Making Zero Accidents Our Goal

Imagine a workplace that never had an accident again a workplace where employees never suffered another injury. An impossible dream? Maybe not.

At one company I know, the safety director told the workers that only a zero accident frequency was going to be tolerated. Rather than considering themselves successful if there are only a few accidents, every accident is going to be considered a failure. "It's a matter of attitude," the safety head told them. And, this is what the workers had to say.

An office clerk: "The secret to an ongoing zero accident record is personal commitment and communication. It's ultimately everybody's responsibility because safety is personal. Other people can affect your safety as well though. And you can affect someone else's. So we have to look out for one another, too."

A machinist: "The crew members have been here a long time and we know each other. We know that we can take the time to do the job the safe way. Before I came here, I had my eyes injured a number of times using metal machinery. You won't catch me running a machine like that anymore without my safety glasses on. I just won't do it. And I yell at the others to put theirs on."

A welder: "Anybody who does something wrong in the shop gets jumped on by the rest of us. But it's never done maliciously or to downgrade that person. We police one another, not out of spite, but because we care for one another. Everyone needs to be involved in safety. If you exclude someone, they'll get hurt. We also don't hesitate to tell management what to do safetywise. Some people say, with our record, we're due for an accident. We're not due for one. We're never due for one."

A service technician: "Cooperation between management and employees is key. Safety has to be a partnership. We have to have employees who are safety-conscious and that means having employers who are committed. There is no one recipe for success. Safety must be the consciousness of everyone in the company. It helps if everyone gets along and the 'mood' is positive."

A mechanic: "The secret to a good safety record is being aware. You have to think about it every day. And you can't get too confident about what you're doing, because then safety can be side-stepped. I used to think that safety was the responsibility of the company. I've learned that safety is a two-way street the worker has to be involved in safety because it's the worker who ultimately might get hurt. But the worker needs the go-ahead from the top to do the job safely."

These are the actual words of the workers at a company that is aiming for a no-accident goal. The safety director there says, "Everyone has to buy into the idea that our goal is a zero accident frequency before it will have meaning."

We can have a zero-accident goal here, too, if we all put our minds to it and make it a commitment. Why not make a no-accident record your own personal aim? You know your job and you know how to be safe. You know as much as the workers whose words you just heard. Stay safe today, tomorrow, next week, and a week from now. Accidents don't "just happen." They don't have to happen at all.