OSHA | Safety Excellence For Business

The Focus on Safety Situations is Not Working Well

November 10, 2023 By Richard N. Knowles Leave a Comment

Each day I read in various news reports and items about different safety situations and people getting hurt or killed.

It is rare that there is no report of a fatality somewhere.

These are real people getting killed doing their work. Most of these incidents are not new. Things like a boiler explosion, a grain silo explosion, a train wreck, someone caught between things, someone falling, a crane tipping over, a fire in a refinery, a boat accident, and I could go on and on. It is very sad to think of all the families, their losses and suffering.

The technology is there to avoid most of these situations. There are often safety people somewhere around the incident. Presumably there are supervisors around. Most of these incidents are not occurring with people who are working alone. Who is paying attention?

Tool-box sessions at the start of the day help some organizations.

Training is advocated by a lot of people. Some safety professionals look closely at the causes of these incidents. Sometimes the employer is cited by OSHA or fined. Some states pass new laws to try to force better compliance. All this is focused at things and situations, and not having the positive impact we all want.

Partnering with the People

All this safety stuff, the good and the bad, occurs through people. Most people want to be engaged and involved in their own safety…if anyone will listen. Many people are angry and cynical about safety because no one listens and just imposes the rules. Meaningful conversation is missing.

safety is about teamwork

One of the top reasons the OSHA cites organizations is the lack of proper hazards communications.

Hazard Communicating is a core element of any OSHA safety training compliance program, yet it has often been trivialized. You would think that supervisors and safety people would utilize the HazCom opportunity to converse with employees on a regular basis – not wait for an annual review.

Hazards are in the workplace; people need to understand the hazards and Management needs to create the conditions for meaningful, respectful conversations to occur. The conversation avenue for partnering is right there – among our people, not only about hazardous chemicals, but about all safety concerns…all people concerns. Why is there this level of disrespect for the people doing the work? Who cares? This is not difficult work. It takes commitment and time, but aren’t these both worth doing to save a life?

As I engage with people about their work, they are usually quite willing to talk about it, and often have good ideas about how to improve the situation. I have found that in talking together to explore what is the best way to do something, the people get quite interested and pay a lot more attention to what they are doing. Talking with the people, listening, and learning together results in a lot fewer injuries and incidents.

Our safety efforts across the various industries needs to shift to working with the people. We need to help people do things right. We do not need new safety philosophies; we need to be with the people, talking together, listening, learning, growing, and releasing our skills and insights to really make a difference to improving workplace safety.

All of you can walk among the people in your organizations, talking together, listening, learning, and doing together. Try it for 20 minutes a day, every day, for a few months and see what happens. What do you suppose you will begin to see and hear?

Changes Before Us

Change is a time when the possibility for getting hurt increases. By the time you read this, we will have shifted back to standard time. Daylight hour will change. Conditions around commuting will change with different hours and day light.

Some people will be extra tired until they adjust to the different hours. Work conditions may change. Our weather will be getting colder, often wetter, and slippery. Our windshields will need scraping, so we need to start a little earlier.

All this change, the bigger and the smaller ones, will cause us to be more alert and focused. Please pay attention to yourself, others and come home safely each day.

Below is a link to a short recap video on Hazards Communication. As you watch this, count how many opportunities you are provided with daily to:

1) Talk up general and/or chemical safety
2) Converse respectfully with an employee about the work
3) Respect and honor the individual and the task being done

Communicating is a huge key to Partnering in the Workplace. HazCom communications lend an excellent start for meaningful conversations across the board.

Hazard Communication Training for General Industry
from SafetyVideos.com

Filed Under: Safety for Business, Safety Leadership, Safety Partnership Tagged With: hazards communications, OSHA, partnering in the workplace, reducing risks in the workplace, safety in the workplace, safety leadership, safety situations in the workplace, safety training, teamwork, teamwork in the workplace, workplace safety, workplace support

Safety Isn’t Just Safety Anymore…

February 10, 2023 By Richard N. Knowles Leave a Comment

What every Manager needs to know that OSHA and ISO already do!

It started out in 1970 with OSHA’s regulations to enhance Safety in the Workplace – the first leg of the Safety Stool, a.k.a. as Occupational Safety, exampled by preventing slips, trips and falls, requiring hearing protection, hand and foot protection, and eye-ware.

