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Every day in the
United States on average, 15 workers lose their lives as a result of
injuries or illnesses related to their work – that’s over 5700
people a year.
These people leave behind families, friends, and co-workers. The
single most common cause is complacency – an attitude that “it won’t
happen to me.”
Too often individuals and companies become complacent when it comes
to safety. Managers are satisfied with mediocre safety performance
and do not work to improve the environment by
raising safety awareness and eliminating the potential for injury.
Employees are content and inattentive to their work environments;
they become convinced that management is not concerned about safety,
and they begin to think they are not responsible for their own
safety.
Over time, the entire organization gives little meaningful attention
to safety. The result is that employees get in a hurry and take
shortcuts on the job. They are more focused on production and
getting the job done than getting it done safely. That attitude
becomes an organizational norm. Near misses go unreported. No one
wants to take the time to fill our forms and employees don’t
understand the connection between sharing information and
eliminating injuries. Managers
do not pay attention to reports, so they become unimportant.
The number of injuries increases and they become more severe.
Everyone becomes frustrated. Employees blame management and
management blames employees, yet no one is willing to take
action to improve the situation. Unfortunately, it often takes a
fatal injury to cause everyone to focus on safety. Don’t let this
happen to your organization.
The Complacency Trap
Research shows that many incidents occur because people are
distracted and do not pay attention to their environment and what is
going on around them. Managers often fall into the same trap –
they become distracted by pressing issues such as the organization’s
need to increase productivity, improve quality, and raise profits.
They stop paying attention to the importance of safety in the
organization and become blinded to the fact that the lack of
attention to safety performance is injuring the organization in the
long run. In other words, they become complacent.
When managers and supervisors do not make safety a top priority in
the organization, it is easy for employees to make personal safety a
low priority. Then incidents and injuries occur with increasing
frequency. There are two things that must happen to avoid this
potentially deadly situation.
1. Managers must renew their commitment to the safety process.
2. Employees must get involved in meaningful safety activities.
Managers Need to Get Committed
It takes more than just saying you are committed to safety – you
have to put actions behind your words. Managers can demonstrate
their commitment to safety in a number of ways. First and foremost,
managers must follow the company’s safety rules. Then, regularly
attend safety meetings. Also consider the following ideas.
• Take time to walk around and talk to employees. Visit
employees in their workplaces whether on the shop floor, in the
field, or in the office. Talk about your personal concern for
safety, and then listen to
their concerns. Take personal action to correct unsafe situations
and follow up to let employees know the outcomes.
• Make it a point to personally review all reports of near misses
and injuries. When managers review reports of injuries and near
misses, it demonstrates the information’s importance. Follow up on
the reports to ensure that appropriate actions are taken to
eliminate the causes of incidents in your organization that could
result in larger, bigger direct hits. Take care to ensure that your
follow up is a
positive action rather than a punitive one.
• Integrate safety into all aspects of management planning.
During the organizational planning process include safety goals and
objectives then ensure that the budget includes appropriate items
for safety improvement. Communicate your organization’s safety
performance expectations goals, objectives to the management level
and to your employees.
To encourage a sustainable change in the safety culture of your
organization, make it a point to review your organization’s
progress.
• Enable employees to get involved inthe safety process. Identify
areas where employees can
become actively involved in the safety process and encourage their
participation by allowing work time for appropriate activities. Ask
employees with specific skills or interests to participate in safety
improvement projects. Then recognize their involvement and efforts.
Managers at all levels of the organization can have a profound
effect on the safety culture of an organization by following these
suggestions. Once they see their supervisors and managers taking
safety seriously, employees in turn will be more committed than
ever. And, nothing energizes an organization’s safety improvement
efforts more than employee involvement.
Other Ways To Get Employees Involved
First, make employees aware of how they can get involved in the
safety process. Involvement can come in many different forms.
Encourage employees to get involved in the following activities
and others:
• Reporting all unsafe conditions;
• Attending safety meetings;
• Serving on employee safety committees;
• Planning and leading a safety meeting;
• Participating in incident investigations and facility walk-throughs;
and
• Engaging in conversations with supervisors and managers to share
improvement ideas.
Employees whose ideas and involvement are valued will increase
safety performance faster than employees who are just simply
following the rules. Create opportunities for employees to
contribute ideas and information that will lead to safety
improvement.
Create a Safety-Focused Organization
To create a culture in your organization where injuries are a thing
of the past, remind everyone that complacency is a dangerous thing –
it’s a killer. Find ways to pique employees’ interest in finding
ways to make safety improvements.
Create motivation for positive change in the organization by
believing that it’s possible to have zero injuries in your
organization and communicating that belief to employees. Show
employees the
relevance of working safe to their jobs, careers, paychecks, and,
most importantly, their families. This will create an environment
where everyone at every level in the organization will increase
their commitment and their involvement in making the workplace
injury-free.
The result is that everyone can go home every day to their families
without injury. FSM
Deb and Carl Potter helps organizations target a
zero-injury workplace. As advocates of a zero-injury workplace, they
can help your organization raise its safety performance and cut its
workers
compensation insurance expenses in half. Get a copy of their latest
book, “Zero! Responsible Safety, By Design” at
www.SimplySeamlessSafety.com.
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