Safety Meeting Starters (SMS) May 2013

Safety Meeting Starters (SMS)
May 2013
Welcome to May!
May could be the most transitional month on the calendar. May is the time when students
graduate, the school session ends, travel increases, summer workers temporarily enter the
workforce, vacation schedules begin, hot temperatures and storm season dominates the
weather, seasonal and construction jobs ramp up, road crews take to maintenance…and the
list goes on and on!
With all of this transition, safety awareness becomes even more important. Use this month’s
Safety Meeting Starters (SMS) to help keep safety awareness top of mind.
Thanks again and pass this along. Remember, no one gets hurt today! God Bless, Matt.
Why Wait for Safety Meeting Starters, instead get real time safety information through Matt’s
Twitter feed. Follow Matt in May and receive a code for 50% off any one book in Matt’s
collection (find Matt’s books here http://www.safestrat.com/review-and-order-safety-books/)
and follow Matt on Twitter from this link: https://twitter.com/Safestrat or @safestrat.
About Matt… Matt Forck is a board-certified Safety Professional (CSP) and former Journey
Lineworker in the hazardous field of electrical line work (JLW). Matt’s recent innovations
include the development of the Safety Committee MAP process, a systematic process for safety
committee success, and the Informal Leader Program aimed at engaging the true safety leaders
within any organization. Matt has published nearly 100 safety articles and written seven books
including his latest release, What Safety Leaders Do. He is a frequent speaker at national and
regional safety conferences and leads corporate sponsored safety, motivational and culture
building keynote presentations. You may contact Matt through his website,
www.safestrat.com. SMS are a FREE monthly newsletter to the safety community.
Matt Forck, CSP, JLW | www.safestrat.com | 573.999.7981

SMS-Powerful Information for a RESULTS driven safety culture!
Matt Forck | www.safestrat.com | (573) 999-7981
Safety Strategies…for LIFE!
2
S.A.F.E. (See Accidents Forever Eliminated) at Work
- A Motivational Safety Column!
Is Safety Your Value?
The gymnasium was packed. There was a buzz of excitement in the air. The undefeated
Richmond High School (Richmond California) basketball team was getting ready to take the
floor. But where were they? The opposing team was about finished with their pre-game warm
ups and the Richmond squad had yet to dash out onto the court. The home crowd was
nervously standing, ready to cheer them on. The three-minute buzzer sounded, signaling that
the game would begin in three minutes. The 60-second horn buzzed, no Richmond squad. The
crowd grew restless, had someone been injured in the locker room? Should someone find
Coach Ken Carter and tell him that the game was about to start; that it was time for his team to
take the floor?
About that time, Coach Carter appeared. The crowed began to cheer, anticipating that the team
would follow. The clapping turned to grumbling as the coach stepped up to the referees, said a
few words, waved to the crowd and returned to the locker room.
The officials went to the scorer’s table and then to the opposing coach. Moments later the
public address announcer said, “Tonight’s game is cancelled. Richmond will not be playing.”
Coach Carter left the locker room and went upstairs to the school’s library. There, all of his 45
freshman, junior varsity and varsity players spent what would have been ‘game time,’ studying.
None of the players were below the district’s required 2.0 grade point average, but some were
below the team’s contracted 2.3 GPA and there were a few instances where players were
showing up late for class.
Not all were happy with Coach Carter’s expectations of classroom and on court performance.
Richmond is a community that struggles with gang violence and a 9.3 million dollar school
deficit. Most thought that the basketball team’s success was a rare bright spot, one that
shouldn’t be blurred. It was so bad for a while, that the Coach’s car was egged. But, most
realized that this was a life lesson; the teaching of a value. It is the books long term, and not the
game of basketball short term, that will carry these players through life.
In the end, the varsity team forfeited two games before each individual’s GPA was above 2.3.
The team finished the season with a 19-5 record, losing in the second round of the district
playoffs. That’s not really the end, the end is not yet here for those players, many of whom
have gone on to study cardiology, optometry or sociology. They learned the real lesson, that a

