Michigan State’s Dean’s Update | August 21 … Physicians, and I am going to lump in medical students here, need to be leaders in this time, and we need to maintain and promote the standards of our profession. One struggle we have long faced is the need to correct the professionalism of our colleagues. It is not easy, but as a profession, we have to say something when we see something amiss in the behaviors of our fellow physicians and students.
Importantly, we have to remember that we all make mistakes, and reminders about social distancing and mask or shield wearing are about helping each other perform and behave safely. We are never about belittling or scolding each other. Organizations with a real safety culture correct mistakes and only punish recklessness or disregard for the needs of others. And, crucially, getting feedback that we are not in our mask or we are not spatially distancing, or our evening plans are not consistent with public health, should result in thanking the person who reminded us and by making the correction.
Researchers Say Rural Culture Affects Use Of Seatbelts (And Maybe Masks, Too)
Only about 20% of Americans live in rural areas, but that’s where 30% of driving and 45% of fatal traffic accidents happen. Montana State University recently hosted a webinar to address that issue, welcoming lawmakers and experts from across Montana and the nation. They pointed out challenges ranging from wildlife crossings to distances from hospitals. But they found that personal choices and rural culture play big roles, too. For example, rural drivers are less likely to use a seatbelt.
“In some communities we still have belief systems that make them think it’s not worth wearing a seatbelt,” said Nic Ward, director of MSU’s Center for Health & Safety Culture.
Ward’s center recently surveyed residents in six rural Utah counties, and found that 78% wanted their loved ones to buckle up – even if they didn’t use seatbelts themselves.
“And indeed you could argue that ruralness itself comes with this sense of helping each other and wanting people in your community to be safe,” Ward said.
Identifying that positive aspect of rural culture helped his group form a way to tackle the not-so-helpful lack of seatbelt use there. They created an ad campaign to remind people that they’re someone’s family and part of a community that wants them to get home safe.
`Before You Get Out of Your Car, Put on Your Mask’
As students prepare to return to Embry-Riddle’s residential campuses in Prescott, Arizona, and Daytona Beach, Florida for face-to-face fall 2020 classes, university leadership reaffirmed its rules for wearing face coverings at all times.
Face coverings are mandatory in all common areas on Embry-Riddle’s campuses, both indoors and outdoors, in classrooms, laboratories, residence halls and other facilities. In addition, EagleCards must be visible at all times, either on a lanyard or clipped to an article of clothing, and daily wellness checks are mandatory.
Wearing face coverings, in keeping with U.S. Centers for Disease Control & Prevention guidelines, reflects Embry-Riddle’s strong safety culture and Eagle commitment to caring for others. Embry-Riddle’sfall 2020 Path Forward plan emphasizes the importance of taking personal responsibility.
“We’re working hard to provide a safe environment, but it’s up to all of us to make it work,” Embry-Riddle President P. Barry Butler said at a recent virtual town hall event organized by Student Government Association leaders. “When we look back on this time as history, how you as individuals reacted will say a lot about you as a person. It will go with you throughout life and in your careers – how you behaved, how flexible you were in adapting to a new situation and the choices you made.”
Creating a recipe with food safety instructions is simple – the first step is always wash your hands.
Consumers are more likely to follow food safety instructions if they are embedded within the recipe, and retailers are uniquely positioned to educate consumers on practicing food safety in their home kitchens.
Unsurprisingly, more families are cooking at home since the COVID-19 pandemic began, and there is a long-lasting opportunity to prioritize food safety each time we step foot in the kitchen. To further promote a strong food safety culture within our homes, the Partnership for Food Safety Education (PFSE) is sponsoring the inaugural 30-Minute Meals Safe Recipe Contest to challenge our industry in creating a delicious, nutritious and safe recipe.
