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Safety Culture Excellence is a weekly series designed to support your efforts towards excellence in performance and culture. For more information or to contact the host, visit www.ProActSafety.com.
Episodes
Tuesday Jan 17, 2012
Tuesday Jan 17, 2012
Between the recent articles in safety publications and the capsizing of the Costa Concordia, there is a renewed dialogue among safety professionals and others about accident causation. In the first third of the last century Heinrich proposed, from his observations of accident reports, that 88% of all accidents were the result of unsafe acts, 10% from unsafe conditions, and 2% from undetermined causes. One author recently refuted this, mainly citing the tendency to blame employees for accidents when much of the “cause” was due to systems issues controlled by managers.
While there is validity in looking beyond human behavior, there is great danger in overlooking it and its critical role in accidents. We should always look at the “why”, but we can’t forget the “what.” It looks like we have opened the door to a whole new set of terminology around what has been traditionally labeled “immediate cause,” “underlying cause,” “root cause,” and “contributing factor.” If changing terminology or consolidating terminology helps prevent accidents, I am all for it.
From the discussions on line, there may be a need for better developing the talking points around accident causation. It is hard to synergize solutions when it takes 1200 comments in a LinkedIn group just to get everyone agreeing on terms.
The main point that must not get lost in this discussion is the fact that behaviors , regardless of what causes, prompts, or influences them are critical to risk control and, thus critical to accident prevention. We have assumed a lot over the years about what causes human behavior and how to change it. However we approach it in the future, we must not forget it. If a driver swerves into the other lane, the probability of an accident just dramatically increased. THAT is human behavior.
Now, how do we keep drivers in their own lanes? That is the next level. We err when we think that changing the influences on behavior will automatically and completely and immediately change behavior. If we don’t change behavior, we have missed the mark or are shooting at the wrong targets. It is not about blame, it is about prevention.
If we forget this basic premise as we strive to better understand its causes and influences, we are taking a step forward and falling hopelessly backwards. We need to understand the next level of causation or influence or systems issues or whatever we decide to call it so we can use it to shape behavior, not forget it.
Terry L. Mathis
CEO and Founder
ProAct Safety, Inc.
Monday Dec 26, 2011
Monday Dec 26, 2011
Greetings all! For the video podcast this month, I'd like to share with you one of my models that explains my theory on how we can help people internalize a needed focus in safety. If we want people to be safe, this means risk-free. For this to happen, safety strategies need to be portable and facilitate internalization. I hope you will use these steps to help the people you are supporting in safety. You can either watch the video here at www.SafetyCultureExcellence.com, or you can watch it below from YouTube. [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B6xXN8HXJh4]
I hope you enjoy and have a great week!
Shawn M. Galloway
ProAct Safety, Inc.
Monday Sep 05, 2011
Monday Sep 05, 2011
Greetings all! For the video podcast this month, I'm sharing a vital methodology used by many global organizations, to help improve the performance of critical employees at any level of the organization. As always, customization is a critical first step to ensure sustainability. You can either watch the video here at www.SafetyCultureExcellence.com, at www.ProActSafety.com/Insights, or directly on the magazine’s site at: http://cos-mag.com or you can watch it below from YouTube.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nE5yo2enn3o]
I hope you enjoy and have a great week!
Shawn M. Galloway
ProAct Safety, Inc.
Monday Jul 18, 2011
Monday Jul 18, 2011
Greetings, this podcast recorded while working in Colmar, France. This week I’d like to share an article I wrote that was published in the May 2011 edition of Occupational Health & Safety Magazine. It was titled, “What determines Your Safety Focus?” The article can either be found by visiting the magazine’s website at www.OHSOnline.com or under Insights at www.ProActSafety.com.
We have received requests for older podcasts that are no longer available for download on this website. We are looking into why these old podcasts are not able to be accessed. It appears the application expires some of these once they reach a certain age. Even podcasts can have an age complex!
Soon to address this, we will start making some of these older podcasts available through a small purchase that can cover our costs to provide them on a CD or memory stick and ship to your location.
I hope you enjoy the podcast this week. If you would like to download or play on demand our other podcasts, please visit the ProAct Safety’s podcast website at: http://www.safetycultureexcellence.com
Have a great week!
Shawn M. Galloway
ProAct Safety, Inc
Monday Jun 13, 2011
Monday Jun 13, 2011
In 1990 there were certain beliefs and practices that were viewed as state of the art and acceptable. I’m sure in 2030 we will look back at 2011 and challenge much of what is said today on the topic of behavioral approaches. Here in lies the criticality of never accepting a one-size-fits-all methodology to injury prevention and remaining continuously searching for a better approach. No one has the silver bullet, yet we all together can contribute to making this a safer world by striving for a better way to accomplish our goals through dialogue such as this.