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value is a value is a value no matter what. Education was Coach Carter’s value and his 45
players, a community and a country are better for his example.
Is safety a value? For Coach Carter’s team, it was the books long term, and not the game of
basketball short term, that will carry these players through life. For us, it’s safety long term,
and not shortcuts or other distractions short term, that will carry us through a career. What’s
your value? Be Safe.
©2013-SafeStrat, LLC-All Rights Reserved

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Safety Tidbits—the most information packed pages in safety!
Quote of the month: (quotes for May from “Think & Grow Rich” By Napoleon Hill).
“The starting point of all achievement is desire.”
“The ladder of success is never crowded at the top.”
“Every adversity, every failure, every heartache carries with it the seed
on an equal or greater benefit.”
“Great achievement is usually born of great sacrifice, and is never the
result of selfishness.”
Safety, Leadership and Management Resources from May:
Safety and Management News from Safestrat’s Twitter Feed - - why wait for the end of the
month Safety Meeting Starters when you can get near real time safety updates from my Twitter
feed! Join today; https://twitter.com/Safestrat or @safestrat.
(Video) 'Eric Thomas' The Motivational Guru - How Bad Do You Want It? Part.2 -
http://buff.ly/ZGTxvW
Leading thru long term influence.
http://www.greatleadershipbydan.com/2013/04/leading-through-long-term-
influence.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+gr
eatleadershipbydan/gfUp+(Great+Leadership)&m=1 …
Family supports monument as symbol of workplace safety
http://www.canberratimes.com.au/act-news/-2ilyt.html …
MT @HistoricOSHFilm Why Congress created OSHA in 1970 http://youtu.be/A-TXgSQ-
0c4 #WorkersMemorialDay #OSHA #MSHA #NIOSH @USDOL
Bangladesh factory collapse: police detain owners, http://flip.it/G7ifU

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Move work fatality case forward, says Crown | Local | News | Sault Star
http://www.saultstar.com/2013/04/24/move-work-fatality-case-forward-says-crown …
Southern Ind. man arrested following golf cart fatality.
http://www.wdrb.com/story/22031978/jeffersonville-ind-ap-a-southern-indiana-man-
faces-preliminary-charges-after-a-friend-riding-with-him-in-a-golf-cart-was-ejected-
from-the-vehicle-and#.UXv5Vna751g.twitter …
A little push for progress each day is far better that a huge effort every once in a while.
Pilgrim’s Pride cited with 8 safety violations after worker's death;
http://cherokeetribune.com/bookmark/22336738-Pilgrim%E2%80%99s-Pride-cited-
with-8-safety-violations …
Police investigate accidental death at Tyler City Hall -News
http://www.kltv.com/story/22036874/police-investigate-accidental-death-at-tyler-city-
hall#.UXssfSIqHdw.twitter …
OSHA investigates grain bin death of Milton man: http://bit.ly/12OlhOS
OSHA: Investigation into workplace death of Connecticut resident crushed between
modular units...masslive.com
http://www.masslive.com/news/index.ssf/2013/04/osha_official_says_investigati.html
…
A story about Critical Conversations http://soa.li/evECNET
Busy is Killing Leadership http://www.georgeambler.com/busy-is-killing-leadership/ …
Texas police reporting at least five dead, dozens injured in massive fertilizer plant
explosion http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/04/17/dozens-injured-in-fertilizer-
plant-explosion-in-texas/ …
22 Strength & Courage Quotes To Build You Up - http://buff.ly/WK4fw2
The "Sandwich Approach" Undermines Your Feedback
http://blogs.hbr.org/cs/2013/04/the_sandwich_approach_undermin.html …
Work Zone Awareness Week, April 15-19 - SLOW DOWN! Follow the posted speed limits
in and around the work zone. #wzaw
Farm worker taken to hospital after grain elevator injury (The Canadian Press)
http://www.ohscanada.com/news/farm-worker-taken-to-hospital-after-grain-elevator-
injury/1002230284/ …

