Over the past 20 years of being a safety professional I have seen a lot! I had the pleasure of spending nearly 15 years in the petrochemical industry working for some of the finest companies out there. That also allowed me to work for three (3) of the finest plant managers who set th standard for safety and spoiled me to the point that I thought every safety professional had it like me. When it comes to be a safety professional, these three men mean as much to me as my father and if you know me you know how much I respect my dad for all he taught me. Even though he was never a safety professional, my dad had a huge influence on both me and my brother becoming safety professionals. But it was Claude, Dale, and Jim that taught me a business really becomes successful when it meets all its business measures WHILE NOT HURTING ANYONE or the ENVIRONMENT. Let it be know that all three of these meN have gone on to greatness in their careers. One retired as an executive VP from a top five wood and paper products company, one is now a president of an international chemical company, and one is a director of manufacturing for one of the top 3 food company. They did this ALL THE WHILE making safety there #1 focal point in their facilities.
When Insay these men wore me out, I say it as a compliment. I was honored and blessed to have been exposed to these men and the teams that put together. I learned more from these three men (and my friends Dan and Keith at GE) than any text book or degree I hold. Sure I can quote you many OSHA standards from memory, but that is not safety! Claude taught me that OSHA is merely a build block and that “our employees and contractors deserveICB better than anything the government can provide”… As he reminded me many times “that is why I Was hired”. He also reminded me often… “Anyone can meet OSHA and if they can’t they should not be in the chemical business”. Claude expected nothing but the very best in all we did in safety. I routinely got coached on how the safety programs were written. He wanted details! His measure of a world class safety program was that any employee could read the program and have ALL there questions answered. No need to call Bryan as it is written in the program. Claude also taught me the “checkbook method” of management, something he was a master of. Dr. Scott Geller has written about this for decades but it was Clause who taught it to me in 1993. The principle works like a checkbook, make a lot of deposits before you have to make a withdrawal. In other words, talk with workers about their safety and praise their safe acts so when th time comes you need to catch them about an unsafe act, it is not the first discussion you’ve had with the employee about safety. Positive re-enforcement works much better than negative