

Test #01 - drywalling in a commercial building.

Feel free to forward this post to others by clicking the white envelope (email post) and get them involved in having a little fun with safety.

New Alberta Safety Reg's

2009-05-05T20:25:00.002-06:00

New safety announcements were made today for workplaces in Alberta. If you haven't heard, here is where you can find more information from the 2009 OHS Code and a bulletin that compares the 2006 and 2009 editions of the Code. They can be found online at: http://employment.alberta.ca/whs-ohs

Employers have three months to phase in the changes - that's 90 days and counting.

In a nutshell, here's what it says:

The Alberta Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) Code has been updated to keep workplace health and safety rules current and relevant. Alberta employers have until July 1 to comply with the updates.

The Occupational Health and Safety Council recommended changes to the code after extensive public consultation.

Updates to the OHS Code include the following:

new requirements for lift calculations, tag lines and personnel baskets;
health care requirements specific to patient/client/resident handling;
new requirements for medical sharps;
new concept of a ‘restricted’ space with less stringent requirements than a ‘confined’ space;
requirements applicable to respiratory protection against airborne biohazardous material;
mobile equipment requirements specifically for concrete pump trucks;
new, specific safety factors for rigging components;
occupational exposure limits revised for nearly 150 chemical substances; and
updates to better reflect current mining practices.

As Larry The Cable Guy says, "Git 'er done."

Courage Is Not Hiding Fears

2009-04-30T20:15:00.001-06:00

I met Larry this week. Larry has a very powerful story of being an alcoholic on the job. We shared the stage three times this week as he helped his fellow co-workers step up and admit it when they have a problem with substance or alcohol abuse. At the end of each of Larry's three speeches this week, he received a standing ovation.

Larry admits it is hard for him to accept a standing ovation. He is uncomfortable with it. That was, until I helped him see that the ovations were for his courage. It wasn't the speech they were applauding, it was his courage to take the stage and openly admit that he had a drinking problem.

In every audience, the numbers would dictate that there were one or two others struggling with a substance abuse problem, but in the mind of a man, reaching for help is the same as being weak.

Nothing could be further from the truth. Your admission is courageous. Your willingness to deal with a problem is courageous. Your wanting a better life is courageous. Trying to numb your pain, fear and stress with alcohol or drugs is the weak thing. A man who won't face his fears head-on is not a tower of strength. He is a potential reportable incident on the job.

SAFETY ATTITUDE ADJUSTMENT: Do you really think people will laugh at you if you sought help for a drinking problem? Are you afraid your friends wouldn't want anything to do with you if you admitted you had a problem? Well then they're not really your friends - they're just your drinking buddies.

Dealing with your demons takes courage. I admire those who are willing to change their ways. I look up to them not down at them. I applaud the man who admits he has a problem. The man who wakes each morning to face another day without drugs or alcohol has far more courage than the man who hides behind bottle.

My own father stayed sober for the last thirteen years of his life - even in the face of inoperable cancer. The cancer killed him but the bottle never beat him. That took courage.

What kind of courage are you made of? Will you continue to keep your fears a secret and put your life and the lives of your co-workers at risk or will you show us real courage?

Careless Is Careless

2009-04-21T16:10:00.001-06:00

On her fifteenth birthday, my daughter asked me if I would buy her a car on her sixteenth birthday. After I picked myself up off of the floor from laughing, she looked at me and said, “But Dad, lots of my friends have parents who buy them cars.”

“I know Honey,” I replied with caring. “I’ve seen those cars in the parking lot at your school. Most of them really aren’t looked after at all. It’s what happens when people don’t earn their possessions. Look, I’ll pay for your schooling after high school, but I’m not buying you toys. If you want a car, you’ll have to go out and earn it.”

And she did – around seven thousand dollars over the next year. She paid cash for her first car – a real money pit that depleted her savings rather quickly. It was a huge life-lesson for her.

Recently, I spoke to a group of natural gas installers. The focus of my presentation was “Safety Attitude.” Although the numbers of safety incidents as it pertains to working with natural gas were within an acceptable range, the numbers of incidents while driving was up – numbers that the management team wanted brought back down.

Several of the workers in attendance were awarded with five, ten, fifteen, twenty and twenty-five year safe driving awards. But not all of the workers received awards. So it begged the question: what separates a safe driver from a careless driver? My answer is attitude.

