Having run a safety training school for many years, it never ceases to amaze me how many of the top academic students struggle to apply their training in real life. The problem is, unless you spend time in one of the mainstream emergency professions such as a paramedic or firefighter, there is no way to experience real life emergencies on demand.

It’s not like work experience in a carpenter shop or a restaurant; you can’t just strap on a tool belt or an apron and get to work. You can get your equipment ready and review your books, but real time application is something we are all working to avoid!
There is a real gap between head knowledge and practical experience when it comes to the safety industry. Very often, the CSO or medic on your jobsite has never had to deal with a major injury or a life-threatening situation and their response to either is a complete unknown. So the question is, can there be something done to bridge this gap?
As a young boy I remember going to the Pacific National Exhibition (PNE) in Vancouver each summer, and what has stood out the most in my memory were the mock disasters that were put on as a regular show. I would sit in the bleachers with bated breath as the curtains hiding the outdoor stage rolled back, anticipating the loud explosion that always started the event.
A startling real emergency scene would appear, with the cries of injured people piercing the brief silence after the blast, and acrid smoke wafting into the stands. Real emergency personnel from the military, search and rescue and ambulance would rush onto the scene, and the audience would be drawn into the fast paced and intense drama. It was like I was experiencing the event first hand and it made a powerful impact on me. To this day I still remember every one I attended and I am sure this is in part why I have always been drawn to the emergency service industry.
If witnessing these mock scenarios as a child could make such a lasting impression on me, being involved in them as an adult during my time as a paramedic was even more impacting. I have dealt with the real thing many times as well, and although a set up scenario it is not quite the same, it does engage your physical senses and your emotions. You learn what it feels like to be confronted by chaos, noise, perceived danger and panicked patients.
Practicing proves invaluable when called on to deal with challenging calls. It tests your responses, and gives you opportunity to correct and improve without risking lives in the process.
It’s been proven that if you can tie an event to an emotion, you will never forget that experience. This is hard to replicate in the classroom and is why most courses try to include real life stories, and even graphic videos.
Staging emergencies in the workplace needs to be of high importance for the future of the safety industry.
I know of several oil companies who have recently put on mock accident scenarios in the field, at quite an expense. They involved everyone from the front line worker to the medic, safety coordinator, job supervisor and even head office. Everyone had the opportunity to act out their part exactly as they would if a real incident happened. Any weaknesses in the safety program or in the people themselves were very obvious and all these could be corrected without any lawsuits or loss of life.
As the importance of safety increases and the amount of actual emergencies decrease, the practical experience gained through these incidents will also decrease. This is somewhat of a conundrum as our goal is to be safer, but in the process we lose the ability to respond appropriately in unsafe situations.
Enacting mock scenarios goes a long way to bridging the gap between head knowledge and practical experience.
If a serious incident occurred on your worksite tomorrow, would your workers and safety personnel be able to respond as they have been trained? Are the safety protocols you have in place enough? Until they have been tested you can’t know the answer to these questions. While carrying out these drills take time and have a cost, in the end, they can save lives and keep you from ending up on the wrong end of a lawsuit.
David Phibbs is the president of Alpha Safety Ltd. and Alpha Training Solutions.
For more information on this article or their services, contact 1-888-413-3477, 250-787-9315 or www.alphasafety.net.

