In a recent issue of EHS magazine online, there was an article that outlined a presentation by Jim Spigener at the 2014 Safety Leadership conference. The article begins by outlining the three universal truths that Spigener has found during his research. Culture is the ultimate predictor of safety performance. Senior leaders make or break the culture of the company. “Very few leaders are born great leaders. They make themselves great leaders.” Spigener has done extensive research about safety and the most telling aspect that impacted safety was the culture of the organization. At the end of the day the leaders create the biggest impact. His model for the impact is below. If a leader behaves differently, it affects the climate. The climate affects follower behavior. Follower behavior affects follower beliefs. Follower beliefs create the culture. Behavior-based safety with the leader taking charge and impacting the safety climate is becoming more and more critical as roles, responsibilities, and expectations of organizations, management, government regulators and the public shift. intRAtrain and inspectiTRAC by Russell Associates have partnered with an industry expert to bring his Keys of Safety to our customers. The keys of safety in conjunction with inspectiTRAC for observations and inspections and intRAtrain Safety for training help create a complete system that helps CheapEssayWritingServices model an effective and impactful safety culture. The core values of this program are: Nothing we do is worth getting hurt Safety & Health can be managed Every injury could & should have been prevented Safety & Health is everyone’s responsibility Safety…
January 5th, 2015
What impact does safety culture have on your organization?
No Comments, incentives, inspectiTRAC, Safety, by admin.Day after day, employees are asked to be safe while also continuing to produce at a set pace or meet a quota set by management. Doing both things well is often difficult, with one often being ignored at the benefit of the other. One way some companies are working to achieve a balance is offer incentive programs for employees. When developing programs it is critical that a proactive approach be taken that encourage production and safety while not focusing only on injury rates/etc. Programs that focus on recordable injury numbers can mean that employees fear reporting injuries, a critical aspect of safety compliance. In addition to motivation another contributor to the safety and productivity connection is behavior-based safety training. It is critical that employees are trained throughout the year to continue to reinforce good safety behaviors. Safety training that is completed on a one time and done basis with limited employee engagement, no measurement of comprehension and verification of safety behaviors, often results in higher safety incident rates and reduced productivity due to lost time incidents. If you are interested in how interactive behavior-based safety training and proactive safety incentives programs can help increase your productivity, reduce the Total Incident Rate (TIR) and improve your bottom line, please give Russell Associates a call. We have been working with companies for over 35 years develop and design solutions to some of their stickiest problems.
December 22nd, 2014
Is your organization ready for FSMA?
No Comments, Food Safety, Safety, by admin.The FSMA has been an ever-changing topic since it was announced. Over time, the process has changed and new features, rules, qualifications and standards have been added or removed. Each time something changes critical time must be taken to understand and comply with the new standards. Food Safety News released a listing of critical dates related to food issues. I invite you to view this article to check for any issues concerning your business. Additionally, as time passes, it may be a wise decision to keep up to date on these issues. The White House/ U.S. General Services Administration keeps a website that helps provide up-to-date information about Federal Regulatory and Deregulatory Activities. Check is out at : http://reginfo.gov/public/do/eAgendaMain
November 22nd, 2014
Is your leader moving your organization in the right direction?
No Comments, incentives, Safety, by admin.Effective leaders are important to all industries. Good leaders can have various qualities that make each leader unique. The best safety leaders are those that model safe work behaviors and actively encourage employees to be engaged and active in the company safety culture. There are two types of leaders: transactional, meaning the interests of the team are aligned with the organization and transformational which encourages workers to move toward a unified goal. Both types of leaders can be effective in accomplishing the safety objectives and improving the safety culture in the organization. Read more about how the two types of leaders can affect change in an organization. According the article, studies have shown that incentive programs that reward achieving goals for recordable accidents and incidents can discourage reports of injuries. This may be true in a passive and reactive type incentive program, but there are incentive programs available that reward employees for being proactive and finding and reporting accidents and concerns that could be prevented. This type of proactive program helps transform the incentive program from transactional to transformative. If you have any questions about how you can implement a proactive safety rewards program at your company, contact intRAtrain by Russell Associates at 507.665.6266.
