Speaking of Safety
Simply put, a psychological safe workplace characterizes an environment where people feel secure safe to be themselves, to voice their ideas and concerns. It is a culture where they value feedback and are able to engage in constructive conflict. An employee who feels psychological safety feels heard and valued. They feel it is safe to disagree, to experiment and to take risks. Generally, they are not afraid to speak up.
Whether you are an expectant parent, parents of little ones or a new homebuyer, significant life changes can be exciting. During this time of joy and anticipation, it may be easy to overlook home hazards lurking throughout your home, though. Unfortunately, everyday items in houses may pose a potential danger to children, adults or even our pets. The good news is, with a bit of extra preparedness, you can keep potential danger away and maintain a safe haven for all household members and guests.
A safety communication program is the sum of all activities related to promoting and maintaining interest in workplace safety among all employees. There are many policies, processes, and programs that make up a company’s overall safety program. One vital program in any safety program is the safety communication program. This post dives into some things to consider before implementing such a program or even when trying to improve an existing one.
Safety habits can be either good or bad. You may have heard it said before about an individual, “They have poor safety habits,” or “They have good safety habits.” When supervisors, team leads, or co-workers don’t say something to someone who is performing an unsafe act, the action goes unchecked. The offender, either consciously or unconsciously, considers the action as acceptable behavior and will repeat and habitualize the action.
Management commitment and involvement strongly influence employee interest and culture in the safety process. Without strong evidence that managers value safety and health, you’ll have a hard time getting employees to be involved in the process.
Let’s look at three safety cultures: ZILCH, NO TOLERANCE and ZERO INJURY.
What do safety rules, work practices, and Pavlov’s dog have to do with you?
In the early 1900’s, Russian researcher Pavlov found that if you ring a bell then feed a dog, soon all you will have to do is ring the bell and the dog will start salivating. (Remember the movie Turner and Hooch?) Pavlov referred to this as a “conditioned response”.