Posted By Alan Murphy
One of our biggest hurdles in safety is peoples lethargy or rubbishing what we try to do. I would like to pick everyones brains regarding there best comeback lines or stories.

For instance some of my favourites are "Pardon me for wanting to save your life" or "Lets get this straight i am not advising you to to this for me personally, your not doing it for me its because the law states it" obviously dependant on the type of person you are talking but i do like to show rationale to win most debates.

I personally like it when they think we are the only people that can say things are safe, like people can do unsafe things untill we say its unsafe (SIGH), then when you make them realise they are responsible for their own safety too and can not get rid of their responsibilities at will. They tend to change their tune.

Look forward to hearing some good ones.

Alan

Posted By Emma Forbes
I tell them that I don't want to have to go to their homes and tell their wife and children that their husband/dad can't come home tonight because they've been killed. Or go to a funeral and see the pain on their families faces. Or have to walk down a street and see them in a wheelchair.

I explain to them that if they don't follow safety procedures that the best they can hope for is death because living in a wheelchair not being able to feed yourself, go to the toilet or make love to your wife is like a living death. How it ruins the lives of all those around you and how you may be the lucky one who is in no state to recognise people or feelings by being in a vegatative state. I get quite brutal and personal but my aim to send everyone home in one piece and if that's a way I can get that across, so be it.

I use an example of a case we had here where two employees took it upon thermselves to uplift a washing machine down an embankment and the one at the front slipped and dropped it onto the one working below. I tell them that the guy was practically paralysed from the waist down. When it was taken to court, the Council fought it and ended up paying about 245k to the guy, however, the guy was only 35, had 2 kids, one of which was autistic, so his 245k doesn't go far.

I tell them that in this case it shows that the Council will fight every claim that comes in because that's what they do and if they take it upon themselves to undertake jobs that they know they're not safe then they will not neccesarily be looked after. It's playing on the contributory negligence.

Posted By Alan Murphy
Thanks for some excellent replies

Posted By Richard Mathews
When people tell me that following Health and Safety procedure is a pain, I reply that not following Health and Safety procedure gets you the opposite: Disease and Injury, now they really are a pain!!

Richard

Posted By Jonathan Sandler CMIOSH
Perceptions of risk can be raised so that people do feel the need for improved personal safety. This can be achieved by helping people to learn from the experiences of others, e.g. communicating information about accidents resulting from unsafe behaviour.
People are usually highly motivated by personal growth and development. Participation and involvement in safety improvement can therefore provide motivation, there are, therefore, a number of things that organisations can do to motivate employees to adopt safe working practices: Raise perceptions of risk by involving all employees in risk assessment and communicating information about accidents, etc ensure adequate standards to clarify what behaviour is required make commitment to safety at the highest levels very clear ensure that monitoring for compliance with safe working practices is visible consistently deter unsafe behaviour and comment on safe behaviour provide frequent feedback on performance deal with any obstacles that make it difficult to work in a safe manner involve all employees in the safety improvement and monitoring process take advantage of all situations when individuals might be influenced, e.g. induction training, promotion, performance review following an accident.
It has been shown that almost all of the factors that influence behaviour are, to some extent, within the control of the organisation and its management system.
Conclusion
There is no single route to promoting safe behaviour, but there are six approaches that can be used simultaneously:
Example, senior managers must set a good example and always follow the rules, procedures and safe systems of work that exist. This reinforces the need for all employees to do the same, failure to do so devalues the standards and procedures that exist.
Compelling, clear responsibilities, accountabilities and standards of performance that are consistently applied. The perceived risk of disciplinary action can be greater than the perceived risk of injury.
Rewarding, reward systems based on reducing the number of reported injuries can have a negative effect; discouraging employees from reporting accidents. Reward schemes based on compliance with performance standards might be more beneficial. Simply recognising and commenting on safe behaviour can help.
Facilitating, making safe behaviour easy and removing obstacles, e.g. ensuring that adequate waste bins are provided to allow employees to dispose of rubbish easily.
Informing, raising employees' understanding of the reasoning behind precautions and performance standards.
Training, developing competence, influencing attitudes and reducing the risk of mistakes. Both the employer and employees will learn from their own experiences and it is in the nature of risk that unsafe behaviour does not always result in injury. Unfortunately, unsafe practices are reinforced every time we "get away with it".
Does this answer or cover your point?
Regards

Posted By Alan Murphy
Thanks Dave that was excellent, and very hard hitting, its very hard for us safety men to drill it home sometimes.

Posted By Pat Hannaway
Hi Dave,
I am also scrounging a copy of your letter.

Happy Christmas to you and all readers of the forum !


Pat Hannaway

Posted By kanta
My job is made easier than most peoples.My Company allows people to be disciplined,or sacked for gross misconduct.This is on the first offence,depending on how major the "crime " is.
not wearing PPE- verbal warning
Running in corridors carrying bulky boxes- verbal warning
Using equipment you are not trained to - verbal warning.
the list is endless.
After three separate instances of warnings to three different supervisors and managers,H &S is treated with the respect it deserves.

You may think this is cracking a walnut with a sledge hammer,but it works in a positive manner.
We have had no major accidents in the past five years.I can vouch that this approach well and truly works when used fairly.

Posted By michael rhatigan
Dear Sir I write this note to inform you of my plight
And at the time of writing I am not a pretty sight
My body is all black and blue, my face a deathly gray
I write this note to tell why Paddy's not at work today

While working on the fourteenth floor, some bricks I had to clear
And to throw them down from off the top seemed quite a good idea
But the gaffer wasn't very pleased, he was an awful sod
He said I had to cart them down the ladder in me hod.

Well clearing all those bricks by hand, it seemed so very slow
So I hoisted up a barrel and secured the rope below
But in my haste to do the job, I was too blind to see
That a barrel full of building bricks is heavier than me.

So when I had untied the rope, the barrel fell like lead
And clinging tightly to the rope I started up instead
I took off like a rocket and to my dismay I found
That half way up I met the bloody barrel coming down.

Well the barrel broke my shoulder as on to the ground it sped
And when I reached the top I banged the pulley with me head
I held on tight, though numb with shock from this almighty blow
And the barrel spilled out half its load fourteen floors below

Now when those building bricks fell from the barrel to the floor
I then outweighed the barrel so I started down once more
I held on tightly to the rope as I flew to the ground
And I landed on those building bricks that were scattered all around.

Now as I lay there on the deck I thought I'd passed the worst
But when the barrel reached the top, that's when the bottom burst
A shower of bricks came down on me; I knew I had no hope
In all of this confusion, I let go the bloody rope.

The barrel being heavier, it started down once more
And landed right on top of me as I lay on the floor
It broke three ribs and my left arm, and I can only say
That I hope you'll understand why Paddy's not at work today.