Well, it’s that time of year again, when summer is well behind us and fall is quickly turning into winter. As an avid hunter there is nothing I like better than cool, crisp weather and a little fresh snow, but the changing season can cause havoc on the road.
You don’t want to procrastinate winterizing your vehicles in this part of the country – nasty weather can hit hard and fast. Anyone with experience in this neck of the woods knows the basics when it comes to rigging up for the winter, but there is always an influx of the inexperienced when gearing up for the busy oil patch season.
While changing over to winter tires is pretty much common sense anywhere in Canada, there are other less well known musts when travelling in the cold and isolation of the North.
Take the use of cruise control, for instance – ever try that on slippery roads and black ice? Trust me, it’s been done! Not a pretty outcome…
The statistics for surviving without food and water are pretty common knowledge – a month without food, give or take, and a week without water. It can make a person feel pretty confident of surviving until help arrives if you’re stranded somewhere… until you find out that hypothermia (which is the number one outdoor killer in Canada, by the way) can kill you in one hour or less if you are wet. A single wax candle in a vehicle can keep you warm for hours – do you have one in your vehicle kit?
How about frosted windows early in the morning in a cold diesel truck? We all know the scenario, and perhaps have been guilty of it a time or two ourselves; a truck slowly crawling down the highway, windows completely frosted over except for a tiny clear patch just above the hood on the driver’s side. And even this patch clouds over with every breath, as their noses are practically pressed to the glass trying to see!
Giving new employees a heads up about starting their vehicles early to give them time to warm up and defrost (even when they are plugged in) is important, and I always let them know I would rather they called in and arrived a little late than drive blind.
Another thing to keep in mind is that cold weather can drain batteries so it’s important to make sure they are fully charged. Carrying some extra gas line anti-freeze is smart as well, even when you are using light oil.
If travelling any distance, you also want to make sure you keep your fuel topped up. There have been many times I’ve had an unexpected delay on the road, or hit the next gas station only to find it closed.
Running out of fuel can be a death sentence on a lonely road, and people from populated centers can have a hard time grasping the significance of the complete isolation one can experience for great lengths of time while driving the roads in this part of the country.
I’ve had many employees over the years wandering aimlessly lost for hours at a time trying to find a remote location. It’s our responsibility as employers to make sure our drivers are knowledgeable about the conditions they will be facing and that their vehicles are equipped with everything needed to survive.
The best way to keep our employees safe on the road is to always know where they are. No matter how well you prepare, something is bound to go sideways eventually. When this happens, having a good journey management system in place can be a lifesaver. Not long ago there was a much-publicized story of a couple that became lost on a remote mountain road after turning off their scheduled route.
Many weeks later hunters found the wife near death still at the vehicle, but the husband, who had tried to hike out for help, still hasn’t been found to this day. A simple phone call before they started, and periodic scheduled calls throughout their journey, and this tragedy would have been nothing more than a much laughed over family memory.
I can’t think of one instance where either a cell phone or a satellite radio (providing they are working, which should be checked before departure) didn’t provide immediate contact with any of my employees on the road. Even with the no cell phone while driving policy (if you do not have hands free or Bluetooth), employees can eventually find a place to pull over and call back to check in.
We have a departure, arrival and a two hour call in policy that has strict disciplinary consequences if not followed, and tracking these is the number one responsibility of the dispatcher on duty.
You wouldn’t send your teenage son or daughter on a journey without accountability to check in and let you know where they are and you need to have the same attitude with your employees.
This winter is shaping up to be a busy season and it can be difficult to stay safety minded in the midst of all the stress and exhaustion. Plan now for a safe season later!
Prep your vehicles, train your people, and take your journey management system seriously.
No matter what the bottom line looks like in the spring, success involves bringing everyone safely home at the end of it all.

David Phibbs is the president of Alpha Safety Ltd. and Alpha Training Solutions.
For more information on this article or their services, contact 1-888-413-3477, 250-787-9315 or www.alphasafety.net.

People from the streets watched on in horror almost 100 women, some as young as 13 years of age, flung themselves burning out of the ninth floor windows of the overcrowded Triangle Shirtwaist Factory.
It was 1911 in New York City, USA, and the immigrant employees hired to work long hours making…well, shirtwaists, were being incinerated to death in a raging fire.
Fire hoses in place for just such an incident had no water supply; the elevators were burned out; the fire escape on the ninth floor had buckled and fallen from the heat, taking screaming victims with it; doors to other floors were locked as per company policy.
The fire brigade ladders only reached to the sixth floor, and the rescuers looked on helplessly as flaming bodies continued leaping from the smoke filled windows.
This is a true story I read about recently in the book ‘501 Most Devastating Disasters’, which chronicles world-wide natural and man-made disasters. The one thing that clearly stood out to me in almost every case – at great cost to human life – was how prone we are to setting safety regulations in place only after a disaster happens.
The above story resulted in the death of 140 people and caused new legislation improving fire, safety and building codes. This is reactive safety at its’ finest, and while the safety precautions set in place afterwards were very good, what stopped them from being implemented before the incident happened?

