We have a long-time client for whom we have now completed OSH and/or PSM/RMP audits at all of their North American facilities over the past 8 years. And this last audit was a “deal breaker” for many clients, as they were fit to be tied after the audit. Seems the facility had run its Safety/PS…...
One of my most debated topics at SAFTENG is my writings/ramblings about the critical role that a Management of Change (MOC) plays in ALL of safety, not just PSM. I’ve been involved in numerous non-PSM/RMP accidents that can be traced to poor or non-existent change management. One fatal event last year involved simply moving a…...
Don’t get me wrong, managers out in the plant wearing all the PPE and talking safety with their teams is a HUGE boost to safety (when it’s done consistently and well). I learned about “safety contacts” while at Great Lakes Chemicals in the mid-90s and used them at all my sites afterward. They have had…...
The moral of this story, as we do in Emergency Response, is NEVER to rely on a single data source for critical safety information about the chemicals we work with. In ER, we are REQUIRED to use at least three (3) recognized data sources when developing our response plan and making decisions. SDSs can have…...
Principles don’t work when safety is not a value among the people they are meant to guide. In the book “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People“, Stephen R. Covey discusses the difference between principles and values. He does so to show the difference in those “highly effective people”. I want to use the same…...
My team can bring a lot of RISK REDUCTION to your HIGH RISK activities (i.e., SIF) by simply working with you on your: 1) Control of Hazardous Energy (i.e., LOTO) 2) Permit-Required Confined Space Entries, and 3) Electrical Safety Related Work Practices (ESRWP) No fanfare or shiny objects. Just hardcore safety, exceeding OSHA minimums, and…...
I was taught to do this by ALL my former bosses. My goal was to bring everyone up to my safety expectations while recognizing that “building” means consensus. The idea is that when I had to compromise my expectations, I was ALWAYS still on the right side of the line, pulling others toward me, even…...
All these social media posts decrying the traditional Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) tools are so ridiculous! Most of the people posting such garbage are either academics or marketing people trying to sell the next “silver bullet” in OSH. Most importantly, very few have hands-on experience in developing, implementing, and managing safety and health on…...
I think most people will agree that the safest form of travel is “flying commercially”. Yet this entails being in a tube with wings at 35,000 feet, flying at 400 mph, with 50,000 pounds of jet fuel. So how can an activity be so HAZARDOUS and yet be so LOW in RISKS? This is the…...
This video has been viewed over 1 million times, and I hope those views are by those people who write Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs). I have never counted how many SOPs I get involved in each year, but I know it’s 100+ across all my clients. My involvement, with my comments and questions, draws a…...
I was talking with a friend from across the pond about how this profession has changed over the years, and, in many respects, not for the better. He shared with me the following “behaviors” of a safety professional, which I thought were spot on. If only we could write job descriptions and postings like this…....
We have all heard it and seen the countless banners/signs proclaiming “safety first”. And I have at least 50 shocker photos at SAFTENG of some crazy, unsafe acts caught while hanging such proclamations. I worked for some bosses who I had no doubt were dedicated to worker safety, and none of them liked the “safety…...
