Tag: featured

The Eight P’s of Good Safety Management

  1. Passion – really believe in what you do, and be strongly committed to improving the safety culture.
  2. Patience – be prepared to answer lots of questions from those who don’t share your vision (well, not just yet).
  3. Professional – be sought by management for your input and advice, be respected for your knowledge, act as a role model, and link OHSE strategies to business (value-adding). Credibility is one of the keys to effective management. The Safety Officer needs to be someone whose advice is appreciated at all levels of the organization because it is practical and improves outcomes.
  4. Priority – act with urgency, and complete tasks.
  5. Persistence/Perseverance – challenge non-compliance, and do not let the actions of others slip by.
  6. Performance/Proactive – get things done/take action/have a go, pursue best practice, have good ideas (problem solving), and be reliable.
  7. People Person – influence behavior, be a good listener, and be an excellent communicator.
  8. Personality/Profile – be seen around the site, and have a sense of humor

What are the skills required to manage the role of Safety Officer?
The key skills are political, interpersonal, problem solving, finance, and marketing skills. Safety Officers needs to have political savvy to influence change. They need to understand the business and know who’s in a position of influence. They need to spend time in management committees, and on the floor talking to people. Good interpersonal skills can influence a change in the behavior of staff. People do what gets noticed, rewarded, and measured. They want to be managed by principles not endless rules and regulations, and they want purposes and principles that inspire them, empower them, and encourage them to do their best. Safety management is about leading people to good ideas and so a proactive not a reactive person is needed in the job. Safety Officers need to decide what behavior is needed and to encourage it by giving positive reinforcement each and every time they see that behavior exhibited. They need to structure their language, discussion, and interface with other managers in such a way that they speak their language and can explain issues in a way that motivates others in the ordinary course of business.
Influence Others
To solve problems, Safety Officers need to use the power and pervasiveness of information to make everyone aware of the problem. They need to be able to use problems to find practical solutions. They need to shift from hazard spotting, which is a negative activity, to developing positive strategies to highlight safety performance successes. They need to use their knowledge to educate and train people to view safety as a value-adding component, not as an additional problem.
Source File: http://danieljames.webs.com/

Author: Heather Matthews
One of the biggest complaints people have today is that they are always tired. Busy jobs, busy families, busy communities, “busy everything”. We are trying to squeeze more into each part of our day including our workday. How many of us hit the ground running with a list of things to do that we know is going to be almost impossible to complete even if everything goes right.
There are things we can do to help us make the best of the time we have in the day to keep the energy up level thought the workday.

Sleep

KC zzzz
To ensure you get the best out of your day, in large part depends on the sleep you had the night before. Getting a good night’s sleep is priceless when to comes to being able to face the day and the long list of things to do.
Developing good sleep habits is the best investment in your day:

  • Have a bed time routine
  • Make sure you do something relaxing before bed
  • Turn off all lights and other distractions such as TV, laptops, tablets and cell phones
  • Take a minute to reflect on all the good things you did today

All of this sounds easy enough to do. We all try to do the right thing but somehow life gets in the way. You now have a new list. Just pick one thing that you think you can change and keep doing it once you have mastered that choose another one.

Plan the Day

KC plan
Try to keep the agenda for the day realistic. Most of us are tried just at the anticipation of everything we have to get done in the next 8 hours if we are lucky.
Plan your activities for the day so the things that require the largest amount of concentration are done in the morning when you are the most refreshed. In the afternoon, try to plan meetings or tasks that require less concentration. It is also a good idea to plan work activities that involve group of people in the afternoon.

Healthy Eating

KC Live Healthy
It goes without saying that balanced healthy meals thought-out the day is best for keep you energy level up. This is especially important for the lunch meal during your work day. If you have a large meal for lunch it leads to a very sluggish afternoon. You body is expending a lot of energy digesting the large lunch which many times leads to the afternoon slump.
Things that can help get you thought the afternoon slump:

  • Drink two glasses of water-one of the signs of dehydration is fatigue
  • Add citrus to your water – adds flavor and is refreshing
  • Healthy snack made up of whole grains and fresh fruit- allows for slower digestion as well as keeps your sugar more balanced
  • Take a short 10 minute walk

Tell us what has worked for you and post your ideas and comments below!

About The Author:

Heather Headshot WebHeather Matthews is AWARE-NS’s Occupational Health & Safety Specialist. She received her Bachelor’s degree, majoring in Housing and Facility Management from Mount Saint Vincent University (1989). In 2010, she completed her Certificate in Occupational Health and Safety from Ryerson University. Most recently was the Corporate Health and Safety Manager for Ocean Nutrition Canada a Global Bio Science company where she was responsible for the development and implementation of the Health and Safety program. Developing a strong safety culture though leadership, training and education has been the primary focus in her most recent role.