In March 2019, the FMI Foundation and PFSE released the Safe Style Recipe Guide to support all consumers in developing, and inserting, specific food safety text that promotes positive cooking behaviors within recipes. This guide directly addresses four primary areas of concern in the home kitchen: (1) cooking/storage temperatures; (2) handwashing; (3) cross-contamination; and (4) produce handling.
Safety Barriers Address Vulnerabilities in Recovery
How can an individual in recovery stay sober when the areas of his or her brain that process decisions aren’t functioning properly, Kevin McCauley, MD, senior fellow with Meadows Behavioral Healthcare, asked NCAD attendees in his Saturday session. In other words: How can a person protect themselves from relapse when their ability to assess relapse is, in itself, impaired?
McCauley, who is in recovery after developing an addiction to prescription painkillers after surgery when he was a flight surgeon for the U.S. Navy in the 1990s, discussed the need for a recovery management plan and developing a safety culture to solve common problems early in recovery.
McCauley drew parallels between aviation safety checklists used during his time in the Navy and recovery plans. Much like no single safety barrier can prevent mishaps, no single element of a recovery plan can entirely prevent a relapse, McCauley said. He made the analogy that the parts of safety checklists and recovery plans are similar to a stack of slices of Swiss cheese—each has holes, but when you put enough together, they form a solid block of cheese, or a safety checklist/recovery plan that accounts for all potential problems.
“If I try to consciously process this risk, I’m going to fail,” he said. “But if I put enough safety barriers in my life, it doesn’t matter if I’m craving. It doesn’t matter if I am offered the chance to get high. Those safety barriers should protect me. … At some point, consciousness will break down. You have to have other factors in place.”
Missouri’s “Buckle Up Phone Down” Safety Initiative Gaining National Attention, Momentum
The Missouri Department of Transportation’s “Buckle Up Phone Down” safety initiative is being recognized nationally for its success in saving lives on Missouri highways.
According to a news release, the National Association of Development Organizations, also known as NADO, gave the “Buckle Up Phone Down” endeavor an Excellence in Regional Transportation Award, which recognizes noteworthy projects and practices that help meet regional needs through various program areas, including safety.
In addition, the “Toward Zero Deaths” consortium selected the Show Me State’s BUPD program as a model case study in improving the state’s safety culture and saving lives.
These recent recognitions help support MoDOT Director Patrick McKenna’s emphasis areas as president of the American Association of State Highways and Transportation Officials: to renew a focus on safety as a national public health crisis and to begin tackling this epidemic by taking Missouri’s successful “Buckle Up Phone Down” safety initiative to the national level.
As a result, three other states – Wisconsin, Nebraska and Kentucky – are actively promoting the BUPD movement, while 11 states have expressed interest in taking up the cause and spreading the BUPD safety message.
Wind energy recap, look out for solar
Regarding health and safety, it is imperative to instill a safety culture in every team. Although accidents do happen, the industry has a great track record for safety. Some of the major risks that are faced throughout these projects include:
Electrical shock / arc flash
Materials handling
Working at height
New Travel Series Features Food And Culture, But Subtly Highlights Road Safety
A new summer travel series, “ASIRT Lite,” will debut on Thursday to offer future travelers a feel for the sights, sounds and smells of three different destinations, but keeping in mind the importance of each’s road safety culture.
“When you travel to any country, learning about the road safety in that country is an intricate part of what you need to know,” said Rochelle Sobel, founder of the Association for Safe International Road Travel (ASIRT). Her son, Aron, died in a bus crash in Turkey in 1995. He was a twenty-five year old medical student completing his final rotation by volunteering in a hospital abroad.
“That’s the message that we’re trying to give, because so many people do research on everything else, but they leave out road safety,” Ms. Sobel said. “Just like you want to know what restaurant to go to and what sights to be sure to see, you really have to know the road safety of the country. It’s a part of being an informed traveler.”
Farm Safety Week brings timely reminder www.farmingahead.com.au/farm-offi…
Agribusiness > Farm-office22 July 2020CommentsShare Staff Writer Farmsafe Australia says paying attention and being aware of risks are vital aspects of providing a safe farm.
