The Heartbeat of Safety

The Heartbeat of Safety

(Is a Great Attitude)

A Short Essay by Dale Gossett

2016

Opening thoughts

The term “safety culture” is an allusive term at best and a thought provoking one even on a good day. No doubt if you have been around the industrial world at all and even more so if you have been around it for a long while, you have heard terms like “World Class Safety Culture” and other terms that are just as hard to define.

As I read many of the online dictionary resources that discuss or define culture in general, a couple of them really hit home with me when it comes to safety. I am paraphrasing a little bit, but not much.

1. World Class - The quality in a person or organization that arises from a concern for what is regarded as excellence.
2. Culture - The behaviors and beliefs that are characteristic of a particular social group. (Work environment)?

And when it comes to the word safety, you could do an amazing word study on it and really have an aha moment. I particularly like this one. The word safety originates in the sense that we use it, back to the 11th century and has the latter example of a trigger lock on a gun. Hum, so all of the intense power that a gun can put into motion for either positive or negative results is constrained, contained, controlled, dare I say even critically controlled. Safety. Just food for thought.

I want to spend some time putting digital ink to paper that originates from my heart, that is based on my 37 plus years of experience in the copper mining industry which has consisted of every facet of the mining task from the blasting and digging of the ore to the refining of the final product. In my career I have been blessed to have worked at almost every level, from production operator to supervisor to manager. My experience has been somewhat unique and has covered a lot of safety. Having seen many safety projects, programs, conferences, seminars, processes, procedures, regulations, exercises, directives………well you get the idea, even the term “flavor of the month” has seemingly become its own “flavor of the month” type response to many efforts.

As I write this essay over the next few chapters, I want to challenge every reader, whether a casual reader, a safety professional, a manager, a supervisor, a co-worker, etc., to consider the motivation for my writing effort.

In every stage of life, you grow, either in a positive way or in a less than positive way, but you are growing none the less. Some parts of you may change, hopefully in a positive manner, some parts are as set in stone as the cornerstone of a historic monument, unlikely to be moved from where originally placed. My question is this. Are you being the best human being you can be? Are you being the best safety person you can be? Ask yourself that honestly. If thoughts truly do turn into words, and words turn into actions, and action bring results, desired or not, what do you bring to the table of developing a “safety culture”? Who are you? Who am I?

My hope in writing this short essay, is that with a little bit of luck, a fair amount of sharing and a whole lot of grace, I can progress in becoming who I want to be. And that it might influence you in a positive way as well. That being a safety professional who starts every day with challenging myself, starting with the heart and never loses sight of why the safety professional is so vital, is so important, is so needed.

I pray this will be an easy read. As easy as a conversation between two friends who are considering some of the finer things in life. I hope you’ll continue reading and if you do, that my writing will make a difference in me, in you, in us.

Chapter 1 - Background Check

I respect diversity. I struggle so much with understanding modern day race relation issues and challenges. I often wonder why I have the inability to understand the “why” of the serious depth of these problems. Maybe I’m too simple in my belief, but it’s just about respect, respect from all and to all. Certainly a desire or hope of mine is to see humanity reach that level. Born in a small mining town in Arizona, also raised for a period of time in a small segregated town in western Kentucky, I often wonder, just how do we start out becoming who we are? I had loving parents. Not perfect by any means, but always trying to raise us right. They provided for the 4 children in our family and through thick and thin, through good times and bad, I never remember being in want. Never rich for sure, but never hungry or homeless. But then to be honest, I never even remember anyone that I would identify in that way. I’m not sure if it was because I wasn’t astute or observant enough, or that times were just that different then. It really did seem like a simpler time.

But the thing that stands out to me the most is that I have always fit naturally into what would be considered, at least in those days, as minority groups. Regardless of where I was living, I would be the lone Caucasian kid, in a group of another race, whether Native American, Hispanic or Africa American. I have a very clear recollection of being the only white kid, 9 years old, on the chartered school bus of an African American Church Youth Group headed to the amusement park and community swimming pool. I remember sitting in the back of this bus on the way back home and a young African American girl was sitting next to me and was holding some fig bars that were left over from the picnic. I love fig bars. As she noticed by my occasional glance her way, she could tell that I was hopeful, she smiled and asked, would you like some? It seemed as natural and accepting as it could possibly be. In this setting, she wasn’t the minority, I was. 45 years later, a single act of kindness is still just a fresh in my memory as it was the day it happened.