SAFETY ATTITUDE ADJUSTMENT: A person who is careless with other things in his or her life will be careless behind the wheel. Careless is careless. You won’t find a person who is careful and meticulous with his or her own personal possessions and be careless behind the wheel of a company vehicle. Carelessness is a personality trait. Safety is an attitude.

Carelessness transcends all things in your life – including driving. If you’re careless and regularly lose your safety equipment, you will be careless behind the wheel. If you’re careless in ensuring that the quality of your work is your best effort always, you’ll be careless behind the wheel. If you’re careless about where you leave your car keys, you’ll be just as careless behind the wheel.

Watch how people treat a rental car and you’ll see similarities in how they drive a company vehicle. When you see a vehicle that is filled with fast-food bags, needs a wash (for a long time) or has several dings or fender crunches, you’ll see that same person being careless while driving the company vehicle.

There’s a sense of ownership and pride that comes with achieving something. When you are personally invested and earn your new car instead of just having it handed to you, you treat that new possession with a little more respect. If you won’t secure your own personal belongings, your own vehicle or your quality of work, you won’t really care about how you drive. It’s simple really. How you do one thing is how you do everything.

If you’re a department supervisor, Health and Safety manager or the CEO and you are considering bestowing a company vehicle on an employee, here’s the simple way to find out whether or not the company vehicle you are about to give to an employee will be treated with respect. Check out that employee’s own vehicle first. If it’s a mess – your vehicle will end up the same way before long. And if your vehicle ends up being a mess, so will the safe-driving record of that employee. How you do one thing is how you do everything. Careless is careless.

So how’s your driving? I’ll bet it’s about the same as your work quality, your own car or your relationships. If it’s messy elsewhere, it’s messy on the road.

Getting To Zero Means Getting Tough

2009-04-14T16:40:00.002-06:00

Zero is a real possibility in safety. In fact, many companies are achieving zero right now. If others can do it, why can’t you?

The truth is that in order to achieve zero, companies, supervisors and VP’s of Safety are going to have to become vigilant and make the tough decisions. It’s not going to be easy to do it until you figure out where the hazards and job site issues come from in the first place.

Work sites are safe. It’s people who screw them up. Have a look at the following list and tell me it’s not people who screw things up:

Park an unsecured piece of equipment where it shouldn’t be.
Leave an extension cord running across the ground with no markings.
A quick trip up the ladder to fetch something – no need to tie-off.
No need for a seat belt since I’m still in the yard and not on the road yet.
No need for a truck walk-around – I did it fifteen minutes ago.
Maybe I should have adjusted the side mirror when I was stopped – oh well.

You getting my drift here? If it weren’t for people, everything would be exactly where it’s supposed to be. Of course, if it weren’t for people, nothing would ever get done. So there’s the conundrum.

It’s your people who give you the safety record you have. Your results on the job are the direct result of the line you take with those who do the job. The more vigilant you become in instilling a Safety Attitude, the more your results will improve.

SAFETY ATTITUDE ADJUSTMENT: What’s the difference between a driver who’s been drinking and a driver who’s exhausted? Sit in the passenger seat and you’ll figure out the answer – not much. So why do you allow your people to come to work after being out all night? What about letting them work hung-over? What about someone popping cold pills that make them drowsy? What about a parent who spent most of the night at the hospital with a sick child?

Are these people alert and ready for whatever happens or are they barely conscious? Could they be considered a hazard on the job? Fatigue and impairment cause accidents both on and off the job.

Do you ever wonder why Cops park a block away from the bar at eight o’clock in the morning? It’s to catch the driver retrieving his car who, although he seems coherent, is still over the limit to drive. And you’re going to let him work?

There are no more reasons and excuses for not achieving zero. If your crew knows that they are going to lose a day’s pay for showing up hung-over, sleep-deprived, stuffed full of cold medications or trying to hide the fact that they’re still drunk, then my guess is that they wouldn’t show up that way at all. People rise to level of expectation. But if you don’t impose any consequences for being impaired, then your safety record will just have to suffer the consequences alone.

Safety Supervisors Have The Toughest Job

2009-04-12T10:50:00.002-06:00

The Safety Supervisor has the toughest job. The Safety Supervisor is responsible for upholding the safety procedures at every moment of every day. And the job can be thankless.

