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Kevin Burns Blog

Leadership for frontline industrial supervisors.

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3 Critical Ways To Positively Communicate Safety
Posted by Kevin Burns on October 1, 2024
3 Critical Ways To Positively Communicate Safety
Do you want your people fearing for their safety? Or would you rather have them feeling confident and supported in their safe choices? The notice read: “An inspirational keynote speech preferably from someone who's had an accident. A leave-behind message to always be mindful and follow procedures. A flat fee of $(cheap). No phone calls please.”
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9 Reasons You Can't Be A Leader Without A Commitment To Safety
Posted by Kevin Burns on October 1, 2024
9 Reasons You Can't Be A Leader Without A Commitment To Safety
Safety is a commitment to your people that their contribution matters and is worth protecting. Safety managers complain that they have difficulty in getting safety buy-in from senior management. Senior management seems more prepared to roll the dice on safety by under-funding the safety program. Executives understand profit and loss. But maybe they’ve never had safety explained in a way they understand. Maybe the pitch has been all wrong.
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5 Things Employees Want From Safety Meetings
Posted by Kevin Burns on October 1, 2024
5 Things Employees Want From Safety Meetings
You need to get down to what matters in safety meetings: talking WITH your people - not AT them. Safety is about preparedness - yet the safety meeting does not meet that standard. All too often, safety meetings get thrown together at the last minute. This does not inspire confidence from employees.
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The 3 Key Ingredients To Get Respect As A Safety Manager
Posted by Kevin Burns on October 1, 2024
The 3 Key Ingredients To Get Respect As A Safety Manager
The high-performance, respected safety managers of tomorrow must improve in three key areas today. Safety managers, safety supervisors, safety officers, safety advisers, safety personnel, foremen, crew chiefs, human resources personnel - it doesn’t matter the title. If you have a hand in managing the company safety program, you are a safety manager (one who manages).
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5 Truths Safety Managers Aren't Stressing To Young Workers
Posted by Kevin Burns on October 1, 2024
5 Truths Safety Managers Aren't Stressing To Young Workers
Young workers don’t know what they don’t know about safety. If they’re worth hiring, they’re worth protecting. I had a conversation with a young worker this week and was astounded how he was unaware of his rights, duties and obligations to safety. His admitted risky safety behaviors on the job made me cringe - not to mention his girlfriend who sat next to him.
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3 Key Strategies To Instill Safety Values In Employees
Posted by Kevin Burns on October 1, 2024
3 Key Strategies To Instill Safety Values In Employees
Workers bring their own values to the workplace. But what happens when those values run into conflict with corporate safety values? Trying to get employees to embrace safety as a personal value is one of the toughest things that safety personnel are faced with. It's not impossible, but it will take skills, commitment and perseverance.
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3 Effective Tips To Speak Up In Safety
Posted by Kevin Burns on October 1, 2024
3 Effective Tips To Speak Up In Safety
Safety is too important to be paralyzed by a fear of being judged by your co-workers. “According to most studies, people's number one fear is public speaking. Number two is death. Death is number two. Does that sound right? This means to the average person, if you go to a funeral, you're better off in the casket than doing the eulogy.” ― Jerry Seinfeld
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21 Reasons Employees Are Frustrated By Safety
Posted by Kevin Burns on October 1, 2024
21 Reasons Employees Are Frustrated By Safety
Highly engaged employees aligned with the safety program make the company money, reduce turnover and lower incident rates. Safety is fast becoming the best tool to recruit, hire and retain good people. Simply put, when yours is the best and safest place to work, you will attract and retain the best employees. But if your employees identify with even a few points on the list below, you will have some work to do in finding good people and, more importantly, hanging on to the good ones you have.
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How To Increase Accountability In Safety
Posted by Kevin Burns on October 1, 2024
How To Increase Accountability In Safety
It is impossible to create accountability in safety without getting every employee to make it a part of their job. Safety managers and front-line supervisors want employees to be more active and vocal about safety. They want employees to be more engaged in the decisions that the employees make and the results they get. They want more active participation in reporting, in actively talking about safety and a much higher involvement in being vocal at safety meetings.
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A Coffee Break To Becoming A More Effective Safety Leader
Posted by Kevin Burns on October 1, 2024
A Coffee Break To Becoming A More Effective Safety Leader
Small, incremental improvements to the safety program are not as noticeable and do not expose employees to undue stress. Every job has its ups and downs. Employees can feel overwhelmed by the sheer volume of responsibility and workload. Then add in paperwork, Job Hazard Assessments, new OH&S guidelines, new reporting as part of the corporate re-focus on safety and you have a workforce that can feel stressed. Responsibility can be demanding. But taking a coffee break of fifteen minutes per day to self-improve can reduce stress and feelings of being overwhelmed.
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