Safety Success in Your Workplace!

February 10, 2026 By Leave a Comment

Let’s Not Keep it a Secret!

Our Industry’s Focus

As I read safety newsletters and various safety stories each day, I am struck that most people are focused on safety conferences and meetings, on developing better accident investigation procedures, and on withstanding OSHA audits.

These are important professional activities for sure, but I hardly ever see stories about successful safety work with our front-line people.

There about 5,200 people getting killed at work each year so this is not a trivial problem. We need to help more people go home to their families safely.

On LinkedIn, there are frequent arguments about the best investigation procedures or interpreting some new or old theory. For example, the “Bradley Curve,” which I was a part of creating, has received a lot of criticism and discussion with made up theory about it. That’s been useless, in my view. Apparently, the Curve has been used by different organizations in many ways. I hope they have been useful. Some of the theories discussed are way out there.

We, at the DuPont Belle, West Virginia Plant had been able to make terrific progress in talking together, listening and learning together. The Curve, now known as the Bradley Curve, was merely a simple way to illustrate what we had accomplished.

success in the workplace is built on safety

An Invitation…

I would like to publish some stories in my newsletter and website about safety successes in the workplace. Many of you know my passion for helping to make workplaces safer. I am sure that some of you also share this passion.

What successes can you share about reducing the number of injuries and incidents in your workplaces? How have you engaged the people to help them work with fewer injuries? What insights have you gained as you help to lead this work?

Sharing some success stories would be great to illustrate your work and provide ideas to others.

Many of you probably have some fine stories to share, which would help to provide ideas and guidance to others. Please send your story to me so I can put it into my newsletter and website, with attribution, of course.

individuals can thrive in the workplace with safety

Please Call Me

I would love to talk with you about your story and safety, in general, so please call me at 716-622-6467. I live in the Eastern Time Zone and calls between 10:00AM and 4:00PM are welcome.

Filed Under: Safety for Business, Safety Leadership, Safety Leadership Process Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

Compliance with OSHA Standards is Important

January 12, 2026 By Leave a Comment

As I study the safety publications like Professional Safety and EHS Today, there is a lot of effort in discussing new ways to achieve better safety performance, develop better ways to do hazards investigations, evaluate accidents, and being in compliance with OSHA standards.

When I have attended American Society for Safety Professionals and American Institute of Chemical Engineers meetings and conferences, there are lots of papers focused on improving various aspects of safety for the people at work and being in compliance with OSHA standards. There are thousands of really good safety professionals doing this work.

There is also a lot of effort in developing a better understanding of OSHA Standards and rules. There is good advice on how to work effectively with OSHA. None of us want to get OSHA citations after an audit.

I remember how nervous I was when we had our occasional OSHA audits. Most of the time we had successful audits (we had complied with the Standards), but now and then we’d get a citation which then brought down a lot of criticism from upper management. Being in compliance is really important from a career and publicity perspective, so we worked really hard to meet the OSHA Standards.

Surviving an OSHA investigation without any citations is one measure of success for safety professionals. I know that it takes a lot of work to have a successful audit.

keep employees safe

Moving Beyond Compliance is Important

Another way to see how well we are doing is to look at the people getting injured or killed at work. This is not a numbers game; we are working with real people.

This is important to our companies since these tragedies can cost a lot of money for health care or have to deal with lawsuits. It can also cause bad publicity, prompt an OSHA investigation, and suffer fines, and destroy families.

Fortunately, most of the millions of businesses in the USA don’t have these problems, which gives them a feeling of success. They are in compliance. This can lull them into thinking they are doing a great safety job; then something happens and everything hits the fan.

Unfortunately, a lot of businesses do have fatalities (5,200 a year) and injuries (about 2,500,000 a year). We can’t predict which businesses will have a tragedy so many may think that it will not happen to us, and feel compliance is good enough. But compliance is not good enough, in my view. A death or serious injury are devastating to those involved and the families and loved ones never got over the loss, EVER!

work together to stay in compliance with osha and keep everyone safe

A Path Forward

When I was managing operations where we could have a fatality or serious injury, I found that partnering with the people was extremely important.

