SafetyCulture

ByDonaldBurr PLCSafety&TrainingCoordinator safety@maineloggers.com

Let’s talk about safety culture. No owner or foreman out there wants someone on their job to get hurt. I think it comes down to the culture. I am starting at the baseline that fewer accidents save money, reduce lost time, reduce pain, are good for production, and good for morale. The question is, how can we promote employees taking their personal safety seriously? When researching this topic, I came across a couple of statistics that I find interesting. Risky behaviors cause 90% of injuries, and 51.2% of employees believe their manager expects them to take unnecessary risks. If we believe these statistics, we have plenty of room to reduce injuries by changing our behavior and how we view risky behavior.

I am proposing today that we make our jobs safer by intentionally making safety part of our thinking. Make safety as common a topic as what mills the wood is going to and how the trails run to the yard. Look for ways to weave your concept of how to work safely into the workplace. Think of it like coaching a sports team. Your employees need to know:

1. The rules of the game. What are the expectations for safety procedures and your approach to working safely, clarifying what is required and expected behavior. If the employees don’t know the rules, they will make them up, and from the above statistic, we see they have the mistaken impression that you want them to take unacceptable risks, exposing themselves unnecessarily to danger.

2. How they fit in the next play. Whose job is it to decide what is safe, and who can tell another employee how to make the job safe? Who is calling the play? How many times have you heard after an accident that someone on the job knew what was happening was dangerous but said nothing because it was not “their” job?

3. What calls can an employee make on their own? What are the guidelines for decision-making, and when is an employee expected to seek assistance in the decision on how to approach a problem? Have these words ever come out of your mouth, “all you had to do is ask?”

4. How do you define a win or a loss? Problems often take longer than anyone wants to fix. Is taking a shortcut and exposing an employee to danger worth the time you save? Categorically no! Safety is an investment. Time is money. Wood fiber pounds are money. Injuries are money. Do your employees understand this balance? Bob is worth more than the buncher.

5. PPE is an expectation for all employees equally and should always be worn when working outside of a piece of equipment or a pickup. Consider yourself a coach of safety. Like a coach, you may be on the sidelines, but you are vocal and present, and the employees know you are there to give direction and encouragement. Focus on the positive, train yourself to look for ways to praise good decisions. Nurture your employees to think about safety when approaching all aspects of work. Encourage reporting near-misses so others can learn from the “almost” injury. Foster humbleness when making mistakes, and this will free up your employees to talk about how to do it better and safer next time.

If we can cultivate these attitudes on our jobs, this will lead to everyone taking their personal safety and the safety of others seriously.

Good logging is about producing pounds of wood fiber, environmental stewardship, and working safelythese are not separate concerns.

Ted Clark, CLCS, Loss Control Consultant, Acadia Insurance