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OSHA investigating Wednesday's fatal incident at BAE Systems (updated) |
http://al.com http://blog.al.com/live/2013/04/osha_investigating_wednesdays.html …
Boy, 4, accidentally kills Tenn. deputy's wife http://news.yahoo.com/boy-4-accidentally-
kills-tenn-deputys-wife-204026525.html …
Parents hope photo of fatal text serves as warning http://news.yahoo.com/parents-
hope-photo-fatal-text-203757749.html …
Man falls to his death inside an empty tank at Northwest Water Treatment Facility
http://www.abcactionnews.com/dpp/news/region_pinellas/man-falls-to-his-death-
inside-an-empty-tank-at-northwest-water-treatment-facility …
2 N.C. children trapped at construction site likely dead
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/04/08/trapped-children-
underground-dead/2062227/ …
Miner's body trapped after accident in Lisheen Mine: 6 April 2013 Last updated at
15:48 from:http://www.bbc.... http://bit.ly/10G3d7v
Striving for Zero Injuries and Illnesses http://ow.ly/jMK06
OSHA fines Phoenix Electrical Chicago plant $50K for safety violations
http://buff.ly/YZFHQ5
Worker killed at Arkansas nuclear plant;
http://www.platts.com/RSSFeedDetailedNews/RSSFeed/ElectricPower/21894074 …
Transit worker dies after being hit by bus in San Jose - Houston Chronicle
http://www.chron.com/news/crime/article/Transit-worker-dies-after-hit-by-bus-in-San-
Jose-4396721.php …
NV Energy faces $43,000 fine in lineman’s death
http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2013/mar/27/nv-energy-faces-43000-fine-
linemans-death/ …
OSHA investigating Boeing employee death -
http://www.abcnews4.com/story/21845429/osha-investigating-boeing-employee-
death#.UV-A2RPyKdI.twitter …

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SAI - - Safety Awareness Items
(ideas to get raise your team’s awareness!
Circus Peanuts Leave the Tricks to the Circus, We Work Safe.
Clorox Disinfectant
Wipes
Kill Germs-Stay Healthy.
Clothes Pins Snap-on to Safety Today (Even more effective if
painted a color.)
Coasters We Can't Coast Through.
Cup of Coffee Have a Warm Cup of Safety.
Coffee Mug Insert Safety Slogan, Safety committee Name, Safety
Goal, etc., on mug.
The Untapped Secret To Selling Safety -And 401½ Tangible Items Guaranteed To
Help Make That Sale! - - How well do you sell safety? The truth is that we are at
the mercy of our ability to sell, no matter how “tight” the presentation.
Regardless of our education or the facts surrounding an issue, we are still in a
position where we have to make the sale in order for a positive change to take
place. And, the better we are at selling, the greater our results. The fact of the
matter is that there are secrets to selling…even selling safety. One such previously
untapped secret is revealed here and your safety results will never be the same!
“Matt’s passion for safety continues to shine through as he drives to inspire us to
be the best we can be” wrote Bill Dampf, safety professional with three decades
of experience. “Through this latest effort, he provides us with hundreds of ways
to promote safety awareness to our employees. Although keeping our workers
safe is always a challenge, this simple approach to helping us sell safety can be a
tool that all of us can use.” Price: $11.99 - - AND use this discount code to save
$2..00 per book, B9F5UNDN. Order from this link;
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ISMA-Involved Safety Meeting Activity
Activity: WIIFY
Estimated Time: 30 Minutes
Materials Needed: 3x5 note card and pen.
Reference materials: See ISMA below:
The ISMA:
Explain the concept of WIIFY to the group. WIIFY stands for, What’s In It For You. Many expert
sales persons state that when selling a product, one must convince the buyer of WIIFY (what’s
in it for me!).
Some key words or phrases when using the WIIFY concept sound something like this; This is
important to you because, What does this mean to you, Why am I telling you this, Who cares
and so what. Then the WIIFY is stated.
Working as individuals or small groups, give them seven minutes to list WIIFY concerning safety
(what’s in safety for them?) After the seven minutes, call them back and have them share some
of their best.
The Take-a-ways:
Dale Carnegie, the speaker, trainer and motivator said that the key to getting people to act is to
make them ‘want to.’ He said you could make them ‘want to’ in a variety of ways such as
putting a gun to their head or a punitive consequence for failure to act. Yet, he went on to state
that the best way to get people to ‘want to,’ and there for act, is to show them what they get
out of it. That’s what we do here; show each person what’s in safety for them, showing what
they get out of it!
Want 101 ISMAs?
Check out ISMA (Involved Safety Meeting Activities—101Ways to Get
Your People In Involved! at Matt’s website;
http://www.safestrat.com/review-and-order-safety-books/

