In an article I wrote for SafetyXChange a few months ago on "near miss" opportunities in the manufacturing work environment, I mentioned that a "safety attitude" throughout a company is the key to a safe and healthy work environment. Of course, that's easy to say. The hard part is to actually cultivate such a safety attitude. Here's my humble opinion on how to achieve this momentous task.

The Challenge of Gaining Buy In

The biggest challenge for many safety managers is establishing and maintaining a safety conscious work environment. That's a tall order and a full-time job. Sure, you might think and eat safety every day; but that's not enough to get other people in the company to do the same.

By definition, a safety culture has to be experienced company-wide. The commitment must exist at all levels, including workers, supervisors and managers. Of course, buy-in at the upper levels is of critical importance. After all, if the rest of the management team's agenda conflicts with this goal - such as an agenda that stresses maximizing production and output without regard for employees' safety and welfare - then there's no way the culture will be created.

The Role of Upper Management

You must have full support and buy-in from the top of the organization where the marching orders are initiated. Your task is to harness upper management's muscle behind your culture building efforts. That involves securing management help to:

• Promote safety to the Big 3: Safety must be recognized and included with the same importance as the "big three" - Quality, Delivery and Productivity. Safety can't be the odd man out. It can't be taken into consideration only when problems arise, or else problems will arise.

• Make safety everyone's job: Every job description in the organization should include safety-related responsibilities and every employee should be held accountable for fulfilling these responsibilities.

• Establish safety goals: Quarterly and annual goals are set for the "big three." The same should apply for safety metrics. Establish the goals, monitor them, display them and celebrate accomplishments along the way. Accordingly, the company's success should be measured in part on the achievement of safety goals and the responsibility must be everyone's in order to achieve the goals for that success.

• Make safety a corporate mission: That corporate mission statement that you see hanging in a company's reception area and board room generally includes a nice statement about satisfying the customer by providing a quality product. That's all well and good. But if there isn't also a reference to the company's commitment to maintain a safe and healthy work environment, then odds are you're looking at a company that doesn't have a true safety culture.

Conclusion

Once you have gained the corner office's commitment to a safety culture, everything just takes care of itself and health and safety nirvana is achieved. Right? Wrong. Sorry, but this is just the beginning of the challenge. The really tough task lies ahead. That task is to get everyone in the company to follow the directive in that corporate mission statement. Now you must create a work environment where people actually do think and act safely on the job. And a big part of the burden to champion this effort and keep it going falls squarely on the shoulders of you, the company safety director. Next week, I'll give you some advice to help you shoulder that burden.

MEMBER REPLY
School Safety

Your school safety report card is excellent and could actually be augmented with a section on indoor and outdoor chemical (pollutant) hazards. For example, is there a presence of school bus idling near major exits, smoking practices around the school property and nearby industry stacks, storage piles, etc., including proximity of electrical transmission lines. I find it amazing that we still locate elementary schools with their school yards directly under transmission lines and adjacent to industrial zoned property and regional roads. Would parents be aware of any radon testing in school buildings and how the school fares in building OSH inspections? Environment Canada has a web “Communities Portal”, where citizens can access web maps that show pollution sources in their neighborhoods and around their schools. The system is reasonably easy to use by typing in postal codes.

Name withheld by request

SAFETY QUIZ
What Did the Supervisor Do Wrong?

By Dave Duncan

The Situation

The sun was shining brightly in a cloudless sky, but the brisk north wind was howling making working conditions brutal. Nobody could mistake this February day for a moderate one.

Nobody, that is, except for the workers in Phil’s construction crew. They looked out the window, saw the sun beaming and figured they could fashion concrete forms at an outdoor worksite all day without a heavy jacket or sweater.

It didn’t take long for the crew to learn that they had been suckered into not dressing warmly enough. The shivering began almost at once.

"Phil, the guys need a break. We're so cold we can't think straight," said Dave, a long-time co-worker of Phil’s.

"Dave, you know these forms have to be in before we leave tonight. The concrete's coming in first thing tomorrow. We can't afford to take a warm-up break.”

Still, Phil could see that the guys were struggling. So he figured a little pep talk might get them through. “Guys, listen up. Put your backs into this and pick up the pace. Work up a sweat and we'll be out of here before you know it."

Grumbling, the workers did as they were told and some of them did break a sweat. Fifteen minutes later, several crewmembers stopped working and huddled around Joe, a co-worker who was shivering uncontrollably on the ground.

"Phil, come here!" shouted Dave. "Joe's shaking like a leaf and he's talking nonsense. I think somebody better take him to the hospital."

Joe was found to be suffering from hypothermia, a potentially fatal condition caused by a dangerously low body temperature. Luckily he recovered.

The Question

Name three things that Phil, the supervisor, did wrong.

The Answers

1. He didn't allow the crew to take periodic warm-up breaks.
2. He didn't realize that encouraging his workers to break a sweat wouldn't keep them warm. It actually had the opposite effect, leading to hypothermia.
3. He did not advise his workers to bring layers of extra clothing so they would be prepared for any sudden deterioration in weather conditions.

The Explanation

Consider these other cold-weather safety tips from the US Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA):

• Teach your workers to watch out for and report signs of hypothermia in their co-workers. These include uncontrolled shivering, slurred speech, confused behavior, clumsy movements and fatigue.
• Encourage workers to drink warm, sweet beverages such as sugar water or sports drinks. Coffee, tea, soda, and other caffeine-containing drinks should be avoided because they boost heart rate and increase the likelihood of hypothermia.
• Remind workers to eat warm, high-calorie foods such as pasta dishes or hearty soups.

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