Every year about this time, I take time to reflect on the year. This year I had the privilege to spend 100% of my time with Union Pacific Railroad, but I stayed connected with many of you, and through our many late-night discussions, I am reminded that many businesses get blinded by all the tinsel on the Christmas tree. We now have three major movements within our profession. I am a fan of all three; however, I will NEVER let anything get in the way of fundamental and principled safety management techniques. SIF, HOP, and Psychological Safety are compliments to the tools we have been using for decades:
- IDENTIFYING HAZARDS
- ANALYZING those HAZARDS with a recognized methodology
- RISK ASSESSMENT to put the risk those hazards pose into perspective
- MITIGATE those risks down within the RISK TOLERANCE of the business using the HIERARCHY OF CONTROLS
If we are grounded in these four (4) simple principles and build our Safety Management System to support this approach, we will make a big difference in our workers’ lives. Having the workers who do the dirty and dangerous PARTICIPATE in the safety process is ABSOLUTELY KEY to our success in safety.
