Safety is more than policy and engineering. It is a primary human motivational need. Our programs and methods have to make that connection with our teams to truly create safety as a core value of any organization.
You might have noticed that I have not posted a blog in a month or so. I felt that in the new situation we are in with COVID19, the discussion of “world class safety” should be paused for a while. That left, though, a void of what I would discuss. I gave it a month to see how life would change with the new wellness protocols that are in place. The situation put me in a unique position that I now feel is worth discussing. I currently work for an e-commerce company. With so many people being at home, e-commerce…
In this journey to better understand world-class safety, I feel there has to be some talk of metrics. Being perfectly honest, I have an extreme love-hate relationship with safety data. I am never in between. I either love what they are showing me or I hate the entire idea of tracking it at all. Hopefully, I can explain why my relationship with safety data is full of turmoil First thing first, though. I am going to use the lean term “process indicator” as a synonym of safety metrics. Safety metrics are only an indication of how well your culture, systems,…
This year, I am dedicating my blog posts to exploring what is world-class in safety. As I we closed 2019, the discussion was about how some organizations like to throw the term “world-class” around when it comes to safety. They use the term as a part of marketing safety without really thinking about what it means to be best in class for protecting their people. For some, it means compliance with the law. For others, it might mean having lunches when there are no injuries for a month. When it really gets down to the real meaning of world-class, it…
When someone says safety culture, what comes to mind? Methods? Systems? Behaviors? People? Standardization? I was recently at a conference with some peers and a great discussion started about global, organizational culture. I do have to note, I loved the way they talked about their company culture, not just safety culture. Safety was conveyed as an integral piece of the overall culture. In other words, they had no company culture without safety. The discussion was focused around creating a system that would create a company culture for their global network. Also, the company had been around for decades. So, they…
My own arrogance gets in the way of my objectives much more than I would like to admit. This post will take some time to explain. But if you make the journey with me, I promise that I will make a point 🙂 Throughout my career and life, a common theme continues to emerge. Yet, I always keep doing exactly what keeps causing me grief. And even knowing that today, I am not sure that I will really embrace the change. In high school, I was in speech and debate. I was pretty good at it too. My real ability…
It is amazing when planning, teamwork, & practice can lead to a positive outcome. This was a day I will never forget, and am still deeply moved and honored to have been recognized.