I wonder how many times these tragedies almost happened, before they actually happened. How many times someone had a ‘whew, that was close’ moment, but left it unreported. Or did report it, and was ignored.
Of the 48 industrial and engineering disasters portrayed over the last century, more than 45,000 people lost their lives and many more were seriously injured. Today in India alone, 50,000 people still die of work related accidents each year.
We are fortunate to live in a society that encourages a proactive safety environment through near miss reporting.  A near miss is an unplanned event that did not result in injury, illness, or damage – but had the potential to do so. Only a fortunate break in the chain of events prevented the accident from occurring.
In terms of human lives and property damage, near misses are invaluable, zero-cost tools that can capture sufficient data for determining the root cause and contributing factors. This in turn allows for changes to be implemented that can prevent an accident from taking place… before it happens instead of after!
When near miss reporting is encouraged and acted on, the majority of accidents in the workplace can be prevented before they happen. When the next history book on the ‘most devastating disasters’ is written, we don’t want it to portray a preventable mistake made by our company, or to list our coworkers among the dead.
We can learn how to prevent accidents before they happen, if we choose a proactive approach to safety.
David Phibbs is the president of Alpha Safety Ltd. and Alpha Training Solutions.
For more information on this article or their services, contact 1-888-413-3477, 250-787-9315 or www.alphasafety.net.

One of the most challenging aspects of running a successful safety program is the reporting of near misses and incidents.
Having run my own business for many years, I have come to find that most near misses, and even many incidents, are never reported. This has shown me loud and clear that the majority of people feel that honesty doesn’t pay. The challenge for me as an employer is to change this mind set in my employees. Besides initiating an incentives program, which can be expensive and complex to administer as well as having only limited success, begs the question, what options do I have?
I really believe it comes down to relationship.
Picture a young boy playing baseball with his friends. He winds up and throws an underhand whiz-ball so fast that the catcher misses, and the balls slams with an awesome bang into the side of grumpy old Mr. Wilsons’ car – the boys look at each other and scatter. They know what to expect, and fear overrides any sense of ownership to the incident!
Now take that same scenario, but this time it is the coach’s car – the coach that sticks with them come fair weather or foul, miserable loss or triumphant victory. The coach that gives them a reassuring squeeze on the shoulder when they are nervous, and sidelines them without hesitation when they get out of line. Respect. It’s accountability with fairness, admiration and affection.
Their first instinct may be to run, but they won’t get far. Their hearts won’t let them. It is really hard to be dishonest with someone who sees you as a person worth his or her time and respect. The boys would be nervous, but they would fess up. And they would know that while there would be some kind of consequence, it would be fair and that in the end, their coach would admire their honesty over any loss he felt over the damage their carelessness had caused.
I have a great respect for any employee that confesses to a near miss or incident when I know they could have gotten away with it. It shows they trust me enough to place themselves in a vulnerable position where they could be punished, humiliated and even fired.
I have encountered many situations where an employees’ carelessness, bad judgment or lack of attention has cost me considerable money and headache and the temptation is certainly there to react with disgust and anger.
This is especially true when their fear or embarrassment causes them to act like it was no big deal. However, just as it is difficult for the perpetrator to be dishonest with someone who genuinely values them, it is also difficult for the victim (or so it can feel at times) to dismiss someone that they value and have invested time and effort into. You want to believe the best in them.
Relational people always view the person as more important than the problem and this creates a culture of security. How secure do your employees feel?
Our reactions as employers and managers can either invite honest reporting, or be a huge deterrent.
The idea is not to punish people for near misses or accidents, but to learn from them so they are not repeated. This seems reasonable enough until you are in the heat of the moment and someone’s carelessness causes you a considerable loss.
In moments like this retribution seems fair enough, and even reasonable! To fire them on the spot, yell, threaten, or quietly show contempt are emotional responses that can be very tempting to unleash on your employee – but at what cost?
When there is a significant increase in unreported near misses and incidences, it is always a red flag to me that there is a lack of relationship and trust between employees and management.
This isn’t to say that there is never a time when firing an employee is the only responsible course of action. We have a strict drug and alcohol policy, and if it is violated the employment is terminated. Some things are not worth the risk of a second chance.
However, I am always careful to allow the person a chance to explain, apologize, defend, or whatever may be the case. If they had voluntarily come clean, or confessed when confronted, I always express appreciation for their honesty. Most of all, I have allowed them to leave with as much dignity and self respect as possible. You can be sure others are watching!
As a business owner, manager or supervisor, I am sure you have wrestled with the fine balance between accountability and reward in regards to reporting just as I have. You have probably tried many different approaches with varying success or failure, and have maybe even given up on it and let it slide.
If this is the case, perhaps you need to ask yourself whether your employees view you as grumpy old Mr. Wilson who only inspires fear, or more like the coach who has won their trust and respect!
We need to make sure that honesty DOES pay!
David Phibbs is the president of Alpha Safety Ltd. and Alpha Training Solutions.
For more information on this article or their services, contact 1-888-413-3477, 250-787-9315 or www.alphasafety.net.

