{jcomments on}We have all debated the “zero accident” goal philosophy and it is often times hard for safety professionals to grasp the thought that an accident may have benefits, but they can and often times do! Now I am in NO WAY advocating we go out and work unsafely so we can have an accident; what I AM SCREAMING AT THE TOP OF MY LUNGS is that we need to STOP viewing accidents as a poison in that we apply so much pressure to them that workers FEAR reporting them.
Fifteen years ago this month I went to work for a Plant Manager who constantly reminded me that the pressure and behaviors that I applied after an accident are MUCH MORE EFFECTIVE when applied consistently BEFORE the accident. He would get furious at managers who subscribed what he called the “Splash Safety Program” (i.e. after an accident everyone runs to jump into the safety pool to see who can make the biggest splash and convince him they are serious about safety). He often times would comment to me that “it’s a good thing that I am a good swimmer or I would be drowning right now” (e.g. a subtle hint to me that safety is falling off the radar screen and I needed to pick up the “cheer leading” with the workers as he applied pressure to the managers and supervisors on the leading indicators). What he meant was that since we had gone X weeks without a reported incident (something he will forever believe is a safety lie) that he could look at our “leading indicators” and see a drop in audits, observations, training attendance, safety talks and attendance to them. He wanted me to apply MORE POSITIVE SAFETY RENFORCEMENTS BEFORE we had an accident. After all isn’t this why we use leading indicators?
He also taught me that as long as there are humans on this earth – accidents will always happen; but, we should NEVER accept them at work or at home! The difference in a “world class organization” and one wanting to be world class is how the organization reacts to an accident. I have been involved in many fatality investigations and I can honestly say that there is a distinct difference in how organizations respond to serious workplace accidents. But with the company I was working for at the time, the Plant Manager always reminded us of the positives coming out of our investigations! Of course, the investigations have to be done properly and the follow-up to the corrective actions has to be executed flawlessly. But this is where we need to apply our “safety pressure”… in the EXECUTION of our safety process. From each investigation (especially nearmisses) we ELIMINATED a lot of opportunies for others to be injured and we MITIGATED the potential injuries from incidents. After all, do we really think that the scenario that injured a work is a “one-time-thing”? I certainly hope not.
Accidents (especially nearmisses and first aid cases) need to be used as a “tool” in our safety toolbox. Companies need to stop painting them as a poison and learn that OPENLY sharing incidents (while preserving employee(s) integrity) can be a catalyst in their safety efforts. And I don’t mean just sharing within the plant where the accident occurred but rather company wide (even industry wide). And not only sharing the incident but the corrective actions as well. There is not a safety professional with more than one year experience who has not seen a REPEAT accident, while thinking “if only we had done X after Y had that accident”.
A good nearmiss or first aid investigation should be viewed as a “gold mine” of opportunity! It can serves as a wake up call to those who think it could “never happen” or a reminder to safe employees who may have become complacent in their safety behaviors.
We need to encourage the reporting of ALL INCIDENTS, no matter how minor one may think it is! Employees need to know that management understands that accidents will happen, that we are only human, and that a hidden accident is a only a trap set for another worker. Employees also need to understand that this is NOT a license to break safety procedures and that we will be held accountable if we failed to follow procedure. But a company with a strong commitment to safety will have few of these types of accidents and the majority will be a wake up call for a NEW procedure to be developed, NEW training, a NEW awareness campaign, etc. If we apply so much pressure to meet a goal of “zero accidents” we may be missing many learning and improvement opportunities. We should ALWAYS STRIVE to be INJURY FREE, but we should not apply so much negative attention on accidents that employees and management can only see them as a poison to the workplace.