5 Tips for Safety Walkthrough Success

 

Everyone loves it when the safety walkthrough crew comes around to check on their working environment. Extra points if they're carrying a clipboard (always ominous), stopping frequently to discuss things in low voices, and making a lot of notes. 

While you might not get everyone's attitudes to turn around about safety walkthroughs right away, there are some ways to make them a little more successful.

Let's back up a few steps before we share our tips. First, what is a safety walkthrough and why are they being done?

Safety walkthroughs are an opportunity for personnel to make sure all the safety requirements are being fulfilled in a facility. They are often paired with fire extinguisher inspections (should be done monthly) and exit sign checks (monthly too), but they check on a variety of different components, depending on your facility and hazards. Common denominators also usually include exits and electrical panels (are they blocked?), general housekeeping, and inspection records on specific equipment like forklifts.

Many checklists exist and TT&S is happy to provide you with options if you're seeking one.

However, these safety walkthroughs also provide a great opportunity to think about hazards that maybe haven't been raised yet or that have escaped the checklist over the years. Let's talk about how to get the most out of safety walkthroughs.

1. Schedule along with requirements

A goal without a deadline can become pretty hard to execute. However, OSHA requirements can help set the pace. As mentioned above, both fire extinguishers and exit signs must be checked once a month, so many companies set up a monthly walkthrough. Someone will be going through anyway to check the extinguishers and signs, so may as well do the whole thing. This is also a great way to execute "habit stacking," which is adding a new habit by incorporating it into an already existing routine.

Quarterly inspections are another popular cadence for the walkthroughs. If that pace works better for your company, then you could plan to schedule a safety walkthrough along with every third fire extinguisher / exit sign inspection. 

2. Rotate group members

Many times it is one facilities person who is conducting these walkthroughs, but this could be a great opportunity to leverage the unique knowledge and experience of your employees. Have one or two other people go along with the regular inspector, and rotate through the company. You might be surprised at what surfaces. Could be that someone from accounting served on their volunteer fire crew and has a lot to suggest, and everyone is usually happy to contribute their expertise to the cause.

3. Cross-training opportunity for employees

Along the same vein, this can create cross-training and even networking opportunities for employees across the company. Maybe the new receptionist hasn't spent much time in the warehouse, but after the walkthrough is better prepared to answer an unexpected question. Or maybe employees from two different department that don't interact much have an opportunity to get to know each other and work together on a safety solution. A win-win all around.

4. Leave space for the unexpected 

It's great to start with a checklist of items that always need to be checked, but this is a perfect opportunity to also think about hazards that haven't made it on the list yet. Especially if you're having other employees rotate on your safety walkthroughs, you may find there are new items for consideration. 

5. Have a plan for what happens next 

One of the greatest pitfalls is having a productive walkthrough with action items addressing several safety issues, and then having that list sit on someone's desk for months because a procedure hasn't been established for dealing with the aftermath. It's important to know whether decisions need to be made about how to deal with certain items, who will follow the throughline on making sure the decisions get made, as well as who will follow up to make sure the final changes are implemented. If it can be made a recurring agenda item on leadership or facilities meetings, many times that helps to move these things forward.

 

There you have it! One of those win-win-win arrangements that tends to reap a lot of great benefits, but like with any other change, can be hard to initiate, maintain, and get buy-in from employees. Over time, we suspect you'll see great success from a system like this, and if you have any questions about the process, please feel free to reach out. 

 

AGC Survey shows Work Zones Riskier

The AGC (Associated General Contractors of America) has reported results of a survey from their membership regarding work zones. Soberingly, they reported that sixty percent of highway construction firms reported at least one crash in their work zone over the past year.

That's over half of firms that reported a crash within the last year!

Nationally and in the midwest region they also reported that work zones seem to be riskier than they were one year ago.

In the midst of the "100 deadliest days of summer," so named for the period between Memorial Day and Labor Day where vehicle crashes and fatalities spike, especially amongst teen drivers, it's important to remember this especially risky component of driving.

As we always reinforce here at TT&S, respect the green and orange. Employees in work zones have just as much a right to a safe workplace as everyone else.

Check out the report here for more detail: AGC highway work zone safety survey results

National Safety Council Weighs in on Top Injury Categories

The NSC has deemed June the National Safety Month, and it provides resources for businesses and safety professionals for each week of the month. For this year's first week of resources, this fact sheet was shared detailing the top three causes of injuries that resulted in days away from work. 

It's worth everyone's time to take a look and see if there are risks in your business that might contribute to these injuries, as well as have a conversation with your team on how they could be prevented.

 

 

Three Ways to Make Safety Training Stick

 

You sat through the safety training. Great! You're done. Time to get on with your day and your life. Maybe it was a nice break to sit in an air conditioned room and hang out for a while before business as usual. Or maybe you feel the weight of 27 emails rattling around your inbox awaiting response. Either way, now that safety training is over you can set your attention on other things.

Except in the safety world, we don't want thoughts of safety to end when the safety PowerPoint is closed. We want you to take this stuff into your daily life and apply it.

