Safety kept secret

Lotsa guys think safety’s a matter of common sense. Yeah, that’s right, guys who work in a warehouse or DC know how to be safe around lift trucks and racks. Gimme a break.

If safety was that easy I wouldn’t be takin’ so many cartoon pratfalls. I got a lot to learn when it comes to safety. That’s why consultants make such big bucks. I’m tryin’ to read up on ways to be safer. I just saw an article by some guys from Proudfoot Consulting. That name alone’s pretty funny. But they’re legit—actually part of Management Consulting Group PLC., a big consulting firms out of Atlanta.

They say when they enter a warehouse lookin’ for trouble spots, they look at guys like me–equipment operators. They ask what safety, operational and attitudinal assessments have been performed.

Huh?

Never heard of such things. If they ever happened, it’s been years. Guess that’s pretty typical. My supervisor doesn’t know much about that stuff either. Once in a while he’ll give me a dirty look if I’m doin’ somethin’ stupid. That happens a lot. I don’t think I been much safer for him givin’ me the old skunkeye, though.

The guys who wrote this article say guys like my boss usually go through the motions, and don’t really measure stuff. Can’t manage what you don’t measure, right? So whatever it is my boss calls what he does to spread the safety gospel, it ain’t got no teeth—except the ones he flashes at me all the time.

These consultants also say  if there are what they call “incident descriptions,” lotsa companies don’t include stuff like when it happened, tools or equipment involved—so whatever info gets collected is lousy, and the chain of command don’t care anyway. They say at one project they were at, about half of the accidents involved neglect of “Personal Protection Equipment—what they call PPE. The  operations managerthere kept remindin’ operators to wear this stuff. They didn’t and nothin’ happened to ‘em for not doin’ it, so big deal. That was the general attitude at this place. 

There’s not much accountability for safety in many plants, stock rooms, or construction sites around the world, these guys say. That’s why there’s no shortage of dumb stuff goin on—like when I jammed my lift truck into a very narrow aisle. Who knew they made things called VNA trucks? My boss forgot to tell me.

Anyway, these guys had some pretty good pointers, and I’m gonna cut and paste ‘em here cause I ain’t no writer:

1. Establish operational discipline and compliance to a Safety Management Operating System, which provides the tools for objective measurement of safety KPIs at the point of execution.
2.Put the appropriate safety and execution organizational structure in place.
3.Engage supervisors and operators by using discovery learning maps and techniques at the point of execution

Ensure safety processes align with changing operational requirements.
 

“Combining the above elements will result in the emergence of an evolving safety culture and thus a downward trend in incidents and accidents throughout the operation.”

Sure, easy for them to say. 

Lemme’ know how you’re doin’ with this stuff.