Selfish safety

Practicing safe work habits isn’t just caring about OSHA regulations and workplace rules.
It’s caring about yourself and your family.

In all of my years of safety training in construction, the workers who give me the most trouble are those who have never had a work injury or witnessed a fellow worker experience one. It’s only when they understand the effect an accident has on a person do they begin to care about safety. It’s all about being selfish.”

That’s how Don Bradway, a northern California-based safety manager views his job.

“Overwhelmingly, the workers who give us the most trouble are the ones who could not care less about OSHA regulations and company policy. They tend to be mavericks who think only about themselves,” he says. Bradway says that tremendous self-centered focus is a safety person’s best tool to get these workers thinking more about safety and the consequences of unsafe actions.

Written in blood
“Unfortunately, every OSHA rule and company safety regulation ever composed is written in blood. Those rules were made based on accidents that hurt workers or even killed them,” says Bradway.
Young, inexperienced upstarts and seasoned workers alike who have never had an accident or witnessed a close fellow worker get hurt often believe they are invincible on the jobsite. “Many act as if they have a big “S” for Superman written on their shirts. They are the toughest to convince that following safe working practices is in their own best interest,” he says.

When Bradway encounters that attitude, he reaches into his bag of past experiences and paints some not-so-pretty pictures about jobsite accidents.

“I often tell the story how we once had a guy fall from a roof and break both wrists. He ended up with full-length casts on both arms. Think about the common everyday tasks he suddenly had to rely upon someone else to do.

“Then I ask one of the workers in the meeting if they are married or have a girlfriend. Then I ask, ‘So just how much do they love you? Are they willing to help you with every bodily task you need help with? By working safely, you are greatly reducing your chances that you could be in that guy’s shoes.’

“I also tell a story about another guy who was pinched between a concrete wall and loader bucket. He lived, but his crushed pelvis took months to heal. How much lovin’ do you think that poor guy had while he was recuperating? Those are the kinds of stories that sink in. That’s why I call it ‘selfish safety,’” he says.

“The key to these types of stories is to hit them where it hurts. Personalize it! Make it intimate! Make them think about how an injury, or worse, will affect other areas of their lives that are much more important to them,” Bradway advises.

Selfishness is a good thing
Bradway relates how, growing up, we are taught that being selfish is unacceptable behavior. But when it comes to safety, it’s a behavior he encourages.

“There are two ways to be selfish on the jobsite. First, be selfish enough to do things in a way that greatly reduces or eliminates your chance of getting hurt; the second way is to make it known that you aren’t interested in putting yourself in harm’s way by allowing others to work unsafely around you,” says Bradway.

“Think about that big guy who’s working on the scaffold above you and isn’t wearing fall protection. You ask him to wear his fall protection harness and tie off because you really don’t like the idea of the guy falling on you because you know that you’ll break more than his fall if he lands on you.

“If he doesn’t take your request seriously, then it’s time to talk to the supervisor, because his actions are endangering you,” he says.

Workers’ compensation coverage varies from state to state, but one thing that is certain, Bradway advises, is that the coverage is never enough to compensate for the time needed to get better.

“In some states and, with increasing litigation throughout the country, supervisors can be held criminally or civilly liable if a worker gets hurt or dies while working under your direction. In California, that’s especially true,” he adds.

Long-term effects of even a short-term injury
“Do your workers understand how workers’ compensation insurance works? Do you share the company’s Experience Modification Rating (EMR) so they can compare where the company stands in the eyes of the insurance company? I suggest you get your company to share it with workers and use it as a benchmark to measure safety efforts.”

Bradway says few workers understand the long-term effect that even one accident has on the bottom line of a company. “I have seen contractors go out of business because they can’t afford to carry the required workers’ compensation insurance. There is a three-year tail that affects your insurance after a reportable accident. That rating totally reflects your safety record, and it’s up to each and every worker to make that as good as possible,” he says.

Cop vs. salesman
Workers often view safety trainers and managers as safety cops, only showing up to put the hammer on what they do anyway all day, every day.

“Safety professionals can be safety cops, but good safety professionals are positive, practice what they preach and are passionate about what they promote.
“If reinforcing safety on a jobsite is part of your job, you must believe it and pursue it. You must be a good teacher and a great salesman, selling workers on the idea that they benefit the most from following safety rules,” he says.

There is a selfish component for safety professionals as well. “For every accident, there is work that must be done in addition to your regular workload. The added work of an investigation, disciplinary actions and reports is non-value-added activity to your job.”

Bradway makes safety training a part of his everyday work. “I have been known to drive off a site and notice a worker not wearing safety glasses. I circle around, come back on the site, get out of my truck and go to that worker to ask them to put on their safety glasses. I will ask them, ‘Why is it so important for me to come back to ask you to do this and not to you? After all, they are your eyes you are protecting, not mine.’ They are usually stunned and become more conscientious about wearing eye protection.”

Persons responsible for jobsite safety can’t be alone on this quest, says Bradway. Instead, the commitment needs to come from the top down and be aggressively promoted and enforced. “If you and the workers know that a safety regulation is in place but isn’t enforced, it takes the teeth right out of the safety commitment,” he says.

Bradway suggests following up with each worker, his or her supervisor and even the jobsite superintendent when safety rules are being stretched or ignored. “I call them instant training sessions. I call the worker, his or her supervisor and the jobsite superintendent together to discuss what’s happening. Everyone is busy on a jobsite, but they notice when such a group gets together to talk about something. Most assume there is a problem to be rectified and the grapevine will quickly communicate that it was a meeting about a safety issue.

“In these onsite meetings, ask why the safety rule isn’t being followed. Reinforce that, by not following a safety rule, it’s caused work to stop and that safety is a part of the job, not just something added on top of it. Remember what management permits, management condones.”

Bradway spends much more time pointing out what workers are doing correctly. “Focus on what they are doing right. Tell them and thank them. Point out successes and recognize them in front of their peers. Safety incentive programs are nice, but one of the most effective tools is recognizing them in front of their peers. It seems to work better than any safety incentive,” he says.

Time to cut bait
The intent of the safety manager is to make everyone as valuable on the jobsite as possible. “Sometimes, you run into someone who is just plain hard-headed and likes to buck rules. That’s when it’s important to know when to work someone out of the job instead of investing time and energy trying to change their ways. It’s better to spend the time on workers who have a better attitude,” says Bradway.

“It’s ignorance if someone doesn’t know, but stupidity if they know and don’t do what’s in everyone’s best interest. Get rid of these types of people. They will cost you money and grief. Even if they are a top-producing worker, if safety takes a shortcut with them, work to get rid of them.”

Bradway says a written three-strikes-and-you’re-out system works well. “Document, document, document. If that person gets injured on the job, you have a written record that person has been warned about safety infractions. It is evidence that your company isn’t negligent, but instead, the worker has a history of negligence,” he says.

Published in the July/August 2006 issue of Contractor Tools and Supplies magazine.

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