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Safety Communication

By Josh Williams, Ph.D. “The true test of leadership is how well you function in a crisis.” – Brian Tracy The Importance of Large-Scale Communication Executive leadership skills are tested in crisis. Senior leaders are facing challenges now that not only threaten the survival of their companies but the lives of their employees and those they serve. As you may have noticed, leaders are now sending mass emails out to the public addressing their response to COVID-19. These email blasts represent a great opportunity for leaders to connect directly with the public to share their vision and values during this crisis. Unfortunately, many

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By Josh Williams, Ph.D. Employees can prevent serious injuries and fatalities by speaking up when they see coworkers operating at-risk. Unfortunately, social norms and pressure may prevent this. Many organizations have created culture that reflect the famous Hank Williams song refrain, “Mind your own business and you won’t be minding mine.” The power of conformity, not speaking up in this case, is powerful. An illustration from social psychology demonstrates this. Decades ago, Solomon Asch asked groups of up to 15 students in a classroom setting to participate in a “vision test” (Bond, R., & Smith, P. B., 1996). Each student was asked

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By Eric Johnson “Why can’t my employees just work safer?” is a question we hear again and again when interacting with senior-level and mid-level leadership. “Management simply doesn’t know what we are dealing with” rebuts front-line employees. And indeed, both are partially correct. It’s this middle ground where an established safety culture can take root. Safety focus is not independent of other aspects of the organization, but can enhance or detract the work experience depending on the engagement of the front-line – an engagement that can be supported by management But to get to this point, management must be fully aware of how

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By Josh Williams, Ph.D. Organizational leaders make two common errors when trying to improve safety performance and culture. First, they overemphasize safety statistics to the point that employees believe the safety “numbers” trump genuine caring about their well-being. Second, they stress compliance with rules, to the point that employees may feel like their job is to avoid breaking any rules so they don’t get fired. Clearly, rules compliance and safety statistics are important. However, leaders should spend more time showing genuine caring for employees. This is an investment in your people as well as your culture. Increasing active caring increases the

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By Josh Williams, Ph.D. For years, organizational leaders have used incentives to try and motivate safety. The rationale is that providing financial rewards for not getting hurt will get employees to “try harder” to stay safe. In reality, it simply encourages non-reporting which is why OSHA now frowns upon outcome-based incentives. It can also create other problems. As an example, we worked with a Canadian company where a woman slipped on the ice outside of her building in front of a group of coworkers. The person in charge of clearing the ice hadn’t done it. In addition to her embarrassment, the woman

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By Josh Williams, Ph.D. We’re all accustomed to annual days meant to celebrate important people in our lives. We have Valentine’s Day tomorrow which will soon be followed by Mother’s Day, Father’s Day and (don’t forget) Secretary’s Day. Another important day to celebrate is the “Safety Break for Oregon” day on May 8. This is an annual safety day established sixteen years ago by OSHA Oregon. Basically, it’s a safety stand-down for the entire state! This event encourages: Celebrations of employees’ work in creating safe and healthy workplaces.Refresher safety training on key topics.Strategic planning to eliminate workplace hazards.Safety award recognition events. As Oregon OSHA

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