#2. Only mentioning safety at safety meetings.
Speaking of mistakes, last week was the first newsletter I have sent out without having my editor read it. As was politely pointed out, there were some interesting sentences in it. The opening one started with, "He we go" instead of "Here we go". Thanks to those of you with sharp eyes who noticed. Some people write in their newsletters that they have put some mistakes in purposely to see if you are paying attention. I can assure you any mistakes you find are just my humananity showing through. Thanks for understanding.
Last week we dealt with making sure people knew you were serious about safety. Today I want to discuss the importance of mentioning safety in places other than a safety meeting.
First, it is important for all leaders to support a safety meeting and attend regularly. While there, it is appropriate for them to share a few words about safety and their expectations. The common mistake leaders make is that they think just because they mentioned at a meeting that safety was never to be sacrificed that should be enough. The problem with this is that values and beliefs are tested when things are tough. It is easy to say nothing is more important than safety in the calm atmosphere of a meeting, but what do you say when a crisis occurs? When everything is behind schedule and production looks like it will fall behind, that is the time when telling people to still work safely really has an impact. Perhaps the next time you tell an employee, "I need this done today, no matter what!" You may realize there is an opportunity for misunderstanding. With that seemingly innocent sentence an employee might think incorrectly that you are suspending the safety rules. To reinforce your beliefs and to convey them to the employees you might want to say it this way instead, "I need this done today, no matter what, Safely!" The simple addition of this single word reminds them that especially now you want them to work safely. Oftentimes, effective communication is just a slight variation of what you are already doing.
I hope these thoughts are helpful to you. For those of you attending the Region Six VPPPA conference, I will be speaking on Wednesday March 5th. I will be giving the same presentation twice, one from 11:00am to Noon and the second from 1:15pm to 2:15pm. The material will be different from what I have presented at previous conferences so drop by and see what's new. We have recently made a slight revision to my book, "Mastering Safety Communication", and I will have a free copy for anyone in the class.
Have a dynamically safe day,
John Drebinger
PLEASE FORWARD THIS ISSUE TO A FRIEND!
Would you like to read previous issues? We have developed an archive page on our website where you can read any or all of the past issues. If you go to www.drebinger.com scroll down to the link that says: Dynamic Safety Meetings Report and click on it and you will be taken to an index page listing all past issues.
Please feel free to use them in any of your publications. All we ask is that you please put our contact information in the article when you use it. Also we would prefer that they
be used one at a time and not as a compilation.
If you received this from a friend and would like to subscribe just go to www.drebinger.com and fill in the subscription form.
If you want to be removed from John Drebinger’s E-Zine List
please email us at office@drebinger.com and we will remove you.
Copyright © 2003 John Drebinger
John Drebinger Presentations
13541 Christensen Rd., Galt, CA, 95632, USA
209-745-9419 or 1-800-588-9419
http://www.drebinger.com
