January, 2009
True Stories Safety Trainers Would Rather Forget
Back to the Drawing Board
Years ago, I was at one of our regional distribution centers in Dallas giving a training presentation on our new line of company branded safety products. There was a very large, very expensive combination dry-erase and projector screen wood-grain cabinet at the front of the training room – perfect for my [...]
Joke of the Week
Jokes are often used to break the ice in training sessions. Here are two you can use, courtesy of SafetyXChange member, Hank Roberts.
Safety Lite?
How many safety personnel are needed to change a light bulb?
Fifteen:
One to conduct the Project Safety & Health Review;
One to prepare the Job Safety Analysis;
One to review the Standard Operating Procedure;
One to [...]
Call for Presentations
You’ve spent years honing your skills as a safety professional. Now we invite you to share what you know with SafetyXChange members through our 2009 Audio Conference program.
The SafetyXChange Audio Conference program is designed to provide high-quality education for safety professionals. We’re looking for presentations that will focus on current and emerging issues, best practices, [...]
The Safety Culture, Part 2 of 2
Safety cultures require two forms of commitment to build: organizational and employee commitment. Let’s discuss how to secure each one.
Organizational Commitment
Organizational commitment involves getting CEOs and upper managers to buy-in. But it doesn’t stop there. You also need to win over other organizational leaders down the chain of authority including line managers, superintendents, supervisors—in short, [...]
Are Employees Committed to Safety Culture?
Last week, we published a self-assessment quiz based on a 2004 U.S. Navy study listing 15 safety activities that management will support when it’s serious about creating a positive safety culture. Let’s now go through the same exercise for employees. Put a check in the box next to the statement if the statement is true; [...]
A Prevention Strategy: Part 2 of 3, Anticipating the Risk
The first phase in a workplace violence prevention strategy is to acknowledge the problem. We talked about how to do that last week. Now, let’s move to phase two: making efforts to anticipate workplace violence before it happens.
Look for Warning Signs of Violence
Our understanding of violence and violent behavior has advanced. We can now create [...]
How Are You Coping?
McGraw Hill has developed a pretty neat self-assessment that you can use to determine if you’re experiencing burnout. You can take the test here.
Martin Luther King & the Labor Movement
As has become our annual MLK Day tradition, SafetyXChange has decided to re-air this story about the contributions of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., to the cause of occupational health and safety.
The man we celebrate Monday is best known as an advocate for the civil rights of African-Americans. But Martin Luther King, Jr. wasn’t speaking [...]
Age Discrimination Is Illegal
I really enjoyed Part I of Lauryn’s article on overcoming job search challenges. Lauryn talked about how it’s harder for job searchers to find a job if they’re 50 or older. But she didn’t mention, there is legislation against age discrimination. This is something that should be reinforced as older workers are allowed to continue [...]
How to Overcome the 7 Biggest Challenges, Part 2 of 2
Let’s continue our discussion of what experts say are the seven biggest challenges to job searching and what you can do to overcome them. In case you missed Part 1, the first four challenges are:
Not currently having a job;
Being 50 or older;
Lack of focus; and
Inability to position oneself for the market.
CHALLENGE 5: Explaining a History [...]