Not only is the Safety Supervisor in a leadership position, but he or she is being watched like a hawk – by the people whose responsibility it is for the Safety Supervisor to watch over. The Safety Supervisor is the ultimate example of leading by example because people are watching. And if the Safety Supervisor does it differently than how the manual reads, he or she has set a new rule and procedure on the job.

For example:

If a Safety Supervisor exceeds the speed limit by just one mile per hour - new rule.
If the Safety Supervisor talks on the cell phone while driving and doesn’t pull over - new rule.
If the Safety Supervisor rolls through a stop sign and continues driving - new rule.
If the Safety Supervisor steps over a hazard on a job site and doesn’t address it - new rule.
If the Safety Supervisor forgets his or her safety glasses in the truck and enters the job site anyway - new rule.
If the Safety Supervisor overlooks just one procedure - new rule.
If the Safety Supervisor is not courteous in traffic - new rule.
If the Safety Supervisor sees a worker without full PPE and turns the other way - new rule.
If the Safety Supervisor’s paperwork isn’t meticulous - new rule.
If the Safety Supervisor is hung over at work - new rule.
If the Safety Supervisor overlooks just one worker’s safety (especially the guy that the Safety Supervisor doesn’t much care for personally) – new rule.
If the Safety Supervisor doesn’t pull his entire crew out of an unsafe job site - new rule.
If the Safety Supervisor doesn’t address a renegade worker’s challenge and remove him from the job site immediately – new rule.
If the Safety Supervisor doesn’t stand up to the job site bully – new rule.
If the Safety Supervisor doesn’t fire a worker who purposely created a hazard on the job site – new rule.
If a Safety Supervisor has a bad day and takes it out on the crew – new rule.
If the Safety Supervisor doesn’t foster an Attitude of “watch each others’ backs” on the job site – new rule.
If the Safety Supervisor leaves a job site before all safety concerns have been addressed – new rule and a new Safety Supervisor I would hope.

SAFETY ATTITUDE ADJUSTMENT: The job of the Safety Supervisor is not easy. In fact, out of all of the jobs in your organization, I would hazard a guess (pardon the pun there) that the job of the Safety Supervisor is the toughest, most thankless and most difficult of all of the jobs.

Being a company policeman is not easy. People don’t like to have their work inspected and worse yet; don’t like to be told that it’s not good enough. Workers don’t like to be told to put on their gloves – it makes some feel like they’re being treated like little kids.

But it can also be incredibly rewarding. Getting a crew to buy into a Safety Attitude and achieving “zero” as a result has got to be one of the best feelings in the world. But the job is still tough. Because while the full crew gets to share in the celebration of “zero,” anything less than “zero” the Safety Supervisor faces alone.

It’s a tough gig and it requires a lot of mental toughness. But then a Safety Attitude is important and not everyone has what it takes to be a Safety Supervisor.

Safety Training Must Account For Interruptions

2009-04-11T09:31:00.002-06:00

On one of my most recent airplane flights, as I sat myself into my aisle seat and secured my seat belt, the chief flight attendant began her announcements including the safety demonstration required on every flight. You know the one I am speaking of: seat belts, oxygen masks, floor-track lighting and emergency exits. I could probably demo the safety demonstration if the airline were in a pinch having heard it so many times.

Just prior to the safety demonstration, the flight attendant welcomed a few new “first-time flyers.” As I pretty much live on airplanes some days, it always amazes when I see mature adults taking their first flight – or should I say, finally getting around to taking their first flight. I can only imagine what it is like to experience a flight for the first time in mid-life. (If you’re 45 years old and have never been on a plane, then you wouldn’t really understand the jokes about airline service would you?)

As we were taxiing into take-off position and as the safety demonstration was taking place, a group of three men, in the emergency row, were having a great old conversation amongst themselves and loud enough that I, three rows ahead of them, was having a hard time hearing the safety demonstration. That’s not a problem for me as I’ve been through the safety demo thousands of times, but what about the first-time flyers on the plane? Wouldn’t this be the first time they’ve ever heard the announcement? Wouldn’t this be important information?

