Eastern Michigan Agencies - March 2010 Newsletter

"Help, I'm crashing and burning and management is impatient for results"

We just finished implementing an intensive training program two months ago. It's still in its infancy, and it's too early to see results, but that doesn't stop management from asking: "What's up? When are we going to see the drop in injury rates?"

This makes everyone uneasy. The fact is, our injury rate's are actually on the rise due to lack of awareness or failure to follow procedures. This has resulted in lifting injuries, knife cuts, trips and falling down stairs. The awareness training program was supposed to address these problems, but management is getting impatient after only two months. What should you do about it?

We are trying all sort of things. We have a safety incentive program, monthly safety meetings with the entire company, strong lockout-tagout and behavior-based safety programs, and full-day new hire safety orientation. In our monthly company newsletter, we have included articles such as, "Safety Smart Challenge", word search, and a crossword puzzle. We have implemented a safety suggestion program, a strong near-miss reporting program, three safety committees, a safety steering committee and on and on and on.

We are at wits end. What else can be done? We have more than enough meetings, committees and games. Time is at a premium. Maybe we are missing something. Maybe we are naive, we can't figure it out. But we do know we need help. Help Us!

12 suggestions by

1. I've been where you are, tried what you've tried. Building safety management system foundational elements usually takes 18-24 months. Every incident indicates failure somewhere in your system and requires root cause determination with contributing factors (at least two) and corrective actions tracked to completion. Second, go back to the basics. The first "program" should be general safety rule promotion and auditing/inspection.
2. I feel your pain. Safety culture is the easiest to build from the top down, not from within. Managers should never pass by unsafe behavior, including not following (safety) procedures. Manager must also go regularly to the shop floor and discuss safety with employees. Train your managers to give positive feedback. Require all managers to hold safety talks regularly.
3. Don't run too many programs at the same time. Drop some of the less important efforts.
4. Don't allow your managers to view your training initiative as just another stab at safety problems, another procedure that is here today and gone tomorrow..
5. A shotgun approach like you have now, trying to touch on just about every aspect of safety, will not show near-term results. You need to drill down on what is causing the experience and focus on that specific driver.
6. Drop below the supervisors and start getting more personal with the labor force. Try something like holding meetings and introduce Pat the Packer, or something similar pertinent to your positions. Show them how Pat is a terrific worker, but he or she has had a few problems. Go over the injuries that you have experienced in this particular job. Emphasize the pain it has caused "Pat" and his family. And importantly, emphasize the cost to the company. Show them the impact of injuries to the bottom line, and how it has affected the company during this recession. But speak directly to the floor workers.
7. I suspect that if management is asking what you are going to do about your failing safety program, they are laboring under the misunderstanding that health and safety is YOUR responsibility and not theirs. I suspect that you are the one who walks around each day and see's infringements of safety procedures and malpractices and attempts to correct them. This is what the supervisors and managers should be doing every day on a continual basis but again, I suspect that they think that this is your job and not theirs.
8. Senior management is supposed to LEAD, and you implement. If they will not lead safety then you cannot succeed in implementing it.
9. Introduce Toolbox Talks (or Safety Huddles). Successfully introduced, these can be very effective for increasing hazard recognition and response.
10. Who is on your main health and safety committee? Commitment at a high level is so important.
11. We have had success here using safety as a quality assurance function. This can help provide a vehicle to raise awareness.
12. Safety colleagues are not hesitant about sharing success stories. Participate in your industry's organizations where members do both formal and informal benchmarking for safety issues. It's amazing what you can pick up. Discovering that you're not alone in being swamped also helps.