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SPOT-M –(Safety Picture of the Month)
“Is this the circus? ”
If your work seems like the circus, stop and get
a new plan…life will be short if you don’t!
Choose in favor of your safety!
Thanks to a reader for this picture…he earned a free book…Send me your safety picture…if we use
them you get a FREE book! Send to Matt@SafeStrat.com.

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Tools for Pros!
How Safety Professionals work with top Executives…
Earlier this month, I was honored to be contacted by Craig Donaldson, who edits OHS
Professional magazine. OHS Professional is the official magazine for the Safety Institute of
Australia - the nation's top membership body for OHS professionals.
Mr. Donaldson was working on a feature article for next month’s edition. The article will take a
deep dive into occupational safety and health professionals as business partners - - a very
important and timely topic. He asked me four questions. Below are my responses. Maybe there
is a nugget or two that can help you and your team.
Q: How well do most OHS leaders effectively act as a true business partner at executive levels?
I have a good friend who teaches for a MBA program. To begin the session he will give
his students a 10 page business scenario. Along with a description of the business, the
packet includes balance sheets, bank statements, revenue flows and production costs.
The students have a few days to read the material and come to class ready to discuss.
My friend tells me that each semester the discussion is very similar. When he asks the
class what the major problem is with the business, the responses are varied. Someone on
the back row will immediately speak up and suggest that the company has a problem
because of a very weak social media presence. Another will point to a slow production
process compared to their competition. One will propose that the company has branding
and customer identity issues. Yet another will submit that the company is struggling
because it has not tapped overseas markets. Finally, after nearly two hours of debate a
quiet person on the front row will timidly raise her hand and say, “I’m not sure it’s what
you are looking for, but the way I read the cash flows, this company isn’t going to make
payroll next week.”
My friend will then hurry to the board and write in enormous letters, C-A-S-H. “Cash, my
students, is the most important thing in business…never forget that.”
Executive level leadership is laser focused on one thing, cash. Cash sometimes goes by
different names in different businesses like dividends, earnings per share, stockholder
value, budget compliance, profit margin or simply making payroll. My guess is that your
CEO and senior leaders manage cash very well. Because they are so good at it, they were
promoted - - that is the reason they are now leading your company!
“One of safety’s greatest failings has been its total inability to involve top management
in safety,” Dan Peterson writes in Safety By Objectives. “Probably all corporate

