Frequently, one of the most common problems I encounter regarding safety is that company leaders, supervisors, and managers don’t believe there is really a problem. When a safety person comes on board and recommends taking steps or changes, they often face opposition. Why go through all the additional steps if they’re completely unnecessary?
Repeatedly, I often observe companies focus on what they must do to comply with OSHA. They do as little as possible because they honestly don’t trust it’s necessary to strive towards safety. They just want to check a box. Unfortunately, I receive calls from companies who jump on the safety bandwagon after a terrible, calamitous accident or death occurs.
I once got a call from a company who was asking for OSHA 10 classes for all the supervisors and leaders in the company. I found that to be curious because those classes are generally basic safety awareness for employees. OSHA 30 classes are typically for leaders. So, I asked myself the question, why do they suddenly want all leaders to take an OSHA 10?
When I asked them what electives they wanted to include in the OSHA 10 class, I immediately heard my answer. They requested forklift safety and bloodborne pathogens. I exclaimed in front of the group of men with the company CEO present,” Oh wow, there must have been a death!”
Everyone seemed to have a scared, shocked look on their face when I said that. They stayed quiet and just looked at each other not knowing what to do. After a few moments, the company CEO look at me and nodded his head confirming my supposition.
Once they experienced the disaster on the job site, they were beginning to scramble to develop a safety culture. This was the beginning of their having a sense of urgency. Having a sense of urgency is vital for a strong safety culture.
It would be better however to develop a sense of urgency before a terrible accident or death instead of waiting until afterward. The question is, how do you do that? How can you help people who believe that there isn’t a problem to develop a sense of urgency towards safety?
I can tell you what you don’t want to do. You don’t want to create a false sense of urgency. One where people perceive that you’re just making things up and they don’t really feel it’s real. You need to find a true reason to make safety urgent. people need to feel that it is authentic and real. Leaders in a company need to recognize what their real values are, for what they stand, and what their personal character is. When you stand for your values, you are then able to make consistent decisions that reflect those values.
Those decisions are even more consistent when faced with time and budgetary constraints. Typically, the greatest enemy to safety has always been time and cost. When employee see supervisors push safety to the side whenever they are behind schedule, they can tell the difference between talking safety and truly living up to its principles. The dead employee surely would have appreciated it beforehand.
The following series of safety blogs will consider just how to create a sense of urgency towards safety. So please stay tuned.
