Caring for Each Other: How to Hold Those Meaningful Conversations!

August 12, 2016 By Leave a Comment

Richard-ASSE-Conference2016In my June 29th presentation at the American Society of Safety Engineers 2016 Professional Development Conference, I discussed the fact that one of the best ways for the safety professional attending the talk to help to improve the safety performance in their workplaces was to show the people that they cared about them and to enable them to make decisions about their specific work. I want to elaborate on these ideas in this newsletter. This is not just for the safety professional. This is for every team leader, supervisor, and workgroup leader. Going into your workplaces and opening up the conversations is a journey; each time you do this it gets easier and more effective. (Caring, Understanding and Openness!)

Meaningful caring to me means that we treat each other with respect as adults.

  • As managers and supervisors we get out of our offices and go into the workplace.
  • Help people to see that it is okay to talk together and be open with each other.
  • We sit down together in their work place and have a cup of coffee together. We are not in a hurry just trying to make some specified number of contacts.
  • We share the truth together as best we can knowing that today’s truth may be different than the truth for tomorrow because the world keeps changing, and reminding them that you’ll be back tomorrow if things have changed.
  • We ask about how we each are doing. How is the day going? What good things are happening? What have we learned today or over the last few days? We listen to what we each are saying.
  • We try to build on each other’s good ideas.
  • We talk about how the business is doing? We talk about the contributions we are making to the success of the business.
  • We discuss problems together sharing our viewpoints and seeking possible solutions. If people ask you questions which you can’t answer, tell them you do not know and will get back to them…then do it. We pay attention to the dynamics and do not over stay our visit.

As we get to know each other better we begin to explore what is really going on around here.

  • Are we really doing what we say we want to be doing?
  • How can our communications get clearer and better?
  • What is the rumor mill saying? Talk together about the rumors and clear them up.
  • Do you see better ways to go after the problems around here than we are doing? What are we missing?
  • Are there hidden elephants we need to be addressing?
  • When we have made a mistake, we own up to it and say we are sorry. We ask for their help.
  • Are there better ways that you see to get your job done well?
  • What information do you need to get your work done more effectively? Let’s talk some more about your good ideas and see if you can make some improvements.
  • What is going on over and over that is really bugging you?

As you get to know the people even better, there will be opportunities to inquire about how the family is doing. You can ask…how the kids are doing in their sports and schoolwork, ask if there are things that you can be doing to help them, ask how everyone’s health is, etc. You need to use good judgment as you get into these personal conversations and not push things too far into their privacy, by accident.

These are the kinds of conversations that most of us would like to have with our own managers. How many times have you wanted to talk together with them to share an idea or problem and have not had a chance to do it? How often do you get to talk with your boss’s boss? What is important and good for you in talking with your boss is about the same as for you talking with the people in your organization about the things that are important to them.

We are all partners in making our workplaces to become healthier, physically and mentally, and helping the people in them to be the best they can be. This is a key element of Partner-Centered Safety!

Filed Under: Safety for Business Tagged With: , ,

Conceptualize “Caring” in Your Workplace! Then Conceptualize “Tragic Fatality” in Your Workplace!

August 10, 2016 By Leave a Comment

construction safetyEighty (80) pages and counting…that’s how far I got while perusing the numerous pages for the 2015 fatalities logged on OSHA reports – there were still many names and circumstances yet to read.

Each one of the entries represents a real person – who has a name, a family, a job, and was doing a task within his/her workplace. I also looked at the OSHA count for 2014 and the total fatalities in the workplace that year numbered 4,821.

Think about this tragic loss of life. 4,821 is a big number made up of 1+1+1+1 + another, another, another, and each single number is not just a number…it is connected to a personal name. Having recently visited the 911 Memorial in New York City, it really drives home the importance of an individual – a named individual. The visual has such meaning.

Making a living shouldn’t have to cost you your life. As Dr. David Michaels, Assistant Secretary of Labor for Occupational Safety and Health notes,workplace fatalities, injuries, and illnesses are preventable.

Employers and Employees share responsibility for safety. We say that we care. We know that we care deeply when we are touched by the closeness of a tragic injury to someone we know – we’re able to put a face and a name to the number. Yet, how many times have you tuned out during a safety meeting, thinking that the subject was boring, or giving only lip-service, believing it can’t happen here.

If only we all understood that every single safety rule has been written in blood. Meaning someone, somewhere, somehow was hurt badly enough that rules emerged to prevent a recurrence. Yet, the OSHA logs keep growing, showing real time statistics. We have a lot of caring to demonstrate!