In considering the subject of safety, one must consider the audience. Recently while visiting an oil company client, I noticed a copy of the NW Business News sitting on a coffee table in the reception area.
It reminded me of the fact that the average reader of this magazine is probably not the front-line worker, but rather service providers, sales people, suppliers, managers and CEO’s.  The most unlikely person to read this safety article would be the very one who constantly faces the most hazards in the workplace, which is why I have geared all of these safety articles more towards managers, CEO’s and people of great influence.
If you are reading this, you are probably someone with a certain amount of authority or influence, either in the area of safety, or as a manager, or perhaps as an entrepreneur. In that case you are also someone with influence.
The interesting thing about someone with influence is that they can affect the well being of people far outside of themselves.
So what does climate change have to do with safety? Well, besides the litany of side effects said to be caused by global warming, I would like to draw some parallels. The earth’s climate is caused by many factors that we have a vague or limited understanding of, but mostly, we just enjoy or endure the effects of these factors. Forces beyond our control regulate our seasons and throw in unexpected twists and turns like drought, storms and fog. We observe the signs and regulate our lives around the predictability of the seasons and the unexpectedness of the weather.
We listen to the experts, look at the sky, consider our options and decide how to eliminate the risks.
Different geographic locations have different climates, and within these larger climates are smaller microclimates. The safety climate of a country or geographic location can also seem like it is caused by vaguely understood forces beyond our control – forces such as government agencies and safety associations. These organizations carry the promise of ‘good weather’ brought about by their regulations, training and compliance standards.
We listen to the experts, read articles, take training, organize safety committees, submit to audits, and based on the accumulated advice we receive, eliminate the risks as much as possible.
The more stable and temperate the climate, the better the conditions for life. The more stable and practical the safety climate, the better conditions are for a safe work environment as well.  As large bodies of water and tall mountains affect weather patterns, so people of influence affect safety through their attitude and actions.
It has long been known that safety culture spreads from the top down, and just like pollution is accused of poisoning our atmosphere, a careless attitude in upper management towards safety can poison the safety (climate) or culture of a company.
As CEO of a mid-sized business, the biggest challenge I have is in recognizing the impact my attitude has on others. In fact, at times I don’t feel any more qualified than my front-line employees in creating a safe culture at work.
This is a feeling I need to shake, because if I am not aware of how my attitude, actions and words are impacting the people I am responsible for, I will be careless and have a negative influence on how they view their own personal safety. While I may not have the power to change the safety climate of a country, I certainly can bring change to my own company and possibly even my community.
We are fortunate to live in these days in a country where the safety climate is continually improving. Canada is known as one of the safest countries in the world, and even in the last decade has seen unprecedented growth in the value placed on human life.  In part this is because of the large ‘weather systems’, or governing bodies bringing regulations and enforcement, but it is also due to CEO’s, managers and those in the safety industry influencing their own microclimates through a positive safety attitude.
It is exciting coming to the realization that I can affect the safety, health and even the bottom line of my company simply by maintaining an attitude of awareness and respect for safety, and a genuine concern for people.
As powerful influencers in the arena of the workplace, let’s step up to the plate and create positive changes to our safety cultures by first guarding our attitudes.
In the natural world we are still just beginning to learn ways to positively affect climate change, but in the safety world man has many opportunities to bring positive change to the safety climate of their company, community and nation.
David Phibbs is the president of Alpha Safety Ltd. and Alpha Training Solutions.
For more information on this article or their services, contact 1-888-413-3477, 250-787-9315 or www.alphasafety.net.

