behavior-based safety
cmonforton | December 21, 2016The Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) deserves credit for rapidly publicizing information about serious injury incidents and close call events. A brief recap and single photo make an easy lesson for a pre-shift safety meeting or toolbox talk. But MSHA needs to reject language in its safety alerts that blames workers for their injuries. It's an easy trap to fall into, but it's not effective for injury prevention.
This morning, an MSHA "Serious Incident Alert" landed in my inbox. The lead sentences read:
"A miner was trying to determine why clay was not flowing properly by examining…
cmonforton | May 11, 2012[Updated 12/28/2014: see below]
Those were the first words out of the mouth of the Southwest Airlines' official when describing the incident on January 27, 2012 at Dulles International Airport that claimed the life of 25 year-old employee Jared Patrick Dodson. The five-year employee was driving a luggage cart when he was fatally struck by a three-story people mover used to transfer passengers across the airport tarmac.
Scott Halfmann vice president for safety and security said young Mr. Dodson was following all procedures correctly. He was in the proper travel lane. He stopped at all…