Safety Challenges are Still With Us!
In times like this, when the business and production activities are ramping up, there is a real danger that safety problems will show up. Any time the level of activity changes, up or down, is a time of danger.
Talk with the people about these issues as well. Every day have tool box or pre-start meetings to talk about the challenges for the day. Ask the people what their biggest hazards are for the day and what they are doing to prepare for them and to protect themselves and the processes. At the end of the day, have another safety conversation and reflect on the day and whether the things that they talked about at the start really helped. Talk about the surprise for the day and how they overcame these challenges.
Keep the safety dialogue going. One of the best ways to show that you really care about the people is to work hard on the safety front. Go into the workplaces, listen, talk together, and build collaboration, helping everyone to work towards a healthy, safe and profitable business.
It will not be easy as people are returning to the workplace. Leaders and managers must get out of their offices and purposefully engage with the people. They need to talk about the COVID-19 problem, share what is happening, and talk about the problems with which they are dealing. They need to do this with openness, honesty, respect, and caring. This is not just a one-off contact; leaders and managers need to engage in these conversations every day!
I have abstracted it here for those reading this newsletter since you may have missed it.
In all cases, the healthcare provider and local health department should be consulted.
This pandemic has created a lot of change and instability in our society. The FDA and the CDC have changed or suspended many rules and regulations in order to attack the pandemic and save lives. It is a period of high energy and creativity as people everywhere are coming up with ways to help people. Industries have shifted to making PPE-like face masks. The foodservice industry has shifted to take out and delivery. This creativity and positive energy is gratifying.
Like all flus, we need to take it seriously and take appropriate steps to protect ourselves and our families. I have read a lot about what employers should do to protect their employees, which makes sense, but it sounds as if they are running a kindergarten class. OSHA has declared the flu as a recognized workplace hazard, so employers do have a responsibility to do what they can to protect the people, but there is a lot we can do for ourselves.
The pain and suffering is miserable.
Changes are coming fast and furious. Everything seems to be changing all around us. This can cause unsettling feelings and a loss of control. However, in the middle of all this change, one area that can be steady for us is our relationships with each other.
Artificial intelligence and robots, block chains and bitcoins, the opioid epidemic, political strife, and workplace violence, international worries and potential conflicts are some of the challenges facing all of us. There is a critical need for people, in all walks of life, to come together to openly and honestly talk about our challenges, share our thinking and learn together. We do not have to be blindly swept along. We can make decisions and do the things that we need to do to help to make the world a better place.
When I talk about safety. my thinking goes well beyond the traditional safety numbers, training and procedures. It includes ideas about respect and how everyone has agreed to work together. It includes ideas about personal responsibility, integrity and dedication to helping everyone improve. It includes openness, honesty and sharing information abundantly. It includes ideas about the deeper, often hidden patterns of behavior which have a profound impact on the work environment and drive much of the behavior. It includes the fact that the managers and leaders have the largest impact on their organization’s performance. It includes the understanding that managers focus on reliability, stability, predictability and control as they try to maintain the status quo and that leaders focus on the people, change and the future sharing information abundantly, treating people with respect and helping people find meaning in their work. Both good leaders and managers are needed.
This begins with the leaders deciding to create a culture where it is okay and encouraged that people genuinely talk together, listen, help each other, look out for each other and learn together. This is a culture that helps people to be the best they can be and for the organization to get a lot more profitable. It all begins with all of us treating each other with respect.
This is the sort of culture that Eric Hollnagel is talking about in his Safety II work, which is intended to move the organization beyond the traditional top-down safety management. (I’ve written about Safety II in previous articles – it is all good!)
There have been five fatalities since the project began. All five of the fatalities have been “struck-by” incidents. The most recent occurred about October 1st, when a beam slipped off a piece of equipment and struck a worker on the head. One person was hit by a dump truck. Another died when he was hit by a piece of steel equipment. The fourth person died when a rebar cage fell on him, and the fifth person was killed when he was hit in the head by a pipe.