SAFETY ATTITUDE ADJUSTMENT: Does your safety training account for interruptions? Interruptions distract people from getting ALL of the information. A cell phone ringing during a toolbox or tailgate meeting distracts just enough that not every word is heard. Side-talking during a safety meeting means the person you’re talking to and yourself are not getting all of the information. Muttering under your breath impairs the attention of others if they can hear something. A safety attitude is an attitude of courtesy – to ensure that others AND yourself are safe. You can’t do that if you’re distracting others. And if you're distracting others, you're a hazard on the job.

Supervisors, before you hold your safety briefing, make sure you minimize as many distractions as possible – cell phones off, full attention, quiet place away from traffic and other noises as much as possible. Remember, interruptions impair learning. When learning is impaired, that’s another hazard on the job.

Try SMS Text Messaging For Gen Y Safety

2009-04-09T11:09:00.001-06:00

Have you got a crew that includes a few green hands? How Baby Boomers learn and how Millenials (Gen Y) learn are completely different. Are you expecting your new hires under 25 to sit down and pour over the Safety Manual with the same enthusiasm that an older worker would?

Remember, Gen Y is the video game generation – where things have to be fast and exciting to keep their attention. A safety manual is not a riveting read. The one thing this generation does well is Text Messaging or SMS. So why not use that technology to get your safety messages through to them?

PowerPoint (aka Corporate Karaoke – that’s my trademarked term) is not a learning tool that appeals to Gen Y. But short bursts of information will get through to your younger workers. So why not set up a program of daily (or several times daily) Safety Text Messages of 145 characters or less?

Here are some samples of Text Messages you could send right now.

“PPE check. Gloves? Hard hat? Glasses? Hearing? Got them?”
“Stop. Look around. Find a hazard and fix it right now.”
“Have you read the MSDS of everything you’re handling today?”
“Got a question? Ask! Don’t prove you don’t know what you’re doing.”
“What did you discuss at today’s tool-box meeting?”
“What have you done to make “zero” a possibility today?”

You could also include specifics from your Safety Manual – things that are specific to the job and you can repeatedly address points that you really want to drive home.

SAFETY ATTITUDE ADJUSTMENT: Most young workers check their cell phones at break time. Why not have something worth saving their life waiting for them when they break? Sure, there is a cost to this program. But it’s far cheaper than the cost of bad publicity for your organization as the result of an incident. Keep all of your workers focused on the task at hand. Don’t expect the tool-box or tailgate meeting to be retained any longer than about an hour. Gen Y’s can be good workers and you can help them instill a Safety Attitude if you only figure out a way to speak to them in a way that they will listen.

If You Don’t Believe In Safety …

2009-04-08T22:06:00.001-06:00

I spoke today to the Edmonton Area Pipeline and Utility Operators Committee (EAPUOC). There were 500 or so in attendance as well as several booths featuring suppliers to the guys and companies who put shovels in the ground.

It was a full day of sessions and learning. Just prior to my session which was to close the day, Spencer Beach took the stage. Spencer is a unique character with an incredibly tough story to hear. It is impossible to not feel something during his presentation. Spencer, in a flash fire, suffered third and fourth degree burns to ninety percent of his body in a mere twenty seconds while the flames around him burned at 1500 degrees Celsius – the same temperature that cremation takes place at.

Luckily, he overcame the five percent chance he had to live, has endured thirty-five surgeries and was hospitalized for fourteen straight months.

During his presentation, he mentioned God several times. I suppose, that being left alone and being engulfed in 1500 degree flames, God is pretty much all you have left to talk to. In fact, it is impossible to predict who or what you would talk to or think about during the longest time of your life – as you fought to keep it.

And yet, there are people who go to work every day who don’t think about the safety aspect as being any more than a nuisance and perceive their safety supervisor – the guy who cares enough to keep him alive – as the bad guy who may come down on him for not following procedure. That worker will put himself and others at risk only because he thinks he knows best. That’s an idiotic way to try to prove a point.

SAFETY ATTITUDE ADJUSTMENT: If you don’t believe in safety, then you had better believe in God. Safety Attitude and awareness will keep you from harm’s way. But if you don’t believe in safety, then it won’t really be up to you whether you live or die: that, you leave in the hands of someone or something much more powerful, and I would guess a whole lot smarter, than you. If you ignore safety, safety ignores you.

