One of the common subjects in any safety reference is how to get people interested in safety. Apparently, not getting hurt is not enough motivation for people to be interested in safety. Personally, I prefer to avoid getting injured whenever possible so working safely is just part of my work ethic.

Looking at a 1964 issue of the National Safety Council handbook, they suggest using “a pretty girl” to promote interest in industrial situations. They also recommend “a shaggy dog.” I guess there were not as many women working in industry back in 1964 as there are today.

The 5th edition of the Accident Prevention Manual suggests Using Pretty Girls to promote safety.

I notice that from internet search data that promoting safety is still a big concern for managers. Safety slogans and other safety promotional ideas still rank very highly.

However, it is my observation that all such safety promotions are basically useless. Unless you change the fundamental culture of the workplace, accidents will continue to happen and people will continue to get hurt no matter how many pretty girls hold up safety banners.

In order to create a safe working culture, we first need to consider why people get injured at work. Often injuries are caused by inattention to the job or by taking short cuts. Next we must consider why people take chances with their own safety either by not paying attention or by taking shortcuts.

I often see managers who perceive those who get hurt on the job as being lazy or who are otherwise not trying to do a good job. Often, however, the exact opposite is true. These people want to do a good job but due to their own lack of skill or understanding of mechanical principles, they take unnecessary risks. They may not realize how much danger they are facing; they are simply trying to do the best job they can with minimal effort on their part.

People who get injured may also be unconsciously punishing themselves. It the work environment is oppressive and devoid of positive reinforcement, they may injure them selves in an unconscious effort to prove that they are working as hard as they can.

In order to create a safe working environment, we can begin by placing clear expectations on the work that is to be preformed. By providing clear and detail work instructions that describe the safe and effective way of doing the job, employees will be less inclined to experiment with potentially unsafe methods. Supervision can play a huge role in insuring workers follow the safe work procedures by observing the work. If the procedures need to be changed to match current practice, then the revisions need to be investigated and implemented without delay. Employees should not be allowed to deviate from the prescribed safe and effective work instructions.

Care must be taken by supervisors not to reward unsafe procedures either by actively supporting unsafe practices or by ignoring them. If safety shortcuts are allowed to become part of the routine, a safety culture cannot be established.

For more information on creating a safe and effective working environment, see my other articles. Safety promotions become unnecessary once a safe and effective work environment has been established.

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People are different. Every one looks at life though the lens of his own personality type. By addressing these different personality types, we can create procedures that every one will follow.

Carl Jung defines four different personality types: Feeling, Thinking, Sensation and Intuition. Most personality psychologist use four similar categories, but with different names.

Since Sensation personality types tend to be good at accounting, care taking, collecting data organizing and supervising, they tend to end up in supervisory positions. Since they themselves are good at following directions they often think others are as well. They often don’t understand people who don’t follow instructions. After all, Sensation people follow instructions simply because the instructions are there.

Sensation personality types will not normally question the procedure; they simply want it to be executed fairly and consistently. If you are inconsistent in your enforcement, sensation personality types will follow the procedure simply because it is the procedure. But, if you change the procedure, you better give them some time to prepare as they also like to plan ahead.

Feeling personality types are good at being cooperative, mentoring, teaching and training. So these are the ones you want to use to present the new procedures to the people. They will be more interested in how the procedure makes them feel than what it is accomplishing. Also, in presenting procedures to Feeling personality types, it is important to recognize them as people first and employees second. Adding some fluff to the procedure that recognizes their humanness will win over the feeling personality types while annoying the thinking personality types. So be careful to find a balance.

Thinking personality types will want to know why. They will also be the ones to suggest a better way. Be sure you listen to them. Even if you don’t implement their suggestions, be sure you listen to them if you want them to follow your procedure. Make sure the procedure explains why the procedure is important to the process and how you came up with it. These explanations are very important to Thinking personality types.

Intuition personality types are the ones who pride themselves in not following the rules and can be the biggest challenge to generating procedures that every one will follow. Intuition personality types tend to be risk takers and impulsive. However they also make great leaders so if you get the Intuition personality types to buy in to a procedure they will bring the others along with them. To make the procedures palatable to the Intuition personality types, be sure to add some room for creative expression where possible. Understand their need for variety. Allow some options for them to choose from. In training for a new procedure be sure to include real world examples. Use funny stories if possible to get and hold their attention.

I often see procedures fail because the writer assumes that all people think like they do. And many managers think that “Because I said so” is good enough motivation to get people to follow a procedure. If you want employees to follow procedure when no one is looking, you need to consider the personality types of the employees.

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2. Use guards and engineering solutions wherever possible instead of relying on PPE – personal protective equipment. PPE is hard to police and uncomfortable to wear. Find a way to prevent the exposure in the first place. Your workers will be much more productive if they are comfortable.

PPe should be used as a last resort for keeping workers safe on a regular basis. Far too often I see PPE used as the primary mechanism for avoiding hazards.

Most machines and operations can be designed with enough guards and safer material flow paths to eliminate hazards for workers without resorting to PPE. Personally I hate working in safety glasses and gloves all day. I would much prefer to work in an environment where I feel safe to be there with out a lot of PPE involved.

At one converting plant I worked with, we designed and installed Plexiglas shields over the folder gluers to eliminate the need for safety glasses when working around the machine. The guards eliminated the hazard of flying cartons while still allowing the operators to see the adjust the process.

Productivity went up and waste went down as operators felt safer interacting with the machine.

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