Daily Safety Focus

Leading with Safety

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Daily Safety Focus August Daily Safety Topics August 2 – You’re the loser August 3 – Safety appeal August 4 – A word about safety August 5 – What is safety August 6 – No gain without pain August 9 - The individual’s responsibility August 10 – Safety is up to you August 11 – Golden rule for safety August 12 - The art of getting along August 13 - Think August 16 – Don’t kick the habit August 17 - Stay on guard August 18 - A product to produce August 19 – Hurry up can hurt August 20 – A close look at close calls August 23 - On your own time August 24 - Safety attitude August 25 - Participate in safety August 26 - Think safety August 27 - Cuts and lacerations August 30 - It works when you use it August 31 - Avoiding vehicle accidents

Leading with Safety

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Daily Safety Focus You’re the loser

August 2

Cost of living, inflation, and taxes—these are the topics we are all concerned about. They’re topics that creep into every conversation at home and at work because they deal with money. But it is funny how many people express concern over living costs and then ignore a very important factor in keeping costs at a minimum. I’m talking about safety. If you think that safety doesn’t have much to do with the cost of living you’d better listen to this: On the job accidents cost the US economy about 3.4 Million dollars every hour of every workday. The people who compile these statistics go on to say that this adds up to 6.8 Billion dollars per year. The total includes 1.5 Billion dollars in lost wages, 3.8 Billion dollars in lost production, and 1.5 Billion dollars in medical expenses and that is just the measurable part of the costs. This is a substantial drain on the economy and we all pay for it in our rolls as taxpayers, wage earners and consumers. But each of us as an individual is a big loser when were injured. This is why safety should be important to cost-conscious people. It’s not the only reason for being safe, however it may be the only reason some people understand. Safety is part of doing a good job. You can’t get hurt and still do a good job. When an injury occurs, there’s something wrong, and the injured person is the first to find out about it. That’s in the form of pain and suffering. You might ask, if this is true, then why do some people ignore safety rules? There are many good answers to that, but we’d all have to be psychiatrists to understand them. However there are some that are quite obvious. Many people are likely to break safety rules that they consider unimportant or contrary to their philosophy of life. This might be based on an overinflated sense of self-importance. People who disregard safety rules may also be reckless both on and off the job. They’re confident that accidents always happen to the other guy. They have manufactured a false sense of security.

Leading with Safety

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Daily Safety Focus As previously noted, there are many good reasons for being safe, but it all narrows down to just one—you. You either play it safe or trust your luck. There is no in between. You either make safety a part of your job or you become a chance taker. A chance taker’s working career can be very short. Hazards exist in many forms. We attempt to keep them at a minimum around here and our goal is to send you home in good condition at the end of each workday. However we can only do it with your cooperation. You are important to this job or you wouldn’t be here, you’re also important to your family and your community. So don’t be a loser. Treat safety with the respect it deserves. When you lose at the game of chance taking, you lose BIG.

Leading with Safety

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Daily Safety Focus Safety Appeal

August 3

We all have a natural tendency to want to be safe. Put another way, psychologists say that normal individuals possess certain desires through which safety becomes appealing. These desires include: Avoiding personal injury Avoiding personal loss Reward seeking Striving for leadership Excelling Preventing injuries to others Avoiding making an unfavorable impression Avoiding punishment It’s easy to recognize that all of these things do have safety appeal. However, let’s take a look at two of the more obvious ones, the desire to avoid personal injury and the desire to avoid personal loss. Personal injury and personal loss are things we all want to escape, but many of us do little on our own to help avoid accidents that cause them. There are things that can be done on the job to help prevent painful incidents, particularly those caused by unsafe acts. First of all, no matter how good you are at your job or how long you you’ve been around, don’t take safety for granted. Always keep you’re your personal guard up. When you let it down, you are exposing yourself and others to accidents. Second, take time to be safe. Don’t’ take a chance that an accident won’t happen this time. Taking shortcuts or not taking time to use a safety device is a quick way to get involved in an accident. A third way to avoid unsafe acts is to form good working habits. There is a right way to do every job, and the right way is always the safe way. Accept the fact that accidents don’t just happen to the other guy, or at least be realistic enough to acknowledge that you are the other guy to everyone but you. The awful truth is that accidents play no favorites. They can happen to anyone. Take a few minutes to look ahead. Try to visualize your name on an accident report. It could happen, but it doesn’t have to if you take the simple precautions we have outlined.

