Fellowship of the (safety) rings: What the Olympics can teach us about safety excellence

The games of the XXV (25th for non-Romans) Winter Olympiad have kicked off in northern Italy with the usual fanfare and competition.

Athletes from all over the world have assembled to chase personal and sporting glory in both individual and team sports. Figure skaters, hockey players, skiers and curlers, the very best of the best, have trained their entire lives for this moment.

What in the heck do the Olympics have to do with safety and operational excellence (besides the obvious tie-in with PPE use or, for skeleton and luge athletes, the relative lack thereof)?

A lot, as it turns out.

Downhill skiers visualize their lines down the mountain before entering the gate, mentally evaluating high-danger areas and positioning/techniques that will get them to the finish line. Much like pre-task plans in construction. Hockey teams review video of games to identify areas where individuals and the team can improve for the next game. Similar to an incident or near-miss investigation.

The above examples are loosely related to workplace safety and health. It's the concepts that teams and individual athletes apply to preparation, execution and analysis that have a direct correlation to what we do in our jobs. Four areas in particular stand out for what we can take away from these Games to apply in our workplaces:

• Teamwork: The most obvious crossover between sport and workplace safety, as team sports require the highest level of culture, collaboration and execution to produce success. In the Olympics, this applies to both team sports, obviously, but also individual competitions. How so? Consider that, behind every individual athlete is a team of coaches, trainers, medical personnel and so on, not to mention families. All must execute their roles to the highest standard for the athlete to succeed. Similarly, world-class safety and health performance is dependent on a diverse team which not only performs their specific jobs safely and productively but collectively believes in a culture where safety is at the root of the decision-making process.

• Resiliency: Those of us of a certain age remember ABC's Wide World of Sports opening montage, with Jim McKay voicing, "the thrill of victory … and the agony of defeat" over video of a downhill skier crashing spectacularly (for those not old enough, Google it). What's not shown is the athlete getting back up and returning to competition. Great teams and athletes face defeat head-on, learning from mistakes and getting right back into the competition. We face our own adversities in the workplace, be it an incident, unplanned shutdown or disruption to supply chains. Strong safety and operational cultures (one and the same) prepare us for setbacks and give us the tools to learn and recover.

• Adaptability: Similar to resiliency, but for athletes and safety professionals alike, we react to changing conditions in realtime to maintain operational excellence. Take, for example, the cross-country skier. Weather and snow conditions can change unexpectedly; the skier must adapt to these conditions to succeed. Bobsledders face changing track conditions from run to run; they adapt their sled setups to compensate. In the workplace, changes in weather, operational conditions and in the workforce mean we must adapt our plans in real-time to maintain safe operations and continue protecting our workforce.

• Excellence: What's the difference between a great athlete and one that's worldclass? The great athlete is watching the Olympics from home. Peak performance, not just physical, but mental and intellectual, is what sets Olympians apart from their peers. That requires relentless training, to create muscle memory, knowledge and technique that can make the difference between gold and silver. EH&S excellence is achieved by relentlessness to train employees on how to keep themselves and others safe, to develop and maintain a culture where safety is a core value and to the pursuit of continuous improvement toward zero incidents.

A friend and mentor from my construction days taught me that our front-line workers are athletes in their own right, and that we should treat them as such. What he meant was, we should prepare our employees like an athlete prepares for competition, specialized training that hones their unique skills to produce the highest level of performance. You can see that on display at numerous industry events (for example, Associated Builders and Contractors' National Craft Championships which, appropriately enough, were formerly known as the Craft Olympics) where our skilled workforce is given the opportunity to show the public their exceptional skills, and ability to work safely.

In a way, we're all Olympians. But instead of medals, our victories are in the lives we save and in what we produce to keep the country, and world, running. That's a far greater achievement.

For more information, visit vpppa.org.