I guess my point being, we all start our lives in different parts of the world in different family settings, with different upbringing, but at some point we are who we are. And we are on a journey. Depending on how you look at the role of safety in today’s modern mining, industrial or manufacturing environment, who you are, or even more so, who you become, directly influences the message, the message of safe production. At its most foundational level, it’s about people, it’s always about people. Whether it’s ideas on how do it safer, whether it’s the passionate delivery of a safety message, whether it’s trying to deliver training that can often be regulation driven and a real challenge to make interesting, whether it’s the hand that is pushing the button to start the machine or the hand that turns the wrench that repairs it, at the beginning of the day and at end of the day, it is about people. And if it’s about people, then it’s about attitude. Attitude toward life, toward your career, toward your teammates, toward your faith, toward people.

Chapter 2 - Attitude

No doubt you have heard the word attitude used in in many various ways and examples and descriptions throughout your life. He “copped an attitude”, she has a “devil may care attitude”, let’s take a “wait and see attitude”. Interesting that the balance often seems to fall to the negative connotation. Not sure why that it is but let me just say this. To me, it is the behavior(s) I choose to demonstrate in any situation that I am presented with. Ultimately, that decision, that behavior, that word or reaction is a choice, my choice. Are there times when an action or reaction can be emotionally based, sure. You may feel anger, frustration or apprehension in some situations, and maybe excitement, exuberance or joy or other emotions. With that being said, the resulting actions, words and display of who you are, is about the attitude you started with. Because in safety we deal with people, and the whole spectrum of emotions and choices and behaviors and the spoken word and the body language of individuals can come into play in any situation, it is how I choose to react, choose to reply, that has its basis and results in my attitude.

So let me say this. It’s an opinion I guess, but with close to 40 year of experience, it does have some real life wisdom behind it. A safety professional with a bad attitude is not only ineffective, but I would argue has the real potential to be destructive. A safety professional with a great attitude may not always be as effective as he or she wants to be, but the motivation to have a positive impact on those they have influence with will always drive them to be better, to try harder, to think about the bigger picture and how it can be made more positive and rewarding for all involved.

I once heard a safety person say to a group of employees, “if I don’t get called an obscenity at least once a day, I haven’t done my job”. Think about that statement for a minute. If a heartfelt attitude was on display in a workplace, on a jobsite or in a conversation with employees, why would the reply be spiced with an obscenity? Again I ask why? To recognize a good attitude doesn’t take a lot of effort, but then neither does a bad attitude. Without any hesitation, my life experience has shown that employees will respond in kind, if they can rightfully discern that you are there to help make their lives safer, make their lives better. So don’t be surprised if when your attitude is less than compassionate, less than heartfelt about the situation a worker may be struggling with, that instead of working together to an acceptable and safer outcome, you get called a name, either to your face or out of hearing range. Or both. Either way, the desired result of a an employee who is working with you to achieve a safer workplace will be missing, or an employee who is either removed or even working against, not just the safety process, but you, and maybe not even you as a person, but against your attitude, may be the result.

My desire as well is not to sound “preachy”. All I have is my life’s experiences, but I hope to package that message in one that is challenging yet heartfelt, with a desire to see us as safety professionals become more effective, more influential and ever more impactful in our message.

Our attitudes define who we are in our profession, because they are often on display for the whole workforce to see, often judged as real or fake, as meaningful or valueless. So today, every day, every shift, I want to start with challenging myself, start with the heart, be the best safety professional I can be and let my attitude reflect that desire and let that desire bear positive results in the lives of my coworkers.

Chapter 3 – The Balance

What a great opportunity is afforded to any individual who desires to take on the high calling and career of a safety professional. At times it can seem like you are a preacher, or a counselor, or a banker, or a juggler, or a police officer, or a fireman, or a professor. At times a brother or sister, aunt or uncle, mother or father, a mentor, even just a friend who can listen and nod.

We have an expectancy that goes quite naturally with our profession to be knowledgeable, to know the rules, the regulations, the best practices, and when we don’t know them by heart, to know where to find them. Nothing worse than to give an employee bad information that may lead to an unwanted event, but may also destroy your credibility in the field. We should never stopping learning, studying, participating or communicating. With time and experience we will become ever more proficient and be able to deliver when the time comes and we need answers.