Conceptualize real caring. What does it look like in your workplace? In the 80’s, there was something called a “Unity Triangle,” which was a useful model…to strive for commitment within a team structure in a way that demonstrates caring, understanding and openness (all three) so that individual growth is stimulated while team efforts are increasingly directed toward achieving safe workplaces, and organizational alignment of goals.

The learning is this:

Unity-Triangle

Ponder this: We can have safe workplaces. We can have involved, caring, individual, safe-minded employees. We can understand that safety rules are written in blood and we can be open about connecting with our coworkers to keep learning and remaining diligent in keeping each other safe. We can be open to reaching out in ways we may not have done before; we can be open to achieving full Safety alignment…by everyone in the workplace, in our teams, individually and collectively.

That’s unity…that’s being aligned on the principle that making a living (anywhere) shouldn’t have to cost a real person his/her life…none of us are numbers. We are a Team, with named individuals, committed to the betterment of our collective workplace.

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

Brother’s and Sister’s Keepers

May 11, 2016 By Leave a Comment

human-dominoesHardly any of us can do our best work all by ourselves.

We need teammates to help us stay focused and be fully present to our work. None of us can see all that is happening around us so someone to be our keeper is critical to our safety. We need someone to remind us if we are hurrying or preoccupied. We can do a much better take-two pre-start-up check if we have someone there with us looking, thinking about and talking over the work before us.

Here are some things that we need to be doing as a Brother’s/Sister’s Keeper.

  • We can keep alert about someone being in danger because we notice that they are preoccupied.
  • We can look for potential safety hazards, and talk about them with our teammates.
  • We can check to see if our safety procedures are consistent and adequate for the job we are about to begin.
  • We can talk with our brothers and sisters about looking for some really unexpected event or condition that could kill one of us.
  • We can talk with our teammates about the elephants that are blocking us and messing up our work.
  • We can help to check the OSHA rules and procedures to be sure we are in compliance.
  • We can stop the job if we see it is going unsafely.
  • We can help to be sure that we have the right tools for the work before us.
  • We can ensure that we (alone or together) do not take shortcuts.
  • There are lots of things we can do as a Brother’s/Sister’s Keeper and we can be open and receptive to the Brother or Sister looking after us.

Sometimes the events can roll out like a string of dominos. Some little thing at the beginning tips over, bumping into the next domino and so on until we have a big, ugly event. Brother’s and Sister’s can help us to see these little events and avoid the big one that comes like a snowball rolling down a hill.

Being a brother or sister goes both ways – I look after you and you look after me. This is a deep responsibility for us to be doing so that no one gets hurt or killed and we all get the job done to the highest standards.

Brothers and Sisters are really important when we dig more deeply into the real issues behind an observed hazard. Two or three people who are looking for and thinking about the deeper issues are much more likely to find the real, basic problem behind the hazard and be able to eliminate or minimize it. They can also help to find the best ways to circumvent a hazard; two minds are better than one!

Being our Brother’s and Sister’s Keepers is a deep responsibility we all have. None of us have a right to work in a place where it is okay for someone to get hurt. Taking on the roles and responsibilities of being our Brother’s and Sister’s Keepers is a big step in moving the organization’s safety performance beyond compliance towards excellence.

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

Caring: Displaying Kindness and Concern for Others

April 18, 2016 By Leave a Comment

A few days ago, I had the opportunity to hear Mark Breslin, a professional speaker, author and strategist (Breslin Strategies), talk about his approach to going beyond compliance in safety performance.

He made the point that the two most important things to people in the workplace are:

  • to be sincerely praised and recognized; authenticity is key
  • to be given the opportunity to make decisions; autonomy

People need to know that management cares. These important ideas are quite consistent with some of our ideas in Partner-Centered Safety.

construction safetyIn our Partner-Centered Safety realm, we go beyond this to having everyone (the people on the floor, the supervisors, the managers, and all the others) feel they are cared about. Caring means helping each other, listening to each other, sharing information, being respectful, asking for help and receiving it, looking out for each other, saying we are sorry when we make a mistake, and treating each other as whole persons. Just what caring means for people is something on which they should all agree. Management, alone, should not do it for their approach can often be quite patronizing – treating the people in the work place as if they are children. All the people, at all levels, together, need to come up with their ideas about what caring is for them. Management should not try to dictate the answers, but management needs to open up and lead this discussion about caring or it will not be addressed. Caring is visible; as is non-caring. Partner-Centered Safety is visible caring. Mistreatment of people is non-caring.

