My entire 40+ year career has been in the safety-related industry. I have seen many changes in technology, PPE manufacturing, and numerous come-and-go programs. I have written and read articles on safety topics and challenges. Though convinced that we have made strides with equipment and safer processes, I am equally convinced that we are stuck on a hamster wheel.

Some history

I have a book called The Modern Factory. This 600-page book addresses the common exposures to hazards and what actions are needed to reduce or eliminate those exposures. These topics are headlines in today’s safety news. Here’s the rub: the book was published in 1911! 

Getting tangled in unguarded machinery to being subjected to hazardous energy (no LOTO) to falling from heights, the questions that must be asked are, what have we learned and what have we done to make the workplace and the worker safer? More than 100 years later, people are still dying or having their quality of life permanently altered from the same hazards we continue to discuss ad nauseum. But have we improved our lot?

Some examples

For over 20 years, the OSHA Top Ten list — that every year we wait with bated breath to see — has yet to change. Every year, the same top ten categories appear on the list. It is true that some overly anal regulators get off on writing paper that has no real safety significance but, overall, what have we done to address the issues and make it an ‘active’ or living list, showing some things coming off and perhaps new things coming on as we fix what’s broke?

Employers continue to propagate the desire to find safety professionals familiar with behavior-related safety, perhaps out of ignorance, since such punitive, rules-based programs to drive change have proven to not work. This type of management kills trust, morale, and productivity. 

Many continue to create lists of unsafe conditions yet 90+% of all injuries are preventable because of unsafe actions of our people. We fix what’s on the list only to find our items back on the list next month. In essence, we have fixed nothing – no change in practices, no change in “behaviors.”

Many have become compliance-oriented, meaning the entire safety program is built on “doing what you’re told” rather than doing what is right. Focusing on compliance rather than hazard reduction again creates a punitive program, resulting in mistrust, distrust, and low morale.

Some employers run the business with safety as a necessary evil or expense rather than realizing good safety practices enhances profits, quality, and productivity. These are the employers who purchase the least expensive (junk) PPE that neither fits nor protects and always cuts the safety budget first when looking for “savings.” Those actions will always cost more in the end that put profitability and reputation at serious risk.

I continue to hear employers and safety professionals say that safety is their number one priority. It’s not just about semantics, it’s wrong. Priorities will always change, depending on circumstances, and oftentimes it is the safety procedure that gets ‘bumped’ for faster ways of doing things until the crisis is over. Such actions place our people at greater risk. Safety must be a value, meaning regardless of the circumstances, employees will always do what is right.

The last example is the continued discussions and articles that take place on social media and in trade publications that simply rehash what everyone knows. We’re still talking about the same hazards today that were addressed in 1911, even with our newest technology in safer equipment and improved PPE. There’s no call to action and no change in outcomes!

Call to action

In 40 years, I have seen numerous flavor-of-the-month programs come and go without any real change to the organizations’ culture in how they do business. Perhaps you have seen some of my previous articles on creating a safety culture and designing safety programs that drive success with the culture. Too often, we create these elaborate, oftentimes confusing, safety programs that are full of rules and requirements with little or no management support or accountability.

The solution may not always be easy, but it is simple. Organizations with world-class safety status have learned that working safely keeps them competitive and is good business. These organizations have proven, time and again, that building a safety culture is critical to success – both with employees and with profits.

Steps to success

Here’s the list:

• Executive leadership supports the safety cause with resources and leading by example.

If those in leadership roles talk safety but are unwilling to walk the talk, the culture is doomed from the start. Without support — which includes management/supervisory accountability along with employee accountability — it is simply an authoritarian, often corrupt, process.

• Conduct an effective risk assessment

This is an OSHA requirement for determining the proper selection of PPE and it is a good business practice. For the general work area and for specific tasks, identifying the hazards and finding preventive or protective measures against them creates a safer work environment, safer employees, and improved productivity. To be effective, involve front-line employees that perform the tasks to assist in the assessment. This allows for preventive and/or protective measures that will actually work rather than creating a punitive set of rules that kills productivity or is perceived as unreasonable or not needed by the employees.

• Focus on hazard recognition and correction

Yes, employers must be in compliance with regulators. Employees, however, are much more motivated around protecting quality of life and having a safe work environment with safe procedures. Employers that conduct effective risk assessments have effective procedures and the right PPE to protect their employees.

• Provide effective employee training for assigned tasks

We talk about training, but often don’t follow through to ensure effective training takes place. It takes more than ‘on-boarding’ and watching videos. World-class safety organizations ensure employees are task-trained, whether operating forklifts and cranes, using a shovel, or lubricating a machine. Part of that training includes hazard recognition and the authority to fix what they find to ensure a safer workplace.

• Focus on leading, not managing

Managers manage programs and accomplish things. Leaders develop people that support success. Management skills are important to maintain schedules, equipment, and tasks. Leadership skills are critical to develop successful people who will accomplish the managed activities.

Of course, it is the employees’ responsibility to choose to follow safe procedures and perform safe practices. It is the leaders’ responsibility to hold employees accountable.

An employer cannot perform these steps in a vacuum. Employees and supervisors must be engaged and participate in the process with the leadership team. This builds an effective safety culture within the organization that also builds trust and morale. The benefits are numerous and include reduced exposures to hazards, reduced frequency and severity of injuries, lower costs of doing business, and lower regulatory complaints and risks, to name a few.

Next steps

There is a need to remind people about hazards and proper ways to work safely. The challenge is whether anyone is listening. People don’t change their actions or practices with punitive measures, but they are likely to cooperate when they are engaged and are participating in the process.

Safety as a value means it is proactively integrated into all the processes, procedures, and employee practices. Once your focus is on hazards rather than compliance, your team will be more receptive to participate. It becomes more about quality of life rather than “doing it because OSHA says so.”

Get your front-line employees and supervisors involved. Meet with them, talk with them, listen to them, then act. Never set rules or develop procedures without your team’s input since they are the ones actually doing the tasks. Their ideas and solutions are valuable, and, after all, safety is a team effort.

If you need a starting point, look at the OSHA Top Ten and make sure you aren’t part of that low-hanging fruit. Conduct or review your risk assessment for your location. Have your front-line team review it for accuracy. If additional hazards are identified, track them until they are addressed and recognize your team for finding them.

If you are really at a loss about where to begin, help is readily available. Contact your insurance carrier, your safety equipment distributor, or a PPE manufacturer and explain what you want. Most of these entities offer expert services – many without cost to you – to help make your workplace safer. Avoid the use of regulatory assistance as a regulator is bound to act on anything found or interpreted to be out of compliance. The last thing you need is more government intrusion.

Summary

Compliance safety, behavior safety, authoritarian and punitive safety, are all dead! We must change the approach and our conversation by engaging our employees. We must change or our 100-year-old book will still be today’s headlines.