Don’t Shock the Rat
I read an interesting article recently at iwatchnews.org, questioning the effectiveness of VPP. To say that it was controversial is an understatement.
The article maintains that companies are only joining VPPPA as a way to get off OSHA’s radar screen, to escape OSHA compliance visits and audits.
The writer concludes that the answer is bigger penalties and fines for companies who violate safety rules and questions whether VPP is effective at improving safety performance. Perhaps the old saying to “walk softly and carry a big stick” should be applied to create a tougher, meaner OSHA.
What do you think?
The Narrow Minded CEO and The Smoking Gun
This article was recently published in the September 2011 issue of Occupational Health and Safety magazine.
I was thrilled! I had just heard OSHA’s Dr. David Michaels speak about the concerns around under-reporting of injuries caused by “old school” lagging indicator incentive programs.
Finally! For the longest time I’d been waiting for OSHA to shine a light on an age old problem. Back in 1981, I began talking with safety professionals about how rewarding people for working a month or a million hours without reporting an injury (the way everyone did it back then) would produce only one real behavior change: the hiding of injuries.
Here we are, thirty years later. Has anything changed? Have leaders begun to get the message and switch to a proactive, leading indicator approach? What do you think?
Big Bears and Scapegoats
It was right under your nose the whole time guys…
The smell of jet fuel was thick in the air as Delta hurtled me into the night sky. The last embers of the evening sunset graced the Georgia pine trees with a warm orange glow sparkling on their green needles…..it reminded me of a flickering campfire.
For this trip, I was sitting near the massive Rolls Royce engines, fascinated by how the exhaust distorted the pine trees and the ground slightly. If you looked thru it, things were soft and fuzzy, much like a Monet painting, and yet just outside the jet blast all was normal, sharp, and clear.
This flight wasn’t in business class…and there were no secret dudes going to the middle east here…this one was hard core…. I was slammed in the middle aisle seat of economy class between two guys who by their massive size had both missed a great career in the NFL…
Send oxygen please….
Big Dawg’s Last Bark…
It was 117 degrees in the shade, and I found myself in the Nevada desert “Badlands,” about an hour north of Vegas. I was asked to come and help Fluor Construction kick-off a new behavior based recognition process with the thousand plus union construction workers at the Moapa Co-Gen project.
I was rapidly trying to organize my thoughts, since I knew that in the next 4 hours we’d assemble more than 1000 workers inside a temporary warehouse to feed them lunch, hand them a special gift, and speak with them about how important safety was on this and every construction project.
It was then and there that Jerry “Big Dawg” Westbrook walked into my world. At first, I thought the local Hell’s Angel gang had taken a wrong turn and wound up on our jobsite. But Jerry’s big hearty handshake told me in a moment all I needed to know about the Dawg.
BBS on Life Support: What Happens When it Fails?
“I work for a large railroad, and we have BBS from one of the top ‘big name’ BBS consultants. I am an agreement employee and have coordinated the process for over two years. It has flat-lined, and we are now looking to go back and motivate our teams–or try to. I am not convinced the ‘same ‘ole materials’ will do the trick. I’m looking for fresh ideas. I am afraid we have too many so-called experts within who don’t understand the design of BBS, but I am only one voice. I know I don’t have all the answers, but I understand I know just enough to get me into problems. Management has invested big $$$, and they did put up some good numbers—which, in my opinion, were more the result of luck than the BBS process. Now they want to move in and manage in hopes of a repeat. We made all the classic mistakes–didn’t get union buy-in, no management involvement starting up, etc. They put the process in our ‘rank & file’ hands, which was a big mistake. I am afraid we are on a crash course……
…Can you help us Bill?” –anonymous BBS coordinator
Deer in the Headlights Part 2
Here’s the short scoop on what was covered in part 1…
I’m on a plane to Kuwait. Super high tech military dudes in the business class sleeper pods where I have managed to parlay my dwindling frequent flyer miles to get a pod of my own.
They’re doing top-secret stuff – “If we tell you we’ll have to kill you”…
And me? I’m just talking about Green Beans & Ice Cream… it’s all good. 
Deer in the Headlights
My long journey started at 6am, driving past the deer in my neighborhood munching the grass with it’s early morning dew on it. I was headed for a long trip to the Middle East (with a stop to see clients in Atlanta before the jump).
As usual, there was no food on the regional planes, and by nightfall I’d had almost nothing to eat. I was getting hungry…
“Chicken or Beef?” asked the stewardess, as the plane slid through the midnight air towards Dubai.
Battery Cables
It was about 2:30 p.m. and I had just finished a speaking assignment for the Tarheel Safety Chapter in Charlotte, North Carolina. They are a lively group of safety professionals who asked me to come and speak about behavior change, which I did. While there I learned a lot about some changes coming down the pipeline from OSHA, from my new BFF, Bob, with OSHA (more on that later).
I’m Confused…
Recently I was greatly honored to be asked to do a keynote speech at the Behavioral Safety Now (BSN) conference (www.behavioralsafetynow.com).
“Who, me?” I asked.
Not Another Picnic!
When it comes to Recognition, one size does NOT fit all…
From over the Persian Gulf en route to a client in the Middle East . . .
“We do a great job at employee recognition” said the Human Resource Manager of a large hospital.
“That’s good to know,” I said. “How do you go about recognizing great performers?”
