http://www.kevburns.com Safety improves when engagement improves. Engagement improves when supervisors and safety people make it a point to value the people that they work with. On this episode, 6 areas to start building a better safety culture. An untrained or under-skilled supervisor or safety person tends to get the basics done. Nothing more. Get production. Stay within the safety rules. Everybody goes home safe (fingers crossed). Job done. Except, the job is not done. In fact, it could...

http://www.kevburns.com Helping employees overcome their tolerance to safety rules paves the way for them to see their own win for buying-in to safety. On this week's episode, how tolerance to safety rules may be worse that complacency.   Tolerance should become a serious consideration for supervisors and safety people. We all know that there has been plenty of talk about the hazards of complacency in safety. And the whole complacency conversation is gaining attention. But when you look...

Ep 24 - Effects of Respect, Optimism and Happiness on Safety Leadership On this episode, we will explore more of the Traits of Safety Leadership. This is Part 3. This time, the Effects of Optimism, Respect and Happiness. Nothing affects an employee’s engagement levels more than the supervisor or manager (including safety people). The example set by the supervisor, safety person or manager is key to establishing the tone and culture of safety at work. Overbearing, critical and...

Ep 023 - Traits of Safety Leaders - Part 02 We are continuing to talk about the traits of safety leadership and on this episode, the next three traits you need to acquire. Safety leadership has little to do with position or title. You don't need to be in a management or in any kind of a supervisory position to be a leader. In fact, some of the best leaders are just ordinary employees who happen to be extraordinary people. They just happen to possess certain personality traits. Safety...

Do you have the traits of a safety leader? Let's start to find out. On this episode, the first of a series of podcasts on the traits of safety leaders. Leadership requires no title or position. In fact, some of the best workplace leaders are just ordinary employees who happen to possess certain traits that causes others to look up to them and to seek their advice. Leaders are not managers necessarily although some management people may actually have many of leadership skills that this series...

Are you aware that a front-line supervisor has more influence on safety performance than senior management? On this episode, we're going to discuss how front-line safety leaders can harness that influence to improve safety culture. The front-line supervisor, as the name would imply, lives at the front-line. And as a result, the front-line supervisor has more frequent contact with front-line employees - far more contact than anyone in a senior management position. That affords them the...

Two years is a long time to be trying to get it right as a supervisor. Especially when it comes to safety. On this episode, the three C's to becoming a better safety supervisor. Does your workplace take the most senior employee in a crew and promote that person into a supervisory position? And then leave them to hang without skills, training and basic supervisory tools? Has it maybe happened to you? You know, there's a sense of irony that your company requires any employee or contractor on...

http://www.kevburns.com One of the most pursued issues by safety people is getting employees to commit to the safety program. On this episode, 3 ways to get better commitment to safety.  You need commitment to safety from especially the front line employees. Here's why. The majority of safety incidents happen at the front line. The largest numbers of workers are at the front line. The most amount of activity is at the front line. And so it's at the front line where the focus on safety needs...

http://www.kevburns.com People cannot recall everything they are exposed to in a single message but for some reason, safety people think they are. On this episode, we're going to explore some strategies and ideas that commercials on the Super Bowl can teach us about building better safety communications. People are simply not able to recall everything they are exposed to in a single message. But for some reason, safety people think they are. That’s why so many safety meetings feature full...

http://www.kevburns.com On this episode, how using negative tools will never build a positive safety culture. Do you think that by using guilt, fear and manipulation, your people can get a really good sense of how much they are cared for and valued? Safety has to get a new tactic. They've got to get past the lazy effort of downloading anonymous Internet photos of injury, guilt and fear-inducing videos, and “don’t do what he did” stories of workplace injury. Because it doesn't work. Scaring...

http://www.kevburns.com As safety continues to move away from enforcement and a lot closer to engagement, on this episode, we’re going to look at a 3-part strategy to create better buy-in to the safety program. One of my clients recently brought up the DSL Strategy in my book, PeopleWork: The Human Touch in Workplace Safety (page 115 if you’re following along). It’s in Chapter 6, “Creating Employee Buy-in.” We talked a bit about the DSL strategy in more detail because it is intended to be...

http://www.KevBurns.com Have you ever noticed that the people we seem to respect the most are the ones, the leaders, who are not afraid to wear their hearts on their sleeves? On this episode, we are going to talk about soft-skills in safety and how heartfelt safety is a real thing. We are connecting with our hearts more than ever before; including how we connect with each other at work. our people care about things that make their communities better, and uplift people who need a hand and...

