Category: Safety Thoughts

The Most Valuable Safety Information in Your Organization May Be the Incidents That Never Happened Organizations often measure safety performance by looking at injury rates, OSHA recordables, and days away from work. While these metrics provide valuable insight, they only tell part of the story. Some of the most important safety information within an organization… Read more

Most Incident Investigations Fail Before They Even Start When a workplace incident occurs, the first few moments after the event often determine whether the investigation will lead to meaningful improvement or become another missed opportunity. Unfortunately, many investigations begin with the wrong question. Instead of asking:“What allowed this to happen?” Organizations immediately ask:“Who caused this?”… Read more

Every year, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) releases its list of the most cited workplace safety violations across the United States. And every year, one standard consistently remains near the top of that list: Lockout/Tagout (LOTO). Not occasionally. Not every few years. Every single year. For many organizations, this creates an important and… Read more

In many organizations, safety culture is often described in terms of programs, policies, and procedures. Companies invest significant time and resources into developing written programs, conducting training, and performing audits, all with the intention of strengthening their safety performance. While these elements are important, they are frequently misunderstood as the foundation of safety culture. They… Read more

There is a common misconception in workplace safety that incidents are primarily the result of a lack of knowledge, training, or awareness. In reality, many of the most serious incidents occur not because employees are unfamiliar with the hazard, but because they have become too familiar with it. Complacency is one of the most persistent… Read more