Then came the second leg of the Safety Stool, Occupational Health, exampled by preventing environmental/respiratory and ergonomic hazards. Then came Process Safety Management (PSM), exampled by what it takes to keep hazardous substances in the pipes, and which became an essential part of workplace safety with the comprehensive issuance of OSHA 1910 – the third leg.

All three legs are important and are critical for Safety professionals, HR professionals, Managers and Supervisors to embrace and for people to understand. Indeed, OSHA requires this attention to keep our people safe (life and limb) within the workplace.

Now, with this new decade of Workplace Violence rearing its ugly head, we know that we must add a fourth leg to the Safety Stool. Because attention to this 4th prong needs diligent awareness, it is now becoming paramount that every manager and supervisor be schooled in Situational Awareness:

What is happening around you?
What is happening between and among people in the workplace?
Where are your vulnerabilities?
Are you noticing the cultural dysfunction happening in your workplace?
Are you able to engage appropriately to find out what’s happening?
How do you address these dysfunctions?

The fourth leg of this stool is what is called Psychological or Social Safety. Another way to describe it is the psychological harm that comes with repeated bullying, harassment, incivilities, and dysfunctional behaviors, that leave workers dreading to go to work, or that increase the risk of home-growing an active threat/shooter, or having a suicide or murder in your workplace, let alone the bad press that comes with a highly publicized incident.

If no one steps in to stop bad behaviors when they are happening, they continue and escalate over time. Not paying attention to social risk manifests into psychological harm as the continuum of bad behaviors escalate in the workplace – and ultimately can impact people in harmful ways. Yes, OSHA is keen on this 4th leg of the safety stool, too, and wants to know what your business, company, organization, or team is doing about it. Prevention of Workplace Violence is the operative word.

What is Workplace Violence?

OSHA explains that workplace violence is violence or the threat of violence against workers. It can occur at or outside the workplace and can range from threats and verbal abuse to physical assaults and homicide, one of the leading causes of job-related deaths. However it manifests itself, workplace violence is a growing concern for employers and employees nationwide.

OSHA makes it very clear. Employers are responsible for ensuring that the workplace does NOT become a hostile workplace. (Bullying, harassment, and incivilities contribute to hostile environments). OSHA requires employers to provide a safe workplace for their employees…both physically safe and psychologically safe. This is covered by the General Duty Clause Section 5(a)(1).

Enter the new ISO Standard: ISO 45003 IS THE NEW INTERNATIONAL STANDARD (2021-06) – Occupational Health and Safety Management – Psychological health and safety at work – Guidelines for managing psychosocial risks. This new standard states that Management must be prepared to deal with violence that involves a person (employee, visitor, vendor), etc., losing control, without a weapon. This normally means dealing with psychological safety factors.

It is difficult to predict violent acts, so the Standard expects managers and associates to be vigilant. Report any concerns of erratic behaviors to supervision and HR as soon as possible.

Examples of violent behavior include but are not limited to:

Intimidating or bullying others
Abusive language
Physical assault
Threatening behavior
Sexual or racial harassment
Concealing or using a weapon
Anger
Tantrums

You get the picture. None of these types of behaviors belong in a workplace, thus the underscoring of new Respectful Workplace policies.

At Nagele, Knowles and Associates, we understand the construct of workplace violence and how to identify it. It starts with knowing your inside culture (culture assessment) to understand where bullying and dysfunctional behavior is happening and how to stop it in its tracks. What is your workplace doing to ensure a Respectful Workplace? It equally starts with a physical security vulnerability assessment to understand where you, your site, your people are most vulnerable to a perpetrator entering your workplace to do harm, and how to deter that from happening.

The 4th leg requires Situational Awareness – that is the tip of the spear when it comes to the prevention of workplace violence…from the inside or from the outside! This holds true in the workplace, and in living our daily lives. Wake up! Be Alert! Observing, expecting, embracing, and requiring a Respectful Workplace is powerful for reducing those harmful dysfunctional behaviors.

Employees must become stakeholders in their own safety and security and develop a survival mindset as well. Vigorous prevention programs, timely interventions, and appropriate responses by organizations and their employees will contribute significantly to a safe, secure, and respectful environment. That’s what we teach; that’s what we do.

Want to know more? Check out our book “Guide to Reducing the Risk of Workplace Violence…the Absolute Essentials” available on Amazon. It has been labeled the “gold standard” – a comprehensive guide to reducing your risk of workplace violence happening in your workplace…from the inside or the outside or give us a call at 716-622-6467.

