Safety Culture Article Topic

When your safety process goes stale

Assess program momentum, relevance & branding

November 29, 2018

In a recent safety excellence workshop, our firm facilitated a brainstorming exercise with a group of safety professionals interested in solving a particular problem they were experiencing in their safety journey. Their safety process was boring them to tears and they worried it would grow stale and become irrelevant with the workforce.

NASA to investigate SpaceX's, Boeing's workplace safety culture

November 28, 2018

A space-bound partnership with NASA is about to bring some extra scrutiny here on earth to SpaceX and Boeing Co. The space agency is describing the investigation it will conduct into the workplace safety culture at the two companies as “a cultural assessment study,” that will focus on workplace safety – as well as adherence to a drug-free environment.

Editor’s Letter

Who “actively cares” for Congolese miners?

Empathy only goes so far

Dave Johnson

November 21, 2018

Just by putting “Congo miners” in the title here will have most readers flipping to the next page. I learned this lesson years ago writing an article about workplace safety, or the lack thereof, in China. “Why did you write this article?” asked a reader. “I don’t read ISHN for articles about China.” Another reader opined: “Everybody knows nobody values life in a country like China.”

How a good workplace safety program got even better

November 20, 2018

A Pennsylvania metal parts manufacturer thought it already had an “exceptional” safety program when it reached out to a government program for assistance. Brockway-based Phoenix Sintered Metals, LLC, a family-owned manufacturer of sintered (compacted and formed without liquefaction) metal parts, is “committed to continuous improvement,” according to the company.

Human error & operational risk

Are you looking in the wrong place to manage non-compliant behaviors?

Peter Bridle

November 14, 2018

How confident are you that a costly, serious safety event isn’t just around the next corner? If your organization has ever been surprised or caught off-guard by a sudden deterioration in its safety performance, it may be that you’re simply not getting the whole picture when it comes to operational risk.

Employee safety discipline ain’t what it used to be

The focus is on “what failed?” not “who failed?”

Dave Johnson

November 12, 2018

A tricky thing, disciplining employees. Every safety pro has a story about discipline:“I had to terminate a woman in 1987 because her body odor was so repulsive, affecting other workers (and her boss… me),” says a pro who requested anonymity. “I remember progressive discipline... You bet I asked the HR manager for assistance.”

New fibers & yarns, advanced knitting patterns improve hand protection

A cut above

Anthony Di Giovanni

November 4, 2018

Not long ago gloves were considered just another uncomfortable piece of PPE that one was obliged to wear. Leather was the material of choice for premium protection, while less expensive fabric offered basic hand coverage.

Part 2 of 2

Process safety management - the business case

Evaluate three critical aspects of your operation

James B. Porter Jr. Deborah Grubbe

November 4, 2018

Simply stated, process safety is a management system implemented to prevent major incidents involving hazardous materials. It is necessary for managing complex process operations. An effective process safety management system focuses on three important aspects of your business:

How to produce and market a successful safety culture

Creating good vibrations

Chuck Pettinger

November 4, 2018

Impacting organizational culture is a long-term, never-ending endeavor. Many companies struggle with maintaining and sustaining cultural initiatives because their impact may not be felt for several years. Culture, as an organizational construct, is a subjective factor not directly measurable by any instrument, survey or metric. Yet, everyone is impacted by culture and can describe when it turns bad.

Don’t overlook storage, care & use of PAPR batteries

A matter of life-saving maintenance

Maureen Paraventi

November 4, 2018

Although it’s an intricate piece of equipment with a number of components — including a facepiece, a breathing tube and a blower that passes contaminated air through a HEPA filter — a powered air purifying respirator (PAPR) depends heavily on something fairly ordinary in order to function well: a battery.