Our safety programs, if they exist at all, tend to focus on participation and completion, rather than transformation. To be fair, the chief obstacle stems from a preponderance of wrong assumptions and dangerous misconceptions. Identifying some of these (see below) may help us as safety professionals become more effective in our mission.
Like the much-maligned participation trophies of youth sports, participation in safety classes and toolbox talks, without expectation and accountability for growth, constitutes a tragic waste of time at best, an ill-conceived con at worst. If we lead our workers to believe that sitting through an orientation class as they begin work for our company, or that attending a ten-minute morning toolbox talk satisfies all that is required of them regarding safety, we do more harm than good.