Awareness of risk is a critical factor, if not the most important factor, Farmsafe Australia says, in safety messaging with regard to any danger on farm.
“Farmers and farm employees generally know the risks associated with the tasks that they perform day to day, however a combination of familiarity, complacency, fatigue, stress et cetera, can be the difference between business as usual and tragedy on farm” says Charles Armstrong, chair of Farmsafe Australia.
“That is why the importance of on farm inductions, site specific risk assessments with follow up mitigation techniques and daily toolbox talks cannot be stressed enough. Inductions ensure that anyone new to the farm is familiar with the safety risks on farm and has basic information on how to avoid those risks.”
But what is risk awareness? It is simply the acknowledgement that a risk, or a combination of risks, are involved in an activity that is to be performed.
Site specific risk assessments and mitigation techniques ensure that farmers have considered all possible sources of danger and have put controls in place to minimise or eliminate those risks. Regular toolbox talks open up the lines of communication for all employees to be aware of new or existing issues.
“Unfortunately, the other factor that prevents the risk assessment method from being as effective as it should be is often the risk culture that is associated with farming,” Armstrong said.
“Risk culture is the social acceptance of the processes surrounding the identification, communication and management of risk. In farming, risk culture often sounds like ‘she’ll be right, mate, I’m only driving at slow speeds on the quad, so I don’t need a helmet or I’ve done it this way longer than you’ve been walking’.
“Driving cultural change towards best practice safety approaches is not always popular as it forces each and every one of us to look in the mirror and face the facts that every day, we make choices, or deflect the responsibility of making choices, that could severely injure or even kill ourselves or those we care about,” he said.
Vision Zero Maui seeks to make island’s streets safer
WAILUKU, Hawaii (KHON2) — Vision Zero Maui is seeking to eliminate traffic fatalities and serious injuries by 2040. The approach builds on previous work and promoting a safety culture. This, they’re hoping, will save an average of 18 traffic-related deaths due to crashes and over 100 injuries to bicyclists and pedestrians.
The Advisory Group is composed of representatives from the transportation, enforcement, education, public health, emergency response, equity, transit, biking, walking, and vehicle agency and organizations. Representatives from the following agencies and organizations are included in the Advisory Group: Maui County Mayor’s Office; Maui Metropolitan Planning Organization; County Department of Public Works; County Planning Department; County Prosecutor’s Office; Maui Police Department; Maui Fire Department; State Department of Transportation; State Department of Health; Healthy Eating, Active Living (HEAL) Coalition; Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD); Maui Bicycling League; and American Association of Retired Persons (AARP).
NBAF UPDATE | Safety is fundamental to our success themercury.com/opinion/n…
At a world-class science facility with a large animal biosafety level 4 (BSL-4) laboratory like the National Bio and Agro-Defense Facility (NBAF), establishing a safety culture across all areas is one of USDA’s highest priorities.
Safety is a responsibility of every NBAF employee. We have hired teams of professionals who are dedicated to planning and facilitating all our safety efforts and others focused specifically on safety in our biocontainment labs. We also have established the NBAF Safety Committee comprised of volunteers across the organization to assist in education and awareness campaigns and ensure everyone at all levels has a voice in safety. These teams are essential to NBAF’s mission, but we want to incorporate a safety culture throughout NBAF, not just within a few critical groups.
We are working hard to develop that culture before the facility even opens. For example, we start every meeting of five or more people with a brief safety presentation — even virtual meetings. The topics range from the expected themes like biological risk safety practices and animal handling to general tips about weather safety and good health practices. Employee responses to these discussions have been overwhelmingly positive.
FAA Says Wings, Asrs-Like Programs Coming To UAS
The UAS Safety Team (UAST) is partnering with the FAA and NASA, emulating the existing Aviation Safety Reporting System to facilitate sharing of safety information, to promote trust, and to foster a safety reporting culture within the UAS community, Sean Cassidy, director of safety and regulatory affairs for Prime Air, Amazon’s drone delivery system, said in a session on the UAST.