You Don’t Have To Go To Safety Meetings

2009-04-03T12:11:00.003-06:00

Recently, I was chosen to address a the full staff complement of a small municipality – everything from Administration and Social Services personnel to Fire, Police, Library, Recreation and Public Works staff. This was their annual Staff Day, a half-day session to inform all of the members of the municipal government staff of what was happening with new projects, new staff additions and new directions for the coming year. I was brought in to wrap up the morning offering a new perspective and a new attitude towards work, safety and developing a personal leadership role within the job environment.

During the early part of the meeting, while representatives from each department were addressing their updates to inform the rest of the staff of the goings-on, a few employees sitting in the back row decided that it was more important to chatter amongst themselves instead of keeping up to speed on what their own employer and organization was doing and how it may affect them, their work and the community in which they live and work. There was little respect or courtesy being demonstrated by these few workers especially during the part of the program in which the CAO was addressing the topics of Respect, Trust and Integrity.

Just prior to my session commencing, there was an open forum to ask questions. One of the back of the room disruptors muttered under their breath but loud enough for others around them to hear, “Do we have to be here?”

ATTITUDE ADJUSTMENT: No you don’t have to be here. You don’t have to attend any staff meetings. You don’t have to show up at work on time. You don’t have to endure three hours of coffee, donuts and pizza for free lunch. You don’t have to give your attention on the job. You don’t have to be considerate to your fellow workers. And no, you don’t have to sit through a boring meeting. Simply hand in your resignation and you’re free to do whatever you want.

However, if you take the job, you need to suck it up. You take all of the meetings, the procedures, the bosses, the whining of your co-workers, the hours, the holidays, the paycheck and the benefits you’re entitled to. You don’t have to do any of the jobs you don’t like – but you will have to give up everything you do like in order to stop doing what bores you. Some parts of the job are not as much fun as other parts of the job, granted. But they are all necessary.

My guess is that the Staff day was developed in response to, “How come no one ever tells us what’s going on?” I’m willing to bet those comments came from the people in the back row who chose not to pay attention anyway. And in a few weeks they’ll ask, “How come no one told us this was going on?”

Full kudos to the municipality for bringing the staff together to communicate what is happening with the municipality. They demonstrated respect, trust and integrity with their employees. Too bad not everyone reciprocated.

People who show no respect for their fellow workers will likely show little respect to their work, their equipment, their responsibilities, their co-workers, their bosses, their customers and to the whole concept of Safety. Would it be a loss if these people left the job? Really?

Is Stress Really The Problem?

2009-01-07T13:32:00.002-07:00

The Global Business and Economic Roundtable on Addiction and Mental Health conducted a survey to determine the Top Ten Stressors at work. Here they are:

10. "The treadmill syndrome" - Employees who consistently have too much or too little to do create a lot of stress.
9. "Random interruptions" - Keeps employees from getting their work done - telephones, walk-in visits, supervisor's demands.
8. "Pervasive uncertainty" - Created by constant, unsatisfactorily explained or unannounced change.
7. "Mistrust, unfairness, and office politics" - Keeps everyone on edge and uncertain about the future.
6. "Unclear policies and no sense of direction" - Causes additional uncertainty and undermines confidence in management.
5. "Career and job ambiguity" - Creates a feeling of helplessness and of being out of control.
4. "No feedback - good or bad" - People want to know how they are doing, and whether they are meeting expectations.
3. "No appreciation" - Generates stress that endangers future efforts.
2. "Lack of communication" - Leads to decreased performance and increased stress.
1. The greatest stressor in the workplace is "lack of control" - Employees are highly stressed when they feel like they have no control over their participation or the outcome of their work.

In reading this list, I was struck by a single thought: there really is only ONE stressor at work – lack of control. The lack of control is really the one constant in every one of the other nine stressors. Lack of control in workload, interruptions, change, mistrust, direction, job security, feedback, appreciation and communication are what are causing the stress.

Now it’s been said that stress is a killer. I don’t buy that. Instead I believe that our inability to handle stress is the killer. It’s not the stress. It’s our in ability to handle it.

It’s not the job. It’s our inability to handle all of the issues that come up in the job.

As I wrote in a recent Blog entry, there’s a difference in the outcome of the work you do when you take on the attitude that your job is your career, even if it’s only your career for now. It no longer becomes just a job. A career is something you manage. A job is just something you grumble about having to do.