Leading with Safety

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Daily Safety Focus The people who compiled the list of personal desires that can be used to promote safety also suggested that there are certain character traits that can be stimulated to make us safety conscious. Some of these traits are selfishness, ambition, compassion, pride, and a sense of responsibility, loyalty, imagination, and patriotism. I guess we all have to be a little elfish, at least to the extent of wanting to keep ourselves safe, but certainly not at the expense of others. A sense of responsibility to our families should certainly be an incentive to do our utmost to stay safe and do a good job. Pride and ambition, when applied in the right way are also commendable traits. Pride in our work and a desire to get ahead fit in well with being safe. We can’t keep a job and get the things we want out of life if we’re injured and unable to work. Our safety program depends on everyone, so be sure to hold up your end of the effort. Be observant. Regularly attempt to spot hazards in advance. Anyone can spot a hazard after it has injured someone.

Leading with Safety

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Daily Safety Focus A word about safety

August 4

You won’t find the meaning of “SAFETY” tucked away within that six-letter word. The meaning you associate with the word was shaped and continues to be shaped by many things: Your experience; the work you do; the thoughts you think; the way tour parents used the word during your childhood; your outlook on life and on your fellow man. That’s the way it is with all words. Safety, for most people is a “blah” word – drab and colorless. A hohummer of a word that turns most people off, a word that deepens apathy instead of spurring action. The word safety doesn’t jab the mind, it merely nudges it or curls around it and floats on past. Safety just doesn’t have the zing of “touchdown”, or the flavor of a “sirloin” or the appeal of a blond nor the color of autumn. There is no magic in the sight or sound of the word, nothing that mystifies, stirs excitement, cranks up the curiosity, jumps the pulse rate, or opens the adrenal glands. Ironically, the many things that safety programs are pitted against are couched in terms that do grab us: “Pain”, “Laceration”, “Mutilation”, “Paralysis”, “Crippling”, and “Death”. But the things that safety works for should also grab us whenever we read and hear the word: We should SEE people driving happily (and defensively). We should SENSE the aliveness and able-bodied. We should THINK of unimpaired earning power. We should FEEL the joys of keen appetite and a deep night’s sleep. We should REFLECT upon the miracles of vision, hearing, touch and smell. It’s all there, invisible but part of that grab, two-bit, ho-hummed word – safety. If we develop the sense of all those positive meanings, then we can put all our power into the perpetual business of personal safety and the safety of our fellow workers.

Leading with Safety

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Daily Safety Focus What is Safety

August 5

What is safety? “Is it a man with a title of safety inspector walking around saying do this, don’t do that, wear your hard hat”? What does safety really mean? Is it freedom from danger, injury or damage, or is it protection from harm? The answer is yes to all of these things, but it is much, much more. Safety is a way of life, and the price is cheap compared to the dividends it pays. When we say it is a way of life, we mean it is not something you should have to stop and think about before starting a job. It should be as familiar to as breathing. It should be a built in part of every living moment. Strangely enough, most of us make it a part of our existence most of the time—for instance, when we look in all directions before crossing a heavily traveled street. However, to ensure this feeling of security, we have to pay the price and we repeat the price is cheap. Is it what we have heard for years—practice safety! This means that until we have made safety a part of every move we make in our lives, we need to think…think…think! In any and everything you do, force yourself to think how will I do it so that neither anyone else nor myself will suffer physical pain from a given act. Consider the hazardous occupations and the hazardous sports. When we as layman see some of these sports on television, we are in awe of the danger we feel must be present. Believe you me it is present! However you can bet your life that these people aren’t novices. You don’t put a man behind the wheel of an Indy car doing over 200 MPH and expect him to survive unless he’s had years of practice. You can be assured that safety was an integral part of that driver’s training to put him across the finish line safely. Once he has learned to drive that car, he doesn’t consciously think of the safe or unsafe way to drive in a race. To perform our various jobs safely, we must train ourselves to practice safety without having to consciously think about it. This is the gut part of safety. It takes work to do it, but you and your family and your co-workers will reap benefits if you make safety a part of everything you do.