There has always been a goal to eliminate accidents in manufacturing and in business workplace in general. Numerous initiatives and strategies have been implemented, but the fact is accidents continue to occur. We recently read an interesting article about General Electric’s new approach to workplace safety and found it very interesting. I invite you to read more about it. http://ehstoday.com/safety/vpppa-2014-general-electric-future-safety-spelled-h-o-p?eid=forward It is interesting to note that they used a form of observation and data tracking to determine the critical points in their facility that needed attention. Observation has long been used to attempt to change individual behaviors, but is now being used as a method of organization / procedural change. GE identified the risks through the use of observations and inspections, used root cause analysis to solve the problem, then made changes to help solve the issue. The ability to solve or reduce the problem area could have been a physical, mechanical, or training issue, but regardless of how the problem is solved the important fact is they found a way to make difference. One of our products, inspectiTRAC, assists organizations with observations, inspections and audits. The results of the observations are available immediately for easy data access and response. If trending data is important, data can also be monitored over a period of time to track and monitor concern areas. Quicker response time means corrective actions can be implemented sooner, which is better for you, your employees, and your customers.
September 17th, 2014
Is the thought of an OSHA inspection keeping you up at night?
No Comments, Safety, Training, by admin.If you work in safety then the rules and regulations of OSHA are never far from your mind. Each year OSHA issues thousands of citations. Being prepared and aware of potential issues that you might face is one way to be prepared. Another is knowing the areas that OSHA most often issues citations. EHS magazine has posted a list of the Top 10 most issued citations. Click here to view them. Another way to be prepared and prevent OSHA citations is by ensuring employees are properly trained. There is safety training available for many topics including almost all of the top 10 citation areas. If you are looking for safety training that is based on OSHA standards visit our website to learn more, http://www.intratrain.com/products/safety. intRAtrain safety training is both information, interesting and a good value.
June 18th, 2014
Are you employees engaged in their training?
No Comments, Blended Learning, Safety, Training, by admin.Have you ever wondered, “What exactly has my employee learned?” We recently read in article in EHS Today about the importance on engagement in employee training. The author of the article makes some very valid points about how engagement in the learning process is critical to the comprehension and retention of training. The premise of the article is how organizations need to optimize the time they have to engage with learners. The proposed method is a form on blended learning that allows employees to use the practical skills they are learning in an on the job environment. In the example discussed, the major component of this blended learning approach was on the job learning. Blended learning when designed correctly is optimal for everyone. One way to maximize blended learning is to include and interactive learning component. Interactive learning can take place in a classroom or via online eLearning. eLearning has the advantage of being available 24/7, while also allowing the learner to proceed at their own pace. Additionally using eLearning ensures that every student receives the same message and that critical messages are delivered while also receiving reinforcement of skills throughout the module Another critical component of effective blended learning program is feedback coaching. Coaching can be informal or formal, but regardless of how it is completed coaching is essential. Coaching is the opportunity to build of strengths, to identify growth areas and to answer questions. Coaching is the component that allows you to answer the question, “What exactly has my employee learned?” If you…
Have you ever thought of implementing or moving to a mobile platform for manufacturing? Food Manufacturing recently released an article about the benefits and risk of mobile access to manufacturing information. http://www.foodmanufacturing.com/articles/2014/03/benefits-and-risks-mobile-access-manufacturing-information?et_cid=3851010&et_rid=662086080&location=top The benefits of mobile access are real and documented. If you are ready to implement a mobile solutions for your organizations inspections, audits and observationss or for your training needs, be sure to give us a shout.
Recordkeeping and storage has been basically the same for many years. Record the data/information needed then file the document in a file cabinet for required number of years. The document then sits in the cabinet for years with the chance of it being viewed again very slim. In the off-chance that a document needs to be retrieved the time spent looking for it is often much more costly than the actual value of the information on the document retrieved. As the Food Safety Modernization Act moves forward, the ease of records documentation and storage is going to become more critical. A recent ruling found that the FDA will be allowed to request additional information, documentation and records if they feel the other processes are affected in a similar manner as the concern they are originally investigating. This puts pressure on organizations to be able to produce records easily. One way to do this is with an online data management tool. Inspections, audits and observations are on record that are often kept stored in their paper-form in rows upon rows of file cabinets. The implementation of an automated tool, such as inspectiTRAC, can reduce the file storage requirements, improved responsiveness to data, and allow for easier record keeping. Just imagine an easy way to get information to those who need it easily and efficiently, without having to dig through a file cabinet. How else are you ensuring you can retrieve vital documentation/records easily and efficiently?