While vacationing with my family in the Outer Banks of North Carolina, I decided to try something new: hang-gliding. I admit that as a Safety Coordinator, I worried about the impression I would make if I returned to work broken and bandaged. But I decided to go for it. And I’m glad I did! In [...]

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We invite you to participate in a survey on safety training programs. This is part of our continuing series of surveys intended to determine the methods safety professionals use to provide safety training, the training resources they buy, their satisfaction with current programs and resources, and how [...]

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February 28 is International RSI (Repetitive Strain Injuries) Awareness Day, which is held on the last day of February every year because it’s the only calendar day that does not necessarily repeat annually.
As safety professionals know, RSIs, also known as musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs), affect people in all workplaces and the risks of developing MSDs are [...]

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The American Society of Safety Engineers’(ASSE) Women in Safety Engineering (WISE) common interest group will honor 100 women who have, or are currently, making a difference through their work and dedication to protecting people, property and the environment, as part of ASSE’s 100th anniversary celebrations in 2011. This week WISE issued a [...]

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Robert Sutton, a professor of management science and engineering at Stanford University, has written a book about how people can improve or at least survive a workplace where some people leave a lot to be desired.
The title might be offensive to some, so we’ll modify it slightly, to The No ‘Jerk’ Rule: Building a Civilized [...]

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Can a supervisor or company pour on safety too thickly and end up overwhelming, turning off or angering workers as a result? Definitely, says an Australian psychologist whose session I attended at the 2007 American Society of Safety Engineers’ conference in Orlando, Florida. Here are some of the key things I learned from the session.
How [...]

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The job of safety supervisor can be a frustrating one, don’t you think? Every day we try to convince our workers to take precautions like using respiratory protection when mixing cement. If you’re in construction, I’m guessing you know what I mean. You try every argument in the book – citing rules, evoking common sense [...]

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Undercover Boss first aired right after the Super Bowl. Even though I have a great disdain for ‘reality’ shows, I wanted to see how careful these CEOs would be about putting their company in a good light, especially with regard to Safety & Environmental. The Waste Management episode was good [...]

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"If you keep doing the same thing, you will always get the same results." We’ve all heard variations of this overused phrase hundreds of time, but I think it’s an over-simplification. If you did exactly the same thing in exactly the same environment, then, yes, you may get the same results. [...]

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Your organization says that safety is #1. But is that just talk? Take the following quiz and see if safety is indeed a priority in your organization. (Be honest.) Score one point for each “Yes.”
1. The word “safety” is part of your organization’s mission statement.
(Score 2 points if it’s in the first sentence or in [...]

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