12
presidents in this country want safety for their people and yet they usually fail to do
anything to achieve it. This is more often than not the fault of the safety managers. We
simply have not told these presidents what it is that they must do to achieve safety.
Safety managers have traditionally bemoaned the fact that they need management
support and cannot get it.”
Over the last decade safety professionals have consulted, written, urged and established
that an organization can only be effective if these same cash driven senior leaders make
safety a value. In truth, we (safety professionals) more than likely, have set our
executives and our organizations up to fail. Failure comes in a number of ways. Failure
means the employees believe there is a ‘say-do’ gap on the part of the CEO and senior
management, because they say one thing about safety and then do another. Failure is
the appearance that senior management team is disconnected. Or, that it is ‘wrongly
connected;’ meaning they want to help and be supportive but have not been given clear
direction. In short, we do need our CEO and senior management team’s support in order
to run an effective safety program. And, in order to get their support, we as safety
professionals need to be very clear about what ‘support’ looks like in term that our
senior leaders can speak, cash.
Q: What are the most common challenges they face in the process (from both an OHS and
organizational perspective)?
Safety professionals face a score of challenges when it comes to the relationship with
senior leaders. Some of the most common challenges include:
 Lack of time senior leaders.
 Difficulty in talking in senior leader’s language, cash. Or said another way, the
challenge of relating safety to the corporate bottom line.
 Credibility - - too often senior leaders do not understand the skills, education and
experience of a safety professional.
 Data - - senior executives are accustom to receiving data (I call it a dashboard) on
important stats, like cash. Safety statistics are often dated by the time they get to
the leader’s desk.
 Finally, senior leaders demand instant results. Instant results can often be found
in most corporate initiatives, such as budget compliance. However, safety results
are connected to organizational culture, and changing that culture is a very
timely endeavor with slow results through painful change. Coaching Senior
leaders to be patience for results is a challenge.
Q: What steps can they take to overcome these challenges and become more effective business
partners in practice?
Here are five steps to consider that better aligning safety goals with senior leaders:

13
Give your CEO three things to do - - “One of safety’s greatest failings has been its total
inability to involve top management in safety,” Dan Peterson writes in Safety By
Objectives. “Probably all corporate presidents in this country want safety for their people
and yet they usually fail to do anything to achieve it. This is more often than not the fault
of the safety managers. We simply have not told these presidents what it is that they
must do to achieve safety. Safety managers have traditionally bemoaned the fact that
they need management support and cannot get it.”
In working with our CEO’s, we must give them specific things to do. I suggest three items
each month. I like one written, like a note to a supervisor or field worker related to
safety, for example. Think about the ripple effect this has on your organization.
Scribbling a note takes no more than 15 minutes. Consider one spoken, like discussing
safety with a small group of workers. In this setting, have your CEO share a personal
story; it will make him or her seem more human and approachable. This takes about 30
minutes. Finally, schedule a field related visit. Have a supervisor or safety professional
accompany your CEO to the field or through the shop floor. Stop and talk safety with as
many workers as you can. This activity, depending on your industry can take anywhere
from an hour to four hours. In total, you are asking about five hours or less of your CEO’s
time per month…and your expectations are clear.
Using the calendar to your advantage - - While the goal of your CEO is cash, he or she is
driven by their calendar. As you know, CEOs are incredibly busy and each day to them
presents ten to twelve hours of appointments and meetings. But, if we understand that
CEOs are driven by their calendars, we can plug into those calendars to help us with
safety. In addition to giving your CEO three specific things to do, schedule a monthly or
bi-monthly meeting with him/her. This doesn’t have to be a long meeting, thirty minutes
to an hour will be sufficient. This meeting has many purposes. First, it gives you a chance
to better know and understand the CEO and gives the CEO a better chance to know you,
and safety. You can share status updates on safety goals and discuss any recent
incidents. In short, just as the CEO meets with other critical department heads, you need
to be on that rotation, educating and informing the person in the corner office.
What is the Score? - - “You play different,” the old saying reads, “When you know the
score.” One of the primary responsibilities is to make sure your CEIO and senior team
know the ‘safety score.’ You can bet that your CEO gets daily or weekly ‘scores,’
sometimes called ‘dashboard’ reports, related to cash. These are typically one page, real
time reports that offer a quick snap shot on the exact financial health of the company.
What kind of scores do we offer? Traditionally, we offer a once a month injury report.
And, this report generally comes out about the middle of the following month, so an
injury could be more than 45 days past before making it to the CEO’s desk. What if we
initiated a safety dashboard? Information could include injuries, the cost of injuries, near
miss reports, job observations, safety audit scores, and more. This real time report is
typically much different than the reports that are currently provided. But, setting up a
process to give our CEO a real time score (safety dashboard) will not only give you and

