OSHA Regulations Are Minimum Standards Not Gold Standards

Too many organizations fool themselves and think complying with the OSHA requirements actually means that they have a good safety program and culture. The truth is, that they are actually poised to fail. Remember that these requirements are minimum standards so by adhering to them you have left little room for error. The best example I can provide to illustrate the potential for failure is employee exposure scenarios. OSHA publishes many exposure levels most are equated with a permissible exposure limit (PEL) 8-hour time weight average. You should remember that PELs are not absolutes but what most people can be exposed to without adverse health effects. So for some workers, adverse health effects may occur. Additionally, many of the PELs are outdated. This being said, I’m not advocating becoming risk adverse.

We are exposed to risk in almost everything we do. For an organization to have a progressive safety culture they need to evaluate those risk and where possible eliminate what you can. Where you are unable to eliminate the hazards then a mitigation strategy must be applied. This strategy should follow the hierarchy of controls employing engineering controls first followed by administrative controls and work practices the lastly the use of Personnel Protective Equipment (PPE).  The key is to evaluate your work processes and seek out activities where following the minimum requirements could have adverse effects if sliding off that minimum edge occurs.

“Don't lower your expectations to meet your performance. Raise your level of performance to meet your expectations.”  Ralph Marston

Are You A Safety Manager Or Safety Leader?

Many of us have the title of “Safety Manager” yet in today’s business culture the typical managers are inefficient. Organizationally what is needed, is to evolve to “Safety Leaders”. There is an axiom that states “you manage things but you lead people”.  Leading people is paramount if you are to be successful in the safety field.

During my long career I have always tried to conduct myself as a leader and not a manager. This is not to suggest that I don’t focus anytime on managerial tasks (like program management elements) but for me coaching and leadership activities is where my heart goes. This means being in the field and talking with as many people as I can. For me it is about asking if they have any concerns, are there any barriers to performing work safely, or sometimes just talking about what they did for the fun. I came up through the trades so walking among craft personnel is natural for me. Having a common background also gives me an advantage in building trust. For a leader trust is the cornerstone of a strong foundation. Trust is not given easily, especially in construction work where the work is transient. Therefore, you need to constantly work at it. We have all heard the phrase one “aw crap” will erase a trunk full of “atta boys” so remember trust can be fragile; protect it.

If trust is the cornerstone, then integrity is the mortar that holds the foundation together. Without integrity trust will erode quickly and the foundation of your program will crumble. Integrity is about doing what you say and saying what you do. It is a simple process but too many have failed to grasp it.  Integrity combined with trust is what Safety Leaders leverage to propel an organization’s safety culture in a positive direction. When you try to “manage” versus “Lead” you naturally gravitate towards an authoritative stance where you end up being a “safety cop”.

So do you still want to be a “Safety Manager”?

 I’ll choose being a “Safety Leader” because as Tom Peters so eloquently put it “Leaders don’t create followers; they create more leaders”.