For example, in one plant making large pumps to fracture gas wells, there was a serious injury when a guy tried to hoist a 3,200-pound pump with a 2,000-pound rated overhead crane. The pump fell onto the employee’s hand causing serious damage. When I was talking about this with another man on an adjacent work table about 10 feet away, I asked him if he had seen what was happening. He said he had. When I asked why he did not stop the work, he said that he was not the other guy’s boss. They had never talked about caring and what it meant to them. This is certainly not caring! Being your brother’s/sister’s keeper was a foreign concept.

In another example, when we have bullies in the workplace, they cause huge destruction in shutting down communications. How can there be an authentic and caring atmosphere with bullies contaminating the environment by picking on people when they speak up and try to contribute. Sometimes, the bully is in supervision, which makes matters worse. Management must deal with them for they are extremely destructive. The culture is set by the worst behavior that is tolerated!

However, when the people all come together to talk about the various ways they want to show caring, treat each other, and agree on ways to work together, the culture quickly shifts towards one that is open, healthy, and where the communications can flow freely. This is the environment where there can be good learning, growth and progress towards safety excellence. This is the environment where people can talk together about their ideas, share opportunities to improve the work, and have the opportunity for making decisions about some of the things going on and how they are cared about and treated.

Filed Under: Safety for Business, Self-Organizing Leadership Tagged With: , ,

We do “Safety” Because We Care

April 11, 2016 By Leave a Comment

Bok-Tower-GardensAt one of the highest geographical points in Florida, at Lake Wales, is a large, 205-ft high, carillon tower. It is beautiful, as are the gardens surrounding this tower structure, made of glistening coquina stone. The tower and gardens were a gift from benefactor Edward W. Bok, who cared deeply about nature, beauty and sanctuary spaces. Millions of visitors have traversed this place of solace since it opened in 1929. Edward Bok was all about CARING for future generations – to be able to enjoy peace and beauty. His tribute signature is this:

“Make you the world a bit better or more beautiful because you have lived in it.”
~ Edward W. Bok (1929)

Our safety work (at R.N. Knowles & Associates) has taken us to many places over the last few months. We’re reminded, as we’ve interacted with many people, and visited many workplaces, that Safety is about caring deeply. Likened to Edward Bok’s inspiration about caring about the world of beauty and leaving his legacy, let’s substitute the word safety for beauty, and leave our positive safety legacy for our respective workplaces. What if everyone in our workplaces chose to care deeply about safety?

What if this statement became your chosen signature phrase?

“Make your work-world a bit better and more safe because you have lived in it.” (2016)

We all make choices – every day – as we live and work in our workplaces. We do “Safety” because we care deeply – stemming from a core concern for others.

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

Safety Culture…Is Yours Healthy and Thriving? How Do You Know?

February 17, 2016 By Leave a Comment

When the Safety Culture is right…what do you see? What does Excellence look like?

  • People helping each other;
  • People looking out for others;
  • People are committed to caring about people, the work, the success of the Business; Aligned, Cohesive.
  • Few injuries;
  • Full Reporting;
  • Learning from all incidents; Collaborative.
  • Safety is talked about all the time – integrated into the work and the conversation;
  • Process safety management is respected and rules followed.
  • People understand the need for enforcement of standards & rules.
  • Good People treatment principles apply. (No bullies tolerated)
  • Litter-free workplace; (people care)
  • Problems are discussed openly; Differences are discussed, resolved.
  • Training is fully completed;
  • Employees regularly input what training is most important to their success.
  • Improvements are made in timely fashion;
  • Communications are open…up and down organizational lines.
  • People fully understand that the success of the business is tied to making a profit. Safety excellence and business success go hand in hand.
  • Safety excellence for business means that people understand safety and the business – information is shared; relationships are built; and people know the importance of their role to the Business.
  • Processes for healthy discussion/communication are prevalent and used.
  • Leaders are involved, inclusive, and open.
  • People feel good about their roles, their coworkers, their business success.

How does your team, business, or organization measure up to these? It is worth doing a very simple analysis. On a straight line, along this measure, where does your team stand on many of the above items listed? What does that tell you about where your efforts should be placed?

Not too long ago, EHS Today had a neat article about Safety Culture and Training…worth a look. Here’s the link.

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

Part 1: The Background on the Cruise Line International Association Conference

January 12, 2016 By Leave a Comment

On December 16-18, 2015, I was able to attend the Cruise Line International Association Safety Conference in Miami. The focus was on improving the safety culture and Bridge Resource Management. This is a very interesting business for me to learn about. I was there to give some perspective from the chemical industry.

