Most people don’t think the cold weather is going to make them dehydrated. And many people believe that they sweat less when it is cold outside. However, this is not true. Truthfully, your body sweats just as much in the cold as it does in the heat.
The reason you don’t notice it is because the sweat evaporates faster when it is cold. Remember that there is less humidity in cold weather, and the air is drier. So, your body doesn’t retain moisture as it is sucked away, causing you to become dehydrated. Here’s why staying hydrated during winter is essential for your health, and some easy tips to help.
BE SURE TO DRINK WATER
You have to drink water no matter what the temperature is outside. Your body needs fluids regardless if it’s hot or cold. So, you will need to drink the standard 8 cups a day. Each cup should contain 8 ounces for optimal hydration. This is a total of 64oz (half a gallon) of water that you should be consuming daily. People that do not consume this amount of water during winter could experience problems with their health.
WHAT TYPES OF PROBLEMS DOES DEHYDRATION CAUSE THE BODY WHEN IT’S COLD?
There are many problems that people experience when they’re dehydrated in the cold. First, a person’s immune system is not as strong when they’re dehydrated. They become prone to colds, illnesses, and other illnesses. Another problem that arises from dehydration during the winter months has to do with fatigue. People who don’t stay hydrated tend to tire quicker than those who do. When it’s cold outside, the icy weather will cause your dehydrated body to burn out at a faster pace.
Colder temperatures fool your brain and body into believing your not losing fluids. However, you are losing about the same amount of moisture as you do during the winter. Also, your blood is being primarily drawn toward the middle (core) part of your body. This effect is necessary for keeping your body warmer during the winter. This bodily function causes your body to eliminate more urine when it’s cold.
We all notice the “breath cloud” that comes from our mouths when it’s cold outside. However, what you might not realize is that the breath you see in the cold air is actually moisture. Every time you see that moisture, your body is losing moisture. The bottom line is that your body is constantly losing hydration during the freezing temperatures. The colder the temperature, the more moisture you will lose.
Remember that cramps, dizziness, headaches, constipation, sticky mouth, sleepiness, and dry skin are symptoms of dehydration. Also, if you’re not feeling well, being dehydrated could be the source of your sudden malaise. If you are experiencing any of these problems, try drinking some water to see you’re your body responds. Give yourself at least an hour to see if you’re feeling better.
WHAT ARE SOME OTHER GREAT WAYS TO STAY HYDRATED DURING THE WINTER?
There are other things that you can do to keep moisture in your body during the winter months. First, drink warm water with a splash of lemon or lime juice. Hot or warm fluids will help to keep your body’s temperature high in the cold. This will help to replace some of the moisture you’re losing. However, you must be careful not to let it evaporate quickly. Don’t try to drink too many caffeinated beverages such as coffee, tea, or soda.
Dress in layers and take one at a time if you get overheated. Don’t keep on the layers just to stay warm. Your clothing layers and coats will start to absorb the moisture. This, in turn, will cause the cold to make you shiver more, and your body will continuously lose more heat and moisture, trying to stay warm. Just remove each layer to keep you warm enough to remain in the cold.
To many people’s surprise, it is a good thing for your body to be a little cold during the winter months. This will help your body’s temperature to stay regulated. You don’t want to always be warm in the cold. Once that warm feeling starts to go away, it will be hard for your body to get it back again.
Limit your time outside in the cold if you can. Make sure to keep your layers loose against your skin. This will allow more airflow and overheating won’t be a problem when you go inside. These tips will help you to retain more moisture in your body and ensure that you do not dehydrate during the winter season.
11 Construction Topics to Help Construct Your Own Toolbox Talks
01.18.2023 | SAFESTART
It can be tricky to find readymade toolbox talks for the construction industry. Every construction site looks a little bit different, and as any construction safety pro will tell you, their hazards are constantly evolving. This makes the need for constructionrelated toolbox talks especially important, as they’re often a primary way to highlight safety situations that are in constant flux. It also means that you probably need to make your own.