Leading with Safety

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Daily Safety Focus No gain without pain

August 6

If you job has a lot of problems, be thankful for them. Easy jobs don’t say much. The hardest thing about milking cows is that they never stay milked. That’s true of a lot of things in life. You may even feel that way about your job. No matter how much you get done, there’s always unfinished work yet to be attended to. No matter how many problems you take care of, more are seem to crop up. It’s amazing how many people look forward to the day when they’ll be promoted to a better job with fewer problems. Whether we’re looking forward to getting a promotion or getting a ditch dug, let no one forget that solving problems is what most of us get paid for. The higher paid the job, the tougher the problems are that you must handle. Errors and accidents are often a painful experience. Everyone pays, and nobody benefits. Avoiding errors and accidents is a daily problem—a problem that can give people like you and me a chance to succeed. If we never had to handle problems, no one would know our capabilities. So don’t except yourself as an average worker. Be capable. Try to do perfect work—you’ll be amazed how good you really can be. Approach each task as you would a dangerous mine-fill or booby-trap, than anticipate where you might get hurt yourself or make a mistake. Don’t let it happen; solve the problem. In case you make an error, don’t fret. Take full responsibility, and figure out how you can prevent it next time. This too is part of solving problems— safety problems. It is the kind of dependable performance that is expected of a worker who has been around.

Leading with Safety

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Daily Safety Focus The individual’s responsibility

August 9

We are all aware of the fact that a very large percentage of the injuries that occur on the job are caused directly by the person injured. Only about tenpercent of the injuries are caused by defective equipment or other factors. These fact indicate that each individual must be primarily responsible for his or her own safety. Management and supervision are often looked upon as being responsible for safety. It is certainly a fact that without proper interest on the part of management and supervision, a safety program cannot be effective. However, the worker must realize that he or she, more that anyone else, must be responsible for his or her own safety and the safety of their coworkers. In other words a worker must be his brothers keeper. For example, a simple construction ladder can be built to the best-known safety specifications. It can be properly stored and frequently inspected for defects. However, when an individual uses it and it is not properly placed, if the footing is insecure, or if the ladder has not been properly tie off, it is entirely likely that someone will be injured. So the worker who is using the ladder must realize that he or she, personally, is the most important factor in preventing accidents. Let us bear in mind that we, as individuals, must constantly be alert to the hazards around us. If we personally cannot remove the hazard, then the hazard must be called to the attention of those in authority. If any of you have additional thought on this subject, let’s have them. Remember it takes the one hundred percent cooperation of each individual to make a job safe. Your help in preventing serious accidents on the job is needed. We really are our brothers’ keeper!

Leading with Safety

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Daily Safety Focus Safety is up to you

August 10

Each of us is responsible for his or her own safety. We can tell you and warn you, but you must be the doer. You are the one in the work area and that is where the accidents can take place unless you play it safe all the time. If you do, there will be no accidents, they just won’t happen. Workers’ mishandling their jobs causes most accidents. In other words, a worker who does things that he or she should not do or who doesn’t do things that he or she should, causes accidents. If you check through one hundred accident reports, you will find the same ratio—the person who got hurt could have prevented at least nine out of ten accidents. Usually he or she just failed to use good common sense. They did not do as well as they knew how to do, and didn’t follow the safe work practices they knew or should have known. It is easy to keep from getting hurt, but it is also easy to get hurt. In some situations, it is easy to lose a finger or a hand or even be killed. Handling a hammer the wrong way can mean a smashed finger or thumb. Cutting towards you can mean a sliced hand or possibly a more serious injury. Lack of care in placing and using a ladder can result in a broken leg or arm or even a neck. Failure to watch your walking habits can get you some nasty falls. We could continue all day with such examples, and you could too! It’s the ordinary things that cause most of the injuries. Notice that in every case, the responsibility for acting in a safe manner and avoiding injury lies with he individual. If he or she lives up to his or her own responsibility no one would get hurt. Why do people get hurt in such ways? No doubt each accident victim has a different version or excuse, but I’ll bet the real reason is nearly always the same. The poor guy just never figured out what a bad injury would do to him or her. If a fellow who fell off the ladder, breaking his leg, had figured out what it would cost in money and suffering they would have played it safe. Every injury cost money, suffering, discomfort and inconvenience. So let’s play it safe. There is no profit in accidents.

Leading with Safety

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Daily Safety Focus Golden rule for safety

August 11

Nearly everyone has heard of the golden rule. However, very few people apply it in their daily living. You may not agree when we say: “To practice the golden rule, even in small measure, makes us happy and helps us in our business, as well as in our general daily life”. Nevertheless, it is the most practical rule in the world. In serving others, we serve ourselves. People like to deal with those who believe in and practice the golden rule. Try it and see! Now, no doubt someone is already saying, “what does this have to do with safety”? If each of us would follow a golden rule pertaining to safety and actually live with this golden rule, our safety record would indeed improve. One version of the golden rule might be stated as “work as safely with others as you would have them work with you”. Another might say, I will follow the safety rules as I would have them followed. Whenever you approach safety from this angle, you are right back to our often-discussed subject of safety attitudes. A golden rule for safety is another way of developing a better mental attitude. Here are a few of the safety attitudes we need to know and live by: • An accident can always happen to me at any time, when I take a chance. • Accidents can always be prevented. • To work safely is a mark of good sense and skill. • We can always take the time to work safely. • If I always practice safety, my co-workers will follow my lead. Safety is everyone’s responsibility. It is a commandment within itself. It is based on deliberation, not upon instinct. It must be followed, whether you are at home, on the road, or at work.

