On Tuesday morning, a motivational keynote will address “The Human Side of Injury Prevention.” Two powerful and dynamic speakers are teaming up to teach the interpersonal dimension of occupational safety. E. Scott Geller, PhD, Senior Partner, Safety Performance Solutions and an ISHN contributor, along with Charlie Morecraft, President & CEO, Phoenix Safety Management, will present from 8 a.m. to 10 a.m. Tuesday, Oct. 18.

In an article Dr. Geller wrote for ISHN, he said, “The psychology of injury prevention is more complex and less straightforward than statistical process control. Yet, I see vendor marketing and professional speeches at safety conferences grossly oversimplify the role of human behavior and dispositional states on workplace injuries.

“As a student, researcher, and teacher of psychological science for 50 years, I am disappointed and frustrated by such oversimplification. It actually makes a mockery of psychology; but more importantly, these marketing tactics are misleading and can result in more harm than good. For example, focusing on a limited number of person traits or states as the cause of an injury stifles the search and discovery of critical contributing factors.  This ‘pop psychology’ can also limit or bias the interpersonal conversations needed to identify the variety of system factors that influence the human factors. The human side of keeping people safe is not simple.”