Early Health & Safety Lessons

I just completed my 44th year of being involved with Health & Safety Leadership in the three organizations I was employed before the last 3 years as a Health & Safety Consultant. I was very fortunate in that at the very beginning I was taught what I feel are the basic principles of Industrial Health & Safety. Over the years these basic tenants have only been strengthened.  

In 1976, at 22, this new college graduate, became a foundry supervisor in a large automotive foundry. All the management theory I had recently absorbed in college often did me little good leading 50 tough men with the dangers inherent to that work environment. Decisions often had to be made immediately without the luxury of reflection for my employees or myself. I am remember vividly feeling alone and terrified, while at the same time never feeling so much alive and exhilarated. It seemed like a constant adrenaline rush and was indeed addictive. It was never boring and ruined me for office work the rest of my career. Four years later I finally got my shot in my chosen career of Personnel. On the second day, as the new guy, I was handed the safety role. Except for being a Line Supervisor I had no formal Health and Safety education. OSHA was in fact not yet ten years old. 

Back on my very first day of orientation at the foundry I learned that people cause accidents; “stuff” rarely does!” On that first day, the first thing I was handed was a Dupont STOP Book.  Over the next two days of training I was taught the philosophy of Behavior Based Safety (BBS). At first BBS seemed somewhat foreign, but upon reflection made perfect sense. Soon after as a new supervisor I had to do at least 4 STOP Cards a week. Often STOP Observations were easy to see in a foundry. I used the STOP Program a few more times in my career at other jobs and places, and that philosophy that has always stuck with me.  

Second lesson was that I was always responsible for my people! This basic management approach is the core of my entire leadership philosophy but is particularly important in Safety and Health Management. One statement summarizes this philosophy made by all my senior management. It was literally pounded into me constantly, “Fitz, it may not be your fault one of your people gets injured, but its DA__ sure is ALWAYS your RESPONISBLITY, and never forget it!” One of my General Foreman use to add to this statement, “And that is one of the things we also accepted when we made the decision to become a MANAGER!” In that organization safety responsibility was never passed on to someone else. As my favorite boss use to say, “We are all in this together! You may ask for assistance, but your primary responsibility is the safety of your employees. They are always first, your employees!”

Third Lesson, went along with that second lesson, was that when the root cause was finally found (and must be found) to any accident “Management was really the Problem!”  No better example is in a little story I was involved in. As supervisors we were expected to do weekly Safety Talks with our employees. This was difficult in my continuous operation department, but I always got it done, as few excuses were accepted by my supervisors. One week the Safety Talk was on Lockout. I made sure to talk to everyone about Lockout. Almost one week later, an employee named Tony removed a guard without following Lockout, and while trying to unjam a conveyor stuck a finger in the gearing and lost his right index finger. I was required to have an accident report on my supervisor’s desk on any major accident before I went home. After investigation, I thought the root cause of the accident was simple, Tony decided not to lock out, even after I had reminded him of the Lockout Policy a week before. Therefore, I concluded the corrective action was even simpler. When Tony returned to work I would issue him discipline to the level the Personnel Department approved, possibly discharge. I confidently took my report to my boss, Jack. Jack was sitting at his desk, I put the report in his inbox and started to turn around and walk out.  

Jack said, “Fitz, hold it! Is that Tony’s accident?”

I replied, “Yes.”

He told me to sit down while he looked the report over. When he got to the Root Cause and Corrective Action Sections he smiled and said, “So you say, Tony made the choice to not Lockout, right?” 

I immediately defensively but proudly replied, “Sure did!” 

He then did something that has haunted me to this day! He looked me in the eye and said, “Who is responsible to make sure Tony understands he HAD NO CHOICE, that he MUST Lockout? Did you make sure he knew, without a doubt, if he does not lockout he could be fired?” 

I started to say something like, “I did that!” However, the words stuck in my throat when I realized exactly what Jack asked! The point was I had gone through the motions, but did I ever really tell Tony or everyone else, there was absolutely no choice when it came to Lockout? Being honest with myself I admitted to myself I had not. That was a very sobering thing to admit to oneself!

