*
I always have a chuckle when safety people try to make out they are so clever and above everyone else by putting all these stupid letters after their names. Blokes on site have a great time making up derogatory interpretations of those acronyms – particularly juicy letters like F, W, C, S & P (did you know that?). Phil LaDuke (that’s him in the photo without make-up) puts it all in perspective. We publish his other provocative articles HERE and I highly recommend his blog: http://philladuke.wordpress.com/. Please read the whole article before you blow up about what I just said. If you can’t, then the last line is the most poignant:
“reminding me not to die isn’t the same as saving my life”
PS: Thanks Phil I always thought my iphone self portraits looked like Shrek, I’m OK with that now!
Enjoy:
SAFETY AIN’T PRETTY
I worked for a while as a security guard at a nuclear facility. We were expected to work safe. Let me be clear on this, we weren’t threatened with discipline if we didn’t work safe, nor were we given a pizza party at the end of the month if we didn’t kill anyone. We were expected to work safe because just getting the job required the completion of rigorous screening, background checks, and excruciating testing. Sure we faced disciplinary consequences for not following the safety protocols, but the people conducting my safety training tended to focus on the consequences for following the safety protocols: I wouldn’t get hurt or suffer a horrific death from becoming irradiated.
Now, if you don’t get hurt you get to play safety BINGO, and if you don’t kill someone you get to have a pizza party, or a Target gift card, or even a bonus. And for those of us who might forget to work safe we have posters made by our cherubic little love ones reminding us not to die at work.
Safety professionals don’t give people much credit. Unlike the professionals responsible for my safety training at the nuclear plant (interestingly enough they were security officers, managers, and first responders NOT safety professionals) who respected me enough to believe that I would do all in my power to ensure my safety and the safety of others simply out of my sense of integrity, not because I was looking for some trinket or game piece. These wonderful managers and supervisors assumed I would do what was right, but provided the training, because as they put it, “we can’t think of everything and neither can you, so we are going to teach you some things that can help you better protect yourself. There were no scare tactics, no you better not let me catch you without your PPE; just a frank conversation and an admission that sometimes the system might break down and they were looking for us to help identify ways in which they could help us to be safe.
Frankly this cutesy crap is insulting to the hard working and responsible workers who log millions of hours doing their best to achieve safety perfection in an imperfect world. Expectations can be powerful and they are difficult to fake, You can tell me what a professional I am all you want, but if you patronize me with your ham-fisted attempts to manipulate me into working safety with a bunch of trinkets and crap that I probably will throw away before I get to my car I will know where you really stand.
Expectations can work against you too. When you implement a condescending Behavior Based Safety system you are telling me that you believe that left to my own designs you expect that I will act like a drug crazed baboon recklessly endangering myself and others. You tell me, through these programs, that you believe that I am all id, and that I am naturally inclined to disregard regulations, work unsafely, and generally act like a spoiled, willful child.
And when exactly did the safety professional get so superior to the rest of operations? I’ve heard safety professionals call injured workers “wimps” “cry babies” and “frequent fliers”. I’ve heard safety professionals deride “a good portion” of injured workers as milking fraudulent claims. Safety professionals openly criticize managers and lazy do nothings and border-line criminals. Of course leadership are unenlightened dolts and Neanderthals who can’t be expected to care about safety.
Safety professionals have set themselves apart from too long and the day is coming where the rest of the workforce will ask safety professionals are you with it or against it? So here is what needs to happen. Safety professionals grow up; the things you think are cute, fun, and innovative are viewed by the workers as condescending, simple-minded, unprofessional, and insulting. Stop embarrassing yourself (and those of us in the safety professional who do expect professionalism and integrity from the workers) and stop insulting people. Your job isn’t to protect the workers, your job is to help the workers to protect themselves. And reminding me not to die isn’t the same as saving my life.
{ 32 comments… read them below or add one }
Kook:
I’m very reasonable, but it depends on a couple of variables (timing, location, etc.) if you email your specifics I can get back to you with a price. I am at Pladuke@rockfordgreene.com
Hey Phil, what’s your rate for a 2-hour monologue on a safety topic of choice?