There are plenty of topics that are appropriate for toolbox talks for construction workers. The list below is hardly definitive, and it concentrates on topics that apply to many different worksites, and on offering a fresh look to well-worn issues. So if you need inspiration for your next construction safety talk, take a look through these eleven ideas.
1
LIFTING TECHNIQUE
Safety meetings and toolbox talks are one of the best ways to protect workers from back injuries . This is because lifting sizeable objects is such a common task on some construction sites that workers can become desensitized to the risks it poses. As a result, they can eventually slip into bad habits with their lifting technique. And when a back injury occurs, it can have negative consequences for years.
With that said, there’s an unavoidable obstacle in giving construction crews a toolbox talk on back safety. Picking up and moving things is such a frequent occurrence on the worksite, and it feels like such a basic activity, that many people feel like they don’t need any reminders.
One option, aside from the usual reinforcements of safe lifting methods, is to talk about the consequences of back injuries. One of the tenets of 24/7 safety is that workers are motivated by things that affect their life outside of work. Try asking workers how their life might be altered if they hurt their back.
You can also ask how a worker’s back injury might affect their loved ones—two common responses include a long-term reduction in family income and limiting a worker’s ability to do family activities. The goal here is to show workers why it’s important to think twice about seemingly simple actions like lifting heavy objects properly or asking for help when they need it.
2
PPE
Personal protective equipment is a cornerstone of any safety program. And when it comes to construction worksites, where hazards are many and engineering solutions are limited, PPE use is truly essential.
Unfortunately, that doesn’t always mean that workers will wear hard hats, safety gloves and other equipment when they need it. To keep the importance of PPE front of mind, consider running regular toolbox talks on construction incidents that could be prevented by wearing protective equipment. You can also provide a rundown of PPE best practices.
The goal here is to improve PPE compliance rates by making sure everyone recognizes the value of PPE; knows when, where and how to use PPE; and that everyone’s equipment is in good working shape. Because while PPE is the last line of defense, it should be at the top of your list for tailgate talks.
PPE AGAIN, BUT FROM ANOTHER ANGLE
If you’ve covered the basics in the last item, there’s still more work to do. Because PPE is such a vital part of construction safety, it’s worth spending extra time, and extra toolbox talks, confirming how workers are faring with their personal protective equipment.
Try ditching the usual reminders about wearing PPE, and instead start asking some questions about not wearing PPE, like the following:
• “What’s one reason why someone might forget to wear their PPE?”
• “What time of day do you think people are least likely to use their protective equipment?”
• “Let’s say you knew you were going to take off your PPE at some point today. When and where do you think that would be?”
It’s important to take a no-blame attitude with these questions. Make sure you take a positive approach and let workers know you won’t get mad about their answers. The goal here is to highlight situations that might cause workers to forego using their PPE so that they’ll be better prepared to wear their protective equipment in those scenarios.
WEATHER CONDITIONS
The weather affects safety in all sorts of ways. High temperatures can bring heat stress and exhaustion. Low temperatures can cause frostbite and slippery conditions. In all cases, there is the possibility of equipment damage and temporary changes to worksite conditions.
It’s never a bad idea to remind workers about the dangers posed by weather. Many may seem obvious, but it’s still a good idea to remind folks about the need for sunscreen and constant hydration in the summer, and the dangers of the cold and ice in the winter.
Don’t forget about the secondary effects of the weather too. A flash freeze will require people to move slower and necessitate giving vehicles in motion an extra-wide berth in case they skid. The heat can make construction workers more irritable and require extra breaks—meaning they need to attend to frustration, fatigue, and any other human factors that might be amplified by the weather.
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5
“WHERE IS THE SMOKE?”
You can take a where’s-the-smoke approach to a construction tailgate talk in a couple of different ways. The first is to make it literally about fires in the workplace . Ask each member of your crew where they think a fire is most likely to break out on the worksite, and what they think will cause it. Then, have them talk as a group and evaluate each potential fire hazard or location. As long as you emphasize that there are no right or wrong answers, this can be one way to get everyone thinking and discussing fire safety.
