June is National Safety Month, and the National Safety Council is calling on Americans to take notice of the fifth* leading cause of death – unintentional injuries. Every four minutes someone in the U.S dies from an unintentional injury. That’s 120,000 people a year.

 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. 

The nature of our work commands a culture of safety to ensure that employees are safe no matter where their location or job function — whether a staff member is stationed at a field jobsite or works in an office environment. Gannett Fleming abides by its corporate Safety and Health Policy, which was originally adopted by the Gannett Fleming Board of Directors in 2001.

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.

IF the middle class continues to shrink, worker safety loses an important advocate. I think we are seeing the beginnings of the impact already.  When politicians openly question the value of “overly protective” safety laws and decry an overly litigious society as the bane of modern society it's because they believe saying such things will get them elected.

Kathy Seabrook, president of the American Society of Safety Engineers (ASSE), presented an overview of the top global safety and health trends to watch in 2014 on Wednesday, May 7 at an event sponsored by ASSE – “Occupational Safety & Health in Global Workforce Sustainability.” The half-day meeting was held at the National Press Club in Washington, DC.

It seems that workplace injuries are directly influenced by economic situations. As the price of raw materials increases, there is a natural tendency to take additional risks to produce more volume.  As the end of the calendar quarter approaches, there is added pressure to meet goals or deadlines.