March, 2007

Taking a New Job from an Old Employer, Part 2 of 2

Dear SafetyXChange Members:
Thomas Wolfe said you can’t go home again. But I doubt that Thomas Wolfe ever held a job in corporate America. Yes, Mr. Wolfe, you can go home again. Last week, we talked about how to be welcomed back inside. Now let’s look at how to make a [...]

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12 Rules of Successful Safety Meetings, Part 1 of 2

You’ve prepared and tested your PowerPoint presentation, arranged for demonstrations and gathered visual aids and props. Your workers know what the topic of discussion will be. You’ve come to accept your pre-talk jitters and recognize them as normal. All in all, you’re feeling pretty well prepared for the weekly safety talk. Now you have to [...]

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Turning Around a Bad Situation

Three and a half years ago, when I joined the bus company, Canadian Blue Bird, I stepped into a mess. The company had a miserable safety record and a dysfunctional safety culture. But we were able to achieve major improvements in a relatively short period of time. I would like to outline [...]

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How to Conduct Better Fire Safety Inspections, Part 2 of 2

Last week, we discussed the benefits of creating a questionnaire for fire safety teams to use when conducting inspections at your facility. Let’s now look at how to use and create such a questionnaire. And, if you’re a member of SafetyXChange, you can access our model questionnaire in the Tools section.
How [...]

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The Liability Risks

About a month ago, SafetyXChange published a two-part story about indoor air quality (IAQ) (Editor’s Note: By John Bruce, August 9 and 16). As the Director of OSHA Education Training for Vanguard Environmental, Inc., a national consulting firm based in Oklahoma, I would like to address another, perhaps even more important aspect of IAQ. IAQ [...]

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Seeking a New Job from an Old Employer, Part 1 of 2

Dear SafetyXChange Members:
When you leave a company, you don’t expect to go back. But if there’s one thing I’ve learned about this business it’s to never say never. For those of you who like the word “never,” I’ll put it like this: You never know when circumstances will make a [...]

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Gaining Commitment to Safety

Last week, we introduced you to Art Fettig, a motivational humorist who has been involved with employee safety for more than 59 years, and invited you to send in your questions. Here are your questions and Art’s answers.
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SAFETY’S NOT AS IMPORTANT AS PRODUCTIVITY
QUESTION
I’ve read several articles about getting employees to "buy [...]

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How to Manage CEO Expectations

Does your CEO have a realistic view of your safety program? Or does he or she expect safety to solve all the company’s problems? Bloated expectations on the part of a CEO are a recipe for ultimate disappointment and failure. As a safety director, you must align CEO expectations with reality. [...]

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How to Conduct Better Fire Safety Inspections, Part 1 of 2

Eliminating fire hazards is a central part of any workplace safety program. Among the most basic tasks are to ensure that: exits are free and unobstructed; there are appropriate fire extinguishers on hand; and workers are trained how to use the fire extinguishers in case of fire. These seem like simple and straightforward requirements. But [...]

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Is It a Defense against Liability for OSHA Violations

Safety rules help only if they’re followed. No matter what you do, some workers are bound to ignore the rules and do what they want. Luckily, OSHA recognizes this and lets companies use the defense of unpreventable employee misconduct to avoid penalties for OSHA violations. The problem is that the defense [...]

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