Letting workers in on the safety conspiracy

All too often, it seems, the typical training pattern and attitude -- although not yours, of course -- could be stated something like this: "We, the company, provide you, the worker, with information and instructions about what to do, and how to do it, and sometimes why. It's your job to absorb the information and follow the instructions. Clear? Good. Today's topic is..."

The exercise is likely to be more effective, however, if the trainees are made to feel that they are part of a team effort intended to achieve success, for the business and in their own jobs.

"Team," in fact is the word most trainers would prefer to use rather than "conspiracy," since the latter now has a subversive flavor even though the derivation of "conspire" literally means "breathe together," and by extension to "be in harmony." Thus to conspire means to act in harmony toward a common end.

Stakeholders
Whatever the vocabulary, the intention is to demonstrate that numerous groups and individuals have a stake in that outcome and a role in achieving it.

In the case of safety, for example, these include:

• OSHA. It was created in 1970 by the legislature to develop regulations designed to protect workers from occupational injury and illness, as well as to enforce compliance with these regulations by employers.

• Other government agencies. These entities, whether federal, state or local, have various roles. Some establish other regulations with which employers must comply and which affect employees. The Environmental Protection Agency is one of these. Others do research on which regulations may be based. The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) is an example.

• Employers. Their desire to prevent accidents is not solely humanitarian, since worker injuries and illness have a very unfavorable effect, along with property damage, on the bottom line; so do penalties for failure to comply with regulations. But far more often than not, there is also a very genuine concern for worker well being.

• Supervisors. They have a stake in worker safety, in part because it bears on their own effectiveness in getting out production.

• Co-workers. No one wants to work alongside a loose cannon whose disregard of safe work practices can cause an accident that harms others.

• Each worker. A significant share of the responsibility for each worker's health and safety on the job rests with his or her own understanding and observing safe work practices.

TrainingOnline is a full-service learning content provider that specializes in Web-based training courses for the environmental, health, safety and human resources markets. Read more about safety training at www.trainingonline.com.

Back to top

Back to Web-exclusive articles archives