We created an environment where we could all talk together about work, share our ideas and insights freely, and learn together – all of us at all levels, contributed and shared our knowledge. contributed and learned. The collective knowledge of our organization grew and strengthened as we co-created our future. We treated each other with respect and care, maintained high standards, and addressed problems together.

As we learned together, more and more people began to contribute. We did not just work on safety – we worked on all aspects of our work.

I spent about half of my time walking among the people in the plant, getting to know the people, and building our relationships and trust. I modeled how we needed to work together so people could see that I was genuinely interested and committed to improving all we did.

I had a safety mantra:

“I do not have the right to make my living at a place where it is okay for you to get hurt.
I can’t do this all by myself, so I need your help.
We also have to make a living, so we must work together to figure out how to do all this.”

Our total performance made significant progress, people were more satisfied, we had more fun, and my job got a lot easier as we focused on our growing successes.

I would be pleased to talk with you if you would like to do this. We could do this with a Zoom or phone call. Call me (716-622-6467) to set up a meeting.

Filed Under: Safety Excellence, Safety for Business, Safety Leadership Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Leading Safety Through Partnership and Respect

December 10, 2025 By Leave a Comment

The Alcoa Transformation: A Lesson in Leadership

In October 1988, Paul O’Neill became Chairman of Alcoa, a global aluminum producer facing challenges in safety, quality, and profitability.

O’Neill recognized that true, sustainable improvement required a cultural shift – one built on open communication, respect, and recognition. He championed what I call Partner Centered Leadership, where every voice matters and information flows freely.

To enable this change, O’Neill asked all managers and supervisors to regularly ask their teams three simple questions:

  • Does everyone have all the information and resources needed to do their best?
  • Does everyone treat you with respect and consideration, every day, at every level
  • Does everyone receive recognition and honor for their contribution?

He also invited employees from all levels to contact him directly with suggestions for improvement. The results were remarkable: within a few years, Alcoa’s earnings increased fivefold, and both safety and market evaluation improved dramatically.

partnering for safety and business excellence

My Experience: Partner Centered Leadership in Action

When I served as Plant Manager at DuPont’s Belle, West Virginia facility, I independently adopted a similar approach. By engaging with employees daily – walking the plant, asking questions, and listening – I witnessed dramatic improvements:

Our injury rates dropped by about 97%,
emissions to the air, water and land dropped by 95%,
productivity rose by 40%, and
earnings went up 300% in just four years.

These results were not achieved by imposing top-down directives, but by building trust, sharing information, and working together. Over time, our culture shifted organically – people contributed more, leadership became easier, and our values for safety, quality, and respect became the foundation of our success.

Building a Positive Workplace This Holiday Season

As we enter the Christmas holiday season, let’s bring cheer and positivity into our workplaces. Treat each other with kindness and consideration, keep divisive politics out of the workplace, and focus on building a supportive environment. Remember, even in diverse settings like the International Space Station, shared values and mutual respect enable people to thrive together. We can do the same.

approach the new year for safety and partnership

Key Takeaways on Safety and Partnership

  • Open communication, respect, and recognition are the foundation of a strong safety culture.
  • Simple, consistent questions can drive meaningful change.
  • Sustainable improvement comes from partnership, not top-down mandates.
  • A positive workplace is built by everyone, every day.

Reflection on Safety

What’s one thing you can do this week to foster a safer, more respectful workplace? You don’t have to wait until the new year – you can start right now! Call me to learn more. Ask me questions!

Filed Under: Safety for Business, Safety Leadership, Safety Partnership Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,

Cold times are here… Watch Out for Black Ice

November 11, 2025 By Leave a Comment

The strong, fall winds are blowing hard. The temperatures are dropping.

