Much of what they do is an attempt to regulate common sense. Or at least some basic safety sense.  Unfortunately, the more idiot-proof something is designed to be, the more likely we will find a better idiot.

Of course, none of that applies to us, because we aren’t the idiots that they design for, right? We’ve all seen the cautions on a cup of hot coffee that that contents may be hot, but would you believe there are even more ridiculous examples:

1. A warning label on a cardboard sunshield that says “Do not drive with shield in place”
2. Label on a remote control that says “Not dishwasher safe”
3. Label on a collapsible stroller that says “Remove child before folding”

We don’t need a label to tell us to be careful, we just need to be observant and turn observation into action.

What’s the most bizarre or unnecessary safety warning you have read? Can you imagine that someone might have done that to cause the warning?

Thanks, and let’s be careful out there!

What I have seen work is embodied in three obligations that belong to each and every employee. The first one was very simply:

Refuse to do work that you cannot perform safely.

The second obligation puts our power of observation to work. Like the first obligation, it involves a high level of trust and respect. Obligation #2 is:

If you see someone performing work in an unsafe manner, or in a manner that could lead to injury, you are obligated to speak up and stop them.

Sounds simple, right? But imagine you are a new employee, being trained by a 15 year veteran and he is demonstrating a method you can see is risky. Let’s say he’s using a cutting tool without using the protective equipment provided and required. If you’re brave you might point that out and hope that he just forgot. But you might also be concerned that he is going to explain it away . “I’ve been doing it like this for 15 years, do you really think you can tell me how to do my job?”

If we truly care about the safety of our workplace, we learn not to care about someone’s pride in successfully avoiding injury even though they are taking unnecessary risk. We learn to value that doing something in the safest possible way is the best approach to assuring our safety and the safety of those around us.

To implement this obligation, you might start with de-personalizing it. Promote the observation required by having people identify unsafe conditions or housekeeping problems. Something that doesn’t start with a “You’re doing it wrong” kind of approach, but gets people comfortable with identifying hazards. The hard part is in implementing a system for people to report these kind of things that includes putting resolution of the problem in their court. It could be as simple as having them send an email to a safety@yourcorp mailbox that is reviewed everyday. Or a simple database form that gives an individual an opportunity to document what they saw, report what they did about it, and suggest how it could be avoided in the future.

So if an employee notices a small puddle of oil or fluid, they can go to a form to report it, state that they cleaned it up, and suggest that the shop take a look at all the lift vehicles to see if there are leaks that can be repaired. Then, and this requires discipline, the employee is acknowledged for identifying the problem, for taking care of the immediate threat, and the appropriate assignment to follow up on a solution is made.

As employees get more observant, and get recognized for that behavior, they start to see that they can impact safety before an incident and start to challenge one another in their actions.

Now, you might be wondering if employees are really willing to challenge each other, or if they are required or expected to report observations on other team members as well. Will they be willing to name a co-worker who is doing something in an unsafe manner?

In my next and final post on this topic, I’ll explain why Obligation #3 helps tidy that up.

Do you know much about your own decision processes? Are you risk-averse? We think differently depending on how the choices are stated.

Consider this situation:

You have to choose between either

- an 80% chance of winning $4,000 with a 20% chance of winning nothing

or

- a 100% chance of receiving $3,000

Then look at this situation:

you can chose between

- an 80% chance of losing $4,000 with a 20% chance of breaking even

or

- a 100% chance of losing $3,000

In a formal study, 80% of the people chose the certain outcome in situation #1 ($3,000) even though the gamble had a higher payout.

In situation #2, 92% of the people chose the gamble, even though it’s mathematical expectation of a loss of $3,200 is larger than the certain loss of $3,000. When the choice involves loss of money, we are risk seekers and not risk averse.

These results are similar to people’s views of safety. The risk has to be evident and understandable in order for people to avoid the risk. If it is abstract or unknown, then people are less likely to use the provided protective gear or equipment. In my experience as a driver, for example, I can only recall two times in 40 years when wearing my seat belt mattered. So I could wear it less often and it probably won’t matter. The only problem is, I can’t predict when the next time I should be wearing it will be.