http://www.KevBurns.com But wait. There's more. The words you hear in those awful late-night infomercials. And if you think that's what marketing is, on this episode we'll show you that safety marketing is actually what creates value and motivates people to action without the cheesy lines. Communications inform. But marketing moves. And this is where most safety programs make their biggest mistake. They assume that informing people, the communications part, is enough. But it isn’t. Here...

http://www.kevburns.com When engagement is missing, so is quality, pride and, sadly, safety. On this episode, three ideas and ways to connect safety to quality and, of course, pride in a job well done. It really matters. Kevin Burns is a management consultant, safety speaker and author of "PeopleWork: The Human Touch in Workplace Safety." He is an expert in how to engage people in safety and believes that the best place to work is always the safest place to work. Kevin helps organizations...

http://www.kevburns.com On this episode, a little relief for safety folks who have to put up with unproductive opinions that safety is the exclusive responsibility of the safety person.  It's not unusual to hear from safety professionals that they still run into resistance from some members of the supervisory staff or even upper management that safety is the responsibility of the safety person. Most of this is usually centred around who does the paperwork, who fills out the forms and who...

http://www.kevburns.com/peoplework Selling is about solving a problem or uncovering a benefit of safety in a way that makes people want to buy-in. So the question becomes, do you want people to buy-in to safety? If so, what are you prepared to do to make that happen? On this episode, we are going to deal with the beliefs and misconceptions about selling safety to employees. It’s not about shoving safety down the throats of your people. It’s about helping them see that safety improves their...

http://www.kevburns.com/peoplework On this episode, we're going to change how you look at safety meetings and help you get better at getting employees to buy-in to the safety program.  Taking a play from how to pitch to angel investors and venture capitalists, safety can make a pitch for buy-in to the safety program by shifting how they do meetings. Instead of looking at a safety meeting as a place to pitch stats, figures, reports and procedures, you should instead view your safety meetings...

http://www.kevburns.com/peoplework Safety meetings are typically information dumps and are full of all of the ineffective things that other people use in their safety meetings. Those meetings don’t get results. Then there are engaging safety meetings, ones that build teamwork and motivation for safety. Which ones are you organizing? My new book, PeopleWork: The Human Touch in Workplace Safety features two full chapters dedicated to building better safety meetings as part of an overall...

http://www.kevburns.com Whether you want to get a good start on the New Year or whether you want to find a little nugget of information that helps you become more effective as a supervisor, manager or safety person, on this episode we are going to be exploring 3 ways to help supercharge your effectiveness.  Supervisor, managers and safety people, you really do have a choice to make for the next year. You can choose to be only as good as you were last year; to allow yourself to be complacent...

“What matters most is that everyone goes home safe each day.” Is making sure people go home safe really what matters most? Because if that’s what matters most, then it’s the least you can do. It's the bare minimum of things you are allowed to do by law when it comes to safety. You are not allowed to do less. You can be fined or jailed if you do less. Employees have a basic expectation that their workplace and their employers will do what is necessary to protect them from harm. When you tell...

In a perfect world, safety processes and procedures are definable and repeatable. But when you throw in the human element, process and procedure don’t always work. People are the most difficult variable to control. Every crew member should be valued as a person first. People know when they aren’t being valued, and it reflects in their work. Minimum standards in safety breed minimum standards in morale. If the focus is on achieving minimums, staff will only be inclined to do the minimum...

If a safety issue doesn’t affect you directly, you may see the importance of addressing it but you may not feel the same motivation to address it quickly. Because the problem doesn’t affect you personally. If you’re not working directly at the front-line, you may not be motivated by the same things or in the same way that a front-line worker or supervisor is when it comes to safety. Every moment spent in an office, and not in the field or on the shop floor, is a moment that you’re not...

In every job, regardless of position or title, there are people who are effective at the job. And there are people who may be qualified for the job, but not terribly effective. Being qualified for the job doesn’t automatically guarantee that you’re going to be effective at it. You may have seniority, or your certification, or a love of safety. These don't guarantee that you'll be effective at the job. The job of a safety person isn’t to be a hero or to save people’s lives. The biggest part...

Safety has historically been kept at arm’s length from the rest of the organization. More often than not a department is organized and then they try to add safety rules to it. Safety is an afterthought. Safety needs to be the foundation on which all departments are built. Safety needs to be at the centre of the decisions we make. What we’re doing now, enforcing rules and compliance isn’t working. People are still getting hurt. Because we’re talking AT people about work safety at work. We’re...

As a safety leader, you have a strong commitment to safety. Scolding your bosses on social media for a lack of commitment to safety accomplishes nothing. It displays a lack of respect for your co-workers. Safety folks are convinced that safety can’t improve without senior management’s support and commitment. They believe that the safety department isn’t able to bring the safety numbers down until senior management gets on board and increases their commitment to safety. That’s not true. A...