1. Creating a Positive Safety Culture and Outstanding Safety Performance
Hello everyone and thank you for taking part in this session!
As Judy said my name is Jim O’Dell, and I have been humbled to serve two workforces in a total transformation of their safety culture, so we’ll review strategies used in both, really keying in with the successes here at Kipper Tool for, as you will see, we had quite a mountain to climb!
Jim O’Dell
Safety Manager,
Kipper Tool Company
(C) Jim O'Dell 2013

2. Is your Safety something like this?
This is an honest question, and we need to look at what we do?
If there are known issues in our workplaces and we try to limit our response, then we might as well barricade a manhole with bricks because it is not adequate.
Maybe it is due to budget constraints…that is the number one limiting resource I hear at conferences. We’ll look at this too.
So our agenda will be

3. Background Safety Professional since 2002
Helped change the culture of two vastly different companies
Both are award-winning and share World Class figures
Safe downsize and eventual closure of previous employers’ local location
Compassionate for people
I came up from floor level as a production supervisor though my crew was always the safest and most productive. So in 2002 I was asked to take over safety at my former employer and found where I needed to be.
I enrolled in an online degree program and earned certification as a safety professional shortly thereafter.
That said, you’d be amazed how little that is used in making changes!
My former employer closed in 2007 safely, something that normally ends with claim after claim. That’s a whole different presentation that has helped countless companies in downsizing and closures,.
Really, having a compassion for people is key in our line of work. We’ll see how this plays a role throughout our time together.

4. Metrics of each 2001: 4 REC (1 DART) 2002: 6 REC (2 DART)
2003 – 2007: 1 REC each year local (helped improve North American region safety 87%)
2007: 19 REC (6 DART)
2008: 26 REC (3 DART)
2009: 3 REC (1 DART)
2010 – 2012: 1 REC
SO here we have where each company was safety-wise. With my former employer it doesn’t look like much in comparison though we were only 70 people. One of the DART events was an amputation that shook our corporate management to the core as we were then in the cellar compared with the rest of that multi-national company.
With Kipper the needs were exceptional. Through an amazing growth spurt people were getting hurt left and right! By 2008 they had grown from 60 employees to over 170 and many of these were right out of high school.
When culture change started taking place the difference was notable. I was blessed to also travel and help other locations with my former employer up to Feb 2008 and turned around the culture in their north american operations.
With Kipper we were able to find some things to work very quickly after I started in Sept of 2008 to where we are now setting the bar when compared to our industry averages.
Industry average: 6.2 REC
EMR below 1% three years running
Dates of last events:
Aug 29, 2011 REC
Sept 15, 2009 DART

5. Common ground
Yeah; this is true for both organizations regarding safety! No one owned it; it was a part of someone’s job, though they didn’t do the whole job, and part of it belonged to someone else and….you get the picture. No one took charge so there are no control.

6. Safety Culture…Engage!
Inspect
Train
Coach
Ideas
Laugh
Listen
Home
Repeat
Here’s the roadmap we used on both occasions to start a safety culture.
Inspections in the workplace
Training employees and management
Coaching – well talk about that in more detail versus training
Sharing ideas instead of telling what to do
Laughing with the workers in training and on the floor
Being an active listener is a big part of this culture change
Talking about and coaching employees about at home safety
And then repeating this cycle and improving upon it
So in the words of Jean Luc Picard…engage!

7. First steps Thorough inspection of facility
Talking directly with workers
Letting them know you are accessible
Review the past; identify top three needs
Report to directors immediate needs
What can be better than a good look through a facility to start things off? I am originally from earthquake country so I am always looking above and around; what can fall on me and where’s my nearest escape route? Having a good form to use – a mock OSHA form, for example – can be a good roadmap to find easy issues, and forms to inspect records, offices and so forth go the extra mile.
Get out on the floor and get our hands dirty while talking with and gaining the trust of the workers on the floor – the experts – and let them know they can come to you with any and all concerns. Great way to pre-conduct a JHA. Never start with that as you will loose the initial trust.
Look at the past to find a path toward the future. We had so many repeat incidents that it was amazing these incidents were still occurring! Some simple, cultural changes had to be made for some.
Find the three top issues that have been causing the most headache – not necessarily the most money – and present findings and solutions to those in charge. They do want to see dollar figures to have potential savings from folks not getting hurt along with the cost of change.

8. First steps More Communication! Communication More Communication
What type is key!
How it is presented is key!
Have fun and be serious
What was lacking most of all in both locations was communications regarding safety.
So learn to communicate and do it.
Then, do it some more! And even more!
There are ways and types of communications we will look at shortly though the key to successful communications is to be both fun and serious…yes, you can have your powerbar and eat it, too!

