Hazard
Hazards are those things that we need to seek out and remove or reduce. Hazards have their base in harmful energies that can somehow make their way to hit us. Look for the energies and control them…the hazards will be controlled.

Idea
Ideas not used are useless. Engage the people most likely to have the ideas you need to make your place safe: the people doing the work! After all they are really the only ones who can create safety in their work.

Justification
Humans only do what they do because of what happens next. These consequences for our actions justify why we do what we do. They are the logical outcomes for what we do. The best safety efforts provide positive justifications for our investment of our time and money into making our places of work safe. Create a culture where the justifications for safety feel good. Positively recognize the creation of safety where you work.

Keep
Keep records of what you do. There are many reasons to document the actions that you take to make your workplace safe. Remember, bad things can happen to good people so you may be challenged to demonstrate that you are doing your “safety activities”. Being asked in a court of law how many inspections you did the week of the accident when the accident happened two years ago would be a very difficult question to answer if you don’t have the records. Do it and record that you did it.

Logic
A+B=C. It’s a simple concept with far-reaching and impressive implications. If A + B=C then it’s logical that B+A=C and that C-B=A, and so on and so on. The idea that what works in safety management is simply, what works, is powerful. Try something. If it looks like it gets you what you wanted, then try it again. Over time the logic will be overwhelming. The truth will emerge. Your safety efforts need to be logical. If they are not, the people who are needed to make it happen won’t make it happen.

Measure
To measure is to motivate. We do what gets us the positive outcomes we want or we do what we need to do to avoid the negative consequences. Measuring safety activities and providing positive results and reactions make it more likely that people will do what it takes to be safe. Try it today. Start measuring safety activities that people do. Providing positive feedback to those people influences behaviours. You’ll be surprised at how well it works.

Now
Simple enough: don’t wait, do it now. In safety management, delay without reason just exposes more folks to the hazards we’ve found. Don’t wait. Do it now. Fix that problem. Communicate that message. Pick up that dropped tool. Replace that broken light bulb. Waiting for someone else to do it will only get someone hurt!

Opportunity
Managing safety efforts is an opportunity to improve the morale, efficiency and effectiveness of your company. The process of designing and carrying out work where safe production is the result will pay back in many ways. Use the opportunity to make it safe. You’ll like the outcomes!

Practical
Since we first started to actively manage safety we’ve been making it look different than our business. We have “safety” meetings and “safety” procedures and “safety” audits. If we’re to be practical about safety, we’ll stop making it different and start making it the way we do work. Safety is an outcome no different than efficiency or cost-effectiveness. We need to find ways to do what we do with confidence that the quality of what we do is built into every process, practically creating safety through clever choices of how we do work.

Quit
Quit making excuses. Start managing safety as aggressively as you manage your budget; as aggressively as you manage your customer service, with the diligence that you give to keeping within your budgets. Nike has it right…Just do it.