New Year’s Resolutions for Safety Professionals

 I know it’s kind of a cheesy, but I thought I would devote this safety post to some New Year’s resolutions for me.

Resolution #1: Less Focus On Preaching More On Teaching

I resolve to spend more time and effort darkening doorways and teaching workers core skills and competencies by sharing the stories of success and learning; and less time pushing paper.

Resolution #2: Open A Dialog

In the minds of so many workers, safety talks are just so much blah blah blah. Few safety professionals that I know actually think that they know the job better than the workers themselves, so why not enter 2019 resolving to engage the workers in a dialog about safety. Instead of a Safety Talk, led by the safety guy or supervisor, we should be facilitators of conversations between the workers themselves on where the risks of the jobs lie.

Resolution #3: Expand the Scope of Safety

I plan on partnering with other functions The Executive Team, Project Managers, Superintendents and our Human Resources department. 2019 will be the year that Safety collaborates with as many other functions as possible to accomplish continuous improvement in helping safety to streamline the jobs such that the jobs become more productive and safer.

Resolution #4: Get in the Game

Safety should resolve to make itself an invaluable contributor to the core business and reduce the overhead costs of the company.

Resolution #5: Get Competitive

Safety needs to be about more than injury statistics and numbers, safety should be a differentiator—a means of being better than the competition.

Resolution #6: Embrace the “Healthy” Side of Health and Safety

I resolve to reduce the stress in the workplace and to make worker’s lives better by keeping them healthier and feeling better.

Resolution #7: Turn Safety On Its Ear

I resolve to help leaders be more open to ideas that they previously wouldn’t have considered. We need to try new things in safety this year.

Resolution #8: Question Everything

Part of turning safety on its ear involves rethinking many of the cherished truisms of worker safety. I resolve to question everything my clients’ safety processes do and be able to defend all the things they have taken for granted.

Resolution 9: Take Chances

It’s no secret that Safety as a profession tends to attract more than its fair share of risk adverse people. But taking calculated chances leads to innovation and discovery. I resolve to make the workplace a better and safer place to work.

Resolution 10: Enjoy Life More

when injury rates are high, safety professionals feel the crushing pressure to get things under control and when injury levels are down, safety professionals feel the chronic unease that comes with waiting for the other shoe to drop. But working in safety can be rewarding, intellectually stimulating, and well…dare I say it? Fun. I am going to learn to cut myself a little slack and learn to enjoy our accomplishments.