WEEKLY EDITION AUGUST 28, 2019
Building a Culture of Safety Part II:
Co mm un i cat io n
By Karleen Kos, PSAI Executive Director
Putting it in practice. All that sounds great in theory – but how does it work in practice? Let's consider a
couple of different times when you could be talking about safety with your workers.
The morning huddle. In a 2017 webinar offered by ProCore, safety expert Carl Johansen talked about using
quality management concepts to build a safety culture. The idea is that continuous improvement goes hand in
hand with respect for people. So each morning, supervisors should do a "huddle" that lasts a short amount of
time but is highly focused on safety. Use the time to
• Evaluate whether – or to what extent – the common accident precursors are there. Check out the list in
last week's Association Insight story. It is available here. If there are too many precursors, take
preventative steps immediately rather than waiting for the accident to happen. This involves asking your
employees questions about the day ahead and how they will approach their work. Look for unusual
things (new customers/job sites, roads that are under construction that weren't yesterday, expected
weather conditions, time pressure) and talk about the team member's plan for staying safe in spite of
them.
• Engage your team in committing to safe
behavior. Don't ask yes-no questions.
(What employee in the world would
answer "no" to a question like,
"Everyone is going to work safe today,
right?") Instead, ask things like, "Okay,
we have a new job site today out on
highway 212. What needs to happen to
keep everyone safe when units are on
an active highway project?
The monthly safety meeting. There are many
ways to conduct a safety meeting, and some
better than others. Experts at Meeting
Tomorrow have several suggestions – which
we've modified slightly for the portable
sanitation industry - how to structure and conduct a safety meeting:
• The main objective of a safety meeting is either to remind employees of safe practices they have
already learned, or to introduce and build awareness of new techniques, new equipment, or ne
w
regulations that must be observed.
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