Filed Under: Safety Excellence, Safety for Business, Safety Leadership Tagged With: bullying in the workplace, harassment, ISO, occupational health, occupational safety, OSHA, OSHA regulations, safety in the workplace, safety leadership, situational awareness, social safety, violence in the workplace, work safely, working safely in the workplace, workplace safety, workplace violence

Process Safety Management (PSM)…

May 10, 2022 By Richard N. Knowles Leave a Comment

Why Process Safety Management is needed and everyone needs to be Involved!

Week after week I read of explosions and fires at refineries, chemical plants and dust-producing operations like sawmills and grain elevators. There are usually people hurt or killed. Communities are forced to shelter in place or evacuate. Families suffer great loss. There are always estimates of the loss of money and the difficulty of getting back into production.

These are sad situations that are usually avoidable if the managers and engineers would only do their duty to conduct strong process safety management (PSM) work. PSM does require having trained engineers to do the work. It may require money when a defect is found the needs repair. It is often routine and boring work as in inspecting relief valves, for example. It often is narrowly focused on just the specific process without taking the whole system into mind. This is critical work that responsible managers and engineers need to conduct rigorously. It is a necessary discipline. (Process Safety Management came about as OSHA’s response to prevent a disaster like Bhopal).

When I read the reports of these disasters, there are often long explanations about things. There was one I read about where the fluctuating liquid levels in distillation columns were unstable and causing the operators continuous problems. The instruments were not showing the full nature of the problem of the rising liquid levels which, one day, got so out of control that the distillation column overflowed, releasing a flammable cloud which ignited and killed a lot of people. The incident investigation discussed all sorts of technical problems which were not addressed since they did not look too serious. But they did not include the whole system.

Nowhere was there any discussion mentioned about what the operators were experiencing each day and struggling to control. It was clear that they had a serious problem, but no one asked them about it. Why do the technical people treat the men and women who operate the facilities as if they did not know anything. These people live with the processes! They have a lot to offer!

When I was the Plant Manager of the big DuPont Belle, West Virginia plant, we brought occupational safety, occupational health, and PSM together as a whole safety system effort where each part helped the other parts. We created the conditions where people felt it was okay to talk openly together about the problems and address them. Where they helped each other. Trust was built so people could be able to do their best. The people came together enabling us all to perform much better.

Our Total Recordable Injury rate dropped by 97% to ~0.3 and our total emissions to the environment dropped by 95% in just 3 years. I look at total emissions to the environment as a key PSM metric since there is less waste from poorly running processes and fewer upsets or failures blowing stuff into the air.

Building trust and interdependence among the people is a very important part of management’s work. It is easy to do this using the Cycle of Intelligence, listening and learning together. Rosa Carrillo has written a fine book about the importance of the Relationship Factor entitled “The Relationship Factor in Safety Leadership.” This is easy to do if we just go into our organizations, share information, listen, and learn together. It would have avoided the disaster I mentioned earlier in this newsletter.

Yet most managers do not get out of their offices, talk with the people sharing information, listening, and learning together. Why is this? Rosa’s work and my work clearly show the great benefits to safety and productivity, yet managers shy away from this.

WHY????

In your own organization, what are you doing to open up and share information? What are you doing to open up a safe space where it is okay for people to talk and share? Are you bringing a diverse group of people together to talk and learn?

Each of us can make a positive difference. Will you?

Filed Under: Safety for Business, Safety Leadership Tagged With: Cycle of Intelligence, engage employees in workplace safety, occupational lhealth, occupational safety, OSHA, process safety management, Rosa Carrillo, safety in the workforce, safety leadership, The Relationship Factor in Safety Leadership, workplace safety

A Time for Extra Alertness and Caution for Workplace Safety

March 10, 2022 By Richard N. Knowles Leave a Comment

It is hard to remember a time like this with so much serious stuff going on.

The COVID questions linger, the war in Ukraine is of huge concern, supply chain problems mess up schedules and production plans, the shortage of computer chips, the shortage of people to fill the jobs which forces excessive overtime and stress, inflation rising, and the move into Spring. All these distractions can cause major problems in the workplace ranging from the shortage of supplies, people, the time to get the work done, and workplace safety.

for safety protocols stay alert

There are also many problems that have an impact on our families and cause us stress. It is hard to leave these problems at home when you go into work. These can be quite distracting leading to mistakes, incidents, and injuries.