Leading with Safety

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Daily Safety Focus The art of getting along

August 12

Sooner or later, man, if he is wise, discovered that life is a mixture of good days as well as bad days. Victory and defeat give and take. We have learned that it doesn’t pay to be a sensitive soul and that we need to let some things go over his head like water off a duck’s back. We have learned that everyone has burned toast for breakfast now and then and that we shouldn’t take the other fellow’s grouch too seriously. That carrying a chip on our shoulder is the easiest way to get into a fight. We learned to ignore those who agitate us into unenviable positions. We have also learned that passing the buck always turns out to be a boomerang and it never pays. We come to realize that the business or the world could run perfectly well without us. It doesn’t matter who gets the credit so long as the business operation is successful. We have all learned we are only human and that it doesn’t hurt to smile and say good morning, even if it’s raining outside. We have learned that most of the other fellows are as ambitious as we are, and they have brains that are as good if not better than our own. That hard work, not cleverness is the secret to success. We sympathize with the youngster who is just entering the industry because we remember how bewildering it was when we first started out. Most of us don’t worry if we make mistakes because experience has shown that if we always give our best, it’s usually enough. Very few men get to home plate alone and that it’s only through cooperative effort that we move on to better things. Finally we learn that bosses are not monsters trying to get the last ounce of work out of them for the least amount of pay, but are usually fine men who have succeeded through hard work and want to do the right thing. That our fellow workers are not any harder to get along with on one job than another is and that getting along is about 98 percent our own behavior.

Leading with Safety

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Daily Safety Focus Think

August 13

If you were asked to define “safety” in one word, what would be your reply? Would you define safety as alertness, Always ready for the unexpected? Would you define safety as skill, the art of being ultra-adept? Would you define safety as experience, asserting that the veteran never gets hurt? Would you define safety as cooperation, the ability to exercise patience and get along with your fellow worker? Or after deliberation, would you finally define safety by using the single word “think”? Perhaps Alertness, skill, experience and cooperation could be associated with safety, however these are subservient to the word think and must be construed as secondary definitions. A well-known business executive has made the word “think” synonymous with success, and as in other phases of industry, the application of the meaning of the word is also very necessary if we are to reduce the number of accidents and injuries. As has been so often stated, ninety percent of all accidents are attributed to unsafe acts on the part of the worker, and failure to think before acting constitutes the cause of practically all accidents in this category. A lineman doesn’t put cover-up on an energized line he is working near for the purpose of expediency, an injury is the result. The lineman had not given thought to the original purpose of the cover-up and has suffered the unfortunate consequences. Another individual, again for the sake of saving time, fails to don safety goggles for a project “that will only take a minute.” Again, injury results because of failure to think of the possible negative results. A truck driver is involved in an accident because he knew he had the right of way but failed to think that perhaps the second party involved would not recognize this established right. Many accidents can be averted if we will discipline ourselves to give full thought prior to the application of our actions. Think safety—then, act safely.

Leading with Safety

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Daily Safety Focus Don’t kick the habit

August 16

The easy way to do something right is to make it a habit since good habits make hard jobs simple. Yes, good habits may take time to develop, but they’ll work for you forever. Do you remember rushing your teeth and washing your face when you got up this morning? Probably not. You know you did it, but it is such a matter of habit that you didn’t even notice; you did it automatically, without thinking. Good habits work for us even when we’re not at our best. Unlike conscious actions, they don’t depend on how we feel or how busy we are. And habits are always more reliable tat memory. A person who makes a habit of checking his tools for burrs, cracked handles, and so forth will make sure that they are in good shape before he uses them again. Not only will he do better work, he’ll do it safely. The CDL driver who has made a habit of checking his truck before each and after every trip more than likely will same himself a lot of grief because this in itself is a safety check. At the same time he may say on an expensive repair bill. Once a habit has been firmly established, you cannot forget it nor ignore it, even if you wanted to. It becomes second nature. Now how do we go about forming good habits? The same way form bad ones—by repeating the same actions during the same situations over and over again without fail. Every time you repeat an act. You reinforce and strengthen the habit. The important thing to remember is to make no exceptions. Exceptions weaken the habit. That’s why safety rules should be followed at all times, they should be followed without any exceptions. Steady unbroken safety rules become firmly fixed and habitual. With constant repetition, they become a part of you. Let your good habits work for you. Make safety a force of habit.

