Safety

As Industrial Hygiene and Safety Professionals, we introduced the idea of viewing safety through a performance-based looking glass and the value it brings by increasing our sphere of influence across the multiple organizational disciplines.  Safety should not be viewed as an “add in” or even a “priority” because priorities change based upon inputs and conditions.  The same can be said about statements such as “Safety is our number one goal” since goals change as well.  Most in our profession will agree with the premise that “safety must be a value” for lasting success and remain a constant regardless of the inputs and conditions.  How can we be successful in creating the culture and mindset needed to drive this value statement?

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As Safety Professionals, we are dedicated to the protection of people, property and the environment.  Our success is often measured in the amount of human suffering we prevent as we chart OSHA rates for recordable injuries, lost work day cases or cases of restricted work activity.  We attempt to quantify our success as we compare past results against current performance.  If the needle trends downward, we pat ourselves on the back, notify management and tout the success of our safety efforts.  We become singular in focus as if the success or failure of our organization is predicated on this sole outcome.  This type of thinking causes us to be pigeon holed in our world, many times, outside of the heartbeat of the organization and its leadership.  We are brought into the Board room to report on a certain situation and promptly escorted out once our information and expertise is no longer needed.  It is a sad reality that this is how a large majority of safety professionals operate.  If this is how you operate, the question becomes, “why should I change and if I do, how do I change?”

To address the question of “why should I change,” I challenge you to view safety through a performance based looking glass.  As safety professionals, much of our time is spent on research of standards and creating policies and procedures to ensure compliance with applicable governmental standards.  This methodology breeds a compliance or prescriptive based approach that restricts our influence throughout an organization.   [node:read-more:link]

To support OSHA’s National Safety Stand-Down To Prevent Falls in Construction, OSHA's Houston South Area Office, Associated Builders and Contractors of Greater Houston, American Subcontractors Association-Houston Chapter, Central South Carpenters Regional Council, Gulf Coast Safety Institute/College of the Mainland, and Scaffold & Access Industry Association have aligned to offer the Houston area construction industry an afternoon of presentations and demonstrations to assist in preventing falls.

Who Should Attend Houston Fall Prevention Safety Day?
This complimentary event is perfect for owners, managers, general contractors, safety directors, sub contractors. Workers in the construction industry will find value in the Houston Fall Prevention Safety Day.    [node:read-more:link]

We hear that question a lot on the Internet these days, but my question refers to the picture of a class of students who attend the Career Pathways Institute in Grand Island, Nebraska finishing concrete for a townhouse project for Ryan Bartels Construction Company.

The story chronicles the way that one of those students, Caleb Wardyn, a senior at Central Catholic high school found a part-time job with Bartels. It also talks about how Bartels, a staunch supporter of the CPI construction pathway, brought Caleb and 11 other students who are in the construction pathway at CPI to work on a project where they get “hands-on” experience while they are still in school.    [node:read-more:link]