This cruise line industry is doing a lot to keep improving their safety performance. Their safety challenges range from slips, trips and falls all the way to navigation, building effective teams on the bridge and crew communications challenges. Ken Koves from the Institute of Nuclear Power Operations spoke about safety culture from their perspective. The level of regulation in that industry is quite impressive. There is just no question about doing things safely, yet they still have their challenges.

I spoke about moving towards a stronger safety culture by sharing more information, building trust and helping people to see the importance of their work to the success of the whole effort. I showed the 35 attendees a slide about the layers of the safety process effort, which they found quite interesting. I also gave them some cards with tips that the officers at different levels could use to help them when they go out to talk with their people. These were seen as quite helpful as well.

The second day focused on training, bridge resource management and simulation so that the captains and their bridge officers could develop stronger skills relating to navigation, ship piloting and management skills.

There is some very sophisticated work being done with large simulators being used by several companies. There are also several institutes providing skills, refresher training and qualification for the officers. Their training loads are very heavy.

Two test pilots from Boeing spoke about their training and the use of simulators. Their simulators are so advanced that, after a month of simulator training, a person could fly an airplane even though they never had seen it before. The basic ideas about the way simulators help them are quite alike even though the differences between a single seat jet fighter and a cruise ship are huge.

Part 2 – Integrating this Learning into all Safety Leadership

There is a big need to be sure the managers of chemical plants are qualified so that their employees and neighboring communities do not suffer the consequences of chemical releases and spills. Many manufacturing businesses that do hazardous work, aside from chemical manufacturing, should heed this thinking too.

As I was listening to these talks, I got to thinking about my chemical industry experiences. When I was a DuPont Plant Manager 20 years ago, we were very strong in operating discipline and safety. Managers were carefully selected and a lot of attention was paid to doing safety and everything else right. Training and integrating safety into every task, every day, was paramount.

Over the years, since I retired in 1996, a lot has changed, with the terrific pressure on cost control and efficiency. The safety standards fell terribly and accidents occurred like the four LaPorte, Texas deaths that DuPont had in October, 2014. In reading the reports of that accident it was sad to see that standards had slipped so far that even their company fire truck broke down on the way to respond to the incident.

This isn’t just a DuPont problem. Many companies are being broken up and purchased by finance and fund managers who know nothing about manufacturing and the high standards that need to be met. Just look at the First Chemical Company spill in West Virginia, when their poorly maintained storage tanks failed, spilling chemicals into the Elk River near Charleston shutting down the city water system for weeks. The people who owned this facility had no idea about their safety responsibilities. Their tanks were leaking for some time, yet the owners ignored them; the size of the leaks increased over a considerable period of time, then the dikes finally failed.

I am beginning to think that the people who manage facilities using highly hazardous materials, like those on the TSCA list, should have some sort of licensing requirements to certify that they are qualified and that their companies know how to fulfill their safety responsibilities. Ship Masters have licenses and certifications. Nuclear plant people are certified. My barber has to have a license. Professional Engineers must be licensed.

While this may sound like just more red tape, I think it is time to open the conversation about this. Plants that handle chemicals like chlorine are hard to run, can fall into a backwater and not receive the attention and support they need – yet a big chlorine spill would be a disaster.

There are lots of questions related to getting this going, but we, as a society, need to address it. What are your thoughts? What areas in your specific business, (chemical or not), are such that being certain that your managers and owners know what they’re doing and have the required knowledge and demonstrated operating discipline, are paramount? Where do you need to put some marked attention in 2016?

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

Are Your Fingers Crossed…hoping that December will be a good safety month, and that you’ll finish the year in the “good stats” column?

December 16, 2015 By Leave a Comment

I’m reminded about the organization that thought their safety performance was always good, because they were primarily an office environment. They scoffed over how bad could a paper cut be? Or, what’s the worst that could happen if someone fell off their chair? Little did they expect that one of their office workers, when on a healthy outdoor walk during her scheduled break time, tripped over some roped off tape that had been blown by the wind. She actually walked into it – not paying attention to her surroundings – got caught up in it as it wrapped about her feet. She fell, twisted her knee, required surgical repair, etc., etc. Try to explain that office worker lost-time injury! (The good: healthy walk; The bad: not paying attention; The ugly: lost time injury).