Change your attitude on your work and your work will begin to improve. Don’t argue with me on this one. I am right (been there done that). The moment you change your attitude on your “job” being more than just a job and instead being a career, you will begin to see the “job” in a whole new light. And believe me, there is a whole lot less stress when you start taking control of where you work, how you work, the quality of your work and the contribution you make to your work.

SAFETY ATTITUDE ADJUSTMENT: Are you feeling out of control on the job? It’s likely because you’re letting every one else decide your career for you. Stop it. Take back the control. If you don't, it will affect your safety.

You may need A job but not necessarily this one. Are you working because of the pension you’ll receive at retirement? Then you’ve already checked out mentally and are counting the days until you retire. That’s no way to manage a career. That’s a prison sentence.

I’ve said it before and I perhaps need to say it again: the more valuable you become on the job, the less likely you are to be replaced. Increase your value. Get better at communicating, thinking, sharing ideas, focusing, working safely and embracing change (it is a good thing most times). Read the Leadership books. Listen to the CD’s. Go to the seminars. Pay attentiona t Safety Meetings. Get better. Get stronger. Get more valuable. And if you choose to NOT do the work to improve yourself and your safety value, well then sorry. There is no one then who can possibly guarantee that something drastic won’t happen to you. That should stress you a little.

Featured Expert in Safe Supervisor Magazine

2008-12-18T12:03:00.001-07:00

Safe Supervisor magazine is a monthly publication dedicated to helping Occupational Health & Safety managers, supervisors and foremen become more effective in their jobs.

Last week, Dave Duncan of Safe Supervisor, interviewed me on a host of topics related to safety in the workplace. Primarily, our discussion centered around how to get non-complying workers to come around and to embrace the on-the-job safety procedures.

Safety Naggers Need a Bag of New Tricks
This is a two-part series on how supervisors can deal with workers who have an “attitude” and resist working safely. The first segment will look at how supervisors can approach such workers in a manner that doesn’t involve nagging. Part two will examine what supervisors can do to rein in workplace “cowboys” and what can be done when words aren’t enough to budge a bad safety attitude.

The interview is a two-part series that will be published in both the February and March 2009 editions of Safety Supervisor.

Safety IS an Attitude!

Bringing Outsiders In

2008-12-11T08:59:00.001-07:00

You are, no doubt, familiar with the “swear jar:” putting money in a jar for every time you use a curse word? Rarely does anyone voluntarily contribute to the jar without being caught uttering a profanity. It requires a witness to make the other party cough up the cash. A contribution to the jar usually requires a little teasing or at least some chiding before the guilty party will ‘fess up. Once admitted, the realization is usually followed by another curse word at being caught and a double fine is issued.

When my daughter was growing up we had a jar in the house called the “I can’t” jar. Every time she uttered the words “I can’t,” she would contribute to the jar. I wanted to instill the lesson that she can - whatever she wanted to do she could do. The jar didn’t last long.

I was asked this week, while being interviewed for an article in Safe Supervisor magazine, how to bring “safety cowboys,” those who won’t get with the program by ignoring safety procedures, not wearing their Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) or doing things they way they’ve always done them because they haven’t been hurt yet, into the fold and getting with the program. My answer was based on the “swear jar” concept.

Instilling a peer-patrolled, PPE-Check program that allows members of the work-site crew to monitor each other would be more beneficial than a top-down, supervisor-led program. Any member of the crew flagrantly flaunting the safety procedures could be assessed a fine of either a fixed cost (for example $20) or have the offender immediately jump into a vehicle and run to purchase a round of coffees for the rest of the crew at the offenders cost.

Currently, many job sites workers watch for the supervisor’s vehicle to approach and yell out a warning to the workers to “safety up” because the supervisor is on the way. This, unfortunately, makes the one person responsible for the safety of the crew the bad guy (Is the one person who actually cares that everyone goes home safely really the bad guy?). Whereas, the peer-patrolled program ensures that the workers are abiding by the rules at all times by being able to issue a fine to their fellow workers without the need for a supervisor to issue a warning or consequence.

The workers become judge-and-jury and majority rules in the assessment of a fine. Instantaneous gratification to those abiding by the rules at the expense of those who break the rules forces those who wish to operate outside of the rules to get in line or pay up.

The threat of teasing or chiding by one’s peers is a far more powerful compliance tool than the top-down philosophy in place in most workplaces. This same program could be applied outside of safety to issues like workplace tardiness, lack of customer service procedures (for example, customers not being acknowledged within a specific timeframe), missed deadlines that may hold up the progress of fellow workers or even an open display of disrespect for the workplace, the employer or one’s fellow workers.

