Safety Thought of the Week

“Several recent accidents in complex, high-risk technologies had their primary origins in a variety of delayed-action human failures committed long before an emergency state could be recognized. These disasters were due to the adverse conjunction of a large number of causal factors, each one necessary but singly insufficient to achieve the catastrophic outcome. Although the…...

When reading this, think about the “Swiss cheese model” from Reason and the “domino model” from Heinrich. “Disasters are essentially organized events. To occur, they typically require the systemic and prolonged neglect of varying signs and signals of danger, creating deep pockets of organizational ignorance, organizational silence, and organizational blindness. When signals of risk are…...

This is a great synopsis of how serious accidents build within an organization over time because of the lack of a functioning SMS. When reading this, think “swiss cheese model” from Reason and the “domino model” from Heinrich. Disasters are essentially organized events. To occur, they typically require the systemic and prolonged neglect of varying…...

This is a great synopsis of how serious accidents build within an organization over time because of the lack of a functioning SMS. When reading this, think “swiss cheese model” from Reason and the “domino model” from Heinrich. Disasters are essentially organized events. To occur, they typically require the systemic and prolonged neglect of varying…...

Safety is not the absence of Accidents. Safety is the presence of Defenses and Capacity.   Dr. Todd Conklin… Membership Required You must be a member to access this content.View Membership LevelsAlready a member? Log in here...

Leadership and culture are two sides of the same coin; neither can be realized without the other. Leaders create and manage the safety culture in their organizations by maintaining safety as a priority, communicating their safety expectations to the workers, setting the standard for safety, and through actions not talk (walk the talk), leading needed…...

Since this week is OSHA log posting week, I thought it was fitting to remind everyone…   When safety is measured solely by lagging indicators, we put good men and women in situations where they are faced with making bad decisions.    Setting a numerical end goal without providing a playbook, skills, resources, and tools…...

If you have communicated with me by email over the years, you probably recognized that all my emails have a safety message in their signature/footer.  This is one of my favorites, as it came from an ALJ in an OSHRC decision…   “It is not hard to find people who complain about government regulations, but…...

I have been driving for 46 years and I have never died in a car wreck – BUT I STILL WEAR MY SEATBELT! The mere fact there has not been a negative result from an act does NOT mean we can we should continue that act without some layers of protection! So when someone claims…...

Maybe I’m just old school, but is it just too much to ask for: a well-written safety procedure, one that is written and analyzed with a safety pro and the worker(s) who do the actual work, that management will fully support the procedures everyday-everytime, including on holidays that fall on a Sunday, and employees will…...

A safety management system should mirror the manufacturing process’s quality management system. The only difference is the “customer”… in the manufacturing process the customer is external – in the safety process, our employees are our customers. Both management systems REQUIRE SAMPLING and ACCURATE process measurements…. Membership Required You must be a member to access this...

An ounce of PREVENTION is worth a pound of cure.   PREVENT   PROTECT     MITIGATE… Membership Required You must be a member to access this content.View Membership LevelsAlready a member? Log in here...