Then Jack did something even more sobering, he looked me in the eye and said, “Before you point a finger at an employee remember you have three fingers pointed back at you, as the boss! Make sure you are not a cause too. My experience is that when it comes right down to it, Management is responsible for most accidents! We either did not enforce the rules, train, not act on a safety problem, or whatever!” Over the next 40 years Jack’s viewpoint has seldom ever been wrong.    

Fourth Lesson, I learned was there is a root cause to every accident! Accidents just do not happen because of the variability in the universe.  Remembering that along with Lessons One, Two, and Three if any of my employees were injured it was my primary responsibility to find out exactly what happened. I was encouraged to get assistance from sources like my supervisor, the Safety Manager, or even other employees in a team, but it was my primary responsibility to made sure a thorough accident investigation was carried out with root cause being found and comprehensive corrective action put in place. As Jack also always told me, “If Tony gets hurt, maybe shame on him, but if someone else gets hurt for the same reason, that is on us (Management). Another reason Management may be responsible for an accident!” 

The Fifth Lesson, came to me after many more years in Management, and several Lean, Leadership, and other seminars. It finally occurred to me that it is important that we act as we say. For example, as Supervisors and Safety (EHS) Managers we tell all our people that Lockout/Tagout is important. We tell them that repeatedly.  We may even mean it when we say it!  However, how many times do we actually demonstrate it is important? As a supervisor I would tell my employees that quality and production were important. After assembly I would inspect their parts looking for defects and check their production numbers, sometimes several times a shift. I would also make a big deal of showing them I was doing all this. I was demonstrating how important quality and production were. Being honest with myself the times I demonstrated I thought safety was important was well, not good. I do Lockout Training with clients’ supervisors now. I often ask them, “How many of you tell your employees that Lockout is very important?” All the hands shoot-up in the class.  I then ask, “How many of you regularly ask your employees to demonstrate a lockout procedure, or more importantly thank someone for locking out their machine when you observe it? So, let me ask you how important are you are actually showing Lockout is to you?” They always look at themselves like sheep as they contemplate the answer. 

I will stipulate that Supervisors are some of the busiest people on the shop floor. Rarely do organizations have too many Supervisors! I have been one! However, as Jack use to say, “You got to talk the talk, and walk the walk!” It follows that it we do not show what is important as well as saying it, we are giving a mixed message to our employees. As managers we say safety is important, but do we really mean it? It follows that possibly another reason Management is at fault for most accidents! In my opinion just words are only just words. Our actions really show how we feel. In my opinion saying, “Safety is Important,” is far from enough. The old saying, “Actions speak louder than words,” really comes to mind here!     

The basic 5 lessons I learned at the very beginning were:

1.   Peoples’ behavior is the cause of almost every accident or near miss. The causes of this are for-the-most part for one of two reasons:

a.   Someone did not do what they were supposed to do!

b.   Some did something they were not supposed to do!               

It is as simple as that!

2.   Supervisors and Managers are responsible for the Health & Safety of their employees! You cannot allow this to be delegated or avoided. As a young supervisor I was expected to accept this responsibility. 

3.   Although peoples’ behavior causes most accidents, the ultimate responsibility falls with Management. In my opinion, ethical Health & Safety Management starts here.

4.   Safety incidents do not just happen because of fate, the stars, or whatever. In 44 years in the hundreds and hundreds of cases I have investigated and been involved exactly one case did not have a definite Root Cause. Sometimes that Root Cause is hard to find, but it is always there. 

5.   If Safety is important we must do more than just say it! We must live it, walk it, demonstrate it, and even breath it. In fact, I do not like to say, “Safety is number 1!” I believe the real path to World Class Health & Safety Management is not prioritizing Safety! Not making it a goal compared to something else, like production and quality, but that it is an essential VALUE of the organization! We always do the safe thing without regards to anything else, ROI (Return on Investment), convenience, production, quality, or anything else. 

Sometimes these lessons were hard. Especially when I was 22 and really realized the Health and Safety of 50 other men was my responsibility for 8-12 hours a day, day after day! Sometimes, it was a heavy load. Like when I had to call a spouse and tell them to get to the hospital. However, after a while, it just became part of me and the way I did things!  Thankfully, it remains the same, lessons learned for a lifetime! 

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