Here’s another real example. A guy stood up in his desk chair and reached over his desk to open a window. The chair rolled out, the guy fell and suffered a severe back injury. Or, what about the guy standing in the office doorway talking with his boss? He was leaning against the doorframe when someone tried to close the door – severely mutilating one of his fingers. The thoughtless – the unexpected – the unobserved – these can happen in any environment.Stay aware!

Want to “get it right?” Get Out of Your Office and into the Workplace. Walk your Safety Talk!

We see organizations as complex adapting networks of people who are the vital keys to its success. When the people in the various parts of the network are sharing information and helping each other, all aspects of EHS Performance rapidly improves, resistance to change disappears and the energy bubbles up spilling over into all other parts of the work lifting the organization to new, higher levels of performance.

The quickest way to make this shift happen is to get out of your offices, go into your organization and talk with the people. Listen, learn together, treat them with respect, ask for their help, offer your help to support their work and together, explore creative ways to achieve the sustainable performance we all need.

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

Safety Never Takes A Holiday…Not in Hunting Season Either!

November 18, 2015 By Leave a Comment

Safety Never Takes A Holiday…Not in Hunting Season Either!

In many places, the hunting season is underway or just beginning. This is always a time of change and hazard. Some years when I was a plant manager, we would have one or two serious hunting-related, off-job injuries – like falling from a tree stand or tripping over something and breaking a leg. There is a lot of change as people go into the woods and fields looking for game. Many have not done this for a while. Others may not be fully prepared for a sharp change in the weather where a heavy rain could come in or the temperatures drop below freezing and hypothermia becomes a worry. It is often dark and visibility is poor. I have read of hunters getting killed with their own weapon when they have tripped and accidentally shot themselves. Don’t load your gun until you are ready to use it.

There’s a certain excitement that pervades hunting season, especially with newbies to the sport, so hunting safety cautions and reminders are good to reinforce. Be especially careful and safety-instructive when you have hunting novices with you!

Safety never takes a holiday – not in hunting season either!

Checklists Really Can Save Lives!

BrochuresI have been talking about checklists in my previous newsletters and they can be useful as people go out hunting.

Consider this mental checklist:

  • What sorts of special hazards do you face when you go out into nature and experience the thrill of the season?
  • Are you alone?
  • Do you have a flashlight if necessary?
  • A compass?
  • A cell phone?
  • Do people know where you will be and when to expect you to return home again?
  • Is your equipment really ready to do what you need?
  • Are your weapons in excellent working order?

Too many questions????? My wife’s father died while he was doing what he loved – deer-hunting; but his heart was not strong enough for the exertion required in that terrain.

What about you? Are you healthy enough for the hunt? Do you have your emergency meds with you? Could you get help if you needed it?

Another change for many of you will be related to Thanksgiving and the travel to be with family. Here again checklists would be useful.

Consider this mental checklist:

  • Is the car in good condition and serviced properly?
  • For those up north, do you have a few blankets and emergency rations in case you get into a surprise storm?
  • Are your maps and plans well thought out for the routes and times of travel?
  • Are your tires in good shape?
  • Do you have your ice scraper?
  • Is your cell phone charged?

For the hunters and seasoned travelers, you probably have a pretty good fix on these things. However, in the hurry to get into the field and woods or get moving on your trip when people are anxious and a little uptight, it is easy to miss a critical thing. How many times in the past have you started out and remembered you left something important behind? A simple checklist, written or mental, could make a big, positive difference in your adventures! Remember, safety never takes a holiday!

Checklists in the Workplace

I recently read of a fatal accident where a man was killed while working on a lathe. It was properly shielded and okay for the normal conditions, but the unexpected happened. The part he was working on exploded apart under the high rotating speed when he engaged the cutter. The parts from the exploding piece went right through the shield and gave him terrible, fatal wounds.

As you get ready to start your jobs – talking together about being fully prepared – it is important to imagine the unimaginable. What unlikely thing can happen that can get one of you killed if things go in unexpected ways? For many of these unexpected events there are no safety procedures developed. They lurk just outside of the normal path of events for which we have plenty of rules.

We often discover these lurking tragedies by talking together and thinking out loud about things. This requires a culture where it is expected that you will talk together, listen carefully to what you are hearing, asking questions and being open to something new. Sometimes when two seemingly unrelated ideas come together new insights emerge that could reveal a potentially serious accident. Often when we are listening to comics, two seemingly unrelated ideas are put together can be really funny. Conversely, thinking of two, seemingly unrelated things or events could save a life.

Thinking about the unexpected can be a powerful thing. (Put that on your mental checklist!)

