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?

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.