The second way of asking “Where is the smoke?” is to do so in a more metaphorical way, by asking workers if they’ve noticed any signs (that is to say, smoke) that any sort of safety incident might happen? If the response is crickets, then ask what signs or signals they might look for that could indicate an incident is about to happen, and/or where they’re most (or least) likely to see a signal that an incident could occur.
6
LARGE MACHINERY OR EQUIPMENT— EVEN IF WORKERS WON’T BE USING IT THEMSELVES.
Large machines and equipment are one of the most common sources of massively hazardous energy on many worksites. This includes forklifts and trucks as well as larger machinery such as cranes and excavation equipment. As such, they are an obvious topic for construction toolbox talks.
What may be less obvious is just how varied the tailgate talks on this topic can be. It’s essential that you review the ins and outs of any equipment that workers will be operating. Just as importantly, talk with workers about vehicles that will be present in the workplace alongside them. This means that you’ll likely want to conduct the occasional toolbox talk on forklifts and other large equipment that could present a danger to workers on the ground.
Consider asking your construction crew to discuss how they can stay safe when these vehicles are around, how they can tell whether an operator has noticed that a pedestrian is present, and what signs they can look for that piece of equipment (or its driver) might be at a greater risk of injuring someone or causing an incident.
7
HUMAN FACTORS
Human factors are mental and physical states that affect people’s actions. When workers are in a rush, they’re more likely to take a safety shortcut. When they’re complacent, they’re more likely to overlook a safety hazard. When workers are fatigued or frustrated—well, you get the idea. Human factors increase the risk of an incident or injury. And managing human factors is a crucial component of construction safety —which means it’s also an ideal subject for a safety meeting.
One of the best options is to conduct a construction-related safety talk on a specific human factor. For example, having a discussion about fatigue is a great way to highlight the dangers of being tired, the times of day when fatigue is most likely to lead to an injury, and the steps that workers can take to mitigate the effects of tiredness. There are plenty of ways to incorporate human factors into your toolbox talks . Doing so can lessen the dangers posed by these mental and physical states. But perhaps the best way to protect against human factors is by implementing a proper human factors training program. It will give workers the tools they need to properly contend with fatigue and other states. And, armed with the knowledge and awareness provided by training, it will make these toolbox talks and other construction safety measures a lot more effective too.
8
EMERGENCY PLANS
Emergency plans are an essential component of any workplace safety plan. As any safety professional will tell you, they also seem to be the first thing that workers forget about. Toolbox talks provide an opportunity to remind construction workers about the major points in your worksite’s emergency plan.
One of the main reasons why emergency plans tend to go in one ear and out the other is that they are presented as a lecture rather than as a lesson. In your construction toolbox talk on emergency plans, try taking a cue from key adult learning principles in safety . In particular, do your best to incorporate elements of social learning by encouraging discussions and applications of their knowledge of emergency plans, rather than just rattling off a list of emergency procedures and meeting points.
9
FALLING FROM HEIGHT
Approximately one-third of all construction fatalities are due to falls, according to the National Institute for Occupational Health and Safety . That’s been the case for a while, so it shouldn’t be much of a surprise. But when you look under the hood at some of the underlying numbers, and there’s one detail that really stands out—the single most deadly height on a construction site isn’t actually all that high.
In fact, a quarter of all fall-related deaths in the construction industry occur from only six to ten feet. As this free guide on working at heights says, that’s because it’s both a common height to work at, and it doesn’t feel like a particularly high elevation. Both of these factors can breed a high degree of complacency, leading to a huge number of falls— some of which are deadly.
11
“IT’S MY FIRST DAY”
This is a great option if you think your construction toolbox talks have become a little stale or feel like you’re in a rut.
