Something is wrong — possibly our conventional safety management principles and science are not only losing their impact, but are now contributing to failure.
By ISHN Editor Dave Johnson, reporting from the annual VPPPA conference: Mistakes will happen, it’s human error, people are people working within the context of systems, so GE takes people out of the equation and focuses on risk, the risks of the systems that employees work within, said Ann R. Klee, the VP for Environment, Health and Safety at GE, speaking at the opening session of the 30th annual meeting of the Voluntary Protection Program Participants’ Association (VPPPA), in National Harbor, MD, outside of Washington DC.
Many private and public organizations publicize significant accomplishment of downstream safety measures, such as the reduction of injury rates. I am not fond of this recognition, but I do acknowledge that celebrating “an adequate number of injuries” seems to be a current weakness of our profession.
The American Society of Safety Engineers (ASSE) has awarded three members, Gary Barnett of Ocean New Jersey, Thomas Cecich of Apex, North Carolina and Don Jones, Sr. from Baton Rouge, Louisiana, the Fellow Honor, its highest distinction, recognizing their lifetime of commitment to worker safety and their leadership in the occupational health and safety field.
In watching many Commitment Based Safety meetings and how employees are reporting in on their contributions to their commitments for the last 24 hours there is something noteworthy going on. As we know, in a zero injury culture every employee manages his or her risks every day.
In late April, GSI Group in Bremen, Alabama, celebrated a milestone not many workplaces can hang their hat on -- four years of accident-free work. Brigitte Whaley, HR Manager at GSI Group, said the company celebrated the achievement with lunch, door prizes and giveaways for the 100 staff members who made the achievement possible.
The American Society of Safety Engineers (ASSE), the world’s oldest professional safety organization, released the second edition of its popular “Construction Safety Management and Engineering” book with updated standards and technical issues in construction.