Leading with Safety

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Daily Safety Focus Stay on Guard

August 17

Why do we have these brief safety talks? Why do we have to always think about safety? One of the major reasons is that in order to be safe, you have to be alert. You must be on guard at all times. By talking about safety you develop and strengthen safe work habits. One of the worst things that you can do is let your guard down by becoming preoccupied by other things. We all have personal problems that plague us to one degree or another—health, bills, the future—or perhaps preoccupation stems from illness or fatigue. Such preoccupation is a major factor in many on the job mishaps that are sometime mistakenly labeled “freak accidents.’ When you become lost in though, you are off guard. You’ve let your defenses down and are wide open for accidents. If a person is blind or deaf, they learn to compensate for their handicap. All the other senses become more alert. When you are preoccupied you are blind and deaf but you don’t know it. Your other senses don’t become more alert you--are unguarded. So how do you guard against preoccupation? How, indeed, can you detect that preoccupation has reached the point, either in yourself or other, that your easy prey to hazards or hazardous conditions? If we knew the answer to this, it would mean a major breakthrough in the field of safety. It would be nice to be able to take a reading of someone’s brain waves to see if they were lost in thought and open to an accident. But we don’t have that ability. So we do the best we can. We do this by trying to make safety something that comes naturally to all of us, even when we are not consciously thinking about it. These safe work habits will then be so strong, that even if you become preoccupied at times, your safe habits will prevent you from having an accident. Reducing the possibilities of accidents that are caused by a preoccupied mind is a matter of preventative safety we must battle daily.

Leading with Safety

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Daily Safety Focus A product to produce

August 18

Talking about safety is a good way to develop safety understanding. So, the more talking we do on this subject, the better understanding we’ll all have of it, and I’m sure it will pay off for each of us in many ways. To do something well, it takes the right attitude or state of mind. If we have the right safety attitudes, well produce a product called safety. When we’re in the right state of mind, we’re more apt to have something else that’s very important: alertness, concern, and watchfulness. I suppose vigilance would pretty much cover all three. Well safety is the product. It’s what we get back, and there are a lot of benefits that go with it such as health, happiness, peace of mind and freedom from pain and the financial costs of accidents and injuries. All these benefits go with a good safety record. Of course, you all know there is competition in everything. We’re not competing against each other or with accidents. Who wants them? We are competing against the attitudes that lead to accidents: negligence, carelessness and complacency. With new and faster equipment, there are new and faster ways of getting hurt. The equipment and the ways of being injured may have changed somewhat, but when your hurt, the pain is always the same. That’s why we want you to have proper attitudes with a great deal of alertness, concern and watchfulness to everything and everybody so we can all enjoy the benefits of this product called safety.

Leading with Safety

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Daily Safety Focus Hurry up can hurt

August 19

Sports cars that hurry over a designated driving course in competition with other cars are usually marked with racing strips. Methiolate and bandages are the racing strips people wear when they’ve hurried on the job. Even people who have never been known to do things speedily will hurry through certain activities on occasion. There are a few frequently used sayings concerning this kind of behavior such as, “Haste makes waste”, and “The hurrier I go, the behinder I get.” Another one that is more closely associated with safety on the job is, “Hurry-up can hurt.” In most instances hurrying up on the job has little to do with increased production. It usually is connected with attempting to do something the easy way, getting a tough job over and done with quickly or getting off the job as soon as possible. All of these reasons for hurrying lead to unsafe acts and injuries. The rally driver may lose it on a curve if he’s going too fast or knock down pylons if he cuts it too short on the turns. We have similar results with unwarranted hurrying and short cuts. These kind of accidents are easy to identify, however there are others resulting from being in a hurry that we should consider for a moment. For instance; • Not wearing safety glasses because the job will take only a second. • Charging through a door without regard for fellow employees’ right behind or ahead of you. • Not taking the time to properly lock out and tag equipment. • Carrying a heavy object without first planning a safe route. • Leaving oil or water on the floor for someone else to wipe up, probably with the seat of their pants. Think back to an incident when you nearly got hurt. When you review the circumstances of that near miss, There’s a good chance that hurrying was part of your difficulty. If you took a shortcut you probably realized, as most of us do sooner or later, the shortcut really didn’t save any time and wasn’t worth the risk involved. So if we try to develop a steady pace while at work, we’ll find that things go better and we can develop a productive routine that meets our safety requirements.