We will simply have to agree to disagree. I don’t respond to ultimatums and I don’t prove my metal from behind a keyboard (unlike you); I do it where it counts…in the field. Its apparent you only respond well to those who agree with everything you say while voices of dissent are met with sophomoric accusations of being “Soft”, or “Overly Sensitive”…..BUT, at least you did recognize the fact that I am in fact superior to you in every way possible.
No Chad we are not getting anywhere. It’s the same card trick over and over. I look forward to your article, and will not be responding to any more of your comments until you can grow a pair and submit YOUR work for the world to critique. Read something you didn’t like, launched some personal attacks, and frankly you seem to be one of those unhappy people who looks to take offense at everything anyone says. You’ve grown more than a little tiresome. Let’s see what YOU can produce. I’ll reserve my comments for that piece.
Phil
http://www.philladuke.wordpress.com
http://www.rockfordgreeneinternational.wordpress.com
http://www.rockfordgreeneinternational.
One additional thought. While I wholeheartedly agree with your take on incentive programs. I do feel as though some form of recognition should be given in certain situations. Let’s face it, whether we want to admit it or not, safety can sometimes be a pain in the ass. How many times do we neglect safety when working at home on the weekends? While I can’t speak for everyone, but I know I neglect safety measures at home on a regular basis. Why? Because it’s more convenient. Drive by my house in the summer & you’ll likely see me weedeating without safety glasses. Or drive by in December & chances are you’ll catch me dangling near the edge of my roof hanging Christmas lights with no fall protection. Very seldom do I use ladders properly etc…And nevermind the fact that I also race motocross (not the safest hobby in the world). This may seem a bit contradictory considering that I’m in a safety professional. Employees that go above and beyond the minimum requirements to ensure their safety and/or the safety of others should be recognized in some manner. If nothing more than a pat on the back. Such recognition should only be given on a case by case basis. Just sayin’….
Phil,
Now we’re getting somewhere. I’ve no issue with anyone working for a living. Nor do I consider myself above or below anyone. But (like you) I can depict stereotypes all day long. And I don’t consider myself, or my profession, to be unsung heroes of this or any generation. Furthermore, you seem to think you’re the only one of us who’s ever had to work for a living. Have I ever been in security? No! I grew up a farmers kid, graduated high school, went to college to play baseball. Didn’t maintain my GPA and had to transfer to a smaller school where I got my degree in occupational safety & health. Afterwards, I spent the first six years of my adult life as a professional firefighter, which is what allowed me to roll over into safety.
I don’t expect any form of gratitude. However, a little objectivity would be nice if you’re going to attack an entire profession. Now I know you said you intentionally left out your little weasel words like, “Some”, and/or “A number of” etc…but if you’re only depicting a certain percentage of safety professionals then say so. Or don’t. I really don’t care either way. You’ve criticized arrogance while displaying more of it from anyone I’ve come across in a long time. If I were to write a blog….It would be about (Some) hypocritical safety professionals.
Touche! Phil
Hiyia,
Brilliant article !! If only some of my fellow practitioners could read this ! Here in the UK there is a big split between the safety people who get thier hands dirty and those who pursue ‘professional’ and ‘Chartered’ status by doing qualification after qualification – the regurgitating it verbatim.
I’ve been told by site managers “I like you, you tell me what’s wrong, why it’s wrong and most importantly what I can do to get it set right, I kow if I have a problem I can call you and you’ll help give me a practical solution without burying me in legislation.” To me that indicates I’m going in the right direction.
Sure there are plenty of numpties out there, but if you treat intelligent people like numpties, they’ll act like numpties or get seriously pissed of with you.
Chad:
So basically your argument is that I don’t know what I’m talking about because, unlike (presumably) you, I once worked as a security guard. I did so 30 years ago to earn money for little luxuries like living. Unlike some, I wasn’t born with a silver spoon in my mouth and have worked most of my life, not for the love of the labour but because I need to eat. I freely acknowledge that you are infinitely wiser, taller, stronger, better read, urbane, and whatever you want to tell yourself. Hell, your probably better looking.
Honestly what do you want to hear? That safety is doing a great job and you and every other single safety personal is a wrongly persecuted? That they are the unsung heroes of our generation? If you want to hear what a good boy you are talk to you mother.
