Is Your Workplace Safe?

The question "Is your workplace safe?" often prompts thoughts of hard hats, fire drills, and hazard prevention. While these are undeniably crucial elements, the concept of safety extends beyond the physical. It encompasses other dimensions as well, those of emotional and professional well-being.?

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Physical safety measures are the visible guardians, both procedural and actual barriers that shield employees from potential hazards. Since I joined the workforce, the emphasis around physical safety has been extraordinary.? Reactive and punitive measures have been replaced with layers of proactive systems.? Safety is not merely about avoiding accidents; it's about creating an environment where errors are reduced.? To help protect people from themselves.? We make mistakes, all of us.? Most environments can be successfully modified to prevent the initial error.? This stops the chain of events that can lead to injuries.

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Why stop there?? If you've created a mindset that promotes safety, let's discuss the emotional fear people often feel when mistakes are made.? When someone makes a big error that leads to quality issues, what is your reaction?? Do you immediately reach for the rod and look for punitive solutions?? Or do you use that opportunity to strengthen your systems against future failure?? I'm not suggesting that you continually forgive negligent employees - a few of them exist.? However, firing or writing someone up is NOT root cause thinking.? I don't know how many times I've initially jumped to conclusions about someone's "performance", only to be humbled when I spent some time on the floor looking at the poor processes or environments I was asking them to work in.? If "technique" or "skill" is a major factor in achieving your processes metrics - your systems might not be as robust as you think.? Understand the difference between a process that can make good quality and a process that can't make bad quality.? Strive for the later.

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Professional safety, too, merits consideration. Does your workplace empower individuals to take initiative and to make improvements?? Safety here is about more than job security; it's about fostering a culture where people feel free to bring issues to light.? Not only safety and quality issues, but also hold you and your leadership team accountable for the policies and procedures you create.? Good communication is probably the hardest thing to achieve in any organization.? It's understood that you often won't be able to provide all the details or can satisfy everyone's individual opinions.? But it's your job to promote good communication.? This can make or break any team.? I suggest you first spend time listening to your value creators.? Understand YOU are there to support THEM, not the other way around.? Be humble and attempt to see their perspective and always thank them for the feedback.? It won't always be positive, but it will generate two-way respect over the long run.? You will become a better leader from it.

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I ask again, "Is your workplace safe?".? To truly define workplace safety, we must integrate three dimensions—physical, emotional, and professional.? If not, I suggest adopting a more comprehensive approach to include the missing pieces into your approach.? Safety should no longer be a bunch of checkboxes on an island all by itself but integrated with your other initiatives.? Afterall, doesn't the safest process also produce the best quality, in the fastest time, at the lowest cost?

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Cheers.

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