Leading with Safety

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Daily Safety Focus A close look at close calls

August 20

Unlike a television shootout, serious accidents cause real anguish and suffering. So real and vivid that those involved rarely forget the flow of blood, the broken limbs or the screams of pain. Any accident without injury, through, is more like the bloodless, painless fakery of television violence. Without sense or propose in the drama and therefor easy to forget. In real life however, there is danger in brushing off accidents that do no hurt, harm or damage. When they happen, we should immediately run the red flag up the pole because an injury free accident is like a one hundred and four-degree fever, a red-hot symptom that something that was unplanned, unexpected, and very wrong. Sometimes, we misdiagnose this symptom of the close call because luck or blind chance saves us from injury. So we tend to shrug off and forget the close call with a casual kind of ignorance. Moreover it is really ignorant to rely on luck for effective accident control. Only analysis and effective counteraction can forestall trouble from the little close calls before they can happen again. This list of unexplained, unplanned events warning of danger in the workplace may be endless: A stack of material sags and collapses; Someone nearby slips and nearly falls on a slick surface, bumps against a sharp object, or a ladder slips and nearly topples a worker. Learn the real lesson from close calls. They can happen again and again until they cause an injury. So report them to a supervisor immediately. You may not get a second chance to fly that warning flag signaling something’s wrong, find the cause and correct it.

Leading with Safety

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Daily Safety Focus On your own time

August 23

Safety is important not just to you and your family but to your employer as well. We encourage you to be safe and to think about safety all the time. This takes place on the job, but off the job safety is just as important. What you do on your own time is you own business, but we’re all part of a team, and it’s only natural that we’re concerned about each others welfare both on and off the job. At work your part of a safety network that extends into many areas. Here there are rules and regulations to follow. But off the job you’re on you own. You can leave your safety glasses off when remodeling your kitchen, and you can balance a ladder on a box when your painting the peak of your house and you might not hear a word out of anyone. However it takes a pretty immature person to deliberately leave safety at work. Still there are times we all get a little careless and we need to guard against those times. The highways are prime areas of concern for safety away from work. I won’t attempt to go into all the aspects of traffic safety. They’re emphasized almost everywhere. However I certainly caution you to keep a cool head while on the road. Be patient getting out of the parking lot and always watch the other driver. To some degree, most of us are do-it-yourselfers around the home, and this is where an awful lot of people get injured. You have to be careful when using ladders. Making sure your ladder is safe to use before you climb on it, and don’t over reach or climb with you feet above the second from the top rung. When using tools, pick the right tool for the job. If you have a tool in poor condition, don’t use it. Most all of us have power tools, make sure they are always properly grounded with a three prong plug or they are double insulated. The weather is something we can’t do anything about. Yet it effects our safety, so we must take precautions against it. Don’t work too long in the hot sun. This can catch up to you fast, particularly if you’ve worked hard all week at your regular job. Off the job safety should be second nature if you practice it in earnest at work. So keep an eye for hazards whether you’re on a golf course, on a boat or doing yard work. National statistics show that accidents away from work account for 70% of all deaths and 55% of all injuries to workers. (Continued) Leading with Safety

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Daily Safety Focus You are a valuable employee and each of you fits into our overall operation and the overall manpower picture in the country. Your contributions to the economy would be difficult to replace if you’re injured on or off the job. Add this to the fact you are priceless to you family and it’s easy to see why a 24 hour safety effort is necessary.

Leading with Safety

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Daily Safety Focus Safety attitude

