The psychosocial impact of the pandemic on workers has been profound. People are experiencing high levels of stress, burnout and fatigue. Essential workers are stressed about their own and their family’s safety. For others, stress may come from a family member losing their job. Even people who are working from home are experiencing more stress, […]
When a company lists safety first in its values, what do leaders have to do to back up that statement? GTI Group, a logistics company, says this about Safety on its webpage: “We do the right thing. Period. The safety of our employees, clients and the public come above everything else. We operate within the […]
What are you doing to encourage employees to be motivated about safety? The final step (after adding motivators and neutralizing demotivators) to build safety motivation is recognizing those who are going above and beyond. Here’s a positive experience I witnessed: Leadership supported safety A company with 70 locations had one that was not only their […]
While mixing chemicals led to an explosion that killed four workers, a federal investigation says deeper operational problems at the plant were the real cause. A U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board (CSB) final report says the cause of a massive explosion and fire at the AB Specialty Silicones LLC manufacturing facility in Waukegan, […]
Are you in Sales? You probably thought, no, I’m in Safety. However, 90% of all communication in long-term partnerships, including business, is sales. Example: You need more budget for Safety. You have to convince someone of that, so you’re in Sales. And to know the best way to sell someone on something, you have to […]
We had an incident in which an employee got his hand stuck in a piece of equipment and was seriously injured. As a result, we developed a process on how to use equipment properly. We went through every job safety analysis (JSA) for every piece of equipment. If the foreman didn’t sign off for you, […]
When I was in my fifth year as a supervisor in an OSHA enforcement office, we had what was unfortunately a relatively routine case involving a contractor. An employee was on the third level of a scaffold doing plaster work on a residential construction site when he fell, broke his neck and was killed. This […]
As a safety pro, you want to see workers have a certain level of confidence in their job duties, but overconfidence – the kind that leads employees to think they can ignore safety rules – can lead to trouble. When workers are so overconfident in their skill level at a specific job task, they can easily make […]
The Small Business Safety and Health Handbook was recently revised in a joint effort by OSHA and the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH). The handbook highlights the benefits of implementing an effective safety and health program, provides self-inspection checklists for employers to identify workplace hazards and review important workplace safety and health […]