With roads and driveways wet, and cold winds blowing, the risk of black ice becomes real. So it is timely to raise our awareness to this lurking risk.

expect the unexpected with black ice

When I was in college – about this time of year – one morning I set out on my bicycle to class. (Yes, bicycle!). Things went fine until I hit a patch of black ice, WOW! What a crash. Books and papers everywhere and me laying flat on my back wondering what hit me. Fortunately, I was not hurt.

Another time I was walking to work and we had a light dusting of snow. It was quite pretty with everything having a slight snow cover. As I was walking, I stepped onto a small patch of snow on the sidewalk. Under it was a sheet of black ice. I crashed so hard and fast that I was really shocked and had a good bump on my head. Fortunately, nothing came of the bump, but falls like this can be serious, even fatal.

I spun a car around early one morning as I drove onto a bridge. Fortunately, no other cars were there as it was very early morning, so nothing serious happened. I was lucky.

watch out for black ice

In all these stories, I was lucky that things were not more serious. In each of these, the black ice was a complete surprise. I was not expecting it at all. That is the way black ice is. It is almost invisible and very slippery, especially when covered in a dusting of snow. (I should have been more attentive to the potential risk of black ice.)

Please keep an eye out for yourselves as you get going in the morning, so you do not get into a black ice adventure.

I’m reminded how experiencing the surprise of black ice fits perfectly in the seasonal safety slogan of Expect the Unexpected.

Filed Under: Safety Excellence Tagged With: , , , , ,

The Safe Acts Audit…A Key to Safety in Businesses

October 10, 2025 By Leave a Comment

In many of my safety blogs, I have emphasized the importance of conversations so we can all learn and grow together.

The conversations brought us all together and helped us to achieve excellent business and safety results. As we became increasingly successful in our work, we introduced a new safety audit we called The Safe Acts Audit. It is very useful and powerful; we used it extensively.

the safe acts audit - leading indicator of the safety climate

Each week, the safety team of 2-3 people would walk out into the plant among the people, looking at how they were working. We wanted to observe people doing things right.

The auditors would just walk among the people and watch. They did not stop to talk; they just cruised around the plant at random times for about an hour, 2-3 times each week. They would observe 40-60 people each time, and if (by chance) they saw anyone working unsafely,* they would deduct a point or two from the beginning Safe Acts Index number of 100%.

(*Certainly, if the observed behavior of working unsafely was blatant, the person’s supervisor was immediately notified to prevent a potential injury; however, the intent of the audit was purely to observe and record what was being done correctly. It’s a whole different type of audit when you’re looking for the good things, not the negative.)

Most of the time the Index would indicate that 95-98% of the observations were of people working safely. It gave us a very easy way to sense what was happening. We also found that it was an excellent leading indicator. The Safe Acts Audit is not to be confused with a Gemba Walk. Remember, this Safe Acts Audit was simply to observe people, and to record the number of observations of people working safely – that’s the bottom line.

After a year or so, most of us did Safe Acts Audits every time we went into the plant. These were mostly impromptu, and the official Index number was the one generated by the safety people. There is some subjectivity in doing this audit so we thought that the official number should be generated by the same people to reduce the variability of the Index.

Using the Safe Acts Index

Over time, we realized that the Safe Acts Index was a sensitive, leading indicator of the safety climate.

If the Index fell in any audit by 5-10%, there would likely be a recordable injury within the next 3 days. We had to immediately raise everyone’s awareness of the potential, and the need to work more carefully. We did this in several ways.

One way was to put a traffic stop light at the pedestrian gates; a green light indicated that we were doing okay; a yellow light indicated a drop in the Safe Acts Index; and a red light meant we had had a recordable injury somewhere on the plant. With the yellow light all of us would talk more about the safety and hold better toolbox meetings each day, simply to raise awareness.

Another way to raise awareness was to have all eight of us on the leadership team greet everyone coming into work on each shift for a day, reminding them of the need to be more aware, sharing that our Safe Act Audit numbers were indicating we need to all increase our awareness of doing our jobs safely, and that we do not want to see anyone be injured.