August 24

Most of us have had some type of safety training during childhood. We we’re taught to look both ways before crossing a street and not to play with matches. As adults, we are warned by others and by the media not to smoke in bed, not to stay out in the sun too long, and not to drive while under the influence of alcohol. And yet as common as these safety rules may be, how many can truthfully say that we have not turned a light on and off with wet hands, smoked in bed, got sunburned or have driven home from a party after having one too many drinks. When employees are aware of the safety rules and disregard them anyway, we say they have an unsafe attitude. While at work you need to know all the safety rules and be able to demonstrate the safe way to do a job. But knowing every safety rule ever written will not protect you if you fail to use that knowledge daily on the job. If you have a habit of doing things the wrong way because that’s the way we were taught, the habit may be difficult to break or change, but it can be done. The next time you are about to break a safety rule, stop and think about what could happen to you, you’re co-worker or you family. Imagine the pain, inconvenience and lost time that could result. Then do the job correctly, the safe way. At first you will be slowed down a bit, but before long you will start to notice the safe way is becoming a habit. Safety will turn out to be one of the best habits you have ever had because it will decrease your chances of joining those who are disabled or killed in accidents each year. Let’s start by reviewing a few basic safety rules: • Report all accidents to your supervisor, even though they may seem minor at the time. Studying the causes of an accident point out ways in which they can be avoided in the future. • Know which types of fire extinguishers may be used safely on each class of fire. Using the wrong one can be fatal. • Use good body mechanics when lifting or moving an object. Get help when you need it and let your legs instead of your back do most of the work. • Wear eye protection when needed: there may be flying particles that can enter an eye in an instant. • Practice good housekeeping to avoid slip and falls. Are all sharp objects covered to protect against accidental injury. • Take the time to teach your co-workers, in a tactful way of course if you see then violating a safety rule. No one can say when an unsafe act or condition will result in an accident, when an accident will result in an injury, or when that injury will cause a permanent disability of even death. So don’t take chances with your life or heath; let’s resolve to work safely.

Leading with Safety

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Daily Safety Focus Participate in safety

August 25

Sometimes accidents happen because we overlook a hazardous condition. Dangerous conditions become second nature; we accept them as the norm. So we must remind ourselves to be safety conscience. This doesn’t always come naturally. If not you or me, who than commits an unsafe act? Any person can contribute to an accident’s cause by, 1) failing to do what one should do or 2) doing something wrong. What is an unsafe act? Rather than a glaring error, it can be as simple as a changing work site. To avoid the many job detours, remember the following: • Never use equipment without proper training. • Don’t operate equipment at an unsafe speed or in any other improper way. • Never remove safety devices from equipment. • Never use faulty or defective tools. You can do your part to create a safe workplace by following these hints: • Always stay alert and focused. • Report any unsafe conditions. • Promptly inform your supervisor of any injury. • Use the proper PPE as recommended. • Dress appropriately, this includes wearing appropriate shoes, boots, gloves etc. • Keep all tools in proper working condition, replace or repair any damaged tools. • Don’t leave trash or material in walkways or for someone else to clean up. • Avoid all forms of horseplay. • Avoid working under the influence of alcohol or drugs. Even some cold and allergy medications make many people sleepy. Sometimes we see our co-workers ignoring safety rules. What is our job then? In not wanting to be tattletales, we often overlook potentially dangerous practices. For example, A co-worker doesn’t wear the prescribed PPE, should you shrug it off as not your problem? If you are responsible, you will tactfully tell your coworker of your concern for his/her safety. Our responsibility to our co-workers can be evident even in the small act like cleaning up an oil spot. We might not hear cheers or applause or get a safety award, but we will know that we are doing our part to do the job safely. Then we can look into the mirror without feeling a twinge of guilt. Remember that your personal involvement in safety considers the other person as well as yourself. If we all do our part as individuals, we will benefit as a group.

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Daily Safety Focus Think safety

August 26

Care and attitude are two of the more important aspects of your job. They not only affect the way we do our job, but also have a definite relationship to your mental health. Have you ever notices how much energy you have for the things you enjoy doing, projects you are enthusiastic about. It has been proved that people who perform their jobs with an assured attitude are more safety-conscience, work more efficiently and have a healthier outlook. Safety means approaching your job with confidence, doing things the right way, the safe way, with concern for others. A safe attitude contributes to everyone’s well being. If a proper attitude is not maintained, poor job performance could result in a personal injury, inferior workmanship or damaged materials. A person who thinks safe takes the extra time to do the job correctly. Whether you participate in a sporting event or are employed in any type of industry, your job performance and the quality of your workmanship depends on your outlook. The difference between winning and losing can depend upon your attitude. A poor attitude can easily lead to an injury or accident, maybe not to your self but quite possibly to those around you. It is satisfying to know when you have done a job well. Have you ever had a bad day and felt guilty because the quality of your work was less than you are capable of? When you do an admirable job you feel good about it, everything else seems to fall into place. Your job should not be just a job-it should be an enjoyable experience. After all, you spend one-third of your life working, which enables you to support your family and take pleasure in the activities you like to do off the job. When you are enthusiastic about your job, and show concern and a positive attitude, you not only make a better employee but also become a much more appreciated individual. There is nothing as contagious as enthusiasm- if everyone makes the effort. Don’t be someone who just has a job. The proper attitude – the safe attitude- will show you care. A safe attitude can play a big role in all of our lives. By staying in the right frame of mind we can accomplish all things we attempt in a safe manner. Remember – your attitude matters.