General Dwight Eisenhower was the Allied Commander in the UK while preparing for the invasion of Europe across the English Channel. He had a favorite quote from a WW1 German Field Marshall, “No plan survives first contact with the enemy”, which inspired him to say “Plans are nothing – planning is everything.”
It sounds like a contradiction, but it actually reveals a fatal flaw when it comes to our safety programs. Why? Because nothing ever goes according to plan.
Retired army general Wesley K. Clarke noted, “There are only two kinds of plans – plans that might work and plans that won’t work. There is no such thing as the perfect plan”. You have to take a plan that might work, and make it work.
There are strong parallels between preparing for war and preparing for safety, as both involve people on the front lines dealing with dangerous and often unforeseen circumstances.
A plan is based upon a predetermined problem. Planning is fluid, flexible, pliable and adaptable. Planning includes training, knowledge, experience, and strategizing based upon sound principles.
Principles never change while techniques and the way we do things change all the time. For example, in first aid the ‘priority action’ approach teaches that you deal with the most important (life threatening) things first, and is a principle that never changes. However, the techniques used in the priority action approach change as we gather new knowledge and are in different situations.
Yes we make our plans, but as situations arise, we must be able to adapt almost instantly.
Having worked for years as a paramedic, this truth has been really brought home to me. No matter what situation we anticipated on the way to the scene, there were always curveballs that disrupted our plans. No one can ever predict exactly what will happen.
As paramedics, we had the freedom to change our methods and decisions while still holding true to the mandates of the priority action approach.
We were allowed to call the shots as to what resources were called in, whether it was helicopter, fire truck, jaws-of-life, or a combination of them all. The dispatcher never refused our requests if they were at all able to accommodate them, because they knew from experience that only the people on the front lines really know what is needed in a crisis situation.
Plans are clear and simple. Real life situations are messy.
“Successful generals make plans to fit circumstances, but do not try to create circumstances to fit plans,” declared World War II General George S. Patton Jr.
Once a plan is set in place there is a danger that you will become inflexible and try to stick to your plan no matter what. Sometimes it’s wiser to consider other options.
A good example is the recent Tsunami and resulting nuclear crisis in Japan, the ‘perfect storm’ by anyone’s standards. The ‘plan’ called for workers to be evacuated when a certain minimum level of radiation exposure was reached.
However, in light of what the cost would be to the environment and human life if the nuclear plants were abandoned, a decision was made to increase the minimum exposure allowed.
Decisions exist only in the present, and the situation itself often determines the best strategy.
“However beautiful the strategy, you should occasionally look at the results. The results matter,” Winston Churchill once said.
David Phibbs is the president of Alpha Safety Ltd. and Alpha Training Solutions.

For more information on this article or their services, contact 1-888-413-3477, 250-787-9315 or www.alphasafety.net.

We live in a great country that values life and constantly strives for higher standards of living.

Our governments are founded on principles of fairness and justice for all, and the people who govern us are constantly challenged to stand on these principles through free speech, uncensored media, law and the free vote of all citizens. Ok, you’re thinking. So what does that have to do with the price of rice in China? Or with safety enforcement for that matter? Well, as it so happens, quite a bit! Safety enforcement is also a government body, subject to the larger government, and therefore accountable to the same principles of justice and fairness for all. They work for us to regulate and enforce standards of safety that eliminate reckless and even careless endangerment of human life. Safety enforcement has allowed an amazing culture of safety to build in even the most remote pockets of red-necked resistance – and yes I am referring to the Western Canadian North, Strong and Free!

I have worked hard to build relationships and respect with leaders in safety enforcement because I recognize the value of their existence. I need the constant pressure of audits, inspections and consequences to keep making good decisions when it comes to the choices that I face everyday in my business. It is too easy to get caught up in the stresses of responsibility to the bottom line, and to downplay the vulnerabilities of my individual employees. I may grumble at times about the never-ending growth of safety enforcement rules and regulations, just as I do about government politics at times, but I know where we would be without safety enforcement at all.

It would not be a pretty picture. However, like anything else, an organization is only as good as its people. So what do you do when faced with a bad apple? If you have been in business for any length of time, I am sure you know exactly what I am referring to. Individuals wield great amounts of power over the average employer when it comes to safety enforcement. Whether it was someone on a power trip, with a personal agenda, a lack of good judgment, or just having a bad day, you have most likely been burned a time or two. When faced with an unreasonable or unjust ruling, especially when it attacks your reputation as a company and causes financial loss, what options do you have? Having recently faced just such an injustice at our training school, I have done much soul searching on this subject.

Once I had come to terms with my internal raging against the dastardly betrayal (so it felt) of a once highly respected safety enforcement body, I was able to calmly (ok, somewhat calmly) consider my options. First of all, I needed to take a deep breath and realize that the situation was not hopeless. As a citizen of this great country, I was powerful! I had free speech, uncensored media, the law and free vote on my side. I exercised my right to free speech by carefully crafting a detailed email of my perspective on the whole matter – I say crafted, as it took several editing sessions to tone down the original content of my first draft. Once I had shot that off into cyberspace, I followed it up with a very strategic phone call to high places within the safety enforcement leadership, to see what sort of impact my carefully crafted email had made – as it turned out, not very much. This precipitated another bout of internal raging and soul searching.