So how do we reconcile these very real constraints on our attention, time, and energy while trying to keep safety top of mind?

Enter "stickiness." How do we make the training stick?

 

Most everyone thinks it's engaging training. And, yes, that's important too. Having a good instructor presenting solid material is key, but the story doesn't end there. That's just attention-getting. How do you make this stuff stick?

Here's some thoughts.

1. Repeat it later: Spaced Repetition

In the learning and development world, spaced repetition is repeating key points of learning at intervals after the training. So, this would look like taking a minute during a team meeting or sending out a summary of the key training points a couple days after training, and then maybe a week after that. That repetition just on the edge of forgetting is what makes this process work.

2.  Model it

OK, this one is harder. Employees have quite a few influences on them and one of them is their management leaders, especially their front line supervisor. If you model the behavior talked about in the training, you're working to create a culture that embraces those safety behaviors. Once you've influenced team norms and the safety behavior is just what everyone does every day, then you're usually on easy street, with teams regulating themselves with only a few reminders here and there. It's sometimes a hard start, but well worth the payoff.

3. Mentorship models

Did you know the best way to retain something is having to teach it? Enter a mentorship model for new employees. Pairing an experienced employee with someone newer is a great opportunity for both. The new employee gets on the job training, and the experienced employee gets to recall and cement what they know about the job, safety behaviors included. 

If you go this route, you might benefit from a little formalization, having checklists of everything the experienced employer can show the new employee, and making sure those safety requirements are part of the drill.

Sometimes having those safety requirements documented in a mentorship program can also spark new conversations about them. Maybe the experienced employee wasn't aware of some of the expectations and could even recommend safer or more efficient ways of doing things. Either way, it's a win-win-win.

 If you've got a safety training program, that is great! You're doing the right things. Taking these few extra steps to make the training sticky will only pay dividends on an already important and positive decision.

Work Zone Awareness Week

Late April marked National Work Zone Awareness Week, to coincide with the uptick in roadway construction zones across the country as the weather warms up.

 

Remember to always respect work zones, following along with road barriers and signage. While we've all had the frustrating feeling of seeing a construction zone up ahead, there are lives at stake when we don't comply.

According to the National Safety Council (source) there were almost 900 fatalities and about 40,000 injuries in work zones in the year 2023. All preventable!

 

There are very few, if any, activities we do on a daily basis that are more dangerous than driving, and the risk is elevated in work zones. Pay attention, follow the signs, and keep everyone safe. 

 

 

Trenching Incident Claims a Life

We tend to hammer a lot on trenching and shoring safety, but sometimes we worry it still doesn't get enough attention. So we wanted to highlight an incident shared by OSHA that claimed the life of one worker and left another with serious injuries. Overall the company involved was fined $4.6 million.

The workers were actually not IN the trench at the time of the incident but working close by when the trench collapsed causing them to fall inside and become trapped. This incident underlines a common misconception: even if you don't have employees inside a trench, you still need to ensure the trench is not in danger of collapse using all the skills a trenching competent person would normally use: soil classification, controls implementation, and constant site inspection.

Here's the report from OSHA to read more.

April is Distracted Driving Awareness Month

April is distracted driving awareness month.

Guaranteed, you've seen examples of distracted driving before. A driver next to you scrolling on their phone. A vehicle weaving in front of you and when you pass, you see they're having an angry phone conversation.

It can even seem pretty benign. A parent reaching back to adjust a car seat strap or retrieve a kid's favorite toy.

But that's distraction too.

According to the NHTSA (National Highway Safety Administration) there were 3,275 fatalities due to distracted driving just in 2023. These fatalities were preventable.

When we think about avoiding distracted driving, we all know what we're supposed to do. Put phones away. Adjust seats before you go. Make sure children and pets are well situated before starting out.

Rather than focusing on these, take some time to hear about someone's story in losing a child due to distracted driving with this video below. Your small decision while driving can affect someone for the rest of their lives, or even end their life. 

 

 

Construction Fatal Four Hazards

The time of year is upon us when we start getting antsy to go out there and get some construction and trenching done, let alone being ready to start up those home projects again.

Did you know that OSHA has identified four particular hazards to pay attention to in the construction world? They're serious enough that OSHA has even called them the Fatal Four: falls, caught-in or -between, struck-by, and electrocution.

A couple years ago we released blog posts on each of these hazards, and it would be a good idea to brush up on these this time of year, especially if you have had any close calls with one of these hazards:

 Falls / Working from Heights

Caught-in / Between Hazards 

Struck-by Hazards 

Electrical Hazards 

We know everyone's ready to get going again, but take a moment to make sure everyone's got safety top of mind first! 

Fire Extinguisher Basics

Sometimes we can get pretty heavy-handed with our blog posts, talking about how to develop a positive safety culture, help supervisors encourage safe behaviors, and set organization-wide safety goals. But sometimes it's best to back it up and go back to the basics to review we've got everything in line. And there's not much more basic than fire extinguishers, although some of the rules surrounding them might seem... less than simple.