What did your choices to the situations above tell you about your risk aversion? Do you think that your answers were all about the benjamins? Would you have a different view if the content were about four fingers or three fingers?

Next post, we’ll look at two more situations with more serious implications. Will your answers or approach change? We’ll see…

Thanks, and let’s be careful out there!

Anna at abdpbt is responsible for the effort to Fight Listless Mondays. Find other list links on her blog. Her lists and the others linked there always give you something to think about, and may even make you smile!

SaferByChoice is all about that idea. That if we equip people to make the best decisions, we will all be safer. As a result, everyone is better off. Employees are not compromised, and the business runs with less interruption.

I am traveling this week, and awoke this morning to see the scene you see with this post. Not the worst snowstorm of all time, and not a bad one by many standards. But the roads were not clear, my rental was a small, rear-wheel drive car, and the news reporters said local police were asking that non-essential travel be delayed.

Less than 10 years ago I would have convinced myself to get out there, clear the snow off the car, and get to the office. Today I thought about it for a bit, then I realized that I had all I needed on my PC, I had a good wireless connection, and I had a phone. That pretty much meant that my travel was non-essential. I had the face-to-face meetings that I came here for scheduled on Tuesday and Thursday, so there was no reason to rush to the local office today.

If there were someone expecting me in the office today, I believe I would have made the same decision. I am obligated to make good decisions for my company. Good business decisions, good quality decisions, good HR decisions, good safety decisions. I probably could handle the risks associated in driving in blowing snow, on roads that are not completely clean, but I don’t have to. Truth is, if I had an accident, I would be saying that I never should have gone out.

So instead, I was more productive than usual today. No travel time, no one stopping by the office to chat. and for an INTP like me, that makes for a great day!

Are you obligated to be safe? Do you compromise that obligation? What are you going to do about it?

Thanks, and let’s be careful out there.

Do you consider the number 13 to be unlucky? Or maybe you have an actual fear of the number, which is called triskaidekaphobia. If you do, you wouldn’t be alone. Thirteen is frequently left out when numbering floors in a building or even aisles in an airplane.

Yet there are some who consider this a lucky number. Traditions for luck, both good and bad, go across cultural and religious boundaries, but very few have any scientific or fact basis.

The old saying goes “The harder I work, the luckier I get”. This is absolutely true with safety. Except instead of “hard work” we would probably say “smart work”. If I take on any action in an informed way, I can make better decisions about how to perform that action safely.

So don’t worry that today is Friday the 13th. Your safety and well being is in your hands, not in the determination of a calendar date. Make a decision to not let fate determine your safety. Make informed choices as you go about doing your work, and encourage others to do the same.

Thanks, and let’s be careful out there!

Culture is, in a way, a misleading word. It is a collective noun. It represents a collection of attitudes, beliefs, behaviors, rituals, totems, and whatever else one tries to look at to define a culture. In business, this includes results.

The most important part is you. By your leadership, your actions, your statements, and your attitudes you communicate your personal part of culture. I could work for a company with a strong culture of safety controls, but that doesn’t define who I am. Maybe I have even stronger (or weaker) views of controls.

When you have an idea, an innovation that can bring a higher level of performance, people want to hear it. They want to understand the value of the idea, and they want to know what it takes to implement it. If it involves substantial change in what is expected of people, we may use “our culture” as the excuse to not proceed. But what about “our culture” can we tap into to make the idea work?

One of my blogging HR friends, Trisha McFarlane wrote an interesting post earlier this week regarding the legacy we leave with our workplace. For me, it’s not so much about what got done, but how I did it and what that means for the future of the company.

It’s not as important to me to measure how many people got hurt while I was a supervisor. It’s more important to me to know we eliminated several causes of recurring injury. It’s more important for me to know that when I left a role, the team’s view and ownership of safety was better than it was before. I don’t care if they credit me with that change, I just care that it happened.

What’s your safety legacy? Are you generating expertise that will be better than you?

Thanks, and let’s be careful out there.