More than 24 years ago when I began speaking to audiences about safety, this was the title of my presentation. I was reminded of it when I was being interviewed by Dave Johnson with ISHN www.ishn.com

One of the advantages of being a safety speaker is how much members of your audience share. After my presentations, many people share stories or safety techniques that have worked well for them. One of my audience members, Greg Sandoz, shared with me the slogan, “You See It, You Own It.” I shared with him I am a firm believer of that concept and I would write about it in one of my newsletters.

In one of my presentations, I share a story of when my son was in Cub Scouts. I had volunteered to do magic at one of his Pack meetings and he and I arrived at the school multipurpose room early to set up. I realized I had left one of my props in the car so I went to the door to head out to the car. I pushed on the door release, which was one of the old panic bar type that anywhere you hit it the door opened. Nothing happened. I pushed on it harder and still nothing happened. I moved to the other corner of the room and had the same problem.

You see it, you own it came into play. I was now aware of two fire exits to a public school multipurpose room. The next morning, I headed to the principal’s office to report my findings. I asked Ida, the principal, to accompany me to the multipurpose room. As I was demonstrating the problem, the custodian came in and shared he couldn’t even get one of the doors open. He also shared he had put in several work orders to get it fixed at the district office. Ida assured me she would make it happen.

Because I believe once you are aware of a hazard you can’t just hand it off to someone else, I told Ida I would also contact the district office to share the concern. Off I went driving across the mighty metropolis of Galt, California. I arrived at the superintendent's office into which he invited me. I shared the story with him and he said he would make sure it was taken care of right away.

The next day, I’m on an airplane and headed out of town for a couple of weeks. As a safety speaker, I share this story with my audiences and someone asks if they had fixed it yet. I answered I hadn’t heard yet but I planned on dropping by the multipurpose room upon my return.

I headed to the multipurpose room and all the doors worked perfectly. My ownership was complete. I must admit I was a little disappointed as I had a plan ready if nothing had been done yet. I had decided if the doors wouldn't open, I would have taken my power screwdriver and removed them and taken them either to my house or the district office.

Make sure your people know you want them to own something and see it through when it comes to safety.

The slogan Greg’s company embraced was one way of getting this message across.

Until next week,
I'll be, "Watching Out For Everyone's Safety™"
John