14
your safety team real time data to identify trends, but it will leave a positive impression
on your CEO as well.
Appoint a Vicar - - Now that you are on your CEO’s calendar on a regular bases, you
have worked with your CEO on three, or so, specific activities and you are giving him/her
a weekly dashboards, it’s time to take the next step. Just because your CEO can’t be out
in front of work groups talking safety day in and day out doesn’t mean that it’s not a
very important role for a member of your senior management team. So, who is your
safety vicar? If you have one great, if not have your CEO appoint one. A vicar is a
representative who is entrusted to act "in the person of" or agent of the CEO. In this
case, it is to carry out the CEO’s message about safety. It is best if this person is an
operations manager or VP and has ‘the ear’ of the CEO on a regular basis. There needs
to be close communication and goal alignment between the safety staff, the vicar and
the CEO. This is a very good way to have a safety champion out with your workers day in
and day out.
Strive for Operational Excellence - - Finally, make safety part of operational excellence
instead of making operational excellence about safety. Many organizations fall into the
trap of making safety about ‘the right thing to do’ or a moral issue. I agree that it is
both, but if we want to be more effect we need to be able to build a solid business case
around safety; a business case that has a strong and sound financial foundation. To
make this case, we should strive for operational excellence. Operational excellence is
striving to perform in all aspects of your business, from product quality to human
performance, to safety performance - - they are all tied together. The more we can talk
about operational excellence and convince our CEO that operational excellence is the
threshold to exceptional safety performance, the more successful we and our
organizations will be.
Q: What advice would you offer OHS leaders in this process, based on your own professional
experience and career learnings?
Here are some tips or advice that can help safety professional be even more effective.
If you are reading this you are already well are of the difficulties and challenges in
leading safety, aligning managers and connecting with senior leaders. But, what you
may not know is that there are some key reasons safety leadership is so hard. And, if we
can understand the hurdles placed before us, we can more easily work around them or
through them to get even better results. Safety Leadership is hard…but knowing these
secrets will help you get even better results.
Yes, that lonely feeling means you are alone! Mary Lou Anderson once wrote, “Leaders
are called to stand in that lonely place between the no longer and the not yet and
intentionally make decisions that will bind, forge, move and create history.” And,
standing in this place is lonely. As safety professionals we too often find ourselves

15
between senior leadership and operations, between new policies and old habits,
between OSHA and our organizations, between supervisors and workers…and the list
goes on and on. We stand alone…every day.
To get even better results, we need to build a network of quiet supporters. "God grant
that men of principle shall be our principal men." Thomas Jefferson said. And, if we look
deep within our organizations, we will find safety leaders. They people may not have a
rank or title but they are champions of safety, and they are trusted and listened to by
coworkers. We first must identify this group. Once identified, we can engage them with
specific activities, such as serving on a safety team or leading job observation teams, and
ask them to lead change. Finally, we need to give them support and foster their growth.
If we can build a safety network of informal leaders then we won’t have to stand alone.
Standing in numbers gets results much faster
than going alone.
Pulling above the line - -Not only are we
responsible for Safety, we are also
accountable for organizational Energy! - -
“Throw your heart over the bar,” Norman
Vincent Peale said, “and your body will
follow.” Having spent over two decades with
a utility company with various jobs such as
an electrical linemen, supervisor and member
of a safety staff, I have probably attended
over 1,000 safety meetings! Unfortunately, I
have been to some funerals that had more
enthusiasm than a safety meeting. We teach our people what is important by where we
spend our energy - - and as safety professionals, we are not only responsible to keep our
action above the energy bar, we must pull the entire organization above that line tool.
In their eye opening book, The Power of Full Engagement: Managing Energy, Not Time,
is the Key to High Performance and Personal Renewal, Jim Loehr and Tony Schwartz
write, “Energy, not time, is the fundamental currency of high performance.” They go on
to say, “Leaders are the stewards of organizational energy!” In short follow the energy
and follow the results. The results are above the energy line (see chart above). As safety
professionals, we are responsible for the organizations energy.
George Washington Carver said, “When you can do the common things of life in an
uncommon way you will command the attention of the world." To bring more energy to
each safety meeting, training session, supervisor workshop, etc., get people involved. An
Involved Safety Meeting Activity, or ISMA, is simply when you turn the normal sit and
listen meeting and session into an activity. There are hundreds of ways to make this
transition and numerous books and resources to support it. Our people see where the
energy is…and energy around safety can lead to results.

