Does Your Safety Culture Have a Prayer?

It is interesting how some employers struggle to maintain a safe workplace. For them it is an ongoing challenge, because some employees do not demonstrate the will to follow safe work practices.

It is also interesting how there are employees of other organizations who wish their employers did care about safety. I hear their stories and understand their pain.

I picture two lines, A and B. Line (A) represents how much the employer cares about safety. On this line at one end, the employer cares 100% and at the other end, the employer cares 0%. Every employer is somewhere on line A.

The other line (B) represents how much the employee cares about safety. On this line at one end, the employee cares 100% and at the other end, the employee cares 0%. Every employee is somewhere on line B.

This is a huge topic, and I am only going to scratch the surface by exploring this one aspect. The point I want to make is simply this. Employers, do your employees know how much you care about their safety? How is your concern for their safety communicated to them? I am not just talking about words I am talking about actions as well.

Likewise, to the employees, how are you responding to your employer’s efforts to improve their safety culture?

Here are two examples of this safety dilemma.

Example One: Many years ago, I had the opportunity to work in a refinery for the summer. It was a good job for us college kids. We worked hard in the plant and the compensation was excellent.

Before we were able to start working though, we went through an intensive two-week safety training program. The message they communicated was that the company was in the process of improving their safety culture. They recognized that they had problems, and many of their employees were slow to come on board with the new safety initiatives and the company was working on that.

In our orientation training program, they emphasized this problem and they told us that if we ever believed that we were in an unsafe situation we were to leave that area and go to a safe place. There would not be any negative repercussions for doing this.

They also informed us that we were to follow all safety rules and not to become negatively influenced by those who were slow to come around. In short, do not pick up the bad habits of the incorrigible workers.

I am glad for the emphasis on that point, because I saw situations where employees were foolishly taking chances and there were occasions where I had to leave an unsafe area.

Example Two: A few years back I was teaching an excavation safety class for a utility contractor. Before we started the class, I asked the owner if he wanted me to kick it off or if he wanted to say a few words first.

He did have something to say and I will never forget it. It went like this.

“Welcome everyone. Thank you for coming to this class. This training is important and we want you to learn what Jon is going to teach you. Now, some of you have been through this before but please pay attention and make sure any questions you have get answered to your satisfaction. The work we do can be dangerous and we want you to be safe at all times so you can go home to your families at the end of the day.”

Then he said, “Let’s bow our heads in prayer”.

The prayer he said was short and to the point.

“Dear God I pray today that everyone in this class will pay attention and learn. Help us to use what we learn so we can stay safe. Bless us and bless our families. Amen.”

Whether or not everyone in that room believed in God or believed in prayer, they certainly believed that their employer cared about them and their families.

That will make a difference when it comes to making safety decisions on the jobsite. Everyone knew where that employer was on line A.

I also believe it would make a difference where the employees land on line B, even to the point where they are more likely to look out for one another.

A safety culture may be difficult to achieve, but it is possible and should be pursued with all diligence.

For information on excavation safety topics please see my book at

www.trenchandexcavationsafety.com

Thank you