Another way was to publish a safety caution in the emails and newsletters we used. We also put cautions onto the login screens of their computers.

safety audit significance

Conclusion

All this communication effort was done with respect and caring. We wanted people to know that we cared and that we all had to work together so we could all go home safely to our families.

Doing the Safe Acts Audit was easy and a highly effective part of our total safety effort, contributing to helping us reduce our injury rate by about 97% in four years. It was a positive audit – seeking to raise people’s awareness to do our work safely and to watch out for each other.

There were 1,100 people working at the plant, so using our safety index as a way to look at our performance was reliable. By working together to improve our total performance, including safety, we did not suffer the problem of under reporting, but we kept a keen eye on that potential, so it did not develop.

If you’d like to know about how important this Safe Acts Audit process is or how you could adopt it for your organization, please give me a call at 716-622-6467.

Filed Under: Safety for Business, Safety Leadership Tagged With: , , , , , , , , ,

Building Relationships…One Conversation at a Time

September 10, 2025 By Leave a Comment

In my view, reducing injuries and incidents is strongly related to our relationship with our people in the organization.

We build these relationships by talking together, treating each other with respect, listening and learning together, deciding what we need to do together, and doing it with integrity.

In doing these things, here is a simple list of subjects we can talk about and build upon to build relationships. You may have other things to talk about.

  • Who are we as individuals and together?
    • Do you know the people with whom you are working?
    • Do you talk about the work together?
  • Do you talk about what you are trying to do?
    • Do you talk about how to do the work better and more safely?
    • Do you talk about the customers you are serving?
    • Do you talk about your team and how they are doing? Does everyone know we need to be a team and that bullying and/or sexual harassment are out of bounds?
    • Does everyone know that all forms of workplace violence are not okay?
  • Does everyone know why you are doing this particular work before you?
    • Do you know the quality and safety standards?
    • Do the people feel that it is okay to talk honestly about these things?
    • Do people feel confident that they can stop work if they see a safety or quality problem, without any negative repercussions?
  • Does everyone know the production schedules and when things need to be done?
    • Does everyone know about the flexibility in the schedules?
    • Do the people put the right emphasis on fixing a safety problem? Some fixes can wait for a break in the schedule, but some need to be fixed now!
    • In your conversations, do you talk about the subtle things like creep and drift from the required procedures?
  • Does everyone know where to go to get help to get things done properly, without cutting corners or taking short-cuts?
    • Do people know where all the PPE is located and how to use it properly?
    • Does everyone view the safety people as guides and experts?
    • Do the line supervisors participate in these discussions regularly, so they are up to date on things?
    • Do you talk about safety being a line responsibility; the supervisor is in charge and the safety person is an advisor and expert?
    • Do you talk about the bottom line – that everyone gets to go home at the end of their shift with their eyes, ears, legs, arms, and all body parts intact?
  • Does everyone really know how to do their job and look out for the others on their team?
    • Do you talk together about the proper qualifications for the work?
    • Do you talk about keeping the training and development work up to date?
    • Do you talk about surprises in doing the work that can help or cause problems?

safety professionals building relationships

Change Happens One Conversation At a Time

These kinds of conversations are important and need to be done every day, to build relationships. Some variation of these conversations is fine. If we think that we can do these once a month and mark our check list, then we miss the point and will have little positive impact. This is about integrating caring conversations of consequence into our daily interactions.

Daily conversations about one or the other of these questions will have a big impact over time. We’re talking about meaningful, constructive change for better safety, quality, and productivity. Each of these small conversations are like grains of sand falling in an hourglass.

The potential energy slowly builds and then one day, positive change will happen. Most of the changes will be small, some will be bigger, and some will make a huge difference. We can’t predict when or where the changes will happen, but they will happen.

We have to be persistent in our conversations, look for weak signs of change, and celebrate success. Ultimately, these conversations build solid, safety-minded strength into our team’s and relationships.