Here’s how an its-my-first-day tailgate discussion works. Tell workers: “Pretend it’s my first day on the job. This is the first time I’ve ever stepped onto a construction site. Now let’s say it’s your job to tell me everything I need to know to keep me safe—and you only have two minutes. What are you going to tell me?”
If you’re holding a construction toolbox on the danger of falling from height, one option is to run through the standard reminders about ladder safety and working at height procedures. Beyond that, you can play a guessing game with workers about what they think the most deadly height is. This can help re-calibrate their perception of the risk of working on ladders and roofs.
10
RISK OF FALLING OBJECTS
Falls are a massive source of danger on construction sites. But they’re hardly the only hazard presented by working at heights. As the article “The Case for Managing Human Factors at Heights” demonstrates, someone is injured by a dropped object every ten minutes. This means that falling objects can be just as—if not more—deadly than falling people.
The danger of dropped objects is a prime topic for a toolbox talk for construction workers—for both people who work at heights and for those who work on the ground. For the former, emphasize the need to keep tools tethered and to avoid rushing and other human factors that can increase the risk of dropping an object.
For workers at ground level, focus your tailgate discussion on the need to wear head protection. You can also talk about staying aware of people working above them and the importance of steering clear of areas where tools and other objects could be dropped.
If workers start rushing through all the safety concerns or talking too fast, tell them to stop for a moment and regroup. After all, if it’s your first day on the job you’re going to need them to talk at a normal pace so that you can follow along and understand what they’re saying. Emphasize that the goal is to focus on the biggest hazards and most common-sense safety protocols—which, in a roundabout way, is exactly what this tailgate talk on construction safety is designed to do.
And if you’ve already done this toolbox talk once then try reversing it. Ask workers what they’d tell you if their goal was for you to be hurt as quickly as possible. It’s a novel question that’s likely to get their attention while still prompting your crew to consider hazards, processes and other key safety issues.
CONCLUSION
These eleven topics all make great options for construction toolbox talks. But there are plenty of others too, including working in confined spaces, hazardous chemicals, and sources of hazardous energy that are specific to your jobsite.
Whatever you choose to discuss in your construction safety talks, remember that you shouldn’t be teaching workers about any new concepts, procedures, or hazards. Instead, you should be offering a refresher about tools they’ll likely be using, processes they’ll need to navigate, and dangers they might encounter on the jobsite. Keep the focus on timely reminders and your construction toolbox talks will help keep your workers safer throughout their shift.
Effective Root Cause Analysis for Incident
Prevention Success
WeeklySafety
Analyzing and addressing root causes during an incident investigation can help an organization prevent similar incidents from recurring.
A root cause is a fundamental, underlying, system-related reason why an incident occurred that identifies one or more correctable system failures.
During an incident investigation , an organization must determine which factors contributed to the incident. A root cause analysis can uncover the underlying or systemic, rather than the generalized or immediate, causes of an incident. Correcting only the immediate cause may address the symptom, but not the underlying problem.
WHEN ACCIDENTS HAPPEN, IT’S IMPORTANT TO KNOW WHY.
Incident investigations are often conducted by a supervisor, but to be most effective, these investigations should include managers and employees working together, since each brings different knowledge, understanding, and perspectives to the investigation.
A successful root cause analysis identifies all root causes because there is often more than one.
According to OSHA, root causes generally reflect failings in workplace design, equipment maintenance, organizational and cultural factors, operating systems and procedures, staffing, management, and training. Organizational culture and behavior may come up as a contributing factor during a root cause analysis. Companies that foster a strong safety culture can significantly reduce the likelihood of incidents.
A root cause analysis can also occur after a near miss. If an incident almost-happened once, it can almosthappen again and that indicates that corrective and preventive action is likely necessary. A root cause analysis can help determine what actions to take to ensure that near miss doesn’t turn into a catastrophic event in the future.
