Kevin Burns Blog

Create The Perfect Safety Meeting

Posted by Kevin Burns on October 1, 2024

Safety Meeting attendees think the meetings are boring because it seems no one cares enough to put them together well. "The Perfect Safety Meeting" webinar (based on my new book of the same name) on November 13, 2013 had over 750 registrations from safety professionals in 18 countries, 42 US states and all ten Canadian provinces. It is apparent that a lot of people working in safety management and supervision want to get a lot better at running safety meetings. On the other side, there are probably a lot more employees who are hoping that their safety people get better at safety meetings.

Go Positive To Motivate In Safety

Posted by Kevin Burns on October 1, 2024

In safety, there is a mistaken belief that in order to motivate employees to buy-in, you have to “go negative.” The focus of safety marketing has been wrong. How do scare tactics, gruesome photos and videos and data and charts provide inspiration, motivation and encouragement to buy-in to safety directly?

Procrastinating The Safety Meeting

Posted by Kevin Burns on October 1, 2024

Throwing together a safety meeting at the last minute does not inspire confidence or preparedness. Safety Managers stress about organizing safety meetings and annual stand-downs. They struggle with the organizational aspect and so they end up leaving much of it to the last minute, scrambling just enough to pull something off that looks like there may have been a rudimentary amount of thought put into the meeting.

Are Your Safety Meetings Preventing Buy-in?

Posted by Kevin Burns on October 1, 2024

Your job is to change the perception from HAVING to attend safety meetings, to WANTING to. Imagine receiving a pair of tickets to the best seats in the house to watch your favorite sports team play. You’re primed and excited for the event but once you get there, you find out that there is no game. There are only stats, and numbers, and data and reports and transactions. Sure, stats and numbers and data are a part of sports but it’s not the enjoyable part.

3 Tips To Revolutionize Safety Meetings

Posted by Kevin Burns on October 1, 2024

The Safety Meeting is the most important tool in helping employees to buy-in to safety, quickly. Stop thinking that safety meetings are a legal requirement. It's bigger than that. How your people approach safety meetings is the same way they approach safety. How you approach safety meetings is evident to in how they are perceived.

Safety Isn’t A Process Problem - It’s A People Problem

Posted by Kevin Burns on October 1, 2024

There is a people problem in safety, a mindset problem in safety and a decision-making problem in safety. Four workers were attempting to lift the fourth wall into place on a home construction project. The wall was too heavy for the four to lift and so three let go crushing the fourth under the weight. The worker died.

Stop Training In Safety

Posted by Kevin Burns on October 1, 2024

If they don’t believe in safety in the first place, then all of the safety training in the world isn’t going to help. Challenges with workplace incidents can be traced right back to Day 1 - safety training. Training is the basics that workers need to do the job today. There is no personalization or customization of the training based on either aptitude, attitude or comprehension. Basically, people are trained in safety on a schedule, and it is expected that they will all “get” it at the same time. Training’s fatal flaw is an assumption that everyone starts from the same place.

Declare War On Safety Apathy

Posted by Kevin Burns on October 1, 2024

When you don’t ask your people to do anything with the information you are giving them, you are creating the same safety apathy you say you want to overcome. Are you asking your safety meeting attendees to be participants or spectators? Just because the bodies show up at the safety meeting doesn’t mean that their minds do. They might look like they’re paying attention, but you really can’t tell. It must be OK. You’re not asking them to do anything except sit there.

6 Gut-Check Safety Strategies

Posted by Kevin Burns on October 1, 2024

200 people will die in workplace incidents this year - one every 43 hours. Every second day, someone is going to die. The roofer stood 3 stories up on the roof and surveyed his work. On his back was his fall-arrest harness. At his feet was the clip supposed to be connected to his harness. I called the company OH&S Manager. He explained he would take action immediately and mentioned that any contractor in contravention of OH&S regulations are fined $100.

Why Safety Meetings Must Move Out Of Back Shops

Posted by Kevin Burns on October 1, 2024

If you want to change the culture of safety within your company, start not with how you DO safety, start with how you celebrate safety. We've all been to safety meetings that missed the mark—topics irrelevant, sessions too long, disorganization was the rule.

Leadership for frontline industrial supervisors.

Create The Perfect Safety Meeting

Go Positive To Motivate In Safety

Procrastinating The Safety Meeting

Are Your Safety Meetings Preventing Buy-in?

3 Tips To Revolutionize Safety Meetings

Safety Isn’t A Process Problem - It’s A People Problem

Stop Training In Safety

Declare War On Safety Apathy

6 Gut-Check Safety Strategies

Why Safety Meetings Must Move Out Of Back Shops

Subscribe to Kevin's Blog

Recent Posts

© 2026 PeopleWork Align Inc.