9. Communications
Monday – Compliance based or significant safety event regionally
Wednesday – Comical unsafe photos with commentary
Thursday – Health and Wellness
Friday – ‘Darwin Award’ type along with commentary
Each brings with it a TAKE 2-ish message, and brings it back to what we do here, and quite often, to home
This is quite simply what I produce for our facility every week, without fail.
Some of this is right off the press; in newspapers, online blogs, CDC, etc.
Wednesdays are self-produced and are copyrighted. They involve a photo from something out there in cyberspace, or in many cases some of our employees take pics from outside work, and using some fun writing abilities I have been blessed with produce something both funny and hits a point about safety here and/or at home.
Health and Wellness are something that is a natural fit for us in the safety and health field! We need to exemplify health, in my humble opinion, and provide opportunities to outside activities, communications about how to stay or get healthier, and cheerlead when someone makes a positive change in their lifestyle!
Fridays it is all about showing how smart our workers are because they are alive! The Darwin Awards, and now fail-blogs and others, have some great stories about how some in society leave this earth through some really absurd actions.
And again, each message I’ll add a little of the old DuPont TAKE 2-styled message that can be home related just as much as work related.

10. First steps continued New Hire Orientation – personally Training
Select training dates monthly
Stick to schedule (make it accessible)
Know the audience
Managers and/or 19 yr olds?
Style matters
Interactive, high-energy, graphic at first
Always bring it back to home, always
I would hope most everyone has some type of onboarding in place. Do you do this personally?
I have found that setting someone down in a room with a DVD, VHS or other non-personal means doesn’t get the point across. We have to be personally involved when going through orientation! That shows care and concern, you will learn a lot about where the new hire has worked, and that interaction gets them immediately on board with your culture!
Training is another big one that was not happening in either location. Once we put in place monthly formal training the tide started shifting. Get good information, know who will be there as you may need to tweak style a little (though managers many times want to see and hear what the workers are hearing, too).
With this current generation of workers in the 20’s, they are used to video game carnage. I term this group the Invincibles because they hit a reset button and get another life! Not in real life, though.
So my strategy here was to shock them. Graphic injury photos, so it can sink in, are best. It may be something they normally do without thought. Now they have something to think about!

11. First steps continued Track and champion improvements
Coaching employees vs. telling them
Positive sandwich
Why it matters personally to them
Have empathy though be firm
Disciplinary Action
When we measure our results we can make the workers the champions of change! Showing the results of their work – and I mean that, their work – is a great way to have them buy-in to the improved work culture.
Coaching is a better way to help make change instead of busting someone's chops. As a coach you always need to find something positive about the actions you just witnesses as unsafe. This is how the Positive Sandwich works:
‘Hey Judy, I noticed you were cutting away from yourself and that’s great! Pushing danger away from you is a great way to keep from performing a self-appendectomy!
Then you come in with the correction; ‘I also noticed you were not wearing a cut resistant glove on your free hand. You know why that’s important, right?’ Let them tell you why and make any corrections if they get it wrong.
Then thank them for doing a good job with their assurance to wear the glove from now on, and to be watchful when they see others not doing it correctly and help them understand why it’s so important.
- personally and empathy……when all else fails we have to stick to the rule and use disciplinary action.

12. Significant impact events
Safety Glasses requirement
Put on safety
Cut Resistant Gloves
Why it is important to have fingers!
Root Cause Analysis of each first aid / close call
Post findings and share with huddle meetings
To prevent future occurrence
Emergency planning
Get home each and every day
The big events that came from looking back to go forward were to implement safety glasses even though we were primarily an assembly and warehousing operation. They had suffered three eye injuries and this way those would be prevented, and people think about that when they don their glasses, they ‘put on safety.’
Cut gloves was a big one. So many lacerations could have been prevented had gloves been worn and cutting was done in the correct direction. We also began using a knife that had attachments for tape splitting and film cutting so most of the time a blade is not needed.
Identifying the root cause of each and every close call and first aid is time consuming though the riches of the findings will more than pay-off as you go forward. It was amazing to me how many incidents occurred from these top two causes when drilled down to find it: in a hurry, or came in very tired. Lots of focus has been on the importance of sleep and of allowing time to perform tasks safely.
Having a good emergency response plan is key! Letting the workers know, training on it (and having a home safety plan) lets them know you care about them and their families so they can go home each and every day no matter what happens.

13. Significant impact events
Track safe days
Celebrate first milestone
Invite family members, partners, local CoC members , and your WC rep!
Get prizes for FREE!
Put in local media
Celebrate next milestones
I think some of the first metrics we had here were those involving safety! By tracking how many days it had been since the last incident it started to develop a sense of pride in the workforce.
Our first milestone was 200 days w/o a recordable. We had a real nice catered lunch, handed out some shirts.
At 365 days, we again did shirts only this time it was also steaks and potatoes grilled, with all the fixings! Invited local Chamber reps, business partners (including our local IOA rep) and family members.
Having celebrated like this before with my previous employer I wanted to get something in way of a prize into everyones hands. All you have to do is ask!
We were able to do this by talking with some of our primary suppliers, telling them of this huge milestone from where we’ve been. They will usually ask what they can do to help celebrate! Supplying gifts was huge!
Putting the celebration and achievement into the local paper, people get to share this with their friends and family…builds a sense of pride.

