Frantic Safety
By Carl Potter, CSP, CMC, CSP and Deb Potter, Ph.D, CMC
Have Carl speak at your next meeting!
Did you ever notice that when someone is seriously hurt in an industrial incident, on a construction site, or in a mine it prompts a frantic response to safety? Unfortunately, we see it all the time. Following such an event, we receive calls from journalists, company safety leaders, and executives who ask, “What can we do?” The answer is,
“Don’t get frantic about safety.”
Frantic safety is the knee-jerk reaction that occurs after a wake up call. Serious injuries cause this response and so does the person who shows up and says these fear-evoking words, “I am with OSHA and I am here to help.” Immediately, everyone becomes a safety professional and they know just what can be done.
Can’t you just see individuals digging through files of vendor information and searching the internet for the hottest new “thing” in the industry that will reduce injuries? You can imagine all of the promises to “use this technique and reduce injuries by 50-75%!” Everyone has the answer. Wow! Line up a few of these new strategies and you will not have any injuries. After a few days, weeks or months, everybody calms down and complacency sets in until the next event causes frantic safety. This can cause a roller coaster-like ride for an organization.
Ups and downs in the organization’s safety performance can only be leveled out through a responsible safety management process - one that takes time and commitment along with a steady focus on unwavering principles and standards.
- A process that focuses on the following areas will level out the ride:
- Management Commitment
- Employee Involvement
- Worksite Analysis
- Hazard Recognition and Control
- Training
In our book ZERO!, we present the Criteria for Safety Excellence (CSETM) that focuses on these five key areas. Our criteria is much like OSHA’s Voluntary Protection Program (VPP) criteria and we don’t apologize for this similarity. Both offer organizations a framework for creating a sustainable, systematic approach to injury prevention. The difference is that the CSE does not require immediate OSHA involvement and can help an organization prepare for the VPP. (For more information on the VPP, see www.OSHA.gov.)
Ask yourself this question about your organization, “Do we have a frantic safety reaction to incident?” If the answer is yes, you may want to order ZERO! to learn how you can prevent that frenetic safety roller coaster ride.
Carl Potter, CSP, CMC and Deb Potter, PhD, CMC work with organizations that want to create an environment where nobody gets hurt. As advocates of a zero-injury workplace, they are safety speakers, authors, and consultants to industry. For information about bringing Carl and Deb to your company or your next conference, contact them at Potter and Associates International, Inc. 800-259-6209 or carl@potterandassociates.com.