Be careful, pay attention, watch what you’re doing, follow the rules... and you won’t get hurt!” Not exactly the most positive form of communication, is it?

“Today we’re going to talk about something bigger than PPE, policies and practices. Something we’ve never discussed before. Can’t really fit it into a toolbox. It’s called life.

We do what we do to obtain, avoid, or escape certain consequences. Consequences we work to obtain are termed "positive reinforcers." Consequences we attempt to avoid are "negative reinforcers."

It wasn’t until recently that we started understanding that people with different personalities tend to naturally pay more attention to safety attributes like work environment, people, equipment, processes, etc. based on their personality tendencies.

The use of prepaid reward cards to recognize employees is a growing trend. According to one study, 87 percent of U.S. firms that use non-cash rewards are now using gift cards, spending more than $24 billion annually on those cards.

Assessing personality types or styles goes back thousands of years. Rob Fisher, a human factors expert, says in ancient Asia, “fire,” “wind,” “water,” “earth” and other terms were used to capture the different personalities of different people.

During my college summer breaks, I worked at a few different high-risk construction sites. On one job, I had a boss who liked to holler and was not very well liked. He was known as Hog Jaws and I’ve mentioned him previously.  

Behavior is not right or wrong, good or bad. It just is. It is neutral. Approach behaviors with the dispassionate, objective view of a scientist. Not with emotions.