Your Nation’s Safety: How it relates to your own company safety planning

Tractor-trailers are used by the Air Force for maintaining and transporting Minutemen nuclear warhead missiles. Maintenance of the missiles and related facilities (air conditioning, electrical, security, etc) is performed on a regular basis by airmen from Cheyenne Wyoming and Great Falls Montana.

All of these activities are related to the safety and security of the United States and it’s citizens.

We often think of safety in terms of direct efforts. A person uses an SCBA. Seat belts, another form of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) add protection in the event of a vehicle crash. A forklift horn warns of a possible “struck by” incident.

There is no direct safety connection with missiles. But it is safety nonetheless.

The question for us becomes where else can we go with safety in our business?

Residents of Heber-Overgaard Arizona may have had adequate insurance on their homes. They may have had adequate home safety such as smoke alarms and CO detectors. They may have safeguarded flammables. The children have flame retardant nightclothes. Dangerous household goods are secured. Guns have trigger locks. But what is the protection from a forest fire? Even for homes untouched or from homes that use the California standard of tile roofs where is the safety from an environment rendered unpleasant and property devalued for many years to come?

Businesses are looking at other issues:

The view in the past has been that employees should leave work in the same condition in which they arrived. Now it has also become that they come back to work the next day in the condition in which they left work the day before.

Alan McMillan, President of the National Safety Council, has pointed out that work absences can be caused not only by an employee’s injury, either at home or at work, but by a family member’s injury. Many companies now include families in their safety training. Spring Creek Coal Company in Decker MT has a quarterly family home safety dinner and meeting.

For offshore oil rig workers, safety is not just on the helicopters and on the slippery stairways on the platform but must begin at home. The most dangerous part of the job is the drive to the land-based terminal.

The local community might become involved in a workplace incident. Local firefighters learn of hazards they might face. Other volunteers are now being trained in both the United States and in developing countries. Many firms, such as Kennecott Energy in Gillette Wyoming publish stakeholder reports that emphasize what they are doing for the workers and the community not just for today but for the future. Charlene Murdock made a fine presentation at the conference in May. Attendance was not as high as expected but with increased awareness there can perhaps be greater attention in the future to the leadership efforts of Kennecott.

Ethics and honesty are becoming important in safety efforts. It was most shocking recently to find that two major fires were caused by government employees whose jobs were to protect us from fires. We should all be concerned about ways to protect ourselves from employee failures whether accidental or intentional. Knowledge does not change behavior.

The Wyoming Montana Safety Council has begun training and individual consulting about application of a systems approach that was developed by the space program. This process has been legitimized by the State of Wyoming in that any restaurant that uses this approach will not have to be inspected as frequently. Yellowstone Drug in Shoshoni Wyoming is now benefiting from the same approach used to protect our astronauts and satellites.

Workplace safety is achieving it’s goals. Now we must move forward. For further information about a variety of new efforts that can move your company forward please call the safety council at 307-635-4592. Services and education are available in a variety of formats. Our speaker’s bureau can provide a speaker at your safety meetings or at public events on behalf of your firm.

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