My research and experience with hundreds of global projects in every major industry leads me to believe that the vast majority of incidents (injury, process, equipment damage, etc.) have a conditional, behavioral, organizational, and cultural contributing factor. Now the question is, contributing factor to prevention, or causation? The latter leads people to feel a greater sense of blame than the former. Blame isn’t beneficial for anyone other than those placing it. Moreover, it doesn't facilitate ownership in prevention.
It is my belief that behaviors can indeed prevent and cause an event to occur, they can also be the reason an event was avoided. We must look beyond the behavior and remind ourselves people do things for a reason. If we only address the behavior, without addressing the reason, the sustainability of our intervention strategies will be limited at best. Certainly focusing on behaviors in a vacuum might produce faster results, but is it fast or lasting improvement we want? A little of both would be ideal indeed. I prefer sustainable value-add.
What are your thoughts?
I hope you enjoy the podcast this week. If you would like to download or play on demand our other podcasts, please visit ProAct Safety’s podcast website at: http://www.safetycultureexcellence.com
Have a great week!
Shawn M. Galloway
ProAct Safety, Inc.
Friday May 27, 2011
Friday May 27, 2011
In 1990 there were certain beliefs and practices that were viewed as state of the art and acceptable. I’m sure in 2030 we will look back at 2011 and challenge much of what is said today on the topic of behavioral approaches. Here in lies the criticality of never accepting a one-size-fits-all methodology to injury prevention and remaining continuously searching for a better approach. No one has the silver bullet, yet we all together can contribute to making this a safer world by striving for a better way to accomplish our goals through dialogue such as this.
My research and experience with hundreds of global projects in every major industry leads me to believe that the vast majority of incidents (injury, process, equipment damage, etc.) have a conditional, behavioral, organizational, and cultural contributing factor. Now the question is, contributing factor to prevention, or causation? The latter leads people to feel a greater sense of blame than the former. Blame isn’t beneficial for anyone other than those placing it. Moreover, it doesn't facilitate ownership in prevention.
It is my belief that behaviors can indeed prevent and cause an event to occur, they can also be the reason an event was avoided. We must look beyond the behavior and remind ourselves people do things for a reason. If we only address the behavior, without addressing the reason, the sustainability of our intervention strategies will be limited at best. Certainly focusing on behaviors in a vacuum might produce faster results, but is it fast or lasting improvement we want? A little of both would be ideal indeed. I prefer sustainable value-add.
What are your thoughts?
Shawn M. Galloway
ProAct Safety, Inc.
www.ProActSafety.com
Monday May 23, 2011
Monday May 23, 2011
Greetings, this podcast recorded while working in Jacksonville, Florida. For the podcast this week I’d like to share an article I wrote that was published in the March 2011 edition of EHS Today Magazine. It was titled “The Contributing Factors of Behavior-Based Safety Failures”. The published article can either be found at www.EHSToday.com or http://www.proactsafety.com/insights/articles-and-white-papers.
I hope you enjoy the podcast this week. If you would like to download or play on demand our other podcasts, please visit the ProAct Safety’s podcast website at: http://www.safetycultureexcellence.com
Have a great week!
Shawn M. Galloway
ProAct Safety, Inc
Monday Jan 31, 2011
Monday Jan 31, 2011
Greetings, this podcast recorded while working in Tulsa, Oklahoma. For the podcast this week I’d like to share an article I wrote titled “3 Crucial Precautions to Prevent Slips, Trips and Falls”. It was published 12 October 2010 by Canadian Occupational Safety. The published article can either be found at http://www.cos-mag.com or under Insights at www.ProActSafety.com.
I hope you enjoy the podcast this week. If you would like to download or play on demand our other podcasts, please visit the ProAct Safety’s podcast website at: http://www.safetycultureexcellence.com
Have a great week!
Shawn M. Galloway
ProAct Safety, Inc
Monday Jan 24, 2011
Monday Jan 24, 2011
Greetings, this podcast recorded while working in Pineville, Louisiana. For the podcast this week I’d like to share an article I wrote titled “Behavior-Based Safety: The Piece Forgotten” published October 2010 in BIC Magazine. The article can either be found at www.BICALLIANCE.com or under Insights at www.ProActSafety.com.
I hope you enjoy the podcast this week. If you would like to download or play on demand our other podcasts, please visit the ProAct Safety’s podcast website at: http://www.safetycultureexcellence.com
Have a great week!
Shawn M. Galloway
ProAct Safety, Inc
Monday Jan 10, 2011
Monday Jan 10, 2011
Greetings, this podcast recorded while working in Atlanta, Georgia. For the podcast this week I’d like to share an article I wrote called “Behavior-Based Safety: The Piece Forgotten” published October 2010 in BIC Magazine. The published article can either be found at www.bicalliance.com or under Insights at www.ProActSafety.com.
I hope you enjoy the podcast this week. If you would like to download or play on demand our other podcasts, please visit the ProAct Safety’s podcast website at: http://www.safetycultureexcellence.com
Have a great week!
Shawn M. Galloway
ProAct Safety, Inc.