Addressing underlying or root causes is necessary to understand why an incident or near miss occurred, to develop effective corrective and preventive actions,
A SUCCESSFUL ROOT CAUSE ANALYSIS IDENTIFIES
ALL ROOT
CAUSES
BECAUSE THERE IS OFTEN MORE THAN ONE.
and to minimize or eliminate serious consequences from similar future incidents.
There are many tools the incident investigation team can use to conduct a root cause analysis. Ideally, a combination of these or other tools will be used.
• Brainstorming
• Checklists
• 5 Whys Analysis
• Logic/Event Trees
• Timelines
• Sequence Diagrams
• Causal Factor Determination
For simpler incidents, brainstorming and checklists may be sufficient to identify root causes. For more complicated incidents, consider using logic/event trees. Timelines, sequence diagrams, and causal factor identification are often used to support the logic/event tree tool.
There are also a variety of software tools on the market now that can assist with and enhance the efficiency and accuracy of the root cause analysis.
Regardless of the combination of root cause analysis tools that are chosen, use them to answer four important questions:
1. What happened?
2. How did it happen?
3. Why did it happen?
4. What needs to be corrected so it doesn’t happen again?
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Considering human factors such as fatigue , cognitive overload, and human error can be valuable during the analysis. While these are likely not root causes themselves, they can significantly contribute to understanding the underlying issues as the investigation digs deeper to answer the questions of what went wrong and why.
Interviews and review of documents, such as maintenance logs, can be useful during the incident investigation . Involving employees in the root cause investigative process, and sharing the results of those investigations, will also go a long way toward preventing future similar incidents.
Every accident investigation is a fact-finding process. The investigation should focus on identifying root causes, not finding fault or assigning blame to an employee.
Simple conclusions like “employee failed to follow the procedure” cannot be provided as the root cause of an incident. It is important to dig deeper, for example:
• Why was the procedure not followed?
• Was training inadequate?
• Is the procedure out of date?
• Does management demand deadlines are met at the expense of safety?
For example, if the procedure is out of date and not sufficient for the current workflow, the investigation can recommend the corrective action to update the procedure and provide training to workers on the new procedure.
Then the investigation should go even further by asking: Why was the procedure out of date? Perhaps a preventive action might be to implement a review process of operating procedures on a defined periodic basis (example: annually) to ensure safety requirements are continuously updated.
Conducting a thorough investigation that identifies root causes will help to prevent similar events from happening again and reduce the risk of future injuries, property
damage, and fatalities. Incorporating root cause analysis into a continuous improvement process, with regular reviews and updates, can further enhance its effectiveness and ensure ongoing safety improvements.
By using root cause analysis to prevent similar events, companies can avoid unnecessary costs resulting from business interruption, emergency response and clean-up, increased regulation, audits, inspections, and OSHA fines.
A robust safety program that includes root cause analysis along with all incident investigations can result in more effective control of hazards , improved process reliability, increased revenues, decreased production costs, lower maintenance costs, and lower insurance premiums.
Researchers To Explore Strategies To Improve Construction Worker Safety
01.03.2025 | Safety + Health
Aurora, CO — A collaborative research effort is underway to build a toolkit to help construction managers, supervisors and workers identify and address safety and health challenges unique to the industry.
The Collaborative Leadership for Safety and Health in Construction project is being led by researchers from the Colorado School of Public Health and the Center for Promotion of Health in the New England Workplace. It’s supported by CPWR – the Center for Construction Research and Training, NIOSH, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The five-year project is focused on the critical safety and mental health challenges in construction, an industry known for high rates of injuries, fatalities and psychosocial issues such as suicide and substance use.
The researchers expect the resulting toolkit to foster a culture of safety and health that’s both comprehensive and sustainable by emphasizing collaboration between various levels of the workforce and, in turn, contribute to reduced injury rates and enhanced worker health and well-being.
The team will work with industry advisors – including representatives from academia, labor unions and safety professions – to ensure the toolkit reflects a wide range of perspectives to increase its potential adaptability and effectiveness.