I began working at 13, and I was about 20 when I was, as you put it a glorified Mall cop. For the record, I wasn’t even that, I wasn’t entrusted with a heavy flashlight to fend off attackers. But I learned at a young age to respect safety and recognize both a culture that valued it, and competent safety professionals when I saw them.
Then I worked for a large automotive company working the assembly line. There I learned how destructive lazy, incompetent, and disaffected safety professionals could be. For the last 20 years I have worked in safety, mostly fixing broken safety systems (for the record it’s most often the SYSTEM that causes safety people to check out and start to see leadership as only caring about production and workers as being too stupid to follow the rules designed to save their lives). In the course of that career I have run across a lot of ineffectual safety professionals that I was able to help. Those that were frustrated because leadership was on their ass to produce, and the rank and file saw them as unduly mothering them. Those professions went on to be some of the greatest professionals working in safety today (and before any of you mouth breathers start saying that I am claiming credit for their success I’m not, they had the right stuff, but the system would not let them use it.)
In some cases, I am paid to come in and run the safety department, I build the system and then hire someone to work in it. So before you run your mouth about no field experience, yes I have been there. Yes, I have walked the floor day-in and day-out. I’ve worked throughout the U.S., Canada, Mexico, Germany, and Hungary and I have fixed broken systems in manufacturing, automotive, parts depots, parts manufacturing, hospitals, warehouses, office environments, aerospace, and others. I’ve talked about all the good, hard working safety professionals, but that isn’t all I’ve met. I’ve met people who flat out didn’t to their jobs, they came in at ten, took a long lunch, and went home early every day and while at work did nothing but surf the web (in one case I was told not to train him because they would be firing him. I saved his job and taught him HOW to be an effective safety professional and he is still working today and leadership loves him.) I’ve met safety professionals whose sole qualifications were that one day the boss told them, “your the safety guy”, I’ve met some who were so wrapped up in incentives and cutsie BBS that they couldn’t contain or correct the most basic hazards, I’ve met safety professionals who describe the workers as “yard monkeys”, “the great unwashed”, “frequent fliers”, and of course “field hands”. Their palpable condescension and contempt for the workers is what helped shape my work. But mostly I met a lot of safety professional who whined that their ineffectiveness was always someone else’s fault. Some were absolutely right, they were put in untenable situations in environments where they were neither valued or respected, but then again, they chose to stay and whine instead of even looking for another job. The others were dead wrong, people didn’t respect them because they were arrogant jerks who said and did stupid things and treated the workers like they were something they scraped of their shoes.
As for “It’s laziness covered in chicken shit and it brings absolutely nothing other than sarcasm & stupidity to the table” your original posts made some great points. Ones that I wholeheartedly support. So when can we expect your article? I look forward to seeing your work in print and see how the world reacts to it. Of course you will have to use your whole name and provide personal details that will identify not only who you are but who your employer is as well; otherwise it is not only chicken shit, but it is the altar at which all other chicken shit goes to pray. But I’m sure a man of your wit, wisdom, courage, and fortitude drawing on his years and years of experience can do a far better job. Please Chad, don’t succumb to the temptation to turn craven. It takes me about 90 minutes to write an article, can we expect yours later today?
Phil La Duke
Rockford Greene International
http://www.philladuke.wordpress.com
http://www.rockfordgreeneinternational.wordpress.com
Phil,
May I ask what your current profession is? From what I’ve read here you’ve worked in security at a nuclear plant. Now you can dress it up all you want by describing how daunting a task it was, and how you had to endure extensive background checks blah blah blah. Ultimately what it boils down to is that you were nothing more than a glorified mall cop. WOW!!! Aside from that, you sound just like one of thousands of hourly field hands I’ve come across in my day. Guys who constantly piss & moan about putting up with all this safety crap. You’re bitching about a profession that you have no experience with. But Heres a news flash for you. EVERY profession has some percentage of poor representation.
Your entire article is one giant straw-man. Every time someone comments about your broad generalizations of the safety profession, you respond to them by basically accusing them of fitting into the stereotypes you describe. i.e… .”You must be one of them”. Or “If I offended you then maybe you should take a close look at yourself”. That isn’t keen, witty, original, or intelligent. It’s laziness covered in chicken shit and it brings absolutely nothing other than sarcasm & stupidity to the table. None the less…thanks for reminding us that as long as there are people like you, the safety profession will always be in demand.
