Jim White
C.W. Silver Industrial Services
Salt Lake City, Utah.
At our company operations meetings, we discuss goals and achievements in safety, quality, and productivity. We believe these areas are the basis, or foundation, for our success and provide stability and support, much as the legs of a stool. We start each meeting with a safety tip and/ or discussion. After safety we cover quality issues, then productivity and other business related items. Safety is always first.
Having worked for both large and small companies during my career, I feel fortunate to have been part of a variety of safety programs, ranging from very sophisticated ones to simple, common sense ones. While there is a valid argument for the elaborate safety programs with large volumes of written procedures, dedicated safety staff, complex incentives, fully integrated safety observation programs, strong disciplinary policies, and never ending statistical analysis, they don’t have to be.
Sometimes just simple goals and safety awareness programs work just as well.
An elaborate program
As part of a major initiative at a manufacturing plant where I used to work, a strong safety program was implemented. I witnessed a behavioral change among employees that dramatically improved the statistics. The detailed written safety program, job hazard assessments, incentive programs, regular inspections, ever present posters and messages encouraging safety, shock videos, motivational speakers, a disciplinary policy regarding safety violations, safety observations, committees, subcommittees, charts and financial resources all helped to change employee behavior at work.
Today, at C.W. Silver Industrial Services, we take a little different approach and try to get employees to think about safety in a whole new way.
A simple program that works
We work hard to include the main elements of a solid safety program in our operation with a focus on “WHY” behind the safety measures we take. Such as: “I want to be able to hear my daughter’s piano recital, watch my grandchildren play baseball, play golf with my friends, ride the four-wheeler on the mountain trails, to not live every day with severe pain.” I’m sure you get the message.
Has your safety program changed your employees’ behavior in the service center as well as home and elsewhere? Does your staff really believe it is worth the extra effort to work safely? For me, that is the real measure of whether a safety program is truly effective.
ANSI/EASA AR100
More information on this topic can be found in ANSI/EASA AR100
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