Our new EE transition (work hardening) phase in seems to missed road bumps, but will know more by end of next week after Union comments are submitted. We all have the same goals and helping others to realize this same goal (to stop EE's from being hurt) it is one of the first steps in an environment where different people have different view points (and interests) and often these positions appear to be competing against one another.

Example New EE Transition layout (keep in mind the dis-incentives that may be in the present system, where Supervisors and Managers are incentived to help injuries occur - simply by the system that is in place):

There are two paths that we discussed (based upon population of employee's you are trying to transition into a job)

1st Path - Job by Job management, there are positives and negatives to this approach - one of each include: Positive - you design your transition into the workplace by specific job which gives you more bang for the buck (so to speak), however (Negative) can be extremely high in management time and oversight.

2nd Path - Group jobs by grade or pay range or by major departments, which allows for easier management of the New EE population (positive), however this method groups jobs that may or may not require an extended transition period (depending upon level could extend into several weeks of training/transition/work hardening).

Safety doesn't stop on the weekend, people continue to work. Helping team members think about safety as part of their normal work process can be a challenge. Some times this has to be forced even subtly or helping them make it their own ideas.

A challenge we all face is how to manage work orders and meld the corrective actions into prevention of these future unsafe acts (which generate the majority of work orders). Meeting this challenge must include involvement of employees in the corrective actions and helping to identify these "conditions" caused by unsafe acts, to help drive the culture into a preventative behavior instead of a reactive type behavior. If this balance cannot be achieved, then a list of facility safety work orders never ends, finding those sources of acts and helping those persons into the safety fold is the true challenge.

Luck is the result of hard work and perseverance.

We are working on implementing a Work Hardening program this week. Based on set schedules for new EEs (Phase I) for periods of time based upon hours to qualify for a job, should have a significant impact to RMD/CTD/MSDs. Very management intensive, we have a good team of trainers to manage the process.

Brave new world

Challenges of developing a Behaviorial Based Safety program at a pork processing facility with 2500 personnel and years of engrained culturial bias.

Proven to Make "It" Happen (continued)

4. Communicating incidents with all levels of the organization by;
a. Requiring a timely submission of incident summaries for near misses and recordables.
b. Requiring General Managers to share summaries with team leaders.
c. Requiring Team Leaders to share summaries in a team meeting with their respective associates within 7 days of receiving the summary.

5. Team Training
a. Team Leaders create, post, and use “Do’s and Don’ts” Cards in work areas (used in new associate training and pre-audit briefings).
b. Requiring auditors to receive work area hazard reviews provided by team leaders prior to the audit (earlier in the month).
c. Safety Audit and UnSafe Act training to all leadership, team leaders, and safety committee members.

6. Associate participation
a. Each associate participate in one internal Safety audit per year.
b. Each associate attend one Safety Committee meeting per year.

To be continued

Actions Items Proven to Make IT Happen:

The data supporting the actions (aka Key Components) was derived from over 5.1 billion man hours.


1. Internal self audits that;
a. Promote associate participation.
b. Promote supervisor and leadership participation.
c. Correct UnSafe Acts before they occur.
d. Instant preventative action.
e. Associate awareness.
f. Associate understanding of other operations within the facility.
g. Discover unidentified possible hazards.
h. Promote process improvements.

2. New associate training;
a. Task specific safety guidance “Do’s and Don’ts” Card and Signs.
b. General Safety Orientation Booklet
c. Team Leader Orientation Checklist
d. Review of the safety guidance after one month of employment.

3. Incident review and commitment of leadership:
a. Creation of a Zero Incident Policy is the first step.
b. Hold General Managers and Team Leaders accountable for incidents.
c. Communication incidents to all associates and leadership.
d. Ensure that corrective actions (CAs) are appropriate and preventative.Following through with accountability built into the system to ensure that the pre-existing culture is guided towards a Zero Tolerance for Unsafe Acts culture, whereby the population is interdependent upon each and self regulating.

To be continued....

What does IT mean?

This isn’t a discussion of semantics, such as what does "is" mean?

No… IT is basically the primary premises that we must agree to and drive our culture by to accomplish our goal of Zero Incidents.

