Training and Leadership
How Ethnic Culture Affects Safety Culture
The notion of “safety culture” recognizes that workplace safety isn’t just about machinery and industrial processes but is rooted in human behavior. Hooray for that bit of insight. But we still have a long way to go before we can use this nugget of truth to make actual work conditions safer.
What Is Safety Culture
When we [...]
Upton Sinclair—Groundbreaking Novelist
Journalists who advance the cause of occupational health and safety hold a special place in my heart. That’s why Upton Sinclair is one of my biggest heroes.
Sinclair was born in Baltimore on September 20, 1878. His father sold liquor for a living and consumed his own wares too often for his own good. As a [...]
Beating the Post-Vacation Blues
Although post-vacation blues is not officially recognized by the American Psychological Association, it is a condition that seems to affect many of us. Why? When we’re on vacation – whether we travel or not – we escape our daily routines. We indulge ourselves and adapt a more a flexible lifestyle. Returning to the reality of [...]
Safety Leadership Credo
Check the Conference Board of Canada’s web site and you’ll find the following principles of leadership in safety:
Safety Leadership Credo
I subscribe to the principle that health and safety of my employees, contractors, visitors, and our surrounding community are an integral part [...]
A Safety Management Imperative
Safety needs the right leadership. The rub comes when you ask people how this leadership can best be demonstrated. Here are my thoughts on the subject.
The Evolution of Safety Leadership
There’s a difference between safety management and safety leadership. The concept of safety leadership has been around for decades. Back in the late 60’s, the National [...]
Responsibility
It’s easier to say I’m not responsible than to say I’m irresponsible.
~ Stephen R. Covey
Responsibility educates.
~ Wendall Phillips
The price of greatness is responsibility.
~ Winston Churchill
Safe Supervisor Boot Camp: How to Run a High-Impact Safety Meeting
Understand the Fundamentals of Delivering High-Impact Safety Meetings that Drive Home a Memorable Safety Message, Reinforce Your Safety Goals – and Don’t Put Participants to Sleep!
Presented by One of North America’s Leading Safety Training Experts
This special 2-hour Safe Supervisor Boot Camp is conducted by Pamela Walaski, an experienced trainer and conference presenter, known [...]
When Shortcuts Become the Norm
Workers in every industry – from construction to manufacturing to healthcare – are tempted, sometimes even encouraged, to take shortcuts. But when shortcuts become the normal way to do a task, the risk of injury increases. It’s called the “Normalization of Deviance” and it’s a workplace hazard safety supervisors must address.
Frances Perkins
In 1933, Franklin Roosevelt became President of the United States. One of his first appointments was Frances Perkins as Secretary of Labor. It was a stunning pick. Never before had a woman served in the Cabinet.
But Frances Perkins was anything but a token appointment. Born in Boston in 1880, Perkins was a nationally known economist, [...]
True Experiences that 4 Trainers Would Rather Forget
1. Training’s the Pits
About 20 years ago I organized a joint fire training exercise with several local sawmills and engaged the services of a training group from southern Ontario. The company had lots of experience with oil rig fires in western Canada.
The training went well as we progressed from small hand held extinguishers putting out [...]