But there is a balance, a balance between head knowledge and heart knowledge. There is a balance between giving an employee what they want and giving an employee what they need. No doubt you have heard individuals who can recite code and regulation numbers like a recording. That in and of itself is not necessarily bad. But if not balanced with the proper attitude, it very well may fall on deaf ears. When delivered with the right attitude, one that says, hey let’s work together on this, I can help, here’s good information we can start with, you not only have the potential for more results, but also better results as well as potentially winning another teammate to the cause. The cause of safe production.

Carefully take note, that balance does not mean compromise of principle, that balance does not equal lip service for the sake of not offending, no, in our profession, balance means the right amount of knowing the material, believing in the message and delivering it with the right attitude. Do you win every employee to safety champion status? No, but if you win one, then one can become two, two can become four, and it grows from there. Every word means something, if it didn’t, it wouldn’t have a definition. Let our words be passionate, but balanced. Head knowledge. Heart knowledge. And be ready to observe the positive impact.

Chapter 4 - Vision

What is vision? What is a vision?

Many resources mention that vision is related to sight. Can a blind person still have vision? How? Why? When?

I’ve been doing this a while now. As you can imagine, I have seen, participated in writing, worked and tried to achieve, and followed up on the results of statements that were meant to be visionary. Vision statements.

But you know what I am discovering? That often the biggest, at times the most effective, vision statement is the one that lies within us as individuals. In a nut shell, where do I want to be in the future, what will take for me to get there? Setting personal and team goals are very important and I certainly don’t want to want to down play that in any sense. But allow me to ask a question, food for thought as it were. In what does your passion exist? What is valuable to you? In your thoughts? In your actions? In what does an important milestone potentially await in your future?

When it comes to Safe Production and holding safety as core value, I will get out on the plank just a bit and say, no passion, no vision. Words without conviction and passion carry very little positive impact. An individual, whether leader or not can say “I believe in Safety as a Core Value”. But it’s not impossible to identify whether those are words or values. Action taken in good times and bad reveal the true character of any person. Why would a person who does not hold safety as a core value, as means of life, as an investment into, dare I say it again, people, even desire a vision about success in safe production? Or even truly care? What would be the motivation? If a vision is developed without true conviction and a passionate desire to be there in the future, it may be a waste of ink and paper.

When it comes to vision, in regards to safety, never forget, it’s about people, it is always about people. Keeping them safe, providing the tools and resources they need to keep themselves and their teammates safe, setting the example, investing time and heart into them, and helping them realize, the vision. A strong safety culture that is striving for continuous improvement, that is built on a Brother’s Keeper foundation, that is visionary at its roots, will bear good fruit, great fruit, and bring success to the individual and to the organization they represent.

Chapter 5 – Something to Give

I have seen over my many years of safety training many methods of delivery, many variables of content, many types of media and many different levels of results. Safety messages, I believe, have worked themselves in to our everyday world and environment. We really do see them everywhere, signs, banners, school programs, billboards, speakers, conventions, vendors, on and on.

But let me ask you and see if we have had similar experiences. What safety training has had the most impact on you as an individual? Which one stays with you? Causes you to behave or think differently? I know which one it has been for me, I want share it with you.

No matter how it is packaged, real life events, shared with a group, spoken from a place of concern and care for your future and originating in who we are carry the most impact. I have been blessed to hear speakers, who through their desire to prevent what happened to them, from happening to anyone else, communicate that message heart to heart. Whether they lost a family member to an accident, whether they lost a body part or loss of motion to an accident, whether they were witness to an accident that injured or took the life of a teammate, that sharing of real life hits home. Every time. I have heard folks share their safety from a wheel chair. Or with horrible burns to their body or with an arm or hand missing. Each of those life experiences convinces me that each of us have something to give. Maybe you or I haven’t had a serious or life threatening personal injury, but we know someone who has. And when we share, when we give, when we get out of the comfort zone and speak, we make impact. Regulatory mandated training will always be with us. And for good reason, it’s important. But the heart of safety is a great attitude. What are your experiences? What have you been though in your life that can impact someone else? An attitude willing to share, willing to give will always have impact and may save a life. We all have something to give. Bank on it.

Chapter 6 – Circling Back and Closing the Loop

I started this essay with the desire to communicate that having a great attitude is vital to creating a strong and sustainable safety culture. At some point I hope that some part, maybe one phrase, maybe even one thought or word has a positive impact on you. My desire is to be a positive part of your life as a safety professional. Or maybe you’re not a safety professional but you are someone who can have an impact.

On your family, on your team, on your company or in your community.

Thank you for taking the time.

Yours in safety,

Dale Gossett