“AOPA supports and appreciates the FAA’s effort in promoting safety culture best practices to the entire UAS industry through the Drone Advisory Committee [DAC], UAST, and FAAST Team,” said Cooper, who represents AOPA both in the UAST and the DAC’s Safety Culture for Drone Operators tasking group. That group seeks to help the drone community adopt the strong safety culture prevalent in manned aviation. Manned aviation’s safety culture is a pillar of general aviation’s strong safety record today, he noted. “A strong drone safety culture will significantly assist the safe and efficient integration of drones into the NAS.”
Improving Safety For Victorian Farms
A newly established Farm Safety Council is providing advice to the Victorian Government and agriculture sector on how to reduce injuries and deaths of people on farms in Victoria.
The Council, established by Minister for Agriculture Jaclyn Symes has been meeting to provide guidance on the activities that could be prioritised by government to make farms safer and change farm safety culture, ultimately reducing the number of deaths and injuries on farms.
The agricultural sector is overly represented in fatality statistics, making up less than three per cent of the Victorian workforce but more than 30 per cent of workplace deaths.
What COVID-19 taught the FDA about food safety
Developing a culture of food safety
Prior to COVID, food safety culture was mostly the responsibility of farm workers and food facility staff. The global crisis made FDA officials realize that the food safety culture needs to extend to the home, too. Work should be done to keep everyone involved in farms, processing plants, and other food supply chain links safe, but the system should also educate the public about best food safety practices during home cooking.
In other words: the government, industries, and consumers must all work together to keep each other safe.
“What we have learned from the pandemic is that we’re on the right track with the New Era of Smarter Food Safety. The steps that we’ll take will prepare us to protect the safety of our food supply, no matter what challenges we face,” he says. “We will get there together, stronger and more resilient than ever.”
Four Ways to Improve Your Fleet’s Safety Culture
There’s no magic wand for creating a safety culture within your trucking organization, but two fleets shared their own secrets to success June 24, during the Truckload Carriers Association’s Virtual Safety and Security Meeting.
Give Drivers the Tools They Need to Succeed At Boyle Transportation, drivers are given “a small library” of reference materials that walk them through everything they’ll encounter on their trips, including how to access specific customer locations. Michael Lasko, safety manager at Boyle, said reference materials need to be more than a checklist of what to, and not to, do to avoid getting in trouble.
“We try to equip our drivers with tools and knowledge on how to use these tools, so they have everything they need to be safe,” Lasko said.
The FAA’s Drone Advisory Committee: Here’s What Happened
Developing a Safety Culture in the Drone Community
The second major agenda item for the meeting was a report from Task Group 8, led by Captain Joe DePete, focused on developing a culture of safety in the community of drone flyers. The Group is at the beginning of their project: but emphasized the need for developing a learning focused environment – and building trust between regulators and pilots at all levels.
Washington Traffic Safety Commission Announces Update to ‘Target Zero,’ Adds Five New Initiatives
… The new initiatives being introduced by the WTSC include leveraging the state’s traffic safety culture, focusing on health equity and multicultural communications, updating cooperative automated transportation, prevention through safe systems approach and identifying the best practices in licensing and regulation.
Washington has a strong traffic safety culture, according to the WTSC, with the state’s seatbelt use rate at 93 percent, one of the best in the nation. Target Zero’s first initiative is to enlist the majority of Washingtonians who practice safe driving to encourage the minority of drivers who engage in riskier driving behavior.
Target Zero’s second initiative identifies that people living in poverty or vulnerable and marginalized populations are more likely to be involved in serious or fatal car accidents and would make investments in education and infrastructure for underserved areas were needed.
