Many of our core values are established early in life. One lesson my family taught me was not to be too judgmental of others because being overly judgmental can come back to haunt a person. They also taught prejudice is detrimental to you as well as to others. We look in mirrors to see our outward appearances. But for a real self-inspection, one must look into the heart and mind. Safety, on the other hand, has no prejudice; it applies to all equally. A lack of safety applies equally as well; injury can strike anyone.
Measurement
I was recently called to help at a jobsite that had encountered several serious OSHA recordable injuries. After the last injury, the jobsite had a safety stand down to assess the state of its work execution. I was given the opportunity to listen as workers privately voiced their safety concerns and told me what they were facing. I quickly learned the leaders and workers were not on the same page. These differing points of view were having serious consequences.
All the workers were being judged by the at-risk behaviors of a few. It was a handful of noncompliant employees who were creating havoc for all. And, as you might guess, some were receiving preferential treatment and privileges. Some crafts-men were close friends of their supervisors. The “cousins, brothers and others” as they were called did not follow administrative edicts required by the owner or the employer, nor did they follow well-known safety best-practice procedures. It took one more serious injury — one that could have been fatal — to get the attention of those leaders who supervised with double standards.
Politicians
Had the workers who were violating the safety standards come from the pool of politicians who run our local, state and federal governments, it would have been business as usual. Double standards are apparently acceptable by some politicians and political organizations because their behaviors seem to continue year after year without recompense or recourse. This is not so in safety. Offenders may get by for a time, but eventually the “fiddler” must be paid. He is paid with injury, pain and suffering because the cost of noncompliance in safety is injury. When workers are injured, families, crews and all project participants are harmed. Safety performance by contractor employers as a whole is used in determining future work. What happens today can be used against companies in the future.
Glass houses
There should be no double standard in safety. All workers and employees at any classification should obey the laws of the land; there is no other option. Safe behavior, however, is a choice. As leaders, we should never have a double standard because we do live in glass houses. We are, or should be, transparent. Unlike most politicians, we should not have back-alley deals, under-the-table payments or vested interests. If we care for others, we will not allow the unsafe execution of work. We cannot, in all good consciousness, permit at-risk work. This also means if we expect project workers to work “at-risk free,” we should do the same. If workers are required to live by safety standards, then we as leaders should do the same. At the project previously mentioned, it was revealed only 25 percent of leaders attended the jobsite safety indoctrination. Surely we must live by the same rules as our crews do!
Judge me
As leaders, we should be measured not by what we did yesterday but by who we are today. Our mission should be to improve, do our best and add quality in all we do, every day. We as leaders should be measured and judged by keeping our word, doing our tasks right the first time, fairly judging and evaluating others by the same standard we are measured, admitting wrong, giving and seeking second chances, walking a mile in another’s shoes and doing what we say we will do. So measure me not by the things I say but by my deeds and actions. Hopefully my “talk” lines up with my “walk.” Measure me today by where I left off yesterday.
For more information, contact HASC Customer Relations at (281) 476-9900, Ext. 310 or visit www.hasc.com.
