Safety Starts With Me

The "watermelon effect" is a term used in safety management to describe a situation where the external appearance of an organization's safety performance looks green (or safe) while the internal reality is red (or unsafe). Just like a watermelon appears green on the outside but is red on the inside, some organizations may present a positive safety image externally but have significant underlying safety issues internally.

In today's rapidly evolving industrial landscape, the concept of a learning organization stands as a beacon of adaptability and resilience. Rooted in the pioneering work of scholars like Peter Senge, the notion of a learning organization transcends mere operational efficiency; it embodies a cultural ethos committed to continuous improvement, innovation, and, crucially, safety.

At its core, a learning organization is characterized by its capacity to learn, adapt, and innovate in response to internal and external stimuli. Unlike traditional hierarchical structures, where knowledge flows from the top down, learning organizations foster a culture of open communication, collaboration, and shared learning. Employees are empowered to contribute their insights, experiment with new ideas, and critically reflect on their experiences.

As we know, how we start a conversation inevitably dictates the quality and meaningfulness of the discussion and often, the outcome.  This is especially true in a safety conversation.  For example, if there is an undercurrent of fear, or blame, when having a post-incident review, the likelihood of getting quality lessons learned from the discussion is substantially decreased; and if the conversation is between a contractor and an operator this effect is even greater.

Being able to effectively start (or prime) a safety conversation is critical for how that conversation will go and the result achieved. This episode will discuss some of the key features of how to prime safety conversation to advance the process (and eventual outcomes) in the desired direction.

Reducing risk tolerance at work is a critical activity. In this episodes we'll explore the ten factors that influence risk tolerance and some strategies to mitigate them.

I know that you all understand the importance of preventing dropped objects and while I believe that the reporting of dropped objects has substantially improved – we are still having way too many dropped objects.  I know everyone is familiar with the drops calculator that allows us to understand the potential impact that objects dropped from height may have on a person.  The math is pretty simple – even “light” objects dropped from a significant height have the potential to seriously injure or kill someone. 

The primacy of supervision is something that too many people overlook or don’t even think about.  For many organizations we do a disservice to our teams and our people by referring to everyone that has accountability and responsibility of supervising others only as “leaders.”  And while this label is technically correct, the connotation of leadership as only being that charismatic speaker and focused primarily on the vision of the company still exists for many people.  A leader is often defined as the person that looks beyond the tactical aspects of the day-to-day work and works at a strategic level.  However, what is missing is that all leaders, are supervisors first, regardless of their title or rank in the organization.  This is the primacy of supervision.

As the weather warms up and the winter semester is coming to a close, we are close to young workers hitting the streets and starting their summer jobs.

Young workers have a very different supervision and safety need than maybe some of our more experienced workers.  And this is the first difference:  typically our young workers do not have any experience or exposure to an industrial site, or even to work.  This could be their very first work experience.  And while they are uber enthusiastic and excited about joining the workforce they are often unawares of the dangers about the work.