During my many years in safety, I’ve led dozens of incident investigations and, in general, enjoyed doing them. “Playing sleuth” appealed to my innate curiosity, and I felt confident that I was performing the task well. I have known many … Read More
Jim Loud
Why All the Fuss About “Psychological Safety?”
Back in the 80s, before I had even heard of the term psychological safety, I was the Safety Director for a nuclear plant that was weeks away from startup. As we prepared the plant to operate, several whistleblowers came forward … Read More
Relationships Are Not Built Behind a Desk
“If you don’t believe in the messenger, you won’t believe the message.” –Kouzes & Posner Much of my career and my writings have focused on building trust and productive partnerships between organizations’ workforce and leadership through personal and adult-to-adult interactions. … Read More
Watch Your Language – Time to Rethink Our Safety Vocabulary?
Over 40 years ago, the legendary founder of Lean Manufacturing and Total Quality Management, W. Edwards Deming, wisely told organizations to “Drive out fear so that everyone may work effectively for the company.” This is point eight in Deming’s famous … Read More
Safety Management Systems: Nine Signs of Trouble
Complacency kills. The history of tragic accidents in workplaces is fraught with examples of companies that thought they were safe because their Total Recordable Incident Rate (TRIR) was low and/or because they were devoting considerable time and money to various … Read More
Getting the Most Out of Your Safety Committees
Safety committees are a longstanding part of the safety tradition, but do they really add value? Though not officially required by OSHA, safety committees are a prerequisite to participating in OSHA’s Voluntary Protection Program and are mandatory in several states … Read More
