Insights into Your Safety Culture

Latest Episodes:

The Fear "Work-Around" to Get Better Reporting Jan 18, 2024

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Fear is the Devil of safety programs, while trust is the safety program Saint. It’s true that management actions can reduce fear, but as any leader trying to change a culture knows, you need those small wins to reinforce the trust your workforce can demonstrate when they open up and start to report.

Getting Your Feelings Hurt is NOT A Recordable Incident Dec 15, 2023

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Fortunately, getting your feelings hurt is NOT a recordable incident. True, no OSHA or other government reporting need be done, no incident investigations must ensue, and I’m not sure it even qualifies as a near miss. Instead, I’d argue it is the opposite of an incident.

Don't Outsource the Human! Procedures Can't Be Attentive Oct 24, 2023

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To maintain the most optimized processes, we need to foster a safety culture that fosters “attentive human beings” who are on the alert for something out of the ordinary that may result in an injury or process event.

Driving on Autopilot Toward Situational Awareness Sep 14, 2023

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The real threat to driving safety is the autopilot we all develop over a lifetime of driving for personal reasons outside of the work setting.

Show me the MONEY: Having Safety Values Aug 24, 2023

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We hear a lot about Safety Values. Many folks say that we all have to value safety to create a safety culture that will keep incidents down. When pressed on what a “value” is you usually hear something about a feeling, deep down, where “safety is first,” or “caring is a way of life”. I get that and agree… but as someone who trumpets Behavioral Safety I want something more tangible…something I can see… a behavior I can teach and reinforce.

The Feedback Sandwich Should be a Pizza Aug 10, 2023

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Feedback is one of those unique tools that serves as both a consequence and an antecedent to behavior. As a consequence, feedback occurs after the behavior and can reinforce and shape behavior. As an antecedent, feedback helps direct changes in the quality or quantity of subsequent behavior because performance can be compared to a goal, standard, or prior performance.

Gone Fish’n: Measurement Doesn’t Have to be an Illusion Jul 25, 2023

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If you don’t understand variance your view of the world blinds you to risk. Deming said that one of the greatest threats to organizational quality (and safety from my perspective) is “single data-point management” too often practiced by managers who don’t understand the concept of variability.

Safety is Not a Verb Jun 15, 2023

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Consider the term “Safety” which is a chameleon of a word. The word used in so many different ways.

Fear Is As Fear Does May 30, 2023

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Our body is equipped with automatic protective wiring that automatically reacts to scary stimuli with a fear response. This Fear reaction can then be transferred to otherwise neutral stimuli through experience.

Build Your Safety Culture with Dominos Apr 20, 2023

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Heinrich asserted nearly 75 years ago, “88% of worker injuries are due to the worker’s unsafe act”. He proposed a Safety Domino Theory