Leading with Safety

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Daily Safety Focus Cuts and lacerations

August 27

Two of he most common types of injuries suffered on the job today are cuts and lacerations. It doesn’t take much imagination to visualize most of the sources of such injuries. Each job has its own hazards that produce these injuries. This is even true of secretaries, who can be cut by paper edges and punctured by staplers, scissors and thumbtacks.

However there are more serious injuries. Of these, perhaps the most likely to become infected is the deep puncture wound; this is even more likely than the torn edges of a laceration where antiseptic can reach and generally cleanse the wound. Let’s look at the sources of these wounds. In our industry the dangers of protruding nails, screws, staples, splinters and steel banding are present. Before climbing on poles look for the pole over for excessive splintering. When unpacking products look for sharp edges on metal parts. The edges of steel banding can make nasty cuts if not handled correctly. Hand tools such as screwdrivers, awls, saws and shinning knives are another source of puncture wounds. Many lacerations and puncture wounds can be eliminated or greatly reduced by wearing the proper gloves for the task at hand. Good common sense should prevail whenever you’re faced with a situation where a cut, laceration or puncture wound could result. Look over the situation and when in doubt ask your supervisor as to the proper method to effectively deal with any hazards where sharp edges are present. Just as important is the proper disposal of any sharp material as to not subject a fellow co-worker to an injury.

Leading with Safety

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Daily Safety Focus It works when you use it

August 30

Do you always anticipate the unexpected and protect yourself accordingly. Knowing the hazard potential for each job is very important if you, as a team member, expect to forge ahead and be productive. If one person on our team is hurt, it reduces the ability to get the job done and increases costs. Accidents are preventable if each of us accepts responsibility towards your own as well as the safety of others. One defensive tool we all have available is personal protective equipment. Just as a football player has a helmet, face guard, shoulder pads and other protective equipment, we also have similar devices. Hard hats, safety glasses that comply with federal regulations, ear plugs for those areas where high noise is prevalent (85 decibels). We have work gloves for a variety of jobs. Safety equipment manufactures have provided us with just about every type of protective device imaginable, however we still have injuries that could have been prevented if protective equipment had been worn. We have to wear the equipment in order for it to work. Particularly devastating is the loss of sight. While prosthetic limbs work reasonably well, artificial eyes cannot restore eyesight. Have you ever risked your sight by not wearing eye protection when grinding, drilling metal or using a hammer or chisel? Each time you fail to use the proper protective equipment the chance of suffering an injury increases. Think about what you have to lose. Is it worth it, what about your future? Your families future? Keep up your defenses – wear your protective equipment.

Leading with Safety

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Daily Safety Focus Avoiding vehicle accidents

August 31

They come at you from every direction. You are cruising at 65 MPH in the through lane of the interstate; traffic is moderate. All at once the guy on your left, who has held the same position for the last mile or so, decides to exit using the ramp on the right side of the highway. He doesn’t look first; he just shoots towards the ramp. What do you do? • Driver right over him • Cover your eyes and pray • Just pray Chances are, you are going to be involved in an accident that you cannot avoid. But is it an unavoidable accident? Think for a minute. What could have been done to avoid the accident? How many things could you list that you could have done to change the circumstances? The easy answer is to say the other driver shouldn’t have cut in front of you. Remember you can’t control the other drivers, but you can influence them. It is no longer enough to drive defensively. Today’s driving demands more skill, more knowledge, and more decision-making ability. Instead you must drive decisively, which mandates sufficient skill and knowledge to make the right decisions and make them at the right time. A review of all accidents will reveal that most accidents could have been avoided by taking proper actions at the right time. In this example, there are some who would drive right over him, but that surely isn’t the right answer. The following maneuvers might have prevented the accident: • You shouldn’t have been there at the same time he was. He was not only on your left for the last mile or so, but you were also on his immediate right for the same distance. You could see him better than he could see you. You should not drive close to any other vehicle for any extended period of time. You forgot the very important principle called space cushion driving. • You should have seen the off ramp before he did. You should always recognize the hazard because you are the professional. You could have slowed down just a little before you got to the ramp. • What about the ramp? Why didn’t you take it? Getting off and then coming back on takes a little time and you loose a few RPM’s but anything is better than an accident. You forgot another important driving principle, you forgot to plan an escape route. The route was there you just didn’t use it. Be honest were you really paying close attention? Did you really know that car was there? You forgot that other very important driving principle so necessary for long life: stay alert to stay alive. You are the defendant, the judge and the jury. Was that accident avoidable?

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