16
It is you against the Gorillas! A few months ago I was enjoying dinner with a client when
they asked me a question, “Matt, what is the biggest issue facing safety today.” I
casually cut my steak and replied, “Failing to find the gorillas,” then took a bite. They
both looked at me like I was crazy!
There is a concept called attention blindness and it is best described through a video that
you may have seen. Before you watch the video, you are asked to count the number of
times that a certain team passed the basketball - - generally it is framed as a
competition to get the count right, too. Once the video cues, there are two teams, a
team in white jerseys and one in black jerseys, passing basketballs. Viewers count so
intensely that over 90% miss the fact a gorilla walks onto the screen, pounds his chest
then walks off! Attention blindness is when one is so focused on counting the balls, they
miss the gorilla passing by.
Safety leadership is so hard because we can do a lot of things right, only to have our
workers and supervisors miss gorillas, known in our business as hazards. To find more
gorillas more often, use the concept of a safety stop. A safety stop is when workers stop
the job every hour or so and actually look for gorillas (hazards). Train your workers to
stop and ask probing questions like, am I following all the rules? What hazards am I
missing? Do I have the right PPE? What has changed on the job, and am I properly
protected? Finding the gorillas may be safety’s biggest problem…and safety stops can
help solve that problem. (One may from the video on YouTube, search change blindness
or attention blindness).
No Safety Leadership Cookie Cutter - - There is no one path to leadership success - -
there is not a cookie-cutter template that we can implement that brings us to leadership
effectiveness. Each organization must customize. This is different than many of our
safety challenges. In most of our safety specific challenges, we can find one ‘right’
answer. We can find a reference book, an OHSA or regulatory interpretation, a check list
form or a subject matter expert to give us that one right response. But, since each
organization has a little different culture, organizational structure, centralization versus
decentralization philosophy, there is not one clear path forward for safety leadership - -
the path forward is cloudy, at best.
So, how can we put our organization in the best position to engage all leaders at all
levels and build a custom leadership system for long term sustainable results in the
process? In short, capture leadership ideas, thoughts, concepts and insights and then
apply the ones that fit in an organized and systematic fashion. The more leadership ideas
and concepts that we have to choice from the more likely we can find the ‘right’ concepts
that can move our organization forward.
Too busy for the personal touch - - Give the following quiz to your supervisors. First,
name your direct reports and their spouses. Second, what are the birth days of each
person on your staff? Finally, what is the company anniversary date for each person on

