safety

“The first duty of an organization is to survive and the guiding principle of business economics is NOT the maximization of profit, it is the avoidance of loss."      - Peter Drucker

Injuries can be very costly to companies.  Not only can they result in increased workers’ compensation insurance rates but can also cause staffing difficulties, decreased employee morale, and depending on the type and severity of the injury bring an unwanted visit by OSHA.  Often times the employee who gets injured is assigned all or partial blame for the incident.  You are probably very well versed in the typical reasons why s/he got hurt:  s/he should have known better; s/he did have common sense; s/he didn’t use the provided equipment to do the job safely; s/he was tired and not thinking

The start of a new year is when organizations wipe the slate clean and set new goals to achieve.  What if I were to help you achieve those goals?  What would it mean to you and your organization if I were to help you significantly improve your organizations safety, how would you know it?  What metrics would you expect to improve?

When thinking about safety, most people immediately think of three types of metrics:

Why is it when management says “Safety is our number 1 priority” employees hear “Production is number 1 priority”?  The disconnect between management’s words that safety is the top prior in the company and the employees belief that productivity is the top priority is something that I hear and encounter as a consultant at the majority of organizations I’ve worked with.  A typical conversation with the plant manager, HR director and even the CEO/owner is that “we value our workers health and safety.  We want them to be safe and we’ve told them we value their safety over everything else in the