SAFETY ATTITUDE ADJUSTMENT: Negativity, flaunting of the rules, not complying with procedures and grumbling are only allowed to foster in the workplace because there is no immediate consequence to the offender – and more importantly, there is no benefit for following procedures. So switch it up. Let managers manage and let the staff, the people who do the job everyday, police themselves. Empowering your people to improve workplace culture themselves encourages people to take ownership of what they do. People engage better when they have some control over what they do and how they do it. Call a brainstorming meeting and throw out an idea like this. Let your people take the idea, develop the mechanics and institute it themselves. You might be able to hide from the boss but it’s pretty tough to hide from your co-workers. And if you’re one of those on the outside refusing to get with the program, well, step up or pay up. If your workplace is fraught with whiners but you’re not one of them, you may never have to buy yourself another coffee ever again.

Cheap Or Safe? You Choose.

2008-12-07T08:17:00.000-07:00

Last December, the government of the Province of Quebec passed legislation requiring all drivers in the province to have winter tires on their vehicles or face a fine equivalent to a new set of winter tires. It turns out that 38% of the accidents during winter months in Quebec are caused by the ten percent of the drivers who choose to drive all year on all-season tires. Quebec made the case, based simply on numbers, that in order to lower the number of collisions, lower insurance claims and lower numbers of injuries simply required a conscious decision to prepare oneself for less than optimum driving conditions. If the general public wouldn’t do it voluntarily, then in order to lower those numbers it would have to be mandated.

I made the switch to winter tires about four years ago and swear I will never attempt to drive in winter conditions on all-season tires again. There is a huge difference. In discussions with tire technicians over the years, I learned that all-season tires start to lose their grip at temperatures below 7 degrees Celsius (44 degrees Fahrenheit). Even with seemingly good driving conditions, a thin layer of frost on a road can cause you to lose your road grip and can cause you slide into another vehicle. If you live in any of the Canadian provinces or any of the Northern States, snow, ice and frost is a reality in the winter. Any barrier that comes between the rubber tread on the tire and dry pavement forces a driver to question him or herself while on the road. Any question, even a split-second of insecurity, makes you a worse driver than you would be in ideal driving conditions.

Drivers across Canada, however, are faced with a lack of selection of winter tires this year, some would say due to the new legislation in Quebec. Tires stores across the country are sold out of popular sizes (especially the less expensive tires) but if you look around, you can still find tires in your required size. You may just have to pay a little more.

Do you carry precious cargo in your vehicle (family, kids, etc)? Do you consider yourself to be valuable enough to your company and family to keep yourself safe? Do you possess a little courtesy when it comes to sharing the road with other drivers? How would you feel if your vehicle was damaged and you were hospitalized due to another driver’s decision to forego winter tires when those winter tires could have clearly helped avoid an accident with you? How would you feel if you took the life of someone else by simply trying to save a few bucks?

SAFETY ATTITUDE ADJUSTMENT: Safety is an attitude. You either have the attitude or you don’t. There is no “sort-of” safety attitude. Far too many drivers choose to “cheap-out” when it comes to tires. The fact is that the average passenger car can be outfitted with winter tires for about $100 or less per tire. Let’s work that out. There are about one hundred and fifty days where snow, ice, slush or frost can come into play during the average Canadian winter. That works out to a daily cost of winter tires of about two and a half dollars per day for a set of four tires. Spread that figure over four winter seasons and the cost is just over sixty cents per day. What do you spend daily at Starbucks or Tim Horton’s each day? The truth is, you will have to replace your current tires at some point – especially if you drive all-season tires in the winter as the tread wears faster in colder conditions. But by driving on winter tires in the winter, you extend the life of your summer tires. If your tires are rated for 100,000 kilometers lifetime, then for every mile you drive on winter tires, you extend the life of your summer tires. Do the right thing and save your own life and perhaps the lives of others. Stop being cheap and start being safe.

Big Rig - Little Brain

2008-09-09T15:14:00.001-06:00

OK, now I've written about this particular subject in past and yet there are still a lot of people who, as the offenders, don't seem to care - and as those who supervise the offenders, well, they don't seem to care either. Such is my plight and here is my NEW story.

