Quality and Productivity Improvement

by Daniel Moran, Ph.D.

Worldwide, safety champions and industry leaders strive to maximize their effectiveness on the job. I’ve noticed that no matter what industries these leaders work in, they often complain of having a similar problem: not enough time to get everything completed. Now you might think that there are many other things to discuss in a behavior-based safety newsletter, but time-management skills can certainly contribute to the overall effectiveness of a company’s safety process. When people commit to certain actions to ensure safety on the job, then those actions must be reliably completed every time, on time. And when people make such a commitment, it makes sense to remove disruptions that keep you from completing your tasks.

Terry E. McSween, Quality Safety Edge

Recently, I have seen more clearly than ever, the biggest error made by managers that often prevents them from being good leaders. Truly, I think it is an issue that affects much more than just business, but rather is one of the most significant issues in all relationships: our families, our schools, and all institutions that come to mind.

What do I consider the biggest error made by many managers? A good many of you have probably guessed, based on your own experience. It is really very simple: managers are often overly critical of almost everything done by their associates. Here in Texas we have an old saying related to the issue, “Any fool can burn down a barn, but it takes skill to build one.”

Jerry Pounds, President, International Division

Dormant beneath the surface of your BBS process are some core tools that can be utilized to enhance many of the organizational results that drive profitability. What are these core tools? They are so misleadingly simple that we sometimes overlook them.

One of the first things you learn in BBS is the value of identifying the specific at-risk behaviors that are linked to most of your injuries. Although you need to observe many practices and behaviors, the at-risk behaviors are the “low-hanging fruit”; they cause most of the injuries, so changing those behaviors will quickly lead to fewer injuries.

Capitalize on Your Investment in BBS!

by Jerry Pounds

Behavior-based safety (BBS) has taught us that we can solve a performance problem by identifying, very specifically, the behaviors we want from employees and the behaviors we want them to stop. For instance, when we use behavioral problem solving in behavior-based safety, we identify a specific safety behavior that will decrease injuries—like putting on fall protection when working above four feet.