John:
what can I say? I don’t impress you? Gee and I had so hoped to. It is yet another professional regret that will haunt me. My sardonic and pessimist tone is not your cup of tea. Try this link instead http://www.funnykittensite.com/ it’s about kittens. Cute, funny kittens.
As for my calling all (or most) safety professionals out, I deliberately didn’t pansy up my post by using weasel words like, “some”, “many”, “a number of” etc. That may seem cutting, but I wanted the reader to consider whether or not it applied to them and not the bloke next to him. In many cases, my readership is bright enough to know the difference, but in others it’s like showing a card trick to a dog; it doesn’t matter how slowly and carefully you do it they just don’t get it.
I find your contention that “50% (possibly far less) fit into the category you describe” laughable. On what basis? did you conduct a study? publish a journal article? did you know that 84% of all statistics are made up to ingratiate the source to strangers on the internet. I don’t know WHAT the percentage is, but I know better than to post crap just to sooth the injured egos of strangers.
I’d like you to ask yourself (and you other dullards who are furrowing your brows and preparing to hammer out a thick-witted response) why does this upset you so? Is it because I have wronged strangers, or does it hurt because it hits close to home?
And AGAIN I didn’t mention the letters on the name, but I’m glad what Dave said upset you. You seem like a guy who looks for things to offend you.
Excellent post, as someone once said, ‘Common Sense Ain’t So Common’ hence here we are… look at it this way, without those idiots out there we wouldn’t have a job…..
So I’ll leave with my cynically and realistic quote of the centuries…
John Wayne…
Life is tough but its tougher when your stupid
Cheers
Doc
I can see the issue from both sides. Before I had any meaningful qualifications it irritated me hearing people start sentences with “when I was in university…..”. I also thought that BSc stood for B**l s**t counts!
Now 30 years later I remember back to those days and keep quiet about my qualifications when talking with most people.
However, when with an auditor I can go full hog and tell them all about my qualifications and my 36 years in industry, and that is where my competence shows.
It is horses for courses.
I do put my qualifications on my business card. I would not give out my card to those who would be irritated by it and generally it is external people that I get my card.
The only time I have used my qualifications in work is when a fire team member asked me how I was competent to train them in confined spaces. Once I had shown him he was happy. He was also surprised that I was so highly qualfied!
But other people I have met do count up the number of letters to prove how compent they are……. hmm
I’m not incredibly impressed by the sardonic and pessimistic tone in this “article.” While making excellent points against incentive programs and behavioral based approaches, you also grossly generalize “safety professionals” as if all were the same. A few examples:
“And when exactly did the safety professional get so superior to the rest of operations?”
“…you are telling me that you believe that left to my own designs you expect that I will act like a drug crazed baboon recklessly endangering myself and others…”
“Safety professionals don’t give people much credit.”
“Safety professionals have set themselves apart from too long…”
In reality, I would say less than 50% (possibly far less) fit into the category you describe. The rest are dedicated, intelligent individuals trying to make a difference. It seems to me in writing this piece you’ve displayed the very arrogance you’re arguing against.
As for the issue of credentials, I don’t see how putting a professional designation or achievement (or as you so intelligently put it, “all these stupid letters”) after your name on a business card is a cause for uproar. You write, “I find it interesting how many people are up in arms about this issue,” but it appears to me that you’re making this a much bigger issue than it actually is. I don’t list my credentials in my signature or on my business card, but I also don’t think those who do are trying “to make out they are so clever and above everyone else.” That’s a very petty and caustic opinion.
In summary, try to make your point without all the cantankerous rhetoric. Though you have a few solid points, here, they’re diluted in an ugly, poorly-articulated rant about mostly trifles. You might take a bit of your own advice and “grow up” a little, yourself.