The Principles of our Safety “Religion”

1. All incidents are preventable and Zero Injuries can be achieved and maintained!
2. There is no such thing as an “accident”.
3. Near misses are indicators of future injuries.
4. 99% of all injuries are caused by one or more UnSafe Acts (USAs).
5. Everyone is responsible for the safety of themselves and their co-workers.
6. Working Safely involves not only on the job safety but also off the job safety.
7. Supervisors and managers are accountable for UnSafe Acts of their team.
8. All associates must be trained to perform their duties safely.
9. All associates have a right and duty to prevent UnSafe Acts from becoming incidents, line stoppage authority.
10. Leadership must lead by example and ensure their decisions consider the safety of associates and customers.
11. Working Safely is a condition of employment.

Next Post: Actions Items Proven to Make IT Happen:

Do You Get It?:

Now that we have established a basic understanding of why we have a responsibility to build systems that can accomplish our Goal of Zero Incidents. We will discuss a belief system. With any established belief system there are tenants and laws governing its practice.

Ask yourself this question…. Which companies are the safest to work at? Right off the top of your head ……. (Jeopardy Music Playing)…

Excerpts from a Recent Article in Occupational Hazards Magazine, November, 27 2006

When it comes to safety, the 10 businesses selected to be Occupational Hazards' 2006 America's Safest Companies just plain "get it." … From their top executives all the way down to the factory floor, these companies get it. They get the importance of safety committees, training, job-hazard analyses, audits, stop-work authority and management visibility. They get the symbiotic relationship between safety and productivity, profits, morale and employee retention. As Koch-Glitsch President Bob DiFulgentiz puts it, the qualities that helped the company's Wichita, Kan., manufacturing facility become an OSHA VPP Star site are the same qualities needed "to deliver on time, have a high-quality product and have good productivity."
"Amazingly, when we focus on safety, all the other measurements improved," DiFulgentiz says. "It's just good for business." DiFulgentiz is just one of several company leaders in this year's class who want to have their fingers on the pulse of every injury, accident or near-miss. For example, EnPro Industries President and CEO Ernest Schaub requires all lost-time injuries to be reported to him - and other senior executives - within 24 hours. Schaub views this policy as common sense. Of course, accidents and injuries are rare at EnPro and the other America's Safest Companies. By just about every metric, these companies boast safety records that are in the upper echelon of their industries.

How do they do it? … we've found some common denominators. To name just a few:
_ Upper management commitment - At Noble Corp., executive management has spent more than $35 million over the past 10 years on EHS equipment, training and initiatives.
_ Comprehensive training - Rust Constructors requires its new hires to take part in a multi-stage training/orientation process that introduces and reinforces safety strategies.
_ Employee involvement - At OFG Jasper Cherry Street, employees lead and conduct the safety committee meetings.

The maxim "don't sweat the small stuff" isn't always applicable to safety. Wheatley, in fact, emphasizes to employees that the difference between a recordable incident and a first aid incident often is 1 millimeter. "If a small cut on your hand was just a millimeter deeper or longer, it wouldn't need just a Band-Aid. It would require stitches," Wheatley explains. "That's a recordable incident."… Such a philosophy is the basis of EnPro's emphasis on eliminating near-misses and first aid incidents – the leading indicators on the bottom of the "incident triangle," Wheatley notes. "For every 10,000 near-misses there are 1,000 first aids. For every 1,000 first aids there are 100 recordables, and for every 100 recordables there are 10 lost-times," Wheatley says. "We believe if we can reduce the number of near-misses we can reduce the potential for a first aid or a recordable." … Safety clearly is an issue that earns executives' full attention, and not just when there's a lost-time incident. When an EnPro site meets or exceeds the goals set in its safety plan for the year, Schaub and/or other senior executives travel to the site to present the President's Safety Award. During the awards banquet, the executives serve lunch or dinner to EnPro employees at the site.

Next Post: What does IT mean?

Are there really such a thing as "accidents"?

The common definition for “accidents” within Safety is: an unplanned event that resulted in injury or ill health of people, or damage to property, plant, materials, or the environment, or a loss of business opportunity. Therefore, from this definition we could say that yes, there are such things as “accidents”, yes Virginia there is a Santa Clause.

However, the term “accident” also leaves a connotation of no responsibility and no accountability. Leaving us in a quagmire in which our lives and business are not guided by common sense, responsibility for actions, and accountability, but more toward fate.

A better definition for “accidents” within Safety is: an unplanned and unpreventable incident caused by natural phenomenon that results in injury or ill health of people…
The short answer to the question is yes there are accidents, but those accidents do not happen often and are usually catastrophic and devastating i.e., tornados, floods, etc.

