We hear and see this all the time. There are variations to this mantra, but we all know what they mean. So I ask, can a business ever live up to its mantra, “Safety is #1”?
Some companies have softened their approach and will say, “The safety of our employees is our #1 priority”. We usually hear this right in the PR statement after a tragic accident. I will add this: Those who insist on it are almost always trying to make up for some weakness in their demonstration and commitment to their rhetoric. Those management teams that demonstrate their commitment to their worker’s safety don’t need all the parades and fanfare because the workers can visually see, feel, and hear the safety focus at the facility.
So, where did all these catchphrases in safety come from? They all came from a movement called “affirmations” and started way back in the 17th Century with a French philosopher Rene Descartes who coined the phrase “Cogito, ergo sum” or “I think, therefore I am.” Affirmations are phrases that, when repeated regularly by an individual, they can change negative thoughts and behavior patterns, per the Cleveland Clinic.
So advance to the 1970’s and OSHA became a government agency, and industrial safety began to shift. In this time, it was thought that companies needed to change their way of thinking regarding their employees’ safety; hence, some of the bigger companies began using “safety affirmations” such as “Safety is #1”. Some of you may be old enough when the USA car industry went on their “Quality is #1” kick in the 1980s and 90s – same approach.
Remember, affirmations are based on the belief that when a thought is repeated regularly, it can change an individual’s negative thoughts and behavior patterns. So the idea is that saying “Safety is #1” will influence our behaviors and attitudes toward our view of the safety of others. But here is the BIG flaw in this practice towards the safety of others… you have to BELIEVE your affirmation and WANT the change for it to work on you. Affirmations may work on an individual who truly wants to change. But we can not change others through our affirmations. Hence why, when others say “Safety is #1,” but others do not actually believe it, the words become cynical at best. But even worse, this can do more harm than good to the safety efforts within an organization when it is said over and over insistently by individuals whose behavior conflicts with their words, and trust and credibility are quickly eroded.