Should I just turn the other cheek and let it go, licking my wounds and going on as best I could? But wait a minute! I was a person empowered by my government, to hold them accountable to justice and fairness for all! I still had several more options before me… including uncensored media, the law and free vote. I briefly considered submitting an article to the local paper and other affiliated publishing, but decided that for my purposes that would be a last resort. Could get messy, although if all else failed… I was willing to go there. The ombudsman? I had found them very helpful in the past for similar situations. Our MLA? That would certainly exercise the authority of my free vote.

As it turns out, the decision was taken out of my hands by a larger corporation who was also affected by this incident, and this particular case will be tried in a court of law. I feel relieved that the burden of responsibility was lifted off my shoulders this time, but wanted to share my journey through the process. I still need the governing body of safety enforcement to keep me accountable. What I have also come to realize is that the governing body of safety enforcement also needs me to keep them accountable. We need to work together as a team, and this is not a soft, fuzzy statement, but a practical need that involves hard confrontations as well as goodwill and co-operation.

Meaningful change requires strong convictions and courage. There is a change needed in the relationship between the safety enforcement government and the people they work for – the workers and employers of Canada. Let us be the ones that have the conviction and courage to insist that safety be planned, implemented, encouraged and enforced with fairness and justice for all, not at the whim or misjudgment of individuals.

David Phibbs is the president of Alpha Safety Ltd. and Alpha Training Solutions. For more information on this article or their services, contact 1-888-413-3477, 250-787-9315 or www.alphasafety.net.

Are we really entitled to a risk free environment?
Risk used to be an accepted way of life.  In fact, the more you were willing to risk, the greater the opportunity for success. This land was settled by pioneers facing tremendous risks just to surviving and they accepted this challenge in exchange for the freedom to live as they chose.
We are conditioned to viewing risk as a negative word. Somehow we feel we are entitled to an insulated, protected world where risk has been defeated by government laws, safety programs and insurance policies.
There is no progress without some kind of risk, whether monetary as in the case of investments, emotional as in regard to relationships, or physical when the job requires it.
Knowledge can be a double-edged sword when it comes to the dangers we constantly face in our everyday and work lives. It can help us manage risk in a healthy way, or it can cause unhealthy fears about our environment.
Howard Hughes is an extreme example of this – his phobia of germs drove him to live in a he could control the source of his fear. Sure he wasn’t going to catch a disease, but the fear of germs took away more freedom from his life than most diseases would. We may laugh at this story, or feel pity, but how much does fear have control over our own lives? Are we slowly moving in the same direction, losing our freedoms to the insulated bubble of a risk free environment?
Our attitude towards risk is affected by the way we view life. What makes life valuable? To some people it means living as long as possible, to others, succeeding no matter what the cost. There are also those that view life as a great adventure, where risk is actually pursued!
In countries where there is a lot of war and poverty, many adopt a fatalistic attitude where they feel helpless to protect themselves or change their environment. This leads to carelessness with their own and others lives.
While visiting Israel a short time ago, I had a conversation with a friend who shared his experience of what it was like living under the constant threat of attack. He said that when a missile attack begins, most people head quickly to the bomb shelters to wait in relative safety and only come out after the bombardment is over.
However, he also noted that there were some people who instead of running to the bomb shelters, headed up to the rooftops. Their view of life was one of ‘whatever will be, will be’. If it was their time to go, there was nothing they could do about it so they might as well enjoy the show.
We can be thankful that the prevailing attitude in North America is that we can do something about the risk factor.
Somewhere between the two extremes of fatalism and paranoia lies an area called risk management.
Risk management is the process of measuring or assessing risk, and then developing strategies to manage the risk.
As employers we set certain standards, rules and regulations in place to reduce unnecessary risks for employees, according to the governments’ and our own ideas of what unnecessary risks are. The difficulty is in finding the balance between eliminating the unnecessary, and allowing the reasonable, so that there is still freedom for progress and growth. Then there is the challenge of your employees buying in to your perspective on risk. I mentioned a few of the different views people have on the value of life and the effect this has on their attitude towards risk. You can see how someone who values success at any cost would struggle a lot more with a strict safety program than someone whose main focus is a long and healthy retirement.
Managing risk should enable companies to become more stable and profitable in the long run. It should allow people the freedom to make good choices about their behavior and actions in regards to safety, and to be held accountable when they don’t.
Responsibility needs to be rewarded and in the business world this equates to profit. Risk management is not sustainable if a company cannot grow and compete while complying with governing laws.
Neither can employees be successful if the governing laws of their employers impede their ability to take reasonable risks for the sake of progress.
A good example of this is if the speed limit was reduced to 30kms/hr. This would drastically reduce vehicle accidents and fatalities, but would be totally impractical for economic reasons.
I think we can all agree that there is no such thing as a risk free environment.

