December 2005 - Safety is a State of Mind

AS FEATURED IN BIC MAGAZINE

Safety: A State of Mind
Ed Harrington - Safety Director

With the holiday season here safety maybe the last thing on our employee's minds. The challenge for companies during this time of year is to ensure their employee's minds arein the right "state"!

One of the first things they should do is to make sure their supervisors are talking with their work force. Knowing our employees is an essential part of the process. What's going on with them outside the plant often follows them inside the plant and our supervisors often are the first to encounter them. Having a quality toolbox/tailgate safety meeting may yield some information that the supervisor should pick up on, if he or she has taken time to know their crew such as:

- Mood (how are they acting)
- Verbiage (what are they saying)
- Workmanship (have quality and reliability issues risen)
- Safety (is basic safety behavior being observed)

This is one of the reasons a good Supervisor Training program is so important. If we are going to hold our supervision accountable then we need to give them the resources and tools to succeed.

One of the key elements of a good behavior based safety program is to empower our supervision. Training them to make right choices and to plan ahead is the start to enhancing the safety culture. One of these ways is to introduce our employees to the S.M.A.R.T. program: Specific, Motivational, Attainable, Relevant and Trackable.

- Train our employees to be Specific with their JSA or TSA. How will they exercise caution while performing their tasks?
-Train our supervision to be Motivational. A pat on the back goes a long way when it comes from a foreman or superintendent. Let them know they are a part of a team and what role they play on that team. This gives them a since of pride and ownership.
- Create Attainable goals and schedules. Let them see what they can accomplish when they go a week without a recordable injury, without an incident or when they finish a job ahead of schedule.
- Keep it Relevant. Keeping your training programs or toolbox/tailgate safety meetings relevant, is just as important as having a training program. Don't lose them before they even start the job!
- Finally Trackable. Set up your program in a way that is trackablesuch as participation, training completed or needed, goals achieved and cost savings acquired by a quality program. Remember tracking also shows value in a program.

What better time of year to unveil a Behavior Based Safety Training program than the holiday season, when so much is going on in our lives outside the plant. A quality Training Program can help all of us keep our minds in the right "state".

For more information contact:
Ed Harrington, Safety Director
Evergreen Industrial Services
(281) 478-5800
eharrington@evergreenes.com