Take a look around and you might wonder what’s happened to the art of communication. We seldom talk to bank tellers; simply take our business to an ATM. Make AMTRAK reservations, for instance, and you talk slowly to a voice recognition system. How many companies do you call these days and get a live operator?
If you were asked to describe your personality, you could undoubtedly list a number of unique qualities you perceive in yourself as compared to others. The most prominent personality theorists and researchers, from Hippocrates to Carl Jung and Myers/Briggs, have classified people into four groupings.
Those who make their living on the road or do extensive traveling have never had an easy go of it. But now it’s getting more ridiculous by the day. I got a taste of it recently running through an airport in my socks after the security check to catch a plane on a hastily rebooked flight.
If government subsidies can get businesses to do irrational things like produce fuel ethanol from corn, just think of what subsidies could do to encourage rational, moral behavior, like preventing workplace injuries and illnesses.
One theme that struck the ISHN staff while we reviewed the “Safety That Soars” contest entries from around the country (see page 26, June issue) is this: There sure are a lot of dedicated people trying to get this safety thing right. It’s heartening to hear from the heartland.
As important as it is to be well trained, to have good equipment to work with and safe conditions to work in, it is also essential that workers be alert and conscious of their surroundings as they go about doing what they know how to do.
The jobs that EHS pros hold are based heavily in science and math, particularly when innovation is needed to achieve best practices in assuring health and safety. The following is a suggested ten-lesson plan that will help EHS pros instill greater science and math awareness for themselves — and people under their charge.
One way to determine the quality of leadership is to evaluate the behavior of the followers. I want to underscore that point in this month’s column by describing to you the unity and fierce loyalty I witnessed by the Virginia Tech community in the wake of horrific tragedy.
Many years ago, it seems another lifetime almost, I worked in safety for a paper company in the South, and then in New England. Now I am with an insurance carrier in the Atlanta area and, believe me, I’ll never venture north for work again!
RSS
