How can you create an environment that will get a majority of people actively caring and taking action when they see a hazard or unsafe behavior? There are two major reasons people fail to intervene and help others avoid injury. First, they see an unsafe behavior or condition and convince themselves nothing is likely to happen. If someone believes nothing bad is going to happen, in their mind there is no reason to take action. Second, even if they are concerned something might happen, they don't know specifically how to share safety with the other person, and don't feel competent to step in. This lack of knowledge or confidence causes them to freeze up or wish they knew what to do. This year, I will teach the reasons people would actually "want to" watch out for the safety of others and intervene. I will also cover how to teach people to respond when someone watches out for them.
You and I do everything we do for a reason, and it is important to understand the "why" of what motivates everyone. One of most important elements left out of motivating people to watch out for others' safety is to help them find their answer to the question, "Why should I watch out for everyone's safety?"
No matter what you do, you have a reason to work safely, and watch out for the safety of others. At one of my presentations, a corporate leader made a comment I thought was outstanding. He said, " You know, one of the advantages we have here is we don't have a 1500 pound steam pipeline going through our building. And do you know one of the disadvantages we have here? We don't have a 1,500 pound steam pipeline going through our building. If we did, we would be more aware of the importance of safety. There would be a perceived risk, which would cause us to be more mindful of safety."
What jobs do you think would put you at the highest risk to be injured? Perhaps another way of looking at this is what job would you not want your children to take?
