Is It Labour Or Work?

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

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!

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.

Rare Alberta OHS Acquittal

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

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.

“Safety Attitude” Includes Money and Security

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

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?

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

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.

Courage Is Not Hiding Fears

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

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

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

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

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

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.

You Don’t Have To Go To Safety Meetings

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?

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

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!