More than ever, we need to be working in ways that will relieve some of these problems, but the answers are neither simple nor easy to implement. It is important to share information so that everyone is on the same footing and knows what is needed and going on. Doing things the same old way may not be the best approach. Get together and talk about things and see what is best. As you talk, new ideas will emerge which may be useful and apply to your own situation.

There’s a big difference to note: When you are open to other’s ideas, to discussing pros and cons, to seeking new ways for doing things, to listening to others…(rather than to doing things my way or the highway…) then good things happen…effectiveness rises! And so does your team’s attitude, and in turn, safety.

As you ponder what you will need going forward, do not forget the daily tasks relating to doing your jobs safely. Be careful with hurrying. Resist cutting corners. Don’t pencil-whip your audits and other reports. Follow up on near misses. Take the time to really talk together about what is happening and how you can best work together to get things done.

Many of the things I have been reading indicate that all these distractions are causing real problems with increased injuries and incidents. These are real situations in which we are all trying to work safely.

New Days Ahead of Us for Workplace Safety

So much of our traditional approach to improving workplace safety is based on mechanical ideas about how our organizations work to get things done. In the past, the predominant approach has been based on seeing the organization as if it is a machine and the people as interchangeable parts. This goes all the way back to Frederick Taylor’s Principles of Scientific Management, published in 1911. Rules are issued by Management or OSHA and everyone is expected to follow them. Things are driven from the top of the organization with little feedback up the line.

workplace safety is based on mechanical ideas

We live in a world of work-as-imagined, often instructed by people who have never done that work! Most people will try to do the work well, but it is hard to sustain. There are many safety professionals who are stuck in the old way of doing things, writing procedures from their office without input from the person needing to do the job. This is, sadly, still the basic top-down approach of most of the people in the American Society for Safety Professionals – with engagement and involvement of people doing the job lacking.

Now our understanding of how organizations work is changing. When organizations are seen as if they are living systems and people are vital parts, new opportunities open for success. Organizations are complex, adapting, self-organizing networks of people who come together in vital new ways.

Rather than thinking of the organization as if it were a machine with the parts grinding away, we can think of it as a vital, active network of people, self-organizing and doing excellent, sustainable work together.

A useful metaphor is to think about the sport of soccer. Everyone knows the dimensions of the field and the out-of-bounds lines. Everyone knows the rules of the game. At work in our conversations together, we co-create these boundaries and rules, so we try to live by them. In the game, the referees are like the first line supervision who are making sure everyone is playing by the rules and staying in bounds. The coaches are like the managers who are supporting, training, and helping the players be their best. The top managers are like the general managers who are setting the strategy for the game.

The players in the game are self-organizing and making decisions all the time as the game unfolds. If the coaches try to micromanage the game, the players get bogged down and that team usually does not play very well. On the other hand, when the coaches support the players and give them the space to play their best and make the decisions on the field as the game unfolds, those teams usually are the winners.

workplace safety starts with the team

I have used this approach when I was a Plant Manager and the people achieved excellent results. Injury rates and emissions to the environment dropped by over 95%, earnings rose by 45% and earnings rose by 300%. As I have worked around the world with all sorts of organizations using this approach, similar results have been achieved, often quite quickly.

If you would like to learn more about this, please give me a call at +1-716-622-6467. The first consultation is free.

Filed Under: Safety for Business, Safety Leadership Tagged With: American Society for Safety Professionals, attitude of teams in the workplace, distractions in the workplace, job safety, OSHA, Principles of Scientific Management, safety documentation, safety in the workplace, safety professionals, shortage of supplies, stay alert in the workplace, supply shortage, workplace distractions, workplace safety

Ours is not to wonder why? Ours is to do or die!

August 10, 2021 By Richard N. Knowles Leave a Comment

It has been over 50 years since President Richard Nixon signed into law the Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) Act.

We are all familiar with OSHA as both a regulator for Safety Standards and Compliance in the workplace and as an Educator (offering Information and Training across-the-board on the OSH standards). Indeed, if you’ve not looked lately, go to OSHA.gov and scroll through the various topics available for your learning.

Have you ever wondered what our workplaces might be like if OSHA had not been enacted? Would employers, on their own, protect the health and safety of their employees? If there was no law that employers “must” have PPE, or Lock & Tag, or Vessel Entry, or Machine Guards, or Eye Wash stations…would they? If there was no expectation of you, would you be your brother’s/sister’s keeper in the workplace?

You may make sport of these questions because, obviously, times have changed.