This is the stuff that I did as plant manager, and the results were amazing. Over a 4-year period, all of us together cut our injury rates by 97%, emissions dropped by 95% and earnings rose by 300%. I can’t claim credit for these improvements; everyone contributed because they wanted to make things better.

authenticity and integrity can build relationships and workplace safety

Safety Is About Having People Go Home To Their Families IN One Piece

Did you ever complete the investigation of a tragic, fatal accident by going to the funeral of the person who lost their life in your facilities? Have you talked with the family and apologized for that terrible event? Have you felt the depth of the tragedy? It never goes away for them. You do not want to have to do this.

Go talk with the people. Listen, learn, and act together.

Filed Under: Safety for Business, Safety Leadership, Safety Partnership Tagged With: , , , , , , , , ,

Decades of Non-Improvement in Key Safety Stats Reveal Concerns

August 25, 2025 By Leave a Comment

Let’s try to climb out of this hole for the safety of our employees!

As you know, I have been talking for a long time about the need to reduce the number of people being killed at work and safety statistics have shown why there’s concern.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics has reported that about 5,200 people have died at work for each of the last 10 years. With all the people working diligently in the safety business, I expect that most people would think that these numbers should be getting lower and lower, but they are not going down.

Many ideas, models, and theories have been suggested, but we are not seeing a decline in the number of people getting killed. I wonder if there may be a deep, subtle force at work. The way we look at the people in the organization and think about them could be a key.

climbing out of the hole with safety statistics

Descriptions Are Critical

The most common label we apply to the people in organizations is “Employee.” This is a name for the contract between them and their employer. Most of us use this term to refer to anyone reporting to us in our organizations.

This may be troublesome in subtle ways because it carries a lot of baggage.

As their supervisor, one could feel you have the power to tell them what to do, to scold them, discipline them, make all sorts of demands on them, blame them for mistakes, not listen to them, even bully them. Many (uncaring and unenlightened) supervisors treat them as less than us, not as smart as us, etc. Employees can be seen as things which we can just move around (like puzzle pieces) as we please – all while being quite nice, but they can see right through this.

Most people do not like to be treated this way. All these employee-focused behaviors prevent trust from building. It blocks learning and performance from improving. We can push safety improvements very hard, but most of the time only get to compliance, which is where most organizations are stuck. Compliance does not get the organization to excellence.

Everything Changed

When I learned to think of the people as “people,” everything changed.

There were still differences in roles and responsibilities, but we are all people with similar hopes and desires as I have. They had good intelligence, knew a lot that I did not know, and wanted to make a positive difference. We all wanted to work safely, have the business succeed, and feel better about ourselves.

People do want to go home from their work shift with all their body parts intact. We were partners in this work. We treated each other with respect, told the truth, shared almost all information except personal stuff, helped each person to see the importance of their work, gave and received feedback. Bullying and harassment virtually disappeared. It was safe for us to talk together and share our ideas and thinking, to find better and safer ways to accomplish our tasks.

Partner-Centered Leadership Makes the Big Difference in Safety!

We discussed the work together to find better, safer ways to do it. People learned to make decisions to solve their own problems. More decisions were made close to the actual work. We coached each other. People self-organized within the boundaries we set together. The collective intelligence of the whole organization rose and got a lot better. Great ideas emerged from all around. Energy and excitement grew. Everything changed as we learned and grew together.

highly participative leadership process produces much better results that the top-down management process

My role as plant manager became much easier as more and more people pitched in and contributed. With so many making contributions, our total performance improved with the number of injuries dropping by 97%, emissions to the air, water and earth dropping by 95% and earnings rising by 300%. We used these metrics to keep track of things, but we led the improvements by partnering.

As we (as people) learned to partner this way, all the ways we worked together changed having a positive impact on all we did. This would not have worked if we had tried to stove pipe it and just do it for safety. Everything is connected and interacts so working on the whole systems is critical.

This effort to create a better way to safely and more economically do our work was not easy.

