Kevin Burns Blog

If you want to cut expenses, don't slash the safety budget. Get rid of injuries and incidents. That's where the real expenses are. There used to be a time when safety was considered an expense (if you’re still thinking this way, it may be time for you to retire). The days of “we don’t have to the budget to spend on safety” are quickly coming to an end. Safety is not an expense - it’s an investment. And simply put, the better you get at safety, the better your company will do financially.

Can you convince someone to buy-in to safety without management being on-board? Of course you can. It’s not impossible. It’s just harder. I have deep convictions for safety. It doesn’t matter to me what others think about my safety values. I will do what I want as long as it keeps me and those around me safe. I have been scolded and chastised to just relax when it comes to safety. I turn a deaf ear to that suggestion. I drink the Kool-Aid. I have bought in. And honestly, my convictions for safety don’t change based on whom I work with. Some companies hire me to consult about improving their safety meetings. Others hire me to speak on personal leadership in safety. My values on safety stay the same.

Organizations say they want to build a culture of safety and then, what they do about it, is a contradiction. I had the pleasure of speaking at a safety meeting last week that broke the mold of boring safety meetings. They organized a quarterly safety event which replaced their monthly safety meetings. According to the safety manager who organized the event, my book, The Perfect Safety Meeting, played a big part in their new attitude toward safety meetings.

If you can get your people to be courteous to each other, you can get them to improve safety at the same time. My travel takes me to the four corners of the North American continent as a safety attitude and safety management speaker. I get to witness, first-hand, some of the best and some of the worst safety behaviors - but none more prevalent than that of drivers.

Until you start addressing the underlying attitudes of your people, you will always struggle with compliance, behaviors and communication. This week, here in Calgary, we experienced our first blizzard of the season. It’s not winter yet but we have experienced plenty of blowing and drifting snow. My three appointments on Monday all got canceled. No one wanted to venture out. Can’t say I blame them. I am an Alberta Safety Speaker. Be safe right?

When you tweak job performance in small chunks, little by little, safety performance improves. Back in a former lifetime (20 years ago), I made my living as a radio announcer. Radio is a cut-throat game that depends on ratings. Take a tumble in the ratings and you can start looking for another job. To stay on top in the ratings requires constant monitoring, adjustment and improvement. That means weekly airchecks.

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?

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.

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.

Don't worry that senior management is not supporting your Safety Culture initiative. Truthfully, you don’t need their help. Corporate Culture is the glue that holds your organization together - how you do things, how you hire, how you even handle meetings. Safety Culture is the way your people do safety. But as I wrote in an earlier Blog post, the Unspoken Code of peers is one of the largest contributors to Culture. Companies who attempt to shift Culture without taking into account The Code, run a real risk.