Here at the 2013 NSC Congress & Expo, an Egyptian surgeon, Alaa Zidan, who now works as a health and safety consultant in Bahrain, gave a presentation, “Positive Safety Culture and Emotional Intelligence,” that was probably unlike any safety presentation most in the audience had ever heard.

Zidan’s Powerpoint presentation gave credence to the notion that safety is a philosophy, among many other things, and tends to attract a fair number of philosophical, reflective people.

Here is a sampling of Zidan’s: remarks:

“Safety needs emotional connections.”

“The heart does not rule the mind.”

“Our fight or flight emotions, dating back to primitive times when we faced numerous physical hazards, now largely confront non-physical threats, such as bullying, discrimination, fear of blowing the whistle, being ostracized from the group, etc.”

“The mind’s prefrontal cortex (PFC) is our executive office center. We need PFC to be passionate, reasonable, motivated and clear-headed.”

“Smile. Smile and you can disarm strangers, diffuse situations. Smiles are powerful.”

“We need to understand and control our own emotions and the emotions of others in order to communicate and build relationships.”

“Being positive in a negative situation is leadership.”

“There is good pressure, bad pressure, and no pressure. If there is no pressure, we are bored.”

“Love your job. If you don’t love your job, stop. Stop and move to a job you will love and find more rewarding.”

“The five components of emotional intelligence are: self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, relationship management, and sensitivity to cultural difference.”

Note: You can see how all five of these elements easily translate to safety awareness, safety self-managing, safety relations with teams and coworkers, and the importance of managing relationships to achieve safety success.

“To achieve a sense of peace, never judge, never compare.”

“When the pressure gets bad, take 60 seconds and remain silent.”

“Change your emotions to have more fun on the job and to be more professional as a leader.”

“We are all inter-connected. Remember that. We are all really one.”

“We are human beings having a spiritual experience. Or to put it another way, we are spiritual beings having a human experience.