Eight contractors will implement and use the toolkit as the researchers evaluate the process. After the evaluation process, the toolkit will be disseminated via OSHA, along with some labor unions, contractor associations, professional safety and health associations, and workers’ compensation insurers.
“The secret sauce of our approach is the focus on both leadership commitment and workforce engagement,” project leader Natalie Schwatka, assistant professor at the Centers for Health, Work & Environment at the ColoradoSPH, said in a press release. “This project is about creating a framework that gives both managers/supervisors and workers a more active role in the safety and well-being initiatives at their workplace.
“The upside for workers is that this project gives them a seat at the table throughout the process.”
Between 2011 and 2023, there was a total of 1,940 workplace fatalities involving electricity, said Electrical Safety Foundation International.
Electrical Fatalities Remain Same
Year-Over-Year
02.13.2025 | EHS Today
Contact with or exposure to electricity continues to be one of the leading causes of workplace fatalities and injuries in the United States, according to Electrical Safety Foundation International .
The group collected information on fatal and non-fatal occupational electrical injuries from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS and the Occupational Safety and Health Association (OSHA). The most recent data set covers the 13 years from 2011 through 2023.
Between 2011 and 2023, there was a total of 1,940 workplace fatalities involving electricity, according to the BLS. During this period, 74% of fatalities occurred in non-electrically related occupations.
THE KEY DATA POINTS ARE AS FOLLOWS:
• 26% of workplace electrical fatalities occurred in electrical occupations.
• 5.6% of all fatalities were caused by contact with electricity.
• Electrical fatalities continue to stay consistent year over year, with a slight downward trend since 2011.
• The construction industry had the highest number of electrical fatalities.
OCCUPATIONS WITH THE MOST ELECTRICAL FATALITIES (OSHA)
• Electricians: 212 fatalities
• Laborers, except construction: 142 fatalities
• Construction laborers: 131 fatalities
• Electrical power installers and repairers: 122 fatalities
• Tree trimming occupations: 64 fatalities
• Electricians’ apprentices: 45 fatalities
• HVAC and refrigeration mechanics: 43 fatalities
• Roofers: 38 fatalities
• Truck drivers, heavy: 35 fatalities
• Painters, construction and maintenance: 32 fatalities
ELECTRICAL FATALITY RATES PER 100,000 WORKERS (BLS)
• Electrical fatality rates per 100,000 workers remained consistent while overall fatality rates have increased.
• Hispanic or Latino workers have a disproportionately high rate of electrical fatalities, and that rate is increasing.
• Construction and extraction occupations, installation, maintenance, and repair occupations, and building and grounds cleaning and maintenance occupations have the highest rate of electrical fatalities.
“Most of the electrical fatalities that occurred in the workplace were from accidental contact with electricity,” said Daniel Majano, ESFI Program Directo, in a statement. “It is important to always be aware of your surroundings when at a job site. Whether it’s to always look up to spot overhead power lines or knowing what might be energized around your job site, it is imperative to know all the possible contact points of electricity around you.” Majano added, “Also always know when to say when and make sure you’re trained and aware of any electrical hazards. Over 74% of the workplace electrical fatalities that occurred between 2011 and 2023 were in non-electrical occupations that may have not received electrical safety training.”
The Four Core Components of Safety Excellence
08.07 | EHS Today
Organizations that have basic safety programs in place usually take one of two paths: either they turn their attention away from safety to other priorities, thinking their safety performance is adequate, or they turn their attention to true safety excellence.
Unfortunately, many companies that seek excellence simply try to do better at the basics. They do not realize the thinking and programs that got the organization from bad to good in safety will not take it from good to excellent. The organizations with the most excellent safety performance have added four core components to their safety efforts.
STRATEGY
While basic safety programs are adequate in the beginning, a true safety strategy is necessary to achieve the next level of excellent performance. Strategies can align thinking and fit among programs. Alignment and fit are the basic building blocks of organizational excellence. It takes every person and every program working in the same direction with the same end goals in mind to accomplish exceptional results. Who manages safety and how they do it must be strategically decided and reinforced. How safety is communicated and motivated must match the management style. Safety meetings
and training cannot be a mismatched or outsourced conglomeration of conflicting messages.