There is so much more awareness to safety, to life and limb, than in 1970 when OSHA came into fruition. And sometimes, the regulations seem like they go overboard in detail. Still, what we know deeply is that every one of the regulations was written in blood – meaning someone was killed or severely injured – and that prompted the writing of the regulation to avoid additional victims falling prey to similar work circumstances.

The standards underscore the safe way of doing things, to reduce the hazards and reduce the opportunities for being hurt, maimed, or killed. The OSHA mandated rules and procedures have had a big, positive impact in improving workplace safety. But these only get compliance in most organizations.

Today, even with the OSHA laws in place, about 5,300+ workers become victims of job-related fatalities every year. Why is that? Â Even with increasing numbers of Safety Professionals working within almost every facility, why is it that we keep killing so many people? Even with the oodles of hours of safety and health training that is conducted, why do these violations and tragedies continue?

We believe that a lot of the safety-related problems are systems problems. These are deeper than the things we can see on the surface like a specific incident or injury.

We need to dig in more deeply to find the things that are driving the surface problems. What is happening in the whole system and why? When we do this work, together, we can find things to fix that make a big, positive difference.

For example, we know that critical factors are the open flow of information for everyone, treating each other with respect and dignity and helping people to see how their work is important for the success of the whole organization. These ideas rarely show up in an incident report, yet from a systems point of view, these are huge.

We need commitments from across the organization
for improved safety.
It is all about everyone going home in one piece!

When we take a systems approach, we all get involved. The people and the company, together, working for improved safety results. Individual safety attitudes, fatigue, complacency, lack of taking responsibility, taking shortcuts and carelessness are addressed in the systems approach, and lead to fewer risks and serious injuries, even deaths.

Training must be meaningfully connected to the real work. Keeping track of injuries and incidents is also essential – why? These lagging indicators are one way to tell us if we are on the right track. But we do not use these to try to manage safety; we use leading indicators like the amount of time we spend in the field with the people, sharing information, listening, learning, solving problems and fixing them at an early stage; this is a powerful leading indicator.

We don’t want to return to the era where peoples lives or limbs accounted for little. Rather, that OSHA’s stated purpose for every company is fulfilled: “Each employer shall furnish a place of employment which is free/protected from recognized hazards that are causing or are likely to cause death or serious physical harm to their employees.”

I repeat my mantra:

“It is not okay for me to work and make my living
where it is okay for you to get hurt – physically or psychologically.
So, let’s figure it out together…how to profitably stay in business
and stay safe and secure all at the same time.”

What differentiates a good safety culture? Internalized, focused communications…up and down. It is the energetic daily conversations that are crucial for having a safe workplace and safe attitudes.

Because, through conversation you engage employees to think for themselves, in turn, focus (less auto-pilot) and ultimately, to develop a discipline where the employee thinks things through (daily), has the autonomy (choice) in addressing the perceived greatest risks, and overall, the daily conversation becomes the “muscle” – to active caring – building relationships. (And no one gets hurt!)

Plus, the more awareness of our surroundings we develop the better off we are from being surprised by workplace hazards, or from bullying emerging, or from being surprised by a perpetrator entering our workplace to do harm. Awareness matters in both the safety of doing our tasks and in the security of surveying our environment. Call me to learn more about the processes we use to heighten safety, security, effectiveness, performance. Culture matters.

With the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970, Congress created the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) to ensure safe and healthful working conditions for workers by setting and enforcing standards and by providing training, outreach, education and assistance. Note: OSHA has now weighed in on Workplace Violence as any act or threat of physical violence, harassment, intimidation, or other threatening disruptive psychological behavior that occurs at the work site. It ranges from threats and verbal abuse to physical assaults and even homicide.

Top 10

Fall Protection, construction
Hazard Communication Standard, general industry
Respiratory Protection, general industry
Scaffolding, general requirements, construction
Ladders, construction
Control of Hazardous Energy (lockout/tagout), general industry
Powered Industrial Trucks, general industry
Fall Protection – Training Requirements
Eye and Face Protection
Machinery and Machine Guarding, general requirements

What we know is that companies must have a company culture that embodies both a systems perspective and a strong safety focus. How does your company stack up? We wrote the book on improving safety culture – give me a call if you need a re-set – 716-622-6467.

Filed Under: Safety for Business, Safety Leadership Tagged With: complying with OSHA guidelines, Eye Wash stations, Lock & Tag, Machine Guards, Occupational Safety and Health Act, OSHA, osha rules and regulations, PPE, safety culture, safety culture in business, Vessel Entry

Why are so many people being killed at work?

