Articles Tagged with ''zero accidents''

Zero-injury safety targets are easy to communicate and seem to be everywhere, but such goals can be counterproductive to a company’s efforts if the context in which they are used does not go beyond slogans and good intentions, according to the lead article in the April issue of the American Society of Safety Engineers’ Professional Safety Journal.

In the past 25 years, I have watched the safety profession grow. I remember listening to leaders speak of achieving zero disabling injuries. It seemed as impossible to some people then as achieving zero recordable injuries seems to many people today.

What does it take for a computer to help us do our jobs better and enjoy our lives more? A simplified answer that doesn’t go into nano-detail is that a computer requires both hardware and software to be functional.

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:

Many private and public organizations publicize significant accomplishment of downstream safety measures, such as the reduction of injury rates. I am not fond of this recognition, but I do acknowledge that celebrating “an adequate number of injuries” seems to be a current weakness of our profession.

ISHN conducted an exclusive interview with Mike Williamsen, of Caterpillar Safety Services, who presented a talk at ASSE Safety 2014 on “Culture of Correct: Developing a Worldwide Safety System.”

ISHN conducted an exclusive interview with Bob Veazie, founder of People Powered Leadership, who presented a talk at ASSE Safety 2014 on “Commitment-Based Safety: the Only Way to Zero Injuries.”

The rap against setting a goal of zero injuries is that workers know it is an impossibility, and will tune out further safety messages. Three different safety experts at ASSE’s Safety 2013 gave us almost identical definitions: First, you start by asking employees, “Can you go a day without an injury?” Well, yeah, probably.” So the day does go by without an injury.” Next you ask:

Two sessions this week at ASSE’s Safety 2013 took up the subject of zero injury goals. The first was presented by Tom Krause Ph.D., the founder of BST who now works as an independent consultant in Ojai, CA after selling the company to Dekra of Germany. Tom posed the question: “Are We on the Path to Zero or Are We Kidding Ourselves?“

You may or may not be old enough to remember, but eight-track tapes were a technological wonder back in the ‘70s, and anyone who was cool had one.  At the time, it was hard to imagine this state-of-the-art audio technology could ever be replaced or improved upon. That was then, this is now.