I believe most folks are well-intentioned when it comes to the health and safety of themselves and others.  I’ve never actually met anyone in any company during my over three decades of OH&S management experience who actually wanted to hurt anyone. I think the problem is that some percentage of employers, managers and workers just don’t know what activities they are to engage in to really make their workplace safe.

Here’s a fun way to communicate safety management ideas through the alphabet. A simple process that helps list some of the important factors in creating safety in our homes and places of work can work to enhance communication.

When it comes to effective safety communication, safety managers say nothing beats the personal approach. In the latest COS Reader Panel survey, we asked our readers about their strategies for communicating their safety message to employees.

Managers and workers at the Oakville, Ont. plant of Dana Canada Corp. were always proud of their nearly spotless health and safety record: one lost-time incident over a course of two years.

But when Steve Kogon, the company’s global safety system and training manager, first walked into Dana’s shop floor he immediately realized that the firm owed this amazing record perhaps more to luck than sound occupational health and safety policies. Dana Canada designs and builds axles, drive shafts, structural, sealing and thermal products.

In these tough economic times it is understandably very difficult to stay positive in the midst of widespread layoffs, home foreclosures and bankruptcy reports. It’s also very easy to lose sight of what’s most important, as families try harder to make ends meet and businesses struggle to stay afloat in this financial tsunami.

If the results of a recent COS Reader Panel survey are any indication, the doom and gloom, fortunately has had very little effect on Canadian organizations’ safety programs, so far. Despite cost-cutting measures, safety remains an important priority among many companies, as evidenced by a large percentage of our survey respondents saying that safety budgets have generally remained at a status quo despite this recession.

But that half-filled glass is terribly in danger of looking half-empty. If this downturn continues to wreak economic havoc and claim more victims, companies could start to lose sight of the future – one that promises an end to this recession – and start making cutbacks that can have lasting repercussions.

A survey saying everything is fine on the safety management side of things is great, but workplace safety leaders must continue to be the advocates and keep the company focused on the prevention big picture. This recession will eventually pass, but companies cannot put safety programs on hold while they wait out the recession. It just doesn’t make moral and economical sense.

It doesn’t make sense morally because the risks to worker safety do not go away in an economic recession or growth. It doesn’t make economic sense, either, because OHS enforcers and prosecutors don’t just let companies off the hook during economic hardships. In fact, the Ministry of Labour would likely be paying even more attention to ensure that companies are not making undue concessions to their OHS programs and policies and putting workers at risk to cut costs.

In these hard times it is tough to stay on course, but we have to. We can’t dwell on the past or mull over our present situation. Rather, let’s stay focused on the future and move forward with our goal of injury prevention and worker protection. In these tough times, our most effective resource will come from our own conviction. Creative and positive thinking can help put things into perspective.

A good friend of mine, Andrew Ballenthin, recently started a very simple but inspiring initiative that aims to beat the recession blues, by encouraging people (through the power of social networking) to tell their good news stories. It’s allowing people and businesses, through a blog that Andrew started a couple of months ago (http://communitymarketing.typepad.com/), to tell their own good news and how they’re turning this recession into an opportunity. These good news stories are reaching over one million online professionals globally and are helping to spread positive vibes in the midst of negative outlooks.

Not a bad idea and not exactly a new concept to the safety community, either. Isn’t that what OHS thought leaders have been advocating as sound OHS policy? Effective safety management involves a positive working environment that encourages people to share ideas and look ahead to a future with no more injuries.

Turning a near-miss incident into an opportunity for risk management and to prevent future mishap, is like acknowledging this recession as an opportunity to let us plan and implement better economic policies for the future.

Despite the economic downturn that has touched – in one way or another – many organizations across the globe, safety is seemingly one area where many Canadian organizations aren’t willing to compromise.

In our most recent Reader Panel survey, we asked safety professionals about safety budgets and whether the global financial crisis is affecting how their organizations are dealing with safety spending.

Scott Gaddis is the global safety capability leader at Dallas, Texas-based Kimberly Clark Professional, and responsible for ensuring the safety of about 53,000 employees scattered across 157 locations. At last year’s National Safety Council conference in Anaheim, Calif., COS editor Mari-Len De Guzman sat down with Gaddis who discussed his viewpoint on safety management and best practices.

The beginning of the year is a perfect opportunity to reflect on the year that passed and look forward to what the coming year will bring – both to our personal and professional lives. 

‘World Arm Wrestling Champion’ is not a title you commonly see among the list of credentials of a typical safety manager. Yet his earlier arm wrestling feats are a significant part of Darrell Belyk’s approach to health and safety management.

Unless we’ve been living on a beautiful sandy beach somewhere in the Pacific Ocean where none of what goes on in the world of business really matters, most of us will have heard of the work and approaches of W. Edwards Deming.

Often referred to as the “father of quality,” Deming’s Fourteen Points of Management Obligations have been fundamentally responsible for shaping our thinking about how to manage a quality approach to business.