Implementing a Safety Culture
Building a culture of safety through planning, implementation and sharing best practices.
Olympians are relentlessly dedicated to safety. But, what does that mean?
It means you make the choice to be safe – at work and at home – all the time. You consciously decide to be present in each moment (not tuned out, multi-tasking or coasting through familiar processes) and act safely every day, in all you do.
Eventually, being safe ALL the time becomes part of who you are – like putting on your seatbelt when you get in the car (instead of waiting for the car to remind you) or putting on your PPE each time you step foot into the warehouse – you don’t have to think about it, you just do it.
That’s when we know we’ve established a culture of safety. It’s a job that never ends because we’ll always be instilling this mindset in each new employee and every person or company we do business with. But it can get easier, especially when we move past simply following the rules and begin sharing best practices with others.
Joe Casey, General Manager at McCullough Industries, is doing just that. Earlier this year, he presented at the Hardin County Safety Council, sharing his experience related to the subject, How to Implement a Safety Culture in Your Organization. Following that presentation, a representative at a local Bureau of Worker’s Compensation reached out and invited Joe to speak at one of two Summit County Safety Council meetings regarding the same subject. With close to 100 participants, Joe had a captive audience to share what we do at Olympic Steel and McCullough Industries to develop and encourage a culture of safety.
Joe explained our methods of developing a Safety culture to the group, and it began with this message: “Like everything, Safety starts at the top and as leaders, we must lead by example. As our Olympic Steel Safety tagline states, Safety First. Always. And, it starts with me.”
Demonstrating our Safety tagline through our actions is a way we’re developing our Safety culture. Another way is by developing a Safety Action Plan and working toward completing the objectives of that plan all year long. The 2020 Baseline Safety Objectives keep us focused on finding ways to always get better at what we’re doing. Here’s an update on the status of the goals through 3Q2020.
Safety First. Always. And, it starts with me.
