Safety Beyond the Badge

It was summer of 2001.??I was recently out of the military.?I had a fresh new college degree in safety and a new job as a safety manager for one of the nation’s largest motor carriers.?My boss was an enforcer, a safety sheriff that had every intention of molding me into his image.?He taught me to hide behind every bush and catch as many drivers as I could doing things that were unsafe.?We’d punish them with write ups and suspensions.?We’d terminate the ones that refused to comply!?Despite having both BS and MS degrees in the field of safety and 10 years military experience, I knew nothing about leadership or influence.?As I felt my way though those first few years, I was miserable.?I surely made those I dealt with miserable and I had little respect from the drivers and staff members at my company.?

On one memorable occasion while visiting a large terminal in Mississippi I encountered two drivers not wearing a seat belt as they drove through the gate. ??I flagged them down and jumped onto the apron of the truck.?I unapologetically informed the drivers that wearing seat belts was company policy, it was the law, and they better comply because I was the safety manager. ?These two gentlemen immediately put on their safety belts and continued on.?Looking back, I can only imagine what they said about me or how quickly they removed those seat belts when I left.?I used what I considered to be a badge or a title to force these gentlemen into compliance.?I had lost them, I had lost my ability to ever influence them again.?

Those first few years were brutal.?My boss did his best to mold me into a safety sheriff.?I was struggling with the job and this approach just wasn’t working.?As I matured and fortunately had a change in reporting structure I began to learn more about leadership, about influence, and ultimately about people.

A few years into my role as a safety manager I had a career changing moment.?I was riding along with a driver in Kansas City.?When I first entered the cab of the truck I noticed that he wasn’t wearing a seat belt.?I asked him if he would strap in and he promptly told me no.?He said he never wore his seat belt as it was uncomfortable and it just bothered him.?For the first time in my career I took a different approach.?Instead of demanding that he wear the seat belt because I was the “Safety Sheriff,” I simply asked if he wouldn’t mind just trying it for the night? Maybe just put it on for this ride along and see if it was really as bad as he thought??He reluctantly complied.?I rode with the gentleman for a couple hours and the seatbelt issue wasn’t brought up again.?

A few months later while conducting a drivers meeting at the Kansas City terminal the driver approached me.?“Mr. Smith,” he said.?“I’m not sure if you remember me but I’d like to tell you a story.?I had never worn my seat belt until that night you rode with me.?I just put it on because you were in the truck.?I found out that it really didn’t bother me after all.”?He told me that he began wearing it all the time, even in his ?personal car.?The gentleman went on to tell me that he and his wife had recently had a terrible car crash.?He said they were both saved because they were wearing their seat belt.?He passionately told me that our conversation saved his life!?The drivers story brought tears to my eyes but more importantly, it changed the trajectory of my career.?I often think back on the night that I finally “took off my badge.”?That was the night that I stopped being a safety sheriff and embraced the concept that you can punish to compliance but you cannot punish to commitment.