Phil,
You didn’t offend me a bit. But there are a number of factors that play a roll in how safety professionals perform. Like you, I very much agree that there are a LOT of useless mouth breathers out there who are hired for no other reason than to meet contract requirements. There are also a lot of well intending and knowledgable safety professionals out there. Many of these individuals know the OSHA standards front to back. What they lack is the ability to obtain buy in from those on site. As a result they resort to bribery… “I can’t get you to understand this so I’ll shower you with gifts if you work safe, or if you don’t exceed the stated goals every month”. In my experience I’ve found that the more you involve, AND empower your employees where safety is concerned, the better the outcome. In my opinion, the workers are one of the best sources for intelligent input; yet this input is all too often overlooked. We should always look to them for assistance instead of undermining their intelligence by attempting to bribe them.
Another battle we face is the serious failure on the part of OSHA. As long as the consequence (cost) of non compliance is significantly less than the cost of doing the right thing then it will always be an up hill battle; At least where first time offenses are concerned. Bare in mind, I’m referring to consequences from OSHA. Civil litigation is a whole different animal.
Riskex: a worthy blog. It caught me unexpectedly, but I do get it, and agree. It seems to me that the, so called, safety professionals that you refer to are caught up in the business motivational tricks of the business side. Agreeably, those of us who are professionals, such as myself as a previous airline and corporate pilot, should have the professionalism to self police. Having led the safety effort in operations in both of the mentioned sides of my career, I must admit, we do have ‘professionals’ that get caught up in letting their egos reign havoc over their judgement. There is the threat of over confidence in our level of safety. Your assessment of dealing with it is right on – prizes are a stupid motivator. Even awards for continuous operations without an incident are destructive; they motivate us to want to uphold our flawless performance. That can lead to not communicating incidents, and that leads to ignorance of the hazards and risks in our job.
But what if the warning changes things such that the changes they make actually precipitate the death?
Now I’m confused.
Thats a pretty scary ability to have – how do people normally respond to that news?
However, telling someone how they are going to die gives them the oportunity to make the change that allows them to save their own life!
Chad:
You make excellent points. Often less than enlightened businesses implement stupid rules in the name of safety, compliance, or to protect themselves (usually in vain) from lawsuits. But a safety professional in this situation can do one of two things, accept the situation or work to change it. If he or she accepts the situation then I humbly submit that he/she must then also accept my criticism. Check out my blogs http://www.philladuke.wordpress.com and http://www.rockfordgreeneinternational.wordpress.com both of them have dozens of posts that address and support your points.
As for painting with too wide brush, I find it makes my point better to say “safety professionals” rather than to castrate the point by modifying it with words like “a number of,” or “many” I think in this piece doing so would have been cowardly. For the record I didn’t modify it by adding words like “most” or “all”, I like to give the reader a bit of credit. I expect that they can infer that I am not talking about every mammal tasked with making things safer. But if they can’t read between those lines I say let them take offense.
There is a lot of whining and blaming and helpless moans about how the safety industry is a thankless job. Well show me a thankless job and I will show you someone tasked with doing it that isn’t particularly deserving of gratitude. The time has come for the safety profession to pull itself up by its own bootstraps and get to work. Nobody likes a crybaby.
Are there good safety people out there? Hell yeah! In fact, most of the safety professionals I’ve met are good, hardworking, people with sense. They don’t need articles like this to wake there asses up. But I’ve also met a whole bunch of simple-minded mouth-breathers who haven’t got the sense God gave geese. And they DO need a wake up call.
So if I offended you or others, I say so be it. You can’t make an omelet without breaking some eggs. But if I have offended you, you had perhaps take a hard look at what hit so close to home. Change is coming to this profession and you are either going to be an agent of the change or its victim.
Phil
First off…I agree with you that things such as “Safety Incentive Programs” are, at best a cheap for
of bribery, and insulting at worst. Ultimately it boils down to lazy safety management. This also includes things like “Zero Tolerance” policies. It takes away the ability to use personal discretion and common sense when it comes to how we address safety deficiencies in the work place. Having said that….
You’ve used a VERY wide brush to paint an extremely broad and generalized picture of safety professionals as a whole. Contrary to what many think, we all arent that simple and unimaginative. Furthermore, many times safety professionals are required to implement programs that they themselves don’t personally agree with. Many times a shoddy employer will require implementation of such programs in an attempt to cover their perverbial backsides in the event of a serious accident or fatality.