The emergence of the occupational health and safety profession in Australia
The Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) profession is well established in Australia and it would be rare, if not impossible to find a medium to a large public, private or government organisation without an OHS professional department. This paper explores the development and current status of the OHS profession in Australia. To be recognised as a profession, any occupation needs to satisfy a number of individual, collective and external professional criteria. This paper reviews the OHS profession in Australia, through these professional criteria and we describe the: role and career path, defined knowledge and skill base, ethical code of practice, professional status, professional organisations, professional entry criteria, professional education, external requirements, stakeholders, and societal recognition. To further examine the extent to which the OHS occupation deserves professional status we explore in detail the professionalisation strategy of the Safety Institute of Australia (SIA) over the past 8 years. Since 2010 the Safety Institute of Australia (SIA), the largest and broadest Australian OHS professional organisation, has rigorously pursued a strategy aimed at increasing the professionalisation of the OHS profession through concurrent programs of: professional certification, university curriculum accreditation, and the development of an ‘OHS Body of Knowledge’. This paper concludes that the OHS profession in Australia can be considered an ‘emerging profession’. An emerging profession is a recognised discipline or occupation that has established, although not consistently implemented the structures, capability and recognition necessary to be considered an established profession. The current and future challenges and opportunities for the OHS profession are discussed.
Other Voices: Maintain a vibrant safety culture with a holistic approach and meaningful training
As our industry celebrates National Forklift Safety Day, it is important to remember that a successful safety program must include multiple efforts that encourage forklift safety.
In fact, what is ideal is a holistic approach to safety that stresses how every individual is critical to fostering and maintaining a safe working environment. There are a variety of ways this can be accomplished, and your forklift equipment supplier can help you identify capabilities, tools and best practices that will give you a more integrated safety program.
Regardless of the approach and steps you take, there are five foundational elements of a holistic approach that you must consider.
Ep.30 What do safety professionals believe about themselves? Topics:
The distinction between role and identity. The stereotypes about the safety profession. What to consider when hiring safety employees. The role of Tertiary safety education. Change and the journey of safety. The values of safety professionals. What is important to talk about, when talking about safety professionals.
Quotes:
“Very few safety people describe themselves as bureaucrats.”
“…Just that word, ‘Professional’. It tended to be the case that people who had tertiary education thought of that as being important as part of being a professional.”
“We value belonging and involvement, but we also require authority to do some of our role.”
Tips to keep teen drivers safe ahead of ’100 Deadliest Days’
“The last decade of crash data shows that teens continue to be over-represented in crashes and summertime marks an increase of fatal crashes for this age group,” said Dr. David Yang, executive director of the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety. “Our data analysis has found that for every mile driven, new teen drivers ages 16-17 years old are three times more likely to be involved in a deadly crash compared to adults.”
AAA warns that this year could be even more dangerous for teen drivers with schools closed for in-person instruction, the vast majority of summer jobs canceled and coronavirus restrictions starting to be lifted, resulting in an increased number of teens on the road.
Due to inexperience and reckless nature, teen drivers are more likely to engage in dangerous driving habits than adults, with 72% of teen drivers admitting to participating in at least one dangerous driving behavior over the past month.
According to the new AAA Foundation Traffic Safety Culture Index: 47% of teens admitted to driving more than 10 miles per hour over the speed limit on a residential street; 40% drove more than 15 miles per hour over the limit on the freeway; 35% texted while driving; 32% ran a red light, 31% reported aggressive driving; 25% reported drowsy driving; 17% admitted to not wearing a seatbelt.
AAA advises parents to speak with their children about the dangers of reckless, distracted and impaired driving, in addition to leading by example by driving safely themselves and conducting at least 50 hours of supervised driving with their teen.
Aviation psychologists do believe that when a person makes a mistake, especially if that mistake is a violation of procedures, then it is not the first time that they are doing it. Also it is believed that in an organization if one person is doing something without check and balance, then there are very strong chances that other people will also be doing it – indicating a poor safety culture in that organization. The question is: who or what allows the safety culture to get destroyed?
