When It Comes to Safety, Simple is Better
We as corporate level management, including HSE professionals, are very skilled in using analytical data software and writing risk matrix. We build colorful PowerPoint presentations and share injury stats, leading and lagging indicator data, and proposed safety initiatives. We spend weeks or even months on a company wide roll-out to the field, only to see little or no improvement in safety. What went wrong? What did we miss? We supplied the field with all of the information, pages of documentation, and the countless ways to report back to us.
First, this is not an attack on management. We truly want to make the workplace safe for our employees. Maybe we make safety in the field too complex. Maybe we bombard the people in the field, the "Hands," with too much... too fast. I often heard the comment "flavor of the week" from people on the job site when it came to new safety initiatives. Now I am not in any way belittling people on the job site. They are very good at what they do. After all, they are the one that keeps the company running and I have never met one that wants to get injured on the job.
What I am suggesting is on the next safety initiative roll-out consider what it takes to achieve the end goal which is reducing or better yet, eliminating injuries. Make the initiative as simple to follow as possible. Make it in bullet points rather than pages and pages of well meant information that let's face it, may or may not get read.
Another good way to build safety initiatives is to request feedback from the people doing the work. They perform their jobs day in and day out. Believe me, they have a lot of the answers when it comes to safety. This also promotes buy-in from them to adhere to the safety initiative. They become part of the solution!
Simple is good I say. The simpler, the better. That is what I have captured in my book, "The Good Hand; Impact of a Workplace Injury and Preventing It from Happening to You." It's simple to read... simple to understand... and makes very clear WHY workplaces injuries are not acceptable anymore.
Order your copy today and share it with your "Good Hands." Make them part of your safety solutions!
Thanks