Archive for Awakenings

Support “Accidental” Safety People There are many more part-time safety people then full-time safety people.   I sometimes refer to part-time safety people as “accidental” safety people.  They did not choose safety as a career path, rather they were assigned safety responsibilities by their employer. Most full-time safety professionals have purposely chosen occupational safety and health as […]

“What has happened, can and will happen again!“ – Too often, employers conduct only cursory accident investigations.  They don’t get to the underlying, multiple causes of the accident.  Without a thorough and comprehensive investigation and follow-up, any accident could happen again – with maybe more severe consequences the next time. Accident repeaters and unchecked accident […]

“Celebrate Near Misses”   – When near misses occur, we usually say – “Wow,  we sure were lucky that no one was hurt or killed!”  Indeed, I’ve seen a number of near misses that could have easily resulted in an employee’s death had the timing of things been slightly different. Recently, a near miss occurred […]

“When it comes to safety, there’s no substitute for experience”   – Many years ago I worked with a large trucking company.  They hauled grain and other products around the Midwest ( a very flat part of the USA). They were presented with a new business opportunity that involved hauling lumber to the west coast […]

– Being a safety advocate means making decisions and choices that are not always popular.  Last week I heard about an unfortunate accident that reinforced this point. A female office employee at a metals manufacturer had a small piece of metal that she wanted to cut on the metal shear in the shop.  She had […]

“What” Is Right Trumps “Who” Is Right – In my 40-year safety career, I’ve had many interactions with OSHA inspectors.  Also, for five years I worked for a division of OSHA and performed hundreds of inspections. One thing I learned from these experiences was that OSHA inspectors are not perfect – they sometimes make the […]

–“Post-Incident Refresher Training” – The time immediately after employees are injured are when they are usually most receptive to safety training.  Employees should be reintroduced to a full refresher of pertinent training topics once they are stabilized and can return to the work-site. Employees are more receptive to the message of safety training once they […]

“Be A Safety Champion”  Workers’ safety has always been a sacred priority for me.   At a young age, I saw relatives seriously and permanently injured in on on-the-job accidents.  I’ve seen first hand the effect workplace  injuries and illnesses can have on a working class family. As a safety professional,  you must be the […]

“Safety During A Union Strike”– In my 40-year safety career I’ve been the EHS manager at a number of union companies.  In two cases the union and management were unable to successfully renegotiate their contracts and strikes ensued.  One labor strike was with the “United Steelworkers” union in the USA, it lasted three weeks.  The […]

“Everyone Is Perfect” – A few years ago I was in a meeting with a senior OSHA official.   He had visited the company where I was the EHS Director at to investigate a fatality. The investigator asked me if I’d ever given safety training to the deceased employee – I said “Yes”. The investigator […]