March 10, 2021 By Richard N. Knowles Leave a Comment

Not to be ignored…

The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) report for 2019, the most recent summary report, shows that in 2019, 5,333 people were killed doing their jobs.

In 2017, 5,147 died and in 2018, 5,250 died. For the last 5-6 years the trend has slowly gotten worse. (Note: The BLS reports do not show much, if any, progress in reducing the number of people being killed and injured over the last 5 years or so.)

In 2019, about 2,814,000 people were hurt, which is about the same level as in 2017 and 2018.

Thousands of people are working to improve safety in the workplace, yet these numbers show that improvement in performance is almost non-existent. The various safety journals have lots of good information about ways to improve things. There are lots of consultants doing a lot of work with various organizations to improve safety. And there are many professional safety organizations, including OSHA, ASSP and the National Safety Council, that provide increased training and awareness. Still, people are being killed and hurt at work.

Why isn’t there progress?

All these statistics are lagging indicators. So, what drives this poor performance? What are the leading indicators showing us?

I think that the key leading indicator relates to the way the organizations are managed and led. The traditional, top-down, command and control approach, in a whole lot of organizations, is at least 100 years old and is based on Frederick Taylor’s Principles of Scientific Management, which goes something like:

The people at the top of the organization are smarter and brighter than those doing the work so the top people know better and tell the workers what to do and the workers do it – a.k.a. the mechanical model (of the past).

There are lots of examples that show that this approach does not work very well. For example, in a recent article I saw, the safety regulators in Australia 35 years ago introduced the Sex Discrimination Act, but in 2018 the Australian Human Rights Commission survey showed that 1 in 3 workers were harassed in the last 5 years – despite the endeavor. So much for top-down proclamations. Please don’t dismiss this example as just a problem in Australia or that sexual harassment is not a safety problem because you’ll be wrong on both points.

We declare safety endeavors over our workplaces with phrases like “The Goal is Zero” and slogans like, “Safety First.” Similarly, “Zero Tolerance” for harassing and bullying behaviors. And these are important because we need visual signage and reminders for raising our awareness. Yet we know that words and declarations alone won’t work as effective motivators for better safety performance or better treatment of people, nor does the old mechanical model/command and control approach work for the long-term.

We have to bring all the people together.

In every place in which we have worked we bring the people together to talk about the problem, open up the free flow of information, treat each other with respect, listen to each other because everyone has an important perspective, learn, seek better ways, and make the changes we need to make. When people are participating in creating the changes they do not resist the changes but rather apply their energy and creativity to solving the problems.

When I did this as a Plant Manager of a large chemical plant, working with the people, the injury rates dropped by 97% in just 3 years. When I worked in a large sugar mill with all the people the injury rate dropped from about 10 to ZERO in just 3 weeks. (This was shown in their annual data). When I worked with people in a truck manufacturing plant this way, the injury rate dropped from about 6 to ZERO in just a few days. (This was also shown in their annual data.)

There was no new investment in computer programs or equipment. Long involved training courses were not needed.

Most people want to become part of the solution!

It is time to wake up!

Let’s put the 100-year old, Frederick Taylor model in the museum and step up to working with all the people. Become engaged with your people in Safety. It takes a lot less time and saves a lot of money!

We know how to make this happen and would like the opportunity to talk with any of you. Please call at 716-622-6467. You can find background information at RNKnowles Associates.

Filed Under: Safety for Business, Safety Leadership Tagged With: Bureau of Labor Statistics, business safety, National Safety Council, OSHA, raising safety awareness, safety in the workplace, work to improve safety in organizations, workplace safety, zero tolerance policy

Returning to Work After the Pandemic

April 10, 2020 By Richard N. Knowles Leave a Comment

We are in the middle of this Covid-19 pandemic.

So many people are sick and have died that I expect that almost everyone knows of someone who has the virus. Hopefully we are coming to the point where the increases in the number of the sick and those who have died is leveling off and may be headed down.

More and more, our collective attention will turn to getting the economy going again and people going back to work. Balancing the medical and economic needs will be difficult. There will be a lot of thought going into this and a lot of debate about just who should go back to work and when.

As people begin to return to work, there may likely be requirements to wear a face mask of some sort so that someone who is still carrying the virus, without knowing it, will be less likely to transmit it to someone else. The challenges, as we go into our workplaces, will be around social distancing and when and where to wear face masks. Social distancing will be difficult or even impossible in some jobs.