It was late afternoon as I drove on the four-lane highway. I found myself in the left lane slowly passing a big-rig truck who was just under the speed limit in the right lane. As I successfully got past him, I was unable to change into the right lane as some slower traffic was just ahead so I stayed in the left lane. The big-rig that I had just passed had apparently just called upon all of the horses under the hood and was accelerating quickly in the right lane now - well over the speed limit.

In my mind I thought there is no way he can get all of that rig into the space between me in the left lane and the car just ahead in the right lane. But he tried and without any consideration for any other vehicles he attempted to change lanes just as his back wheels were even with my back wheels. Had he continued to change lanes he would have either knocked me into the median or I would have to go there voluntarily. He put his rig just across the center line and tried to force me to either jam on the brakes (which I couldn't as there was a vehicle coming up behind me) or drive into the ditch. He then, aggressively put his truck back into the left lane to let me go by.

As I passed him I could see him waving his arms, looking at me and mouthing obscenities. I read, just below his face, the sign on the door: Marshall Trucking and the toll-free number. Once past the line of slower moving cars I pulled into the right lane as he flew past me well over the speed limit. I called the toll-free number.

I explained my story to the dispatcher who made a quick radio call and left the line open. She said the following to the driver: "Some guy out on the highway is complaining and wants you to slow down."

She came back on the phone and dismissively said, "Good enough?"

"Nope," was my answer. "Let me speak with your safety supervisor."

I was connected with Dean who listened intently. It was only when I identified myself as someone who works in safety attitude did he seem to genuinely take an interest in my story about his company and his driver.

Safety Attitude Adjustment: If your company has vehicles on the road, please remind your drivers that they are flying the flag of the company when they drive. And if you get a complaint from one person, you can multiply that one phone call by fifty. Fifty is at least the number of people your driver has likely affected but only one stood up to make a complaint. I don't care if you're short-staffed and can't find any other drivers. If one of your drivers chooses to be unsafe on the roads, you should fire him immediately. It will save your company's face and send a very strong message to your other drivers to get with the program. The fast-moving highway is no place to have a little brain behind the wheel of a big rig.

Lessons From The Foreman

2008-05-05T19:57:00.002-06:00

Len is a foreman for a construction crew in the bustling Oil Sands region of Northern Alberta. He is a little rough around the edges, uses some fairly colourful language and is a little on the loud side. My guess that his personality is the result of working for many years with mostly men in a noisy environment. You know how guys talk when there are few women around? Len is definitely one of the boys.

In our conversation at the airport, as we both awaited flights, we spoke of many things. Two things in particular got my attention: something his father taught him as well as how he has found a way to reduce incidents and accidents on the job.

"My Dad always told me to make sure you have a lot of paper in your wallet," said Len referring to having several trades tickets and certifications. "Dad said that once you get those papers, ain't nobody able to take that stuff away from you. You always have that."

"The more you know, the more you learn, the easier life gets," I added.

"They can't suck the learning out of your head," Len smiled.

It's a simple self-development philosophy really: the more you know, the more you've been certified, the more paper you carry, the more you will be paid. Why? Because you're more valuable.

As Len and I sat at the airport, we also talked about safety in the workplace.

"I've got a crew of guys who work 'twenty-on.' They usually work tens or twelves and the first three days back from days-off are tough," he said. "The guys are still off-work mentally. I've got to watch over them a little more at that time."

"But the worst," he said leaning in toward me, "is the three days just before they head home. When I see guys losing it - yelling at other guys, I know they're not thinking about the job. They're tired and their brains have already gone home even if their bodies are still at work. That's the most dangerous time. When they get like that, I make sure that we have a few extra toolbox meetings. Keep them focused. Keep them present and we all get to go home, safely."

Are you losing it at work for no reason? If you are or someone you work with is, then they're not focused. They're not mentally present and something could happen that could affect others.

Safety Attitude Adjustment: How often are you just letting disruptive behaviour slide? You don't have to be in management to take responsibility on the job. Check in with co-workers who seem a little edgy or unfocused. Help figure out what's going on in their world. If you don't, they could say or do something that could cause the loss of a good customer, a good working relationship or even a life. It's up to you to make sure that the work you do everyday doesn't get undermined by someone who isn't present and focused. It's your workplace too. Step up.