David Phibbs is the president of Alpha Safety Ltd. and Alpha Training Solutions.
For more information on this article or their services, contact 1-888-413-3477, 250-787-9315 or www.alphasafety.net.

Holistic: We are used to hearing this word associated with naturopathic medicine, health food stores and yoga, but you probably aren’t aware how aptly this word applies to safety in the workplace as well.

The definition of holistic is emphasizing the importance of the whole and the interdependence of its parts.

Physical safety is very objective and tends to be the focus of our analysis when designing safety programs. However, if we don’t recognize how emotions affect behavior, we are creating huge opportunities for human error.

We need to incorporate a holistic approach towards safety in the workplace by taking into consideration how a person’s emotional state can affect their ability to concentrate and perform well on the job.

Considering a person’s emotional wellbeing can be a tricky subject. It’s an area that most of us avoid as much as possible as it often brings more than we bargained for! It is a lot easier to leave that messy stuff to counselors, and just deal with the straightforward issues that we understand and have some control over.

People’s emotions are an integral part of their personal lives and self worth, which is why it can be so intimidating for an employer or supervisor to go there. I am not suggesting that we need to become counselors, or to be the answer for an employees’ emotional wellbeing. We just need to be aware of this dynamic in regards to safety and to build this awareness into our safety culture.

Outer controls are good and necessary but do not deal with the inner person where human error springs from.

We should all be familiar with the phrase ‘the root cause’ when it comes to accident reports. If not, it simply means the origin of the problem; identifying the root cause of the problem, rather than simply addressing the symptoms.

The first question that the Canadian Center for Occupational Health and Safety suggests when reviewing an accident is, “Was the worker distracted? If yes, why was the worker distracted?”

As a long-standing employer, I am still amazed how often the root cause of incidents and accidents are caused by emotional distress. Anger, fear, sadness, pain, depression and insecurity are some common negative emotions. How do these tie in to safety? Our emotions demand our attention, which causes us to lose focus on our work.

If we are angry, we are thinking about what is making us angry, instead of the task at hand. We also tend to move more aggressively then we normally would and our ability to be aware of danger is reduced.

Fear causes us to react unnaturally to situations – we often become paralyzed in our thinking, or we overreact in our behavior.

Sadness or emotional pain of any kind can lead to substance abuse, where a person will go to any lengths to alleviate the pain they are feeling.

Insecurity stops people from asking questions, making good judgment calls in situations where confidence is called for, and being able to say no when asked to do something they don’t feel is safe.

As employers, we need to learn to recognize when negative emotions are affecting our employees at work, and to have protocols in place that limit the risks in these situations. Often, feeling understood and supported may very well be the only remedy your worker needs to get back to their job feeling settled and focused.

If the troubled employee refuses to acknowledge that there is an issue, or is not comfortable talking to you, perhaps there is another supervisor or co-worker they respect whom they would be able to open up to.

If you suspect that your employee is going to be a danger to themselves or others, or is plagued by constant and debilitating emotional stress, you are in a position of responsibility towards that employee. It is much better to be proactive and plan ahead for these situations than turn a blind eye and just hope for the best.

It is important as employers that we provide a safe workplace that recognizes and values the whole person, not just physical safety.

Google successful companies (including Google itself!), and you will find that their success is attributed in a large part to the lengths they go to incorporate a culture that embraces the whole person. They address emotional needs before they become problems.

Happy, fulfilled and inspired people make the safest and most productive workers.

There are many resources available for helping people who are experiencing emotional distress, besides just a listening ear. Counselors, doctors, recovery centers and even chaplains are increasingly being called upon in the workplace to help equip employees with life skills they are lacking.

If you or your supervisors are not naturally empathetic, or don’t feel comfortable discussing emotional issues, there are many types of workshops and books on this subject. Understanding emotional responses and knowing how to diffuse them are critical skills and can be learned.