At first, standards had to be reestablished, which was difficult. People needed to know that we were determined to improve and quit hurting people. There was a serious problem with bullies who were blocking improvements. In the first two years I had to terminate about 30 people (there were 1,300 people at the Plant) for flagrant safety and bullying problems. Things got a lot better after this first difficult period. Most people want to have a safe environment and not have to deal with bullies.

We also promoted the most qualified people as openings developed to lead different parts of our efforts. We needed the best quality of thinking and working together in order to be really successful. We wanted to be good, not just look good! We became one of the best performing plants in the DuPont Company, in just 4 years.

climbing out of the hole for safety

Conclusion

We call this way of working “Partner-Centered Leadership.” It applies to all we do. Just a simple shift in how we think about things leads to big changes in everything.

I urge all of you to think about the people as people, build relationships of respect, trust and open communications.

I would be pleased to talk with any of you about this if you would like to do that. Please call me a 716-622-6467. I live in the Eastern Time Zone; calling between 9:00 am and 4:00 pm would be best.

Filed Under: Safety for Business, Safety Leadership Process, Safety Partnership Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

Partnering Workplace Safety and Artificial Intelligence

July 10, 2025 By Leave a Comment

The Artificial Intelligence (AI) Offering

There are great hopes that Artificial Intelligence (AI) will make workplace safety easier and better.

I think that this can be a trap – potentially inhibiting us from actually reducing the number of people being killed and injured at work each year (~5,200 fatalities and ~2,400,000 serious injuries a year for the last 10 years; Bureau of Labor Statistics). Please understand: It is prudent to have some wariness so that we remain focused on what it will take to make sure our people go home at the end of their shift in the same way they arrived, with their arms, legs, eyes, ears, all intact.

There are thousands of good safety people working to improve things in real-time and Artificial Intelligence (AI) is the next great hope for improvement in broader know-how: computer generations, algorithms, which may be very important – depending on how we apply the new “learning”. AI is indeed one of the technology megatrends that are shaping the future of work. That includes the future of workplace safety. The area of ergonomics, computer-interactive safety training, and predictabilities come to mind, as prime for AI applicability – indeed, they are already in place.

But make no mistake: There’s a balancing dance to do…of AI innovation and the human aspect of our workplace. Although AI offers powerful tools and notable progress, it is necessary not to lose sight of the human element in day-to-day workplace safety. AI should complement and enhance human capabilities.

As you know AI scans a huge amount of information and will feedback interesting summaries. All we have to do is to frame a question and ask AI to give us an answer. It is really fast and often the answer is plausible. There are a lot of AI models already functioning, so you need to choose the correct one to answer your question.

Just about everything on the internet is scanned, which is really impressive. This information can be quite useful, provided you really think about it and see how it connects with your experience and knowledge. Does it make sense? Is it really answering your question? How does it fit your situation?

artificial intelligence and workplace safety

Workplace Safety

Every workplace is unique. Real workplace safety is a local experience. The safety approach we need is highly specific to each and every workplace. Each person working there needs to think about their situation, look at it and talk about it with their co-workers to figure out the best and safest way to do the job. None of this specific workplace’s situation and information is on the internet so an AI search cannot really apply to their specific situation. The people doing the work need to take the responsibility together to use their specific resources (other people, PPE, develop a better procedure, etc.).

Expecting AI to tell you what to do is like having the plant manager or CEO who is sitting in her/his office and thinking that they really know your job and then giving you specific instructions on how to do the work.

Artificial Intelligence is a faster version of the “work-as-imagined and work-as-done” situation, which a lot has been written and covered in thousands of workshops and lectures. We close the AI/ real workplace gap in the same way as we have learned to close it in other situations.

artificial intelligence and workplace safety

AI Use

AI is a powerful, challenging tool that must be used wisely and its output used cautiously. Dr. Michael Lissack has written about using AI in his new book, Augmented Science, which is available from Amazon. He thoroughly investigates a number of aspects of AI and has many questions and insights to consider.

AI is not something to just jump into without some serious training:

  • What is your organization’s policy about how to use it?
  • Are people trained to navigate the AI programs?
  • If someone blindly follows an AI recommendation and it does not work, who is responsible?
  • What are the biases in the AI program which can impact its output?

