In the industrial arena, a successful safety program is more than just making it a priority… it needs to become one of the company’s core values. Competitive Advantage puts that into practice, addressing employee safety from two important directions.

Tom Burgess, Safety Director/Quality Manager and Senior Consultant for Competitive Advantage, starts by explaining the term “behavioral vs. regulatory”.

“Regulatory is meeting the requirements to provide training to employees so they’re aware of the regulations governing the safety issues involved in their specific jobs. That is compliance. Compliance is great for knowledge, but it does only get you so far in making true improvements in performance of safety practices,” he said.

“Behavioral safety teaches employees to be more aware of the outside influences on them - Frustration, Fatigue, Rushing, and Complacency - and to learn to recognize these outside influences and how to prevent these factors from causing them harm. It is the next step from knowing the right ways to work safely, to being empowered and understanding how to prevent falling into the trap of these influences,” he continued. “These influences in turn cause employees to not have their mind or their eyes on the task at hand, cause them to place themselves in the ‘line of fire’, or more easily lose track or slip and fall…which all result in the employee being in much greater danger of being injured.”

He added that Competitive Advantage safety training starts by driving home the mental process to recognize the triggers, or states of mind, that lead to potential hazards that can cause injury, and how employees can become mentally aware, able to step back from situations, clear their minds, and determine if they’re able to move forward.

That said, he added, “We continue to instruct on the regulatory side to reinforce the proper ways to perform tasks on the jobs. And the employees’ right to stop and question any unsafe or perceived-unsafe situation.”

Burgess defines what safety means to Competitive Advantage, from both a behavioral and regulatory viewpoint: “A good safety program is always striving to improve and seeking better ways to enhance performance. This is accomplished by maintaining the education and knowledge of the safety staff, and vigilantly monitoring equipment and process changes to better serve our employees.”

In addition, “Regulations are constantly changing on state and federal levels, so we ensure that we’re maintaining compliance with these state and federal programs. Our company exceeds the standards in many areas, as state and federal regulations are ‘minimums’, and our employees deserve better than the minimum requirements.”

Some background on Competitive Advantage, as explained by Doug Dixon, Senior Consultant for the company:

“Competitive Advantage understands the Process Industry and developed methodology and techniques specifically tailored for rotary processes, equipment and procedures. This unique approach utilizes tools and concepts that guide Process Industry customers through the Process Improvement Journey. Competitive Advantage uses simple steps that are data-driven and measurable, that enable the client to prove Return on Investment (ROI) - to confirm that the client’s investment is making an impact,” he said.

Dixon continued, “Our safety focus is derived from the Continuous Improvement/Lean Manufacturing tool known as 6S. To indicate priority and importance of 6S Safety is recognized as the first focal point in the company’s process.”

Through the 6S concept, a company concentrates on ensuring workplace safety and risk assessment.

Dixon and Burgess both agree that a top-notch safety program is not only a beneficial business practice, but it’s the right thing to do from a human moral standpoint, making certain that employees return home safe and healthy every day.

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