Safety is not a choice.

Having the right mindset, beliefs and values will lead to improved health and safety performance, right?

Well, only if these thoughts manifest into physical things.

There is no escaping the fact that in order for safety to happen, the physical world, has to support the actions required to execute the task in as safe a way as possible.

So the mindset, beliefs and values of the people in the organisation somehow have to lead to the best ingredients to support correct execution of task by the at-risk worker.

What often happens however, is an attempt to persuade everyone that health and safety is really important, that all injuries are preventable, that people have to take responsibility and have the correct mindset, that people have to stop if something is wrong and welcome challenges to unsafe acts.

This is correct, everyone should take health and safety seriously, and have a mindset that supports those most at-risk.

And the thing is, no one in their right mind disagrees with this.

The at-risk worker does not want to get injured. They want to go home to their families. They probably think about them most of the day already. They were born with the drive to survive and avoid danger.

The problem is that many believe that safety is a choice. A choice made in the moment. It isn't.

It is a pre-planned event, made more likely by calculated purposeful actions of those involved in the organisation and running of the business.

This does not admonish the at-risk worker from the responsibility of safety, but it does lead to a different set of responsibilities for the supervisor, the manager and the directors.

Having the right mindset, beliefs and values about safety has to link to actions of each team that lead to the best chance of work carried out correctly, which in turn leads to the at-risk worker going home with all the fingers and toes they came to work with.

Instead of investing time in fancy slogans and campaigns to change mindsets, give people the tools, training, feedback, resources, time and support they need to do their part of the job as effectively as possible.