In eight years, or 192 hours, Agent Jack Bauer has responded to eight terrorist attacks. Now that he has entered retirement, Agent Bauer is looking for a little supplemental income and is starting a consulting business. (Note: for those not familiar with the series “24,” please binge watch it on your favorite video streaming service). Most of our organizations may not have a need for a consultant that can shoot well or get answers using pain compliance. However, Jack can te

Complex industries depend on human beings for success. This conflicts with some policies and procedures that are written as if people are the problem. In reality, if we want to influence how people behave in an organization, we need to influence the capacities of that organization. Capacities may include safety, collaboration, communication, customer service, marketing, or many other areas where people and resources are needed to accomplish a task. Capacity can be thought

I was driving into work this morning, I listened to the “Pre-Accident Investigations” podcast by Todd Conklin. In episode 134, Mr. Conklin interviews Mr. Mike Wright, the Director of Health, Safety, and Environment for the United Steelworkers. (Note: It is a great episode and covers concepts about the “New View” of safety where workers are considered the solution. I highly recommend the episode, and the entire podcast for that matter.) Although a lot of ideas jumped out at

Bloomberg released an article last month that the bee population is recovering after years of decline. Interestingly, bees are social animals, just like we are. One advantage to bees being social and living in hives is they can share defensive duties including protection of the hive, brood (baby bees for lack of a better term), and food. Bees can sting, give audio warnings, create barriers, and even using their wings to create air flow that keeps attackers out of the hive.

Required safety training comes from many sources. There are legal requirements, company requirements, and industry requirements regarding safety training. Issues such as emergency procedures, injury prevention, fire prevention, equipment use, personal protective equipment, and hazardous materials are just some of the technical issues that must be addressed. There is no question that the rules, processes, and preventive measures covered in such training are vastly important.

There are many hazards out there. Understanding what a hazard is and what a risk is provides the first step in understanding and managing r