17
your staff? If your supervisors are like most, they would have a perfect score for these
questions…three incorrect answers out of three questions. Keith Ferrazzi, business
leader and author writes, “Don’t confuse safe with easy or familiar; they are two
different things. In a relationship easy and familiar refer to those people that you have a
history with and feel comfortable with which can often lead to them looking the other
way when it comes to feedback and accountability; coddling you or letting bad habits
slide. Ideally you should look for people who share the same values regarding your
dreams and goals.”
Community and building community might be the one secret to success least talked
about in the safety community. In 1882 a group of eleven men and one boy left Roseto
Valfortore, Italy and set sail for New York. They settled a small town near Bangor
Pennsylvania. This town, called Roseto, was settled by hundreds of immigrants from the
same locations in Italy, was largely left alone through the 1960s until Dr. Wolf found
something interesting. Dr. Wolf found, despite high fat diets, that Rosetians had much
lower incidents of heart attacks and poor health than any other surrounding community.
The reason, as Dr. Wolf discovered, was that Roseto had a very strong sense of
community. Neighbors cared about other and supported one another. Dr.Wolf found the
link between community and health. Today, this same community needs to be infused
into safety. Safety needs that personal touch. There are dozens of ways to create
community. Organize a committee and move forward with programs to build community
today…
Safety is in its own bucket - - Recently, I was meeting with a client, let’s call him Jim. Jim
has over a quarter century of safety experience not to mention his Certified Safety
Professional certification and a master’s degree in safety. He is employed by a Fortune
500 company and is the highest ranking safety person in the entire organization. He was
telling me his frustrations by a recent phone call. Jim was contacted by a fellow senior
officer who asked him to attend a committee meeting. What was the committee? It was
a safety improvement team! And how long had it been organized, for two years! And,
Jim had never been invited or even heard of the committee. This team had been
meeting, making decisions and rolling out programs for the last two years and didn’t
have a safety professional on the team. If a company has a program to hire 100 new
employees, who do they call, Human Resources. If a team is working to cut dollars or
spend additional funds they immediately contact someone from the CFO’s office. But, in
the areas of safety you may or may not be called, just ask Jim.
To be more integrated, you and your fellow safety staff members must continue to grow
value around what you bring to the organization. This value can be in many forms so
let’s quickly mention three. First, be aggressive in your professional development. The
more you learn and know, the more science you can bring to safety and the better long
term results. Next, mesh your activities to financial return. Our businesses are for profit
and showing savings from safety activities makes our senior leaders take note. Finally,
build a weekly dashboard that can give any reader real time data around safety. These

18
activities will help your organization understand that safety isn’t in it’s own bucket, but
an integrated part of the team.
It’s not on a poster - - Henry Ford used to say, “Whether you believe you can or believe
you can’t, you are generally correct,” What are the core beliefs of your organization? The
negative safety spiral goes like this; an injury occurs and from that event there is a new
rule to ensure that the injury does not reoccur. Training is given on this new rule yet six
months later another event occurs dealing with the same issue. The rule will be revise
and retraining offered only to have the same result, the rule is violated yet again. Senior
management is frustrated that habits have not changed and the cycle continues.
The answer is simple…change the belief system of the organization. It’s not easy, but it is
simple. Each organization has a belief system. This system guides worker choices and
behaviors and is the ‘unwritten rules of the organization.’ When I was a line worker for a
utility nearly two decades ago, we had three strong beliefs. We believed in customer
service, budget compliance and speed. These are great for a business, not very good for
an extremely safety sensitive business. To stop the viscous cycle, understand these
principles. First, your organization has a SBS (Shared Belief System) when it comes to
what is or is not possible in safety performance and results. Supervisors, managers, and
sometimes even safety staff communicate that SBS by what you do. Changing the
culture means changing the belief which will alter the communication about what is
possible—it’s that simple! In today’s world, safety (what you believe about safety) is a
competitive advantage, if you can manage safety you can manage anything.
Safety leadership isn’t easy; in fact it is hard with the proverbial deck seemingly stacked
against us. But, if we can understand what makes it so hard, we can then take the steps
needed to make to get even better results.
Matt Forck is a board-certified Safety Professional (CSP) and former Journey Lineworker in the
hazardous field of electrical line work (JLW). Matt’s recent innovations include the development
of the Safety Committee MAP process, a systematic process for safety committee success, and
the informal leader program aimed at engaging the true safety leaders within any organization.
Matt has published nearly 100 safety articles and written seven books including his latest
release, What Safety Leaders Do. He is a frequent speaker at national and regional safety
conferences and leads corporate sponsored safety, motivational and culture building keynote
presentations. You may contact Matt through his website, www.safestrat.com.

Safety Meeting Starters (SMS) May 2013

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Safety Meeting Starters (SMS) May 2013