Our supervisors and managers will have to talk with everyone so that the ground rules are clear and everyone will follow them. There will have to be good discussions with the unions, if there is one in your workplace. It is also important to realize that OSHA rules remain in the picture under the General Duty Clause, requiring the companies to provide a safe workplace.

Our teams and work crews may not have everyone back to work, for a variety of reasons, so it is important that management and the people talk fully together about how to make the adjustments so the work can be done safely.

It will be a hazardous time as people come back to work and things start up. Anytime we are in a period of change like this, safety becomes a bigger issue. We all need to look out for each other and help each other. Having a respectful, caring work environment is really important so we can all get through the next few months safely. We all need each other, so please be fully present and vigilant.

The Edge of Chaos

This pandemic has created a lot of change and instability in our society. The FDA and the CDC have changed or suspended many rules and regulations in order to attack the pandemic and save lives. It is a period of high energy and creativity as people everywhere are coming up with ways to help people. Industries have shifted to making PPE-like face masks. The foodservice industry has shifted to take out and delivery. This creativity and positive energy is gratifying.

However, when we return to work, we will be tempted to change things because some of our team mates are missing or the patterns of work have changed, we must be very careful. If you see a need to change things, get together with everyone who is involved and talk about the situation and what should be done. Make the changes and adjustments, but do it after careful consideration so no one gets hurt or the processes get spoiled.

Change is important. We just need to be deliberate and be thoughtful, engaging those involved (operator, mechanics, supervisors, engineers, etc.) so we get the best thinking and do the right things. As we consider the management of change, we also need to document the changes carefully.

These difficult times require all of us to be alert, respectful and caring.

Filed Under: Safety for Business, Safety Leadership Tagged With: being alert during a crisis, business safety requirements, leadership during a crisis, OSHA, pandemic, returning to work after a crisis, safety gear, safety gear in businesses, safety requirements, safety teams

Defending Ourselves from COVID-19

March 10, 2020 By Richard N. Knowles Leave a Comment

With all the information flowing around about the Coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19), it seems very easy to get quite alarmed and concerned.

stay safe with coronavirus and other diseases Like all flus, we need to take it seriously and take appropriate steps to protect ourselves and our families. I have read a lot about what employers should do to protect their employees, which makes sense, but it sounds as if they are running a kindergarten class. OSHA has declared the flu as a recognized workplace hazard, so employers do have a responsibility to do what they can to protect the people, but there is a lot we can do for ourselves.

It seems to me that there are two basic things we each can do. First is to take responsibility for ourselves and the second is to avoid situations where we may get the flu.

We can all do things like…

Staying away from work and other people if we are coming down with flu symptoms. If we get the symptoms, then don’t go around exposing others.
Working from home, if we can, to avoid others.
Washing our hands often, soaping them for 20 seconds or so.
Keeping our hands away from our faces so we do not put the flu virus right into our nose or mouth.
Using disinfectant wipes to clean our cell phones, shopping cart handles, etc.
Cleaning our work stations and computer keyboards.
Using proper coughing etiquette.

We can all take the personal responsibility to do these things without having the need for our employer to try to get us to do these things. Employers can help to support us, but please take personal responsibility for yourselves and families.

Filed Under: Safety for Business, Safety Leadership Tagged With: coronavirus, COVID-19, health issues in the workplace, how to stay healthy during the flu season, OSHA, protection during the flu season, staying healthy in the workplace

Closer Look: Safety, People, Culture, Change, Business Excellence, Agility, Impact…It all Fits Together!

February 10, 2020 By Richard N. Knowles Leave a Comment

Avoiding the losses and waste means that our businesses are more competitive and healthy. How much do you suppose an OSHA lost time injury costs the business?

The pain and suffering is miserable.
There is the direct cost of the doctors, hospitals, medications, etc.
We lose time
- having to investigate the injury and incident.,
- writing reports,
- having an OSHA investigation,
- perhaps the cost of challenging OSHA’s findings,
- legal costs for the company attorneys,
- preparing for a potential law suit,
- the cost of lost production time,
- the cost of bringing someone and train them to replace the injured person,
- the cost of lost sales,
- the cost of bad publicity,
- the cost of lower morale among the people,
- and so on.