When we discuss accidents we must change our terminology and call them incidents, an incident has a cause and is not a “phenomenon” or caused by magic forces beyond our control. Words mean things and the words we use carry great power, with great power comes great responsibility (and more accountability). Yes that is corny but it is true in real life as it is in the movies.

Next post: Do you get it?

Are all Injuries Preventable?

Absolutely. Okay done. Next.....

Wait…. Not good enough, why say that every injury is preventable?

The National Safety Counsel (NSC) a nationally and world recognized Safety organization with chapters in every major city in the United States has conducted years of research concerning causalities of injuries in the workplace. The basic statistic tells us that 90% of every injury is caused by an UnSafe Act (USA).

Furthermore, DuPont Safety Systems (you might have heard of them, creators of the STOP Safety program) bring this down even further. There research drives that percentage up to 99%. Whereby, 99% of all “accidents” (we will come back that term in a moment) are caused by an action or inaction of a person.

Consider a fall from a ladder:

John (a maintenance associate working 2nd shift) has received work orders to change the ballasts in the light fixtures within the OAS department. He finds a ladder and carries the ladder from light fixture to light fixture disconnecting the chain supports and unplugging the units from the ceiling plug-ins to carry back to the shop. Nearing the end of his shift he climbs the ladder to reconnect the last light fixture, the ladder step bends causing him to fall backward striking his head on the concrete floor and knocking him unconscious. He is found by production associates a few minutes later disoriented and confused. The supervisor transports the individual to the hospital. He is diagnosed with a contusion, cranial fracture, and held overnight due to a possible concussion.

Upon investigation it is discovered that the ladder step broke causing the fall.

The real question is, was this an UnSafe Act (USA) or was it an UnSafe Condition (USC)?

Reconsider: Did John inspect the ladder before use, as he is suppose too. In doing so he would have observed the indentation in the step that was at fault. Sure the UnSafe Condition was the cause of the “accident” but an UnSafe Act caused the UnSafe Condition, by failing to inspect prior to use!

Who is really at fault then? John? Well yes and no… John is at fault for failing to inspect the equipment, but moving up the chain of command, his supervisor is at fault for failing to self audit documentation of the inspection, perhaps the EHS Coordinator is at fault for failing to inspect equipment on a routine basis. Ultimately it is a system failure. The system of checks and balances or responsibility and accountability failed, failed the associate and failed his co-workers.

Next Post: Are there really such a thing as "accidents"?

What are the Cost of Injuries?

What is the cost?

The cost of an injury must be broken down into two components:

Visible cost, these include;

• Medical Bills
• Worker’s Compensation Pay Out (disability, permanent, partial, etc)
• Reserves (money set aside to pay future medical bills)
• Invisible (Hidden) cost, these include;
• Overtime (cover for the associate)
• Loss of an experienced and trained employee (can be extremely valuable)
• Management resources
• Higher insurance premiums (long term cost – carried out for 3 years)
• Loss of confidence in the company (public, customers, and associates)
• Customer dissatisfaction (who wants to do business with a company with a bad reputation)
• Poor Quality (if associates are not following the safety rules then the odds are they aren’t following quality procedures either)
  

Of course with all of these individual issues we come to the greatest issue of all, a death. Having to attend the funeral of a fellow associate and attempt to comfort a grieving widow is one of the most difficult actions a leader may have to face in her/his career. But, this training is not designed to pull on heart strings; therefore we will only discuss this topic in the training when it relates to UnSafe Acts of associates.

The hidden costs associated with injuries have the greatest impact upon an organization, this is directly related to the fact that they are hidden and go unnoticed until their impact becomes unbearable.

Next Post: Are all Injuries Preventable?

Zero Injury Discussion

Truth or Fiction?

Injuries are a part of business – theory: This is what we are doing when we set goals to only injure 5 associates or set a goal of reducing injuries by 10% each year. We are accepting that 5 associates will be injured this year and 4½ associates next year. Basically we are creating a self-fulfilling “prophecy”.

Consider running our business following this theory?

Why does it appear easy for us to accept an injury to an employee, or to project those “losses” into the future?
Is it because we have an underlying belief that every injury cannot be prevented?
Or perhaps the cost of preventing every injury is too high?

Next post will discuss the cost of these losses.