Compliance must become a minimum standard, not the ultimate goal. Accident prevention must be recognized as the outcome of excellence, not the primary target. Strategy is how to win, not just how “not to lose.”
ASSESSMENT
Many of our clients initially have argued that assessment should precede strategy. However, we have found that a strategy based on an assessment tends to fill gaps rather than be a true strategy. Once a strategy is developed, an organizational assessment can identify the best opportunities to create alignment and fit with the strategy, rather than simply identifying perceived gaps between reality and some artificial ideal of perfection.
Assessment is difficult in organizations with trust issues. If employees are hesitant to point out issues for fear of the consequences, outside help may be necessary to truly assess the current status. Some organizations think they can overcome trust issues simply by using a perception survey that is filled out individually by each worker. While such surveys do provide a degree of anonymity, they don’t allow for following up on the details of the issues that have been
COMPLIANCE MUST BECOME A MINIMUM STANDARD, NOT THE ULTIMATE GOAL.
identified. This must be done in interviews or focus groups where the trust levels again become critical. Also, perception surveys only are one of several areas of assessment that are necessary to truly understand where an organization and its culture are in the progression toward safety excellence. Perceptions are limited by two primary factors: accuracy and completeness. The fact is, perceptions can be completely different from reality. Workers’ perceptions that their safety training is adequate might be completely refuted by testing their knowledge on critical safety issues. Workers might perceive their greatest risk as burns when the accident data suggests trips and falls are far more common.
Also, workers don’t know what they don’t know. Testing their perceptions of anything in which their knowledge is limited creates relatively useless data. Accurately determining the current status is a necessary step toward more excellent performance.
COACHING
Excellence is not simply the result of great leadership; it is the result of leading great people. People become great through coaching. For an organization to move from good to great, coaching must become a skill that’s regular use is expected and reinforced at every level of leadership. Performance coaching should be an integral part of the organizational training curriculum and refresher/follow-up training should be held regularly. It should be in the job description of every leader and a top item on their performance appraisal. It should be discussed in every leadership meeting and coaching best practices should be shared.
The continuous improvement of the performance of direct reports should be the primary goal of every leader and should become the standard by which their own performance is judged. Specific safety improvement targets should be selected in every work group and should
be the focus of the coaching efforts. Every day, specific safety improvements should be visible and expected. This improvement should become the primary driver of safety, replacing the lagging indicators which should approach zero as the improvement efforts bear fruit.
ENGAGEMENT
Aligning workers and coaching them is a good start toward getting them engaged in safety, but more is needed. Workers need opportunities to be involved in the work of safety in a meaningful way.
Well-designed and executed behavior-based safety (BBS) processes are one example of how this can be achieved. If workers are included in the design of the process, and learn through discovery which behaviors can have the greatest impact on accidental injuries, they develop a sense of ownership for this part of safety. If they can be involved in meaningful observations, then this interaction between workers becomes an extension of the safety coaching performed by leadership.
When this happens, all interactions between workers and leaders or workers and other workers are aligned, and the two programs are fit for purpose and they support the safety strategy. Organizations with good safety strategies readily can select the process with the best fit and avoid the less-than-effective safety programs.
Some or all of these four core components can and often do become a part of initial, basic safety efforts. If they already are in place, they should be used and not replaced. However, organizations with the most excellent safety performance tend to adopt all four of these and strive to make them work together with synergy and harmony. It is important not to wait until you have the perfect plan to get started. Excellence is a process that grows from sincere intent and effort and from having all the core components in place to enable success.
Safety Leadership: Making a Culture of Safety the Foundation
05.25 | EHS Today
Safety is a familiar concept to us all. We read safety reports before we buy a car, instruct our children to wear bicycle helmets and buckle our seat belts in the car. We are surrounded by safety labels on everything from plastic bags to hair dryers. But how often do we talk about safety in our workplace, where we spend onethird of our adult lives?