Your organization needs to do some deep thinking about how to build the proper relationship with AI so that it can be used to help us work better. But remember: AI does not have your specific situation in the database so it cannot give you answers to your specific needs. For more information, the May 2024 issue of Safety+Health magazine provides a valuable overview for all safety people and supervisors.

Everything works through people. Treat each other with respect, listen and learn together and use AI wisely and carefully. Call me, 716-622-6467, and let’s chat!

Filed Under: Safety Excellence, Safety for Business Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Consulting or Facilitating…Which Works Best?

June 10, 2025 By Leave a Comment

Do you know the difference between consulting or facilitating?

If you google consulting or facilitating, here’s what you’ll find…

  • A consultant is a person who provides expert advice within a particular field, i.e., safety, quality, leadership, security, HR, etc. A facilitator, on the other hand, has a depth and breadth of expertise in process (that can be applied to most problem-solving situations). The organization has a good understanding of the subject matter, yet they need help processing the information and thinking it through to make the best decision for the organization. That’s a facilitator.

Consulting

Consultants are people who have studied a particular subject and developed a training method to sell it so they can make a living. Many people do this quite successfully. This is a pretty competitive business. Some big companies have developed out of successful consulting practices. Their goal is to apply their specific knowledge and fill the need that an organization, team or company may have.

In my experience when a safety consultant was hired to come into our plant, they were quite polished and presented their program very well. The people in my group would sit quietly listening to the offering and trying to make sense as it applied to our work. Often there would be good ideas and techniques presented. The consultants were clearly geared to fix us and make us work more safely.

But they had some big challenges. They did not know us as people, nor the real situations that we faced in our work. They did not care or have enough time to get to know anyone. They would spend a day or two and be off to their next client. Because of this their credibility was shaky. Trust levels were not very good.

As we listened to their presentations, we would begin to pick them apart in our minds. They were the experts so we could just sit back and listen (superficially). When they left, we would talk about how their ideas fit with us, or not. After a couple of days, we were doing things just as we had always done them with someone getting hurt now and then. If things did not work out, we would blame it on the consultant. It is fair, however, to note that there were often valuable nuggets of information that we gleaned and utilized.

The consultants had a very narrow focus on their particular task. They would try to get us to change the way we worked to be safer. I have found that ,over the years, trying to change and improve safety in an organization that struggles with bullies, tolerates lying and coverups, and other dysfunctional behaviors does not work. The dysfunctional behaviors crush the new ways of doing things and the new changes are not sustainable.

which is best - consulting or facilitating

Facilitating

Facilitators are people who help us to solve our own problems. They are highly trained on the safety rules and procedures, but they do not give us a lecture.

The best facilitators were people from our own organization who knew us and helped us to talk together about how to work more safely and solve our own problems. However, we hired good facilitators to join us, too. We would sit together, walk around together, talk about the work, and develop the best way to get it done effectively and safely.

They would ask us questions and help us to think things through. They knew the right questions to ask. They were not there to dictate how to do something as if we had no brains. They were there as partners in the whole effort to work more effectively. We were self-organizing and solving our own problems.

When the facilitators were with us, we began to see things differently, to think differently, help each other, listen, and learn together. We took responsibility for ourselves, each other and the work; we cared. And we learned to keep improving by using after-action reviews.

Our facilitators were available all the time in case we had some questions or needed help. The facilitators were often people in supervision who partnered with us. Sometimes a front-line person like an operator or mechanic or secretary became skilled facilitators. They were skilled because they knew the best process (or framework or model) to effectively facilitate the group and its problem/concern.

We shared information about the work, the necessary tools and procedures, the hazards, the precautions we needed to take to be both compliant with the rules and able to do the work quickly and well. We made sure that people felt mentally and physically fit to do the work. Then when the job was done, we’d talk about how it went and how we could do it better next time.

