Disclaimer:  I am not a psychologist but have stayed at a Holiday Inn Express once or twice!  This is my take on why “safety affirmations” like “Safety is #1“, “Safety is our top priority,” etc. fail time and again.   Most everyone has heard of “affirmations.”  These are the daily and deliberate things one says to oneself to change...

Ten (10) core principles shape a “culture of safety.”  Each may need a specific plan to develop, improve, or maintain while the others develop.  Safety Culture – The shared values, actions, and behaviors that demonstrate a commitment to safety over competing goals and demands. … HomeRead More »

This 5-minute video from our friends “way down under” in New Zealand (NZ) is just three safety pros explaining their roles in implementing and managing risks using the NZ Aviation Safety Management System (SMS).  These are three pros talking like real safety pros from the trenches, and they nailed it.  Many organizations struggle with the “Role of a Safety Professional”...

In essence, Quality Assurance is about determining gaps in the SMS elements based on non-compliance with regulatory or organizational requirements. It is looking at weaknesses in the safety management system, which increases risk.  Like the quality assurance process, the safety assurance process includes requirements for analysis, documentation, auditing, and management review to meet performance...

There is a push by the transportation businesses to allow for single-crew cockpits in planes and trains, like what is allowed in commercial trucking.  But is the risk the same across all three modes of transportation?  Take the worst-case scenario you can reasonably identify in all three (3) modes and ask… what layers of protection would allow the train or plane to recover safely should...

What do I mean when I say, “we want our SMS to be more like a diesel engine than a bottle rocket“?  It is a simple analogy that almost anyone can relate to. A bottle rocket may be easy to launch, but it is FAST, UNCONTROLLABLE,  and in the end, it COMES APART soon after launch.  It may generate many “Ohs and Ahs” in its SHORT LIFE, but is this what we want in...

When I first learned about the “management systems” approach to managing Occupational Safety and Health and Process Safety, I was taught to view them as a “spoked wheel.”  This aligned with the Plan-Do-Check-Act cycle, so it made perfect sense.  And ever since, I have been teaching Safety Management System courses using the “spoked wheel” images. ...

One missed opportunity for many businesses is an SMS Training Orientation for the new Safety Pros and Management Team members. The safety pro usually does not even sit through the “new employee safety orientation” when they arrive at the facility. But even rarer is an orientation for the safety and management team members on the functioning SMS. It’s not that the safety pro needs...

It is so sad when I hear a management team talk about how their employees are the problems with safety like they are some beasts that can’t be controlled.  And the look on their faces is priceless when a “consultant” tells them they should be proud of the “beast they have created.” A review and discussion of their latest accidents, all of which were stated to be “unsafe acts” by these beasts of...

I propose this simplified Root Cause Analysis worksheet to clients seeking structure for their 5-Why approach.  it is a beginner’s tool, but it does an excellent job of asking a series of high-level questions to help identify direct causes, root cause(s), and contributing factors and how each identified opportunity gets a corrective action to lessen the probability of a recurrence.   PURPOSE: A...

If we look close enough, we can see OSHA’s approach to some of its more extensive standards through the lens of its fitting into a formal Safety Management System.  The Control of Hazardous Energy (e.g., Lockout/Tagout) standard is one of these standards.  Using the old Plan→Do→Check→Act SMS model, we can breakdown 1910.147 into this model, which is an excellent fit. … HomeRead...

I post a lot about Human Factors (HF) and Human and Organizational Performance (HOP/HOF), and I get a lot of calls, emails, and texts every week asking more about these topics. But understand HF and HOP are simply approaches to managing safety and health.  They must never be viewed as a “silver bullet” to fix all our problems with safety performance and/or cultural issues. I have a...