The holistic approach to safety does not replace our current safety programs, it simply expands them to include an awareness of what is often at the root of safety issues in the workplace – our emotional well being.

David Phibbs is the president of Alpha Safety Ltd. and Alpha Training Solutions.

For more information on this article or their services, contact 1-888-413-3477, 250-787-9315 or www.alphasafety.net.

The five senses of the human body are the foundation of every safety program. Think of your five senses – seeing, hearing, feeling, smelling and tasting.

Every aspect of safety relies on these senses to recognize and respond to danger. If any one is impaired, your safety is compromised.
We use our sight to read warning signs, labels, stickers and literature. Sight also allows us to identify colors; red for danger, yellow for caution, and so on. Symbols as well were created for our sense of sight, to indicate everything from poison to radiation to explosives.
Of course, it goes without saying that sight also warns us of what is coming and gives us time to react. It is usually the first sense to pick up on anything, as we can see further (unless our vision is restricted) and process what we are seeing faster than any of our other senses. Every safety program should be designed to use and protect our sense of sight for first-line defense.
Horns and whistles were created for our sense of hearing (as well as ‘fore’ on the golf course!). Vehicles and machinery will often produce unusual sounds that will clue us in to a malfunction before a breakdown occurs, and shouts of alarm always grab our attention and stir up our adrenalin. Hearing really complements our sight, as it can warn us of dangers that are not visible, with plenty of time to respond. Its use and protection should be valued right behind sight in our safety programs.
Touch – how many of us learned what ‘hot!’ meant by burning our fingers on a stove? It triggers our fastest reflexive actions, which makes sense when you consider that if you are close enough to feel danger, there probably isn’t a lot of time left to react…
It can pick up vibrations that your sight or hearing cannot, and can also make you aware of pressure and temperature. Touch, while important, should be a secondary line of defense.
The best way touch can protect us is through feeling pain.
Ouch! How can pain be good?
Bee stings, stubbed toes, cuts, burns and breaks all scream for attention through pain. They demand that we do something about it. Move away from the hornets’ nest, remove the tripping obstacle, stop the bleeding, cool the burn, immobilize the break… So you can see that the sense of touch and pain are very relevant to safety.
Our sense of smell in the workplace can pick up on dangers such as melting plastics in malfunctioning electronics or smoke from fires. The smell of rotten eggs is commonly known as an H2S gas warning as well, but once again, we want to have controls and warnings in place that use our sight and hearing as well, such as lights and bells. H2S can be lethal at very few parts per million, so by the time your sense of smell picks it up, it can be too late. Also, when the concentration of H2S gas is too high, it actually knocks out your sense of smell, so that’s not too helpful!
Moving on, our sense of taste is our weakest sense, and is closely linked to smell. In fact, people who have no sense of smell cannot taste flavors. Taste would mostly be for protection against ingested poisons, but also against tainted or spoiled foods and certain food allergies such as peanut butter, which can be deadly.
The ultimate last line of defense your body has is your sense of taste. Once you swallow, that is the end of your voluntary defense system.
Although having all five senses working well gives you the widest margin of safety, there are many helpful aides that can compensate for a lack of poor vision, hearing loss, etc. Our bodies themselves enhance our other senses to make up for a lack in one.
However, we need to be aware that if the sun is in our eyes, nose is stuffed up, earplugs are in, or gloves are on, these all impair our ability to sense danger. We need to compensate by slowing down and being more aware of our surroundings and what is going on.
There is one other less commonly known sense, which is simply known as the sixth sense. You cannot attribute it to a particular part of your physical body, but it is scientifically debated and is experienced by most everyone at some point in their lives. Some call it premonition or intuition, others a supernatural warning, while others believe your subconscious picks up on subtle danger signals that your emotions expose as an ominous feeling.
Whatever the case may be, the feeling inside that something is not quite right, a warning or sense of danger can save your life.
We need to pay attention to and trust what our bodies are saying to us.
Here is food for thought: the ability to incorporate all of our senses logically into our safety programs produces a comprehensive seventh sense – COMMON SENSE!
It is most often to be found in older, experienced workers (so they say), and this may be a good thing, considering that all the other senses diminish with age!

David Phibbs is the president of Alpha Safety Ltd. and Alpha Training Solutions.
For more information on this article or their services, contact 1-888-413-3477, 250-787-9315 or www.alphasafety.net.