Buzz words… oh how I have come to hate them. In my earlier days in this profession, it was called “flavor of the month safety” as we had some catchphrase or “program” we’d implement to try and break through the “mental fog” that caused workers to work unsafely. Then came along the “silver bullet of safety” called Behavior-Based Safety and it seemed we had found the answer -that magical solution to end workplace accidents. As if it is ever that easy!!! Everyone was doing it; if you wanted to be an OSHA VPP STAR workplace you better have a BBSP in place – it was that powerful of a movement. Fortunately, during this time, I worked for two of the finest and brightest plant managers who were crazy about keeping their people safe. A craziness that was NEVER WAIVERED for anyone or anything – not even BBPS. To these two men, it was just another tool to aid in their desire that everyone who walked through the gates of their realm of responsibility got to walk out in the same (and maybe even better) than how they walked in. What drove these two men? Safety was a value to them, both personally, and now as a plant manager – professionally.
