Periodically, we ask safety pros how they’d handle a difficult situation at work. Today’s issue: A safety manager has to do mandatory training, but he’s bogged down with work.
Manager Mike Kelly was calling his buddy, Vern Mason, who was in charge of safety at another company across town.
“Vern Mason speaking.”
“Hi Vern Mason speaking, this is Mike Kelly speaking. You up for a beer after work?”
“Can’t do,” Vern said. “I’m up to my eyeballs over here.”
“Safety stuff?” Mike asked.
“That, plus other stuff they’ve asked me to do,” Vern said. “We’ve got a couple of open positions, and I’m helping fill the gaps.”
Training may suffer
“This is – what? – the third time you’ve turned me down lately. Not like you to turn down a beer after work,” Mike said.
“Missing the occasional beer after work isn’t my only problem,” Vern said. “All this other work is starting to impact how much time I can spend on safety.”
“How?” Mike asked.
“I’ve had to roll out some of my old training sessions,” Vern said. “And some of my workers have minds like steel traps. They realize it’s the exact same presentation I used the last time I covered the topic. Then they tune out.”
“Can you have someone else do the training?” Mike asked.
“I don’t think so,” Vern said. “Everyone else is swamped, too.”
“Can they take some of the non-safety stuff off of your plate?”
“That’s a no-go, too. I need a quick, easy way to change up my presentation. And I don’t have a lot of prep time.”
How could Vern change up his safety training without a lot of time?
Let us know in the comments below.