I had a construction client once who had a “Zero Tolerance Policy” that focused heavily on fall protection. This same client also required workers to be tied off at four feet. This, to me, was beyond asinine and ended up creating a counterproductive work site. It also made it easy for them to hire inexperienced safety coordinators (their title), who were nothing more than professional badge snatchers (ie get caught not tied off at 4′ and your bade was yanked and you were immediately removed from the project). To me, this particular site seemed to have more of a zero tolerance for common sense and personal discretion. My overall point is this….stupid rules and incentive programs are often times the fault of the employer and not so much the safety professional required to implement them.
As an accident investigator, the more I investigate the more I realise that we are taking away from the crewes the ability to think for themselves. We provide them with so much protection including procedures, training and PPE that the one protection that they must keep is their common sense and ability to think.
I have seen many crew members who have become so relaxed with all that we provide, that they at times tend to loose focus on what they are trying to achieve.
We must allow them to think for themselves and make commonsense risk assessments. Some safety professionals seem to focus on taking control of the crews and removing ther right to think for themselves.
Rember, accidents are just that. No one gets up of a morning to deliberately go and endanger themselves or other persons. We all want to go home at the end of the day.
Dave:
No apology necessary. I think your provocative lead in is both appropriate and relevant. I think ALL professionals should recognize that putting such credentials on one’s card sends a message. Unfortunately, the intended message of either a) I am proud of my professional accomplishments or b) this is what qualifies me to provide you with the associated services can easily be misinterpreted as a) I am smug, and condescending b) I am better than you, or c) I am so insecure about my abilities that I am going to slap my credentials on everything associated with me.
Personally, I think it’s all about the person not the practice. But the people who squawk the loudest tend to be the most guilty.
Sorry Phil, the letters thing was my fault
Dave Collins SNFI
Oh, and for the record…I never even mentioned letters after one’s name (never mind criticizing them) in my original piece. But if your intent is to perpetuate the Us versus Them, Safety versus Operations rift, congratulations, as the storm of excrement clearly illustrates there is a lot emotion over those little letters
Phil La Duke
SOB, EIEIO, RSVP,
http://www.rockfordgreeneinternational.wordpress.com
Doug:
I did not mistake Back to Work coordinators with safety professionals. Many of those quotes came from the safety committee I visited while touring a major international glass manufacturer who had invested heavily in BBS. I had been asked by the corporate office to assess safety since the plant claimed to have made over 5000 behavioral observations but had significantly more injuries than the national average. If you haven’t ever met a safety professional who has talked like this you need to get out more.
To all who proudly display your credentials, God bless you, it is, as I have said, your right. But understand that for as many people impressed by it (the act of putting it on your business card, on-line profile, etc.) there are five who are put off their suppers by it, four who think you are a puffed up anus, and fifteen who don’t know what the letters mean. I find it interesting how many people are up in arms about this issue (both, as Dr. Suesse would say, the star-bellied sneeches and those without stars upon thairs). Me thinks the ladies do protest too much.
I’ve developed curricula for these accreditations; trust me when I tell you that having them does not guarantee a person is much better than a similarly experienced but non-credentialed counterpart. Similarly, years of experience doing subpar, shoddy work does not guarantee that a person is qualified to work in Safety.
It’s a fine line we walk, and I remain suspicious of people trumpeting their credentials on their business cards. You got certified, we get it. Lighten up, what you know is not nearly as important as what you can do, which in turn is less valuable as what you can demonstrate repeatedly.
Couple of interesting responses from Doug Wakefield on linkedin forum: http://www.linkedin.com/groupItem?view=&gid=2788008&type=member&item=96228340&commentID=70061826&report.success=8ULbKyXO6NDvmoK7o030UNOYGZKrvdhBhypZ_w8EpQrrQI-BBjkmxwkEOwBjLE28YyDIxcyEO7_TA_giuRN#commentID_70061826
Now, I am certainly one of those who adds my post-nominals to quickly provide some third-party accreditation to a potential Client.
The use of non-accredited personnel may be acceptable in some operations, but since I am also an electrician I know it can be disastrous to use a non-accredited electrician, and ditto re other trades such as plumbing and boiler making, etc.
