You can’t have an ASSE professional development conference without a presentation by Dr. E. Scott Geller, one of the safety circuit’s most popular speakers and a university professor for more than 40 years.
“The Doc” is speaking this afternoon on “The Human Dynamics of Safety: 20 Safety-Management Errors with Simple Solutions.”
Says Dr. Geller in explaining his presentation: “Maintaining zero injuries requires widespread improvement in the human dynamics of organizational culture. However, safety leaders make serious mistakes that thwart employee engagement and optimization. This evidence-based presentation will define 20 of these errors and offer practical ways to overcome them, enabling the achievement of an injury-free workplace.”
Dr. Geller is currently Alumni Distinguished Professor at Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA, where he teaches psychology, and a senior founding partner in his consultancy, Safety Performance Solutions.
Writes Dr. Geller: “it’s discouraging and disappointing to see so much inaccurate information presented about people and their culture. As a result, a number of errors related to managing the human dynamics of safety are consistently made, and these can limit the beneficial impact of any safety-management process calling for authentic engagement of employees. “
Among those errors, Dr. Geller cites:
- “Asserting all accidents are preventable.”
- “Setting zero accidents as a safety goal.”
- “Proclaiming safety is our number one priority.”
- “Conducting accident investigations to find a root cause.”
- “Measuring safety excellence exclusively with injury-rate data.”
- “Believing attitude change must precede behavior change.”
- “Believing incentive/rewards are de-motivating.”
- “Believing safe habits are most desirable.”
- “Believing behavior-based safety is interpersonal observation and feedback.”
- “Doing more managing than leading.”