As we worked this way, all the other aspects of our work culture became more positive and supportive. When the whole organizational culture becomes more positive and supportive, everything, including safety gets better.

To really improve the organization and the safety,
we need skilled facilitators!

What do you need for your organization? Consulting or facilitating?

Note: I would be remiss if I did not share that the Process Enneagram©, which I created 25 years ago, has turned out to be an extraordinary process tool for use in effecting positive organizational change. See my book, The Leadership Dance: Pathways to Extraordinary Organizational Effectiveness, on Amazon. Call me, I’ll be happy to help you learn to use this tool.

Filed Under: Safety Leadership, Safety Leadership Process, The Process Enneagram© Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,

Leading Safety in the Midst of Change is Important for Business

May 10, 2025 By Leave a Comment

The amount of change and the rate of change in the middle of DOGE is huge.

Different accounts and stories about what is happening swirl around like a storm. Organizations like NIOSH and OSHA are having to make adjustments for safety. Depending on the report, the stories of partial or even total elimination abound. Those of us outside the inner circles really do not know the details of what is happening, so we can get quite worked up about it all.

Some of the work being done in NIOSH may be vital in trying to improve workplace safety, but some of it may not be very important. From the outside, it is hard to tell. Hopefully any cuts in budget will focus on the less important work. NIOSH has been around for 50 years, and I’m told they’ve done much in the research end of safety and health.

As many of you know I have been asking why our fatality and injury rates are stuck at around 5,200 and 2.400,000 cases, respectively, for about the last 10 years. I do not know how the work of NIOSH directly impacts the workplace and in what ways their work has made the most difference. Based on the number of fatalities and injuries, you can make a case that NIOSH had very little impact so budget cutting may be the correct approach.

OSHA works closer to the actual workplace, thus having a more positive impact. But, again, the fatality and injury rates are not coming down so they may need to find out why that is.

I am more concerned about any OSHA budget cuts because OSHA is already spread very thin. OSHA has been around since 1970…can anyone say that our workplaces would be as safe as they are or that people would follow the safety rules that are in place without OSHA being the enforcer?

safety and security are the goals at the end of the day

We Can Do a Lot Ourselves for Safety

Even though all the changes and cuts are happening, we can do a lot in our own workplaces at the local, company level to make a difference.

Workplace safety is a local issue, which we at the local level can impact regardless of all the other changes going on. What is the mindset we each can hold as to whether we will go home from the workplace today and every day with all our fingers, toes, legs, arms, eyes, and ears intact? What about how well we look out for our co-workers being able to also return home from work with body and mind wholeness?

We can work directly with our people to help improve the total safety performance.

We can help our organizations get a whole lot better in all aspects of our work, not just in safety. We need to help all the people in the whole workplace to work more purposefully together. We need to treat each other with respect. Listen to each other. Help each other to share information more abundantly. Listen carefully to each other so we can learn together. We need to help people find meaning in their work and have more satisfaction with themselves.

safety and security in the business still can be profitable

When we work together doing these kinds of things, the whole workplace becomes much more open and healthier.

People do not have to fear that they will get punished in some way when they speak up and make suggestions. These kinds of behaviors positively impact all we do. In an environment like this, we can all learn and grow together.

I think that the only way we can create sustainable improvements in safety is to create a climate where everything in the organization is improving. And where people work to keep each other safe.

When I was the Plant Manager at a big plant that was having terrible performance problems, we on the Leadership Team decided to become the best producer and supplier of chemicals to our customers through improving all aspects of our work.

We focused on safety. environmental performance, people development, quality, customer service, costs, and our relationship with our community. Our total culture improved dramatically over the next 4 years, our injury rate dropped by 97%, emissions dropped by 95%, productivity rose by 45%, and earnings rose by 300%.

In the Midst of Great Change, We Can Do a Lot To Get Better!

We can take charge and sail our ships successfully in this great storm!

Call me at 716-622-6467 and let’s discuss how!

Filed Under: Safety for Business, Safety Leadership, Safety Partnership Tagged With: , , , , , , , , ,
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