People + Process = Performance

risk management

Is 35 the new “Older” worker?

What is the age that you use to define for an “older” worker?  Is it 45, 50, 55 or 65?  Employers across the nation are seeing the average age of their work force getting older each year as people are delaying retirement more than ever before.  This is a trend that has employers concerned for several reasons with two being the most impactful—potential injury/safety ramifications and upcoming knowledge loss.  The “common wisdom” has been that older workers don’t get hurt often but when they do the expenses are very high.  Is this “common wisdom” true?  A

Is Back Injury Prevention Training Worth It?

Many companies devote time to training their employees on back safety in which they teach the basics of back anatomy and safe lifting techniques.  The question I have had on this training “Is the time and money spent on back injury prevention worth it?”  Of course, this question (“Is it worth it?”) should be asked of any training.  After all, training takes time, takes employees away from their jobs and therefore is a significant investment by the company in their personnel as well as financially.

Two Troubling Studies on the Effect of Obesity and Driving: Part 2

In this part two of my blog series on obesity and driving.  In Part 1 of this blog series I discussed a study (1) that examined normal weight and obese truck drivers based on BMI.  The study showed that severely obese drivers were 43% to 55% more likely to crash than were drivers with a normal BMI.  This is a striking correlation between weight and driving accidents.  Reading this study caused me to do a little more research on obesity and driving which is how I came across this second study:  Driver obesity and the risk of fatal injury during traffic collisions (2).

Two Troubling Studies on the Effect of Obesity and Driving: Part 1

It is well known that obesity is an epidemic in America with over 60% of Americans either overweight or obese. (1) Recently there have been two studies published which caught my attention due to fact that both were in regards to obesity and driving.  Both studies left me to believe that ergonomics and wellness are imperative for employers as well as communities.  Let me explain why.

Transforming employees from doers into problems solvers

“To Err is Human.”  That statement is known and appreciated by quality, production and safety managers.  That we all make mistakes is certainly nothing new.  Operational failures occur across all industries but the impact of errors can vary greatly between industries and companies.  The healthcare industry has perhaps the best known impact of errors.  Medical errors resulting in patient injury or death are quite costly.  The Institute of Medicine published are report back in 2000 (To Err is Human) that stated these errors cost the in

Prevention Through Design or Productivity Through Design: Why Not Both?

Why does there still remain a chasm between productivity and prevention?  In the great majority of companies I’ve worked for and others I’ve known they maintain separate departments and personnel on productivity and prevention, i.e. operations, quality/lean vs. EHS, risk management.  There is little, if any, overlap or regular collaboration between them.  This disconnect often results in work policies, procedures and design that are less than optimal for employee performance.

Systems Thinking and Process Improvement Applied to Deer Hunting Part 6

This is the sixth blog in the series on deer hunting and Lean, Ergonomics (Human Factors, Six Sigma and Systems Thinking (L.E.S.S.).  In my last blog I discuss how I’ve applied process improvement principles to individual components of deer hunting.  In this part I want to focus on systems thinking and systems approach to deer hunting—the final “S” in L.E.S.S.

Lean and Deer Hunting Part 4

This is the fourth blog in the series on deer hunting and Lean, Ergonomics (Human Factors, Six Sigma and Systems Thinking (L.E.S.S.).

In my last blog I explained how a couple of Lean principles are used pre and post-hunt.  Well, those same principles can be used once the hunter arrives in the woods.  As a reminder, two of the primary principles Lean are to reduce waste and non-value added activities.  The goal of hunting is to spend as much time as possible hunting, i.e. in the stand/blind, and minimize the time spent on preparation.

Final pre-hunt preparation