The aircraft data, which is downloaded after the flight has the answer. If the accountable managers of safety and operations do not do their work and do not give proper feedback to correct such pilots then as per human nature the habit patterns will continue to erode. So much so that no one in that organization will be held responsible.
It is immensely important to know that aviation is based on a block-building approach of managerial hierarchy. If any of those managers are not doing their job then the safety culture will immediately collapse and the results will be deadly.
Build a strong culture: Tips for ‘talking safety’
No one can keep an entire organization safe on his or her own. Collaboration is needed to create a strong safety culture in which everyone looks out for each other.
There’s no magic formula to make someone heed safety advice. But improving the atmosphere around safety conversations can make it easier to give and receive advice in a graceful, constructive way. Here are some ways you can do that:
Retire the ‘safety police.’ The “gotcha” approach is counterproductive, experts say. When workers feel they’re being policed, they find ways to hide their unsafe behaviors, resulting in lost opportunities for improvement. To make a genuine, long-term impact, take a persuasive approach rather than a punitive one.
Speak the worker’s language. Instead of presenting the information in the way that makes the most sense to the speaker, consider how the worker will receive it. Before saying anything, take a moment to think about who is being spoken to and what he or she cares about, and tailor the conversation to speak to those motivations. And remember: Good communication goes both ways. Instead of doing all the talking, listen to what workers have to say – especially any questions or objections they bring up, which can reveal their motivations. Demonstrate care and concern. By far, the greatest reason to give a worker for adopting a safe behavior is concern for his or her well-being, and the best way to avoid the appearance of lecturing is to show concern for that person. Be calm and keep emotions in check to help send the right message. Focus on specifics. To avoid expressing judgment or disapproval and provoking a defensive reaction, limit comments to the precise unsafe behaviors or conditions that were witnessed. Get (and give) permission. If you’re concerned that well-intentioned advice will come off as intrusive, it may help to set the stage for the safety conversation beforehand. Lead by example and encourage others to do the same. Workers tend to do what those around them are doing, so it’s essential to demonstrate safe behaviors in addition to talking about them.
Ep.28 How does coordination work in incident response teams?
EPISODE SUMMARY On this episode of Safety of Work, we discuss how coordination works in incident response teams.
EPISODE NOTES Dave is joined by special guest, Dr. Laura Maguire, a researcher at the Cognitive Systems Engineering Lab at Ohio State University. Her recent research pertains to the topic at hand. Tune in to hear our informative discussion.
Topics:
● Dr. Maguire’s personal relationship to safety.
● Exploring coordinated joint activity in the tech industry.
● The difficulty of doing research in the natural laboratory.
● What Dr. Maguire noticed during her research.
● Why breakdowns in common ground occur.
● Why a phone call can involve effortful cognitive work.
Quotes:
“In cognitive systems engineering, we’re most interested in what are the generalized patterns of cognition and of interpreting the world…”
“Doing research in what we call the ‘natural laboratory’ or trying to examine cognition in the wild, is really, really hard.”
“Tooling is never going to solve all of the problems, right?”
Safety of Work Podcast Ep.27 What Makes Teams Effective?
EPISODE SUMMARY In this episode, we discuss what elements make an effective team. We define “teams” and explain how research on teams is performed.
EPISODE NOTES We use the paper, Embracing Complexity, to frame our discussion. Tune in to hear our chat about this important issue.
Topics:
The definition of a team. What unit to study when researching teams. Compositional and structural features. Mediating mechanisms. Average member attributes and how they contribute to performance. How diversity affects teams. Fault lines. How to measure a team’s success. The positive effect of innovation.
Quotes:
“A topic that comes up a lot in the research is virtual teams. Who would have guessed that teams meeting over Zoom was going to be a topical and relevant hot-button topic?”
“…The research suggests that functional diversity, as well as individual educational diversity have positive relationships with team performance.”
“There were some studies that said if there is a general climate in the organization around innovation, then the team will display more innovative characteristics and things like that.”