The Magic 9 of Safety Change
- By Robert Pater
- Jun 01, 2023
So how do you initiate then sustain safety changes that make a demonstrable difference beyond the just-going-through-the-motions repetition of minor variations on same-old themes that seem to eke out same-old results?
Turnaround change can seem magical. I think of “magic” as methods, principles and techniques that work but that onlookers don’t readily understand. Perhaps because the mechanisms that propel the transformations aren’t clearly visible to others. But these are actually based on applying scientific principles and the right needed skills, such as directing attention and harnessing the human tendencies towards decision-making.
While it might appear to even a hyper-observant onlooker that a magician “disappeared,” her actions might have relied on holding her breath, knowing how to lead or misdirect attention and incorporating line-of-sight angles that were effectively visually “hidden” and more—all based on planning, practice and adjustment.
Similarly, safety leaders can employ their own type of “magic” to help lift the level of a tenacious injury above and beyond being seemingly hopelessly stuck in the mud or to turn the outlook of executives, managers and workers toward safety being personally beneficial rather than just unfortunately-required-and-boring.
For both master magicians and elite change masters, neither arcane spells nor magical wands are actually needed. What is? In our near four-decade experience with a wide array of companies worldwide in dramatically preventing strains/sprains, slips, trips and falls and hand injuries, we’ve found there are nine intertwined attributes that, when mindfully mixed together, can create the “potions” that transmute lower-level safety motivation, decision-making and actions into very good ones and levitate “just so-so” surround culture into an elite realm.
Leaders can find different and customized ways to put these into place (beyond what I can cover in this article). While companies can power sterling results by enlisting only some of these nine, the more the better.
1. Compelling. It’s critical to first get others’ attention to encourage them to do anything differently. But what is the best way to do this, especially when it comes to “personal” issues that relate to their longstanding habit patterns of lifting, carrying, pushing/pulling, reaching and using tools?
This article originally appeared in the June 1, 2023 issue of Occupational Health & Safety.