We should all make it a goal to be a Safety Champion, considering we are responsible for making hundreds of decisions every day that determine the level of safety and risk for nearly every action we make. You have heard many times that we need 1000 Safety Champions at SSOE.
A true Safety Champion (and a valued friend) will look beyond their personal area and show active concern for the safety and well-being of others. They are a person who is not just concerned for their own well-being but is concerned about protecting others. They take the time to coach, teach, and have a conversation that helps determine the safe way to eliminate any risk. Safety Champions are proactive by reporting “near misses” and unsafe conditions that have the potential to cause injury or property loss to their fellow employees and to the general public. Are you willing to talk to another person regarding something they may be doing that is unsafe? We need more people willing to be Safety Champions. This is exactly why we need 1000 Safety Champions.
The decisions about the clothes we wear, how we drive our cars and the routes we take, the tools we use at work, whether to report an unsafe work condition, cell phone use while driving, the decision to Lock Out Tag Out (LOTO) or to wear Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) are all made with either conscious or subconscious decisions regarding safety and risk. Safety Champions will anticipate where injuries could occur and take action to prevent those injuries. You too can become a Safety Champion by reporting or fixing unsafe conditions, being a good safety role model, and being a friend when you witness at-risk behavior. The unsafe condition you eliminate now may help to prevent an injury to yourself, a coworker, or to a family member. The next time you wonder who to thank for keeping your work areas safe, think Safety Champions!
Safety Culture Cycle
Stage 1: Believing that safety is someone else’s responsibility. It is their job to look out for and communicate to others. Simply, it is just not my job! We all know that this is not a good place to be in, and we should not put our personal lives in the hands of someone else.
Stage 2: Realizing that safety is a priority and our responsibility. No one can look out for our personal safety better than ourselves! We recognize that we are ultimately responsible for what happens. This is an important part of the journey, as people must understand the key principle that is in the first stage, and that others are not responsible for our safety.
Stage 3: When stage 2 has morphed from “I am responsible for my own Safety” to “I am not just responsible for myself, but I also have an obligation to look out for others”. The key here is to turn your heart to having concern enough for others to speak to them about observed bad behaviors, to coach them to do better, and to lead them to also look out for the safety of others.
Safety Scott says, “Safety always is ALWAYS!”
