I was going to write to you about my safety program when a colleague of mine named Joe Brown said something to me that made me rethink things. What he said sounded simple at the time. But the more I thought about it, the more I realized just how dead on target it was and true as a fundamental principle of safety. Joe said this: “Safety has to make sense.”

Start Making Sense

Some safety professionals look at themselves as policemen who have to order people to work safely. The policeman’s mentality leads them to create safety programs that simply restate the same old regulations and policies that have been written countless times before. These safety programs become a dusty collection of materials that nobody reads and only the safety professional understands. This kind of safety doesn’t make sense.

I believe that safety as a principle as opposed to safety as a program does make sense. Safety is part of nature. Safety ownership starts with my wanting to protect myself. This just makes sense. All individuals want the same thing for themselves. This makes sense collectively. People who look after themselves are also naturally willing to look out for their associates. This also makes sense. When everyone accepts personal responsibility for safety, working (and living) safely ultimately equates to a corporate-wide value.

The safety professional’s job is to promote this collective responsibility. To meet this goal, safety professionals have to stop thinking like policemen and start recognizing their role as advisors who empower people to work (and live) safely.

The safety program is a direct extension of that. Of course, it must comply with policies and regulations. But strive to keep things simple. Your safety program can cut through the “red tape” by limiting the directives to simple phrases that just make sense!

Conclusion

Safety has to make sense. If it does, most employees will do what they’re supposed to do most of the time without your having to tell them to do it. Without voluntary compliance you don’t have a safety program. As safety professionals, it’s our job to make things make sense.

These words are a paraphrase of what Joe said. And to me, they make a lot of sense.

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