When the safety gets right, everything else gets right as well. In this more positive culture, not only does the waste of injuries and incidents go away, people shift the way that they chose to work together resulting in other improvements like:

fewer arguments,
fewer grievances,
better meetings,
fewer meetings,
more suggestions for improving our systems and processes,
people taking the lead in helping to fix something that is not right,
new ideas for better customer service emerge,
lean manufacturing works better,
the quality of products and services get better,
absenteeism drops, and
people can work together to build a better future.

Cultural improvement: bullying, harassment and dysfunction decrease.

When the safety performance and culture get better, the organization thrives.

These are things that each organization can work on right now. In Partner-Centered Leadership, Richard N. Knowles & Associates can help organizations to achieve all these things. This does not require investment.

Get clear on your thinking and purpose.
Go into your organization talking with and listening to the people.
Help them to build on their ideas.
Let them know how important they are to the success of the business.
Do this with respect and honesty.

Change is happening all the time!

Changes are coming fast and furious. Everything seems to be changing all around us. This can cause unsettling feelings and a loss of control. However, in the middle of all this change, one area that can be steady for us is our relationships with each other.

If we have a good agreement about how we are going to work together including things like respect, listening, helping, learning together, these can provide us the stability we need.

These are like the pole in a subway car. With everything around us bouncing and moving, holding the pole provides the stability we need.

We can treat each other with respect,no matter what is happening in the world around us; this is within our control.

Please look out for and help each other. Let’s keep our agreements. Now is the time for being our sisters’ and brothers’ keepers, which is really important. It is up to each of us!

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: business culture improvements, business safety, business safety performance, engage employees in workplace safety, injury costs for businesses, make a difference in safety, OSHA, safety compliance, safety performance, workplace injuries and incidents, workplace safety

Faster is Often Slower

October 15, 2019 By Richard N. Knowles Leave a Comment

In Orlando, Florida, there is a $2.3 billion, 21-mile, I-4 highway improvement project that has been underway since 2015. It is such a traffic headache that we try to avoid it as much as we can when we are driving across Florida.

There have been five fatalities since the project began. All five of the fatalities have been “struck-by” incidents. The most recent occurred about October 1st, when a beam slipped off a piece of equipment and struck a worker on the head. One person was hit by a dump truck. Another died when he was hit by a piece of steel equipment. The fourth person died when a rebar cage fell on him, and the fifth person was killed when he was hit in the head by a pipe.

All construction was suspended to review the safety plans and to get everyone refocused on working safely. OSHA and safety experts have been involved in the analyses, “Until the root causes are determined, girder erection and installation are suspended.”

Suspending the work to get everyone focused, bringing in safety experts, and seeking root causes are a start, but they will not, in themselves, stop the fatal accidents. There is so much more going on that there are no root causes. The pressures to get the projects going again are intense.

There’s A Deeper Pattern…

Every fatality was a “struck-by” incident, which indicates that things are moving when the incidents happened. On projects like this one, there is huge pressure to keep on schedule and get the work done. The pressure to move too fast is great. Yet, as these incidents show, going faster results in things going more slowly, and people getting killed. Hurrying is a big problem!

Each person needs to be looking out for the others, talking together about how to do the job without anyone getting hurt, sharing ideas about how to do the work more effectively and safely. Supervisors and managers need to be talking with the people about getting the jobs done effectively and safely. Everyone needs to be kept informed on the status of the work and the details for each day’s work.

Toolbox meetings are a critical element in this. Everyone needs to be able to shut down a job if they see that there are safety issues that need to be addressed. Coming together to form safety teams to help build the focus on specific tasks would be useful. Building an environment where everyone is treated with respect and is open to having people speak up, be able to ask questions and look for better ways is important.

But working this way will be a challenge for them. They have many separate contractors, many people of different skill levels, and a worksite spread over 21 miles.

When I have talked with people in other situations about working this way, I often get funny looks. They tell me that they do not have time to work this way. They have to get the job done!

My belief is that they really do have to take the time to work this way because, in my experience, working this way is the fastest, safest and least costly way to get the work done. Just think about all the time that is lost and distractions that occur in investigations, dealing with OSHA, job shutdowns, fighting the unions, dealing with the lawyers, the media and the families that have suffered a loss of a loved one.

Working fast, ignoring the people, taking short-cuts and cutting corners all lead to higher costs, project delays and more people getting hurt. Call me 716-622-6467 and let’s talk deeper-pattern safety!

Filed Under: Safety for Business, Safety Leadership Tagged With: construction safety, engage employees in workplace safety, fatalities in road work areas, make a difference in safety, OSHA, safety in road work areas, safety meetings are critical, worksite safety