I’ve commented several times about the way we measure safety. Many companies measure accumulated hours worked without incident, but injury rates, or failure rates, are the most common benchmark. We look at the number of failures of the system compared to the number of hours worked in the same time period. This leads to a…
Tag Archive: workplace
More On Obligations
Recently I wrote about my experience with safety obligations. These were three statements that all employees where I work are expected to follow. In writing, and in discussion, they seem clear and easy, but we all have to learn to implement them successfully. When I worked in a facility that put these in place, I…
Measuring Opposites
One of the things that struck me as odd when I first starting working in a manufacturing facility is the way we measured safety. The big sign on the way in to the plant indicated the number of days since the last accident. A reminder that unfortunately was set back to “1″ far too often….
Can We Control Random Events?
In the past I have written about luck and it’s role in safety. We think we can control everything, but there is very little we truly control. I’ve worked around big machines my whole life. Machines don’t kill people, but people die from making mistakes while working with them. Machines are totally unforgiving of human error, which…
Beyond Compliance–Obligation #3
In my two most recent posts, I explained that I have seen safety performance improve when management puts in place a series of obligations – and then does everything they can to support them. I explained the first two obligations, which are: Refuse to do work that you cannot perform safely. If you see someone…
A Culture of Preparedness – Obligation #2
The other day I took up the challenge from Trish to help managers consider what they can do to assure that we are not just compliant with safety issues, but also prepared and actively managing safety. What I have seen work is embodied in three obligations that belong to each and every employee. The first…
Beyond Compliance – Creating a Culture of Preparedness
Last week, my friend Trisha McFarlane wrote about her recent tornado experience, and how it applied to the workplace. One of the things I saw was a difference between compliance and preparedness. Trish was prepared. She knew where things were, she calmly instructed her children, and followed the plan. In a safety audit, she would…
Safety in Numbers
I was always good in math, but I was never fond of statistics. Studying engineering in college, I had to take a class called Statistics For Engineers, which was really just like any other stats class, except the questions pertained to engineering problems. My friends assumed that meant the questions were along the lines of:…
6 Safety Ideas For Your Wallet
My interest in safety began when I experienced a “near-hit” incident early in my engineering career, and when I realized how many of the equipment operators I had known were missing some of their digits. At that time of my life, I was enjoying playing piano and guitar, and I couldn’t imagine what it would…
An Obligation to Be Safe
Years ago (I seem to use that phrase more and more often) I worked for a manager who talked about safety as an obligation. But his unique spin was that the obligation was with each employee. Yes, we had to do all we could to provide a safe environment, good tools, the right personal protective…