Also, in the article, I had a double-take re the writer’s statement:
QUOTEI’ve heard safety professionals call injured workers “wimps” “cry babies” and “frequent fliers”. I’ve heard safety professionals deride “a good portion” of injured workers as milking fraudulent claims. Safety professionals openly criticize managers and lazy do nothings and border-line criminals. Of course leadership are unenlightened dolts and Neanderthals who can’t be expected to care about safety.UNQUOTE
I think the writer might be getting some of his so-called ‘safety professionals’ mixed-up with ‘return to work coordinators’ who can sometimes present themselves in a similar manner to insurance brokers who introduce themselves as ‘risk managers’! At 65 years old, I have not met a person I consider a ‘safety professional’ who uses that language…
Anyway, in the vein of what this stream seems to evoke, may I shoot myself in the foot, and suggest you visit: http://www.safetyphoto.co.uk/subsite2/jokes_1.htm and have a laugh! Breathe safely – breathe easy! Doug
I always considered myself fortunate to have had a very fractured upbringing from living in a tent for six months in the early fifties in Jervis Bay whle my Dad looked for work, to having a step-father who – were he to have had the chance to an education – would have been a professor-extraordinaire – but was instead cast as an impoverished fisherman/bushman who could (and we did sometimes!) live off the land with only the accoutrements of aboriginal inhabitants… I say this, because I do know the ‘blokes with the tats and the mullets’ who carry great intellect and wisdom… BUT I also know there are similarly fashioned blokes who can be as arrogant in their ways as any of the so-called safety professionals you and the writer of the initial article mention. As other correspondents have pointed-out, there is no barrier in who is stupid and who is not, and to put it in perspective, the 19th c mines of Europe had a general saying “you are only as safe as the stupidest man in the mine” – and that could be the mine owner – his Cuban cigar ablaze as he enters a methane-rich atmosphere… the lagger insulating hot pipes with asbestos and allowing fellow workers to wander through a corona of asbestos dust… maybe even Doug Wakefield, safety pro extraordinaire (my only failing is not being modest!), who is taking flu tablets that week and fails to adhere to the warnings: ‘may cause drowsiness; do not operate heavy machiery; do not drive a motor vehicle (and do not take if pregnant… well, at least I cleared THAT one…)’
Your writer friend has interesting points to make, and they deserve consideration. However, I somehow think he is of a similar mould to my dad and step-dad with good native cunning, and has risen through the ranks, but mistakenly assigns his own skills to others in similar workplaces. (The Gods know: I DO that too, from time-to-time – after all, am I not also defending ‘safety professionals’ based often on my own limited experience that – so fortunately – has only brought me in contact with damnedly GOOD ones?)
I cannot help but feel those folk who genuinely attempt life-long learning – and, more importantly, the APPLICATION of that life-long learning – are the ones from any stratum of society who will not only see the negatives and the positives in the various workplace systems, but use humanitarian respectful behaviours to work change. Safe workplaces do not just happen, SOMEONE works to make things that way… and whether the initials are used or not, I do know that often safety personnel are rarely thanked for their achievements (“When do we notice safety the most? AFTER an incident!” – though there is another deep-seated psychological thing: a good leader is often the one where folk say after an accomplishment: ‘Look what WE did!’ not ‘Look what S/HE did…’)
Anyway, sure is good food for thought! Thanks for the opportunity to contribute.
Enjoy your next Breath!
Doug
” Your job isn’t to protect the workers, your job is to help the workers to protect themselves.”
Thank you for that.
Well said Phil! Love it! I have just recently observed this for myself.. BBS may have it’s place but not until Management can prove unequivocally that they have first done their part in getting it right.
Thanks Nick – glad you get it mate! That was the intent of the article, had a heap of positive feedback, little bit of negative but then they are the people it was aimed at
Sincerely thanks for an entertaining blog to remind us to “keep it real”. If the majority of your target audience does perceive your efforts like this then you’re seriously missing the mark. Taking time to reflect and review how your message is being received should be an equal part of your planning process.
Taking ourselves too seriously will blinker our options to be effective and will only create the unnecessary barrier to full safety integration.
“And reminding me not to die isn’t the same as saving my life.”
That is a very profound statement. Good work Phil!