ISHN picked out these sound bites from keynoters, speakers and attendees at ASSE’s Safety 2014 national professional development conference and expo in Orlando this past June:

• “The oil and gas boom won’t last but it will go on for some time. There is too much money being invested in fracking to pull the plug on the boom now. I’m nearing the end of my career and I’ll ride this boom out.”

• “ASSE is now at 35,000 – 36,000 members with 20 percent growth in the youngest member cohort. The future for ASSE is optimistic, very, very bright.”

• “Habits comprise 40-45 percent of our daily behavior and decision-making comprises 55-60 percent of our daily actions.”

• “The brain powers down and turns off as habit strength grows.”

• “Some habits matter more than others. These are keystone habits. Exercise is a keystone habit. Eating is a keystone habit. These habits can change.”

• “Organizational habits can be dangerous.”

• “Paul O’Neill, ex-Alcoa CEO, said, ‘Culture is habit.’ He changed Alcoa’s administrative reporting habits regarding safety accidents. Success in safety changed Alcoa’s sense of what can be achieved.”

• “Our habits equal our values.”

• “Profit and loss pressure leads to short-term decisions, month-to-month thinking, which make safety value improvements difficult to pull off.”

• “Safety pros need to pay more attention to the ISO 3100 risk assessment standard.”

• “Personal health data will be collected using wearable sensors and smartphone apps.”

• “Mindfulness is being awake to risks and hazards, being fully focused, in a state of paying attention to the chaos going on around us. It can be achieved through mental practice, practice, practice.”

• “Obsession with zero injuries as a goal causes erosion of the safety culture.”

• “You can’t keep doing the same thing when you are close to zero injuries but still have serious injuries and fatalities (SIFs). SIFs are proving very hard to budge.”

• “Safety is still buying into hearts and minds stuff and blaming the worker. This goes all the way back to the early 1900s when it was believed bosses are smart and workers are dumb, and people are the enemy of safety.”