Thought Leadership

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Safety professionals protect working class employees in countries all around the world.  In every situation, we touch the lives of people who labor daily for an hourly wage.  Industries, technologies and risks may change, but a common factor remains: men, women (and children) who work the front line, producing what the rest of the world purchases.

I like Subway and a few times a month I eat there. But there’s one location I no longer visit. Here’s why. There’s a young worker who is impolite, very impersonal, and at times, just downright mean and nasty.  She certainly takes the “customer” out of “customer service.” I stopped going there because it’s a negative experience and I have alternatives.

There is only one fundamental goal in vehicle control for driving excellence whether it is for performance and racing, fuel economy and reduced wear and tear or enhanced safety. That goal is: drive with smoothness and finesse.

I am sure many of you have watched portions of the various “reality” programs that are so pervasive these days. The scenes are very well staged with close up video that is oh so perfect.

It’s long been a beef with safety and health pros that senior leaders, with the rare exception, just don’t get safety. Business bosses don’t study it in business school, and since safety is a cost center and not a profit generator, leadership spends little time studying safety issues. Health issues, with their more delayed consequences and debatable connection to worker lifestyle issues (smoking, obesity, alcohol and drug abuse) are even further off the executive radar screen.

Occupational safety regulation needs to emerge from the 19th century concept that employers have to right to privately injure employees, and instead use the sunshine of modern public transparency to spotlight employer’s risk based safety performance.

The current administration looks to Saul Alinsky’s “Twelve Rules for Radicals” for their guidance. OSHA has now stepped in this direction and away from safety principles. Their first foray was the Shaming Press Releases.

Scott Geller professes to” prefer to be optimistic and humanistic, believing that the silent majority does care about the safety and health of others, and wants to do the right thing."

I prefer to be optimistic and humanistic, believing that the silent majority does care about the safety and health of others, and wants to do the right thing. Consider for example the large numbers of people reacting to tragedies from shootings in airports and educational settings to catastrophes from climate change.

This is the time of year when OSHA announces their top ten citations of the past fiscal year.  There are few changes in this top- ten list year after year.  Even though the list is of the complete standard’s name, it is usually only one or two sections of a standard that repeatedly makes this list.