14. Significant impact events
I know what this looks like…we had three fork lift bumping incidents in a two week span. Got with our Director of Operations bcause I wanted to shake up the workforce.
Held this mock fatality that we set up using real police line tape. Workers were stunned when the Dir of Ops really got into this, telling them he et employees family at hosptial, …sold it. I had to bring people back down to reality and explain this is what can happen if we do not take better care of each other, driving safely and paying attention closely to surroundings. Had desired effect!
Tell the story…

15. Hazard Communication / Globally Harmonized System Training
Have FUN!
Hazard Communication / Globally Harmonized System Training
Let’s say it is time for your annual HazCom training and you are making the transition to the GHS.
Part of the new GHS is that labels are easily identifiable with the hazards, so how would you make that fun?
There are lots of ways to make training and overall fun in our jobs that should spill over into the culture of the entire organization!

16. Have FUN!
Talk about Olympic year…local guy…be a Safety Olympian!

17. Have FUN! Health Fairs at NO COST
Silly Socks for Safety (yes it works for adults, too)
Costume days, tailgate parties, dragonboat
Random prizes, Jeopardy!, weird facts
Making fun (and giving) of yourself, too!
By now about half of the companies I have talked with have held some type of health fair.
Did you know you can do this with no out-of-pocket expense?
All it takes is your time and some time from your employees and let your network providers take care of the rest! So many of them are always looking for new patients that they will jump at an opportunity to showcase their specialties to prospective clients.
Socks…costume or themed days, dragonboating can get me off into a whole different presentation though if you are looking for a fun team-building day on the water there is nothing better!
We’d have drawings for prizes at most safety meetings. Most I get for free from area businesses (discounts on car washes, % off this or that, etc). Safety Jeopardy is always a hit.
Perhaps what is most important is we take ourselves, as safety and health professionals with a grain of salt! We have to be serious and firm about safety though we can do it in a fun and inviting way that we give of ourselves by making fun of the dumb things we’ve done before. It shows that we are human! Because….

18. Have FUN! We are the spark though our actions
We must interact in fun ways
We set the tone
‘Work is either fun or drudgery. It depends on your attitude. I like fun’ - Colleen Barrett
‘I am still determined to be cheerful and happy, in whatever situation I may be’. - Martha Washington ( )
We set the tone!
If we have built those coalitions on the floor and with management then everyone knows how we roll! We provide, in our position, an opportunity to be the spark plug, the exciting person to interact with everyone!
The two quotations say it well…
I like being a safety cheerleader, not a safety cop. Sometimes I need to wear the officers’ uniform though I’d rather wear my Hawai'ian shirts (every Friday!)

19. Free Resources
If you are on a near-zero budget I completely understand!
There is so much out there in cyberspace and much of it is free! Don’t cha just love it!?
So much info on things such as creating a home escape plan, the latest recall on products, training tidbits, health and nutrition all the way to chemical and the latest forklift news… there is much to be gained just surfing the net!
There are more sites than these; just wanted to show the variety of what can be had for zero cost – other than your time. Heck; you can even make signs for free and they look good, too!

20. Ongoing efforts Safety leaders at floor level ‘I care about you’ cards
‘Story-telling’ as part of training
‘Meerkat’ safety (interdependence)
More at-home safety and health messages
Always coaching and reporting
Of course we cannot stop and smell the roses for too long. Workers need us to keep things fresh and lively!
We are developing floor safety leaders by having several teams; a first aid squad, an inspection team, an incident investigation team….bear in mind that EVERYONE working at Kipper is part of the safety committee.
We developed cards that say ‘I care about You. Similar to DuPont Stop cards, these deliver a different message in that you show someone – could be yourself – being at risk in action. They are filled out and shared with the person that was performing the unsafe act before going into the box for review. These are only identifiable by department, no names.
At the end of each training session I open the floor in 2013 to story-time. This is a time for attendees to share experiences they have had with the subject matter. We started this for STF in January and it went over so well; we learn from each other and that is the point.
Meekats….Home, more home….Always coaching and reporting!

21. Share the good news 200 days Calendar year 500 days 750 days 1000 days
We have at accentuate the positive! Share, give, thanks!
Yada, yada, yada
750 days
1000 days

22. Question and Answer
Thank you for your time! I hope this was a valuable resource. Jim O’Dell