The answer to this question is not often enough. Data shows that each year an average of 3 million people in private industry face some kind of injury as a result of their jobs. In many industries, injury costs can exceed profit in a given year.
AT ITS CORE, WORKPLACE HEALTH AND SAFETY HAS FOUR ESSENTIAL PARTS:
1. Culture - the values, assumptions, norms and everyday behaviors of an organization’s people.
3. Risk Management - processes to better identify risk and to control exposures.
4. Governance - establishing controls by which an organization can validate and ensure compliance standards and policies.
To truly create lasting change, organizations must create an environment in which safety is more than just a box to be checked but is an attitude that makes up the very foundation of the company and is upheld by everyone from frontline workers to senior management.
COMMITTING TO A CULTURE OF SAFETY
A culture of safety can be defined as the collective values, beliefs, attitudes and norms that shape individual safetyrelated behaviors in an organization. Establishing this culture begins with an organization’s senior management. If senior management is committed to improving safety, fostering the success of a safety program and empowering everyone within the organization to be part of a solution, then a culture of safety can flourish. With a culture of safety, everyone looks out for one another and encourages injury self-reporting without judgment or consequence. It’s about improving the culture and system as a whole to find the causal factors that led to those injuries or mistakes.
ANALYZING SAFETY RISKS
Establishing a culture of safety and effective safety program requires an honest assessment of an organization’s risks. In order to appropriately assess risk, it is critical to form a health and safety team that directs all workplace health and safety initiatives. It also can be useful for companies to engage third-party workplace health and safety providers. Many assessment, evaluation and survey tools are available to ensure that decisiondriving safety information reaches senior management. While such tools can be quite valuable, they do not address the potential underlying issues that may exist within a company’s internal processes. A culture of safety is most impactful when it complements an already solid foundation of internal policies and procedures that can, in turn, uphold and reinforce the culture.
INVESTING IN A CULTURE OF SAFETY
There are several ways to invest in safety. Ensuring safe facilities is one key measure. Creating systems to track and prevent safety concerns is another. These systems can be technological, such as an incident management system. They also can be infrastructural, such as simple mechanisms for employees to voice safety concerns and suggestions. Regardless of what form they take, these systems must engage employees in the safety of their environments and offer them ways to proactively be a part of improving it.
MAKING TRAINING A PRIORITY
One of the most important ways to invest in employees is by offering thorough and ongoing training opportunities. A learning-centered approach transforms knowledge from training into action that drives bottom-line safety results, including risk reduction and injury/illness/loss prevention. From an employer’s perspective, training can be viewed as necessary, but costly. However, data shows that it is, indeed, better to be safe than sorry.
IMPLEMENTING A CULTURE OF SAFETY
Another critical step in implementing a culture of safety is developing, enforcing and committing to a robust workplace health and safety program. The success of a safety program correlates with the level of accountability that exists in an organization. Accountability requires clear communication and the capacity to monitor behaviors and measure results. Top technology solutions support accountability measures with automated scheduling and notifications, scorecards to track leading safety indicators and performance management metrics. But even the most advanced management and incident tracking systems are of little value if employees don’t understand their role in using these tools to help make the workplace safer.
MAINTAINING A CULTURE OF SAFETY
Once a culture of safety has been developed, organizations constantly must reinforce safety messages, stress the importance of it being a team effort and regularly evaluate progress to ensure the overall strength of the culture. Check in with employees and management to get their feedback and suggestions for what’s working, what’s not and how to improve. This team-centered approach once again will reinforce the idea that ‘‘we’re all in this together’’ and contribute to employee buy-in.
Establishing a culture of safety involves a fundamental shift in thinking and behavior and organization-wide commitment. It takes time to create and time to foster, but it is an investment well worth making because of the positive impact it can have on the health of any business and its workforce.