Backfilling: The Hazard of Temporary Workers

Another thing that can happen around hunting season and the holidays is the need to hire temporary people to backfill for those who are out. These people need extra care and attention, but things are often so busy that it is hard to give it to them. These people just don’t know the hazards.

I heard a story about a high school aged fellow who came into a box making plant as a temporary employee and was assigned to a box-making machine. He was told to push the red button and the cardboard would be fed into the machine, scored, cut, folded and glued, then the finished box would be ejected from the machine. They also told him that now and then the machine would jam so he would have to quickly crawl into it to pull the cardboard out. Over the next few weeks, he successfully pull out some jammed boxes, but one day he did not move quickly enough and got pinned in the machine. Fortunately his heavy sweater got caught in the machine, jammed it and saved his life. He did get a long cut in his leg. He was stuck in the machine for about 30 minutes before someone discovered him and got him out and to medical help.

This is a pretty extreme example, but it illustrates the point. Look out for the temporary employees and help them. They are people too!

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

Checklists Really Can Save Lives!

October 22, 2015 By Leave a Comment

BrochuresIn many of my newsletters, I have talked about the importance of sharing information abundantly, building relationships of trust and interdependence, and helping people to see the importance of their own work in building the success of the whole organization.

I have also talked about the importance of each person being centered, having the best available information, and help at the specific time when they have to make a decision and do their work. When they turn that wrench, press a switch, or open a valve, they need to be fully present to their work and have teammates who will help them to think through the immediate issues so that the likelihood of an injury, incident or fatality is very low.

This is really important:

In recently reading Atul Gawande’s book, “The CheckList Manifesto” (2009), which is a NY Times Best Seller, it occurred to me that there was something here that could be very useful for the people doing the work in our plants and factories.

Dr. Gawande is a fine surgeon who has a deep interest in improving the success of surgeries by eliminating the things that can easily go wrong and result in a serious injury or death to the patient. These wonderfully trained surgeons are working in a highly complex environment where things can be missed and mistakes made. In working in all sorts of operating rooms across the world, they:

  1. found that simple steps, like knowing each other on the operating team, the timing of giving the antibiotics and anesthesia or having a backup plan, were missed about 25% of the time and
  2. that by using checklists, mistakes dropped around 35% and deaths fell 47%.

These checklists are quick, simple tools to support highly-trained professionals and produce very significant improvements in safety at essentially no additional costs or time required. (Nothing complicated!)

When he looked at how airplane pilots used checklists in their highly complex situations, he found that they were used to avoid missing critical steps in the preparation of their aircraft before takeoff to ensure the safety of these highly trained professionals crews and passengers in both military aviation and the airline industry.

How Can the Use of Checklists Help Your Safety Performance?

In our plants and factories, it is critical that those doing the work are fully present mentally, physically and emotionally so that the safety of themselves, their work partners and others is maximized. Two places where simple checklists could be quite helpful are in shift start meetings and doing a “Take-Two” just before a maintenance job, a repair job or in trouble-shooting. These would be simple, carefully crafted, focused checklists that could be reviewed and used in a couple of minutes to make sure that everyone on that job is fully present and ready to do the work. These are to support and remind skilled people of several critical factors that could make the difference between a smooth, skillful, successful meeting or job and a disaster if something was missed in the hurry to get into the work.

These checklists are not the usual ones we see being used to be sure the equipment is checked out, rather they are checklists to be used to be sure that people have cleared their minds and are fully present mentally, emotionally and physically ready to do the work safely and well.

Just before a shift start meeting or at the beginning of a maintenance or repair job, the leader could quickly skim the checklist to remind him/her of key issues facing the people on the shift and remember to talk about them together. As they talk together, they can check to see if everyone is physically, emotionally and mentally ready to work and develop a better understanding of the day’s challenges and tasks. They can ensure that the right equipment and PPE are available and will be used, that the right people will be involved, and that they have a backup plan if something goes wrong. They will see if they need to ask for help from other groups for the bigger or specialized tasks. There will also be reminders about not taking short cuts and stopping the job if it can’t be done safely.

The checklists can easily incorporate the sharing of information, building trust and interdependence and helping people to see the importance of their work while also focusing on the particulars of the immediate work. These would serve as tools to support the highly skilled people doing the work.

Since so many of our injuries and fatalities occur in driving accidents, a simple checklist could be used to help drivers to remember 3-4 key driving principles when they step into their vehicles before starting the equipment.

These checklists can be a very simple, easy way to significantly reduce incidents, injuries and fatalities.

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