 Here's the quick and dirty on fire extinguisher requirements.

 

1. Make sure you have the right extinguisher for your hazards 

There are different types of fire extinguishers for different hazards, so it's important to review your hazards before purchasing fire extinguishers. Here are common types of fire extinguisher classes:

 

 Class A: For paper, cloth, wood, rubber and many plastics

 Class B: For flammable liquids and gases like gasoline, oil, paint, solvents and propane

 Class C: For electrical equipment like wiring, fuse boxes, computers and motors

 Class D: For combustible metals like magnesium, sodium, aluminum and other alloys that can react explosively to water

 Class K: For cooking oils and lipids like grease or fat 

 

For most businesses, placing combination ABC fire extinguishers throughout the business is appropriate, but if you have any special circumstances, such as combustible metals, cooking oils, or very common in the broadband world, lead-acid or lithium ion battery rooms, then make sure you're getting the appropriate fire extinguisher for your particular hazards. 

 2. Place them correctly

There are several rules of thumb for placing fire extinguishers correctly.

In general, fire extinguisher placement should not exceed 50 feet for class B hazards and 75 feet for class A hazards.

They must also be accessible and visible, so think about the easiest access points for fire extinguishers that make the most sense with your building layout.

Placing them in areas where items tend to accumulate sometimes doesn't end well. If you have shipping drop off points right next to an exit, it is not uncommon to see fire extinguishers covered by incoming inventory, so try to anticipate these hangups beforehand.

Overall, making sure there are never any obstructions to fire extinguisher access is extremely important. 

 

3. Follow inspection requirements

Fire extinguisher inspection requirements come in several flavors: monthly, annual, and then more in-depth over several years, based on the type of fire extinguisher.

Each fire extinguisher should have a tag that allows documentation of both annual and monthly inspections for documentation.

Monthly inspection requirements include:

- Ensuring there are no obstructions and that fire extinguisher is accessible

- Ensure no obvious physical damage or corrosion to the outer metal surface

- Check the gauge on top of the extinguisher and make sure the needle is in the green range 

- Look down the fire extinguisher hose to ensure no obstructions

- If a powder-based extinguisher (most basic ones are), then take off mount, turn upside down, and tap on the bottom with a rubbet mallet to ensure powder does not become compacted over time.

 Here's a great and short video going over all the basics for monthly inspections:

 

Annual inspections must be done by a professional, and they will also be able to tell you when the more in-depth discharge and inspection must be done for your fire extinguishers as well. This is often needed in a range of every 2 - 6 years, depending on your fire extinguisher type.

 

4. Keep up with required training for employees

If employees are instructed to fight small fires with fire extinguishers in your company's emergency plan (this is common, although some companies instead have a policy of everyone evacuating and having the fire department take care of any fire), then you must have annual fire extinguisher trainings for employees. Training needs to include when it's appropriate to attempt to put out a fire with a fire extinguisher and the steps to use the fire extinguisher. If you are a member of TT&S, this is a service we already provide for you.

This is a basic primer to get anyone started on their fire extinguisher program. If you have any questions on specifics or would like to get a fire extinguisher training set up for your employees, please reach out!

  

Don't let safety get too exciting!

Oof, bold words coming from a safety professional.

But it's true, when safety gets exciting, that's usually when something has gone very wrong. It usually means you're responding to an incident that should not have happened. Someone might have gotten injured.

The truth is, much like IT and the maintenance world, when safety is working, it's easy to forget about. If you've got a good system in place, with controls that include training and engineering controls and the correct PPE, paired with a robust risk analysis and management program, you're probably doing pretty well.

It can feel easy to take your eye off the road and your foot off the pedal then. 

We're always preaching not to fall victim to complacency and stay vigilant, but if you're doing things right, safety can start to feel, well, a little boring.

If you've gone through the huge effort it takes to get your safety culture in place, you've got not only supervisors but front line employees on board with safety initiatives, having everyone watch out for each other, then you've got good reason to pat yourself on the back.

Keep doing what you're doing. Do those housekeeping inspections in your facilities. Make sure you have a training plan (TT&S can of course help!) and stick to it.

Maybe it's even accepted in your organization that good safety is good business: the practices that keep employees safe are almost always the same practices that make them efficient and help to prevent frustration and turnover.

In that case, you've created a self-sustaining system, and you just need to keep on making sure you're evaluating for new risks and that the system is being followed.

And it might seem, yeah, a little boring.

Congratulations, if you're there, you've won the safety jackpot! 

A word of caution though: If you're here, sometimes an organization can start to question what the purpose is of all those little actions that make up your system. Why do our routine inspections, someone might ask, since nothing is ever found wrong? Why keep up with training if we're training on the same topics? These small, routine actions are the bedrock of your system: when they start to crumble, that's when safety might start getting exciting again. In a bad way. With incidents and injuries starting to ramp up again.

Congratulate yourself, and then get right back to work reminding others why you're all doing what you're doing. It's all part of a system, and if you start losing pieces, then the system will start to fail too.

Keep safety boring, that's when you know you've got a few things taken care of.