Are You A Great Storyteller?

At Disney we pride ourselves on the ability to tell a great story, one that touches hearts and moves those who experience, listen or view our work. You also may need to become a great storyteller one day to explain to others why you as a leader made safety-related choices that exposed workers to unsafe hazards that resulted in injury.

When it comes to fall protection solutions, are you decisions truly defendable?

Did you buy the cheapest “compliant” harness or connecting device?

Did you select the most protective anchorage solution?

Did you provide real fall protection training that each user understood?

Did you train just meet basic OSHA compliance or did you train in a manner that will make workers move to action?

Did you include site specific hazards relevant to the environment and location where tasks would be performed?

Did you consider rescue of workers who may collapse or fall and become suspended at height?

Did you ensure annual inspection your fall protection equipment? Not just check off a box but actually have a trained third-party look at it?

Did you empower your workers to stop work when they question if a task or piece of equipment is unsafe.

Did you provide your Leaders and Managers with sufficient training to recognize unsafe conditions and take action?

These are just a few of the questions that may be asked during an accident investigation and possibly later in court. If you don’t have answers for these and many others, you will need to be a very good storyteller. Especially when you must explain to a widow how their loved one died because of the choices you made.

I hope my comments made you stop and think. If you are a leader with workers performing tasks at height, how are your answers adding up. If you are a worker performing tasks at height, reach out to your employer and help them make your life safer at work.

Thank you for taking a few moments to read this message and possibly share with others.

Bob Whitfield, CSHM, CSMP

[email protected]