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June, 2006
Don’t Let Your Dream Job Turn Into a Nightmare, Part 1 of 2
WANTED: Young skinny fellows not over 18. Must be expert riders willing to risk death daily. Orphans preferred. Wages: $25 per week. Apply Central Overland Express, Alta Building, Montgomery Street, San Francisco.
In 1859, a young man named William Hickock saw this help-wanted ad and went immediately to the Pony Express office to apply. Mr. Hickock, [...]
Lessons Learned from Video Safety Programs
Twenty eight years ago, when slides and audiotape were the high technology of the day, my wife and I started a company to produce training programs on videotape. At that time a great deal of our work was devoted to transferring existing safety programs from the slide/audio format to 3/4 inch videocassettes. Not a very [...]
How to Build Safety into Lean Manufacturing, Part 2 of 2
Last week, I described Lean Manufacturing and how the approach tends to short shrift safety. Today, I’d like to wrap up the series by laying out a four-step process that company safety officials can use to integrate elements of safety into Lean Manufacturing initiatives.
Step 1: Get Involved(!)
Too often, safety officials regard [...]
How Do You Choose? Part 2 of 2
Complying with the laws is supposed to make us safer. Perversely, though, compliance – at least the administrative part of it, namely, the compliance audit – has become an end in itself, a distraction from safety. Last week, I vented my frustration with this. Today, I’d like to finish the thought and put the compliance [...]
Pressing the Right Buttons with Those You Manage, Part 3 of 3
Dear SafetyXChange Members,
Last week we talked about how important it is to understand our “career anchor” or primary motivator before making career-changing decisions. We reviewed what Edgar Schein, Sloan Fellows Professor of Management Emeritus at the MIT-Sloan School of Management, calls the eight career anchors:
Technical/Functional Competence
General Managerial Competence
Autonomy/Independence
Security/Stability
Entrepreneurial Creativity
Service/Dedication to a Cause
Pure Challenge
Lifestyle
Let’s finish our [...]
How to Choose a Guest Speaker
If you’re looking for a way to add more interest to your safety meetings, try inviting the occasional guest speaker. You may be thinking you don’t have the budget to hire speakers. But who says you have to spend money for a guest speaker? There are plenty of people who would welcome the chance to [...]
How to Build Safety into Lean Manufacturing, Part 1 of 2
Lean Manufacturing is a form of continuous improvement. More precisely, it’s an empowering business methodology for analyzing the flow of information and materials in a manufacturing environment and continuously improving the process to achieve enhanced value for the enterprise.
Even though the two should go hand-in-hand, Lean doesn’t necessarily translate into safer manufacturing. In fact, Lean [...]
Lead-Based Paint: Problem and Solution, Part 2 of 2
Last week, I described the dangers lead-based paint poses to children. This week, let’s discuss how you can reduce the health risks.
Lead Paint Risk Assessment & Inspection
First, you need to know if you have lead-based paint in your home or apartment. As noted last time, lead-based paint was outlawed in 1978. If your house or [...]
How Do You Choose? Part 1 of 2
I know, I know. Compliance with the law and preventing injury are supposed to be one and the same. But guess what? They’re not. And everybody knows it. A safety director I met at a recent conference summed it up perfectly: “I’d love to be able to do some stuff that would really reduce injuries,” [...]
What Makes Safety Professionals Happy Part 2 of 3
Dear SafetyXChange Members,
Last week, we discussed professional motivation. When it comes to drive, no two individuals are exactly the same. Finding what motivates you – your professional anchor – is essential to a successful career; finding what motivates those you oversee is essential to successful management. Let’s now talk about a method you can use [...]