With organizations reducing the size of their workforce and the continual march of Baby Boomers into retirement, those remaining are finding they are not only doing their job, but also tasks of their departed co-worker’s job.
I quite often hear the lament from the safety fraternity that "my manager doesn't understand me ...".To this I reply - when one understands the myriad of demands placed upon C-level personnel, why should it be incumbent upon them to "learn the language of safety (environment, labour laws, accounting, IP, IT, etc). Rather, if safety pro's are so keen to have their voices heard, the responsibility should be on them to learn the language of management, and place their commentary in the management context.
If, after reading this, you have identified that you may have some features of a broken Safety Culture, or you just want to enhance your existing efforts, you may want to consider the following:
A Michigan State University researcher has quantified something rarely measured in studies about productivity in the construction industry: the cost of arguments.
On Wednesday morning at ASSE’s Safety 2013 in Las Vegas a vexing, long-standing irritant to safety professionals is addressed by Canadian consultant Corrie Pitzer -- why safe organizations fail. Pitzer calls it “drifting into disaster.”
Consultants Tom Rancour and Bradford Russell offered these takeaways in a session at the AIHce: Some companies implement and dedicate time to management systems, but the guiding principle, the safety and health policy, is buried in some labor manual. Without a “map,” management systems develop “escapes” or leaks in risk management compliance because the vision and the followup protocols are buried.
“Safety officer stopped a job after observing unsafe condition, but line supervisor ordered the job to continue citing high priority, and the project manager agreed with line supervisor's decision. There was one lost-time injury during the job. The management already formed its opinion about the safety officer because the job belongs to one of their favorite customers, but later called for full investigation. Whose job should be saved?
Health care costs increase at lowest rate in 15 years
April 3, 2013
Employers remain committed to providing active employee health care benefits in the near future, according to findings from the annual Towers Watson/National Business Group on Health (NBGH) Employer Survey on Purchasing Value in Health Care, but are responding to changes influenced in part by health care reform with more aggressive actions to improve health care delivery and manage rising costs of care.
Although Safety 2013 is officially scheduled to begin on June 24th, a variety of pre-conference seminars provide some compelling reasons for arriving in Las Vegas a few days early. Early birds will not only have an opportunity to enhance their knowledge; they'll also be able to earn Continuing Education Credits (CEUs).
Expectations raised for employees to “own” their wellness
March 13, 2013
Employers remain committed to providing active employee health care benefits in the near future, according to findings from the annual Towers Watson/National Business Group on Health (NBGH) Employer Survey on Purchasing Value in Health Care, but are responding to changes influenced in part by health care reform with more aggressive actions to improve health care delivery and manage rising costs of care.