Which One Are You?

Written by:

TL Peters II, President & Founder

Within the “Safety” industry, there are two types of people. There are those that are in the OSHA business and then there are those that are in the People business. For more than 10 years, I have been asking my students the question – “Which one are you?” I also tell them that I do not want them to answer out loud. Although often times – normally in private – they will tell me anyway.

There is a distinct difference between the two. Let’s first talk about those that are in the OSHA business. I want to begin with letting you know that if you are one of those people, I am not saying or in any way trying to paint you as one of the bad people. The way I see it, if you are one of the ones that are in the OSHA business, you are still on the side of protection.

 OSHA Business

Someone that is in the OSHA business, has only one concern, only one thought – Compliance. Again, I am not saying that only seeking to be in compliance with OSHA regulations is bad. The problem comes in when you start to think that all you need to do, is to be in compliance with OSHA regulations and then you will have a safe work environment. After all, isn’t that what OSHA’s mission is?

 “With the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970, Congress created the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) to assure safe and healthful working conditions for working men and women by setting and enforcing standards and by providing training, outreach, education and assistance.”

 The truth is, being in compliance with OSHA regulations does not and will not create a safe work environment. It will, however, create a safer work environment, but not a safe work environment. It is very possible for any company to be 100% compliant with OSHA regulations and yet they will still hurt people. They will still, kill people. I consistently demonstrate to students where harm will still come to their employees, even though they are fully compliant with OSHA regulations. Please allow me to do that now.

 According to the National Safety Council®, falling from heights is among the top 10 Preventable Workplace Incidents. Well, according to the OSHA standards, employers are not required to provide any type of fall protection until they reach a height of 4 feet.

 “1910.28(b)(1)(i) - Except as provided elsewhere in this section, the employer must ensure that each employee on a walking-working surface with an unprotected side or edge that is 4 feet (1.2 m) or more above a lower level is protected from falling by one or more of the following:”

So, for someone that is in the OSHA business, this is all they need to know. If an employee is walking or working 47” or less in the air, then that employer will provide absolutely no form of fall protection at all – as if gravity somehow magically either ceases to function less than 48” off of the ground or functions at a reduced rate – and simply blame the employee by some means for the injury that results from the fall.

Again, OSHA’s fall protection standard absolutely provides for a safer work environment but it clearly does not provide for a “safe” work environment. This is only one example. I can give many more examples and I will as I show you how you can Eliminate your workplace injuries.

For those that are in the People business however, OSHA regulations are of no concern to them. This, in no way means that someone that is in the People business does not understand or is incapable of complying with OSHA regulations. The exact opposite of that is true. Those that are in the People business have a full and complete working knowledge of the OSHA standards and have been extremely successful in applying the standards to their work environment. At least all of the people that I have worked with have shown that ability.

Please don’t misunderstand me. I have a great need for OSHA. They play a vital role in what I am working on achieving and that is Eliminating all workplace injuries. You see, OSHA’s hands are virtually tied in what they can do. Yours and mine however, are not.

People Business

Those that are in the People business seek to understand a multitude of actions that are performed by people. Better known as, Human Behavior. The behavior of others has been an area of study for centuries. There have been major industries built on the single study of human behavior. These industries include; psychiatry, psychology, marketing, and sales, just to list a few, and it is there where we will achieve the goal of Eliminating workplace injuries.

Every action that you perform is a choice, and that action is based on a decision that you made. Whether it was conscious or subconscious, it was an individual choice. At this point, I need to clarify something. From this point forward, I will be talking about an individual with a normal functioning brain. This is not to include someone that may have a mental illness, damage to the brain as the result of an injury or disease, or brain function that has been altered by either drugs or alcohol.

When a workplace injury occurs, it happened because an individual made a decision that resulted in the injury. It was a decision that was made either by the injured employee or someone else made the decision that injured the employee. Either way, it was the result of a decision that an individual made. Are you starting to pick up on where I am going with this? If it is that all injuries are the result of “Individual” decisions, and it has nothing to do with the performance of groups, then you are correct. I’ll discuss the Individual versus Group approach at another time.

Individual decisions has been understood for centuries. This is not a mystery. Actually, the marketing industry generates billions of dollars a year based on, Individual decisions. So the reason that all workplace injuries occur is because an individual made a decision that caused the injury. So the real question is, why did that individual make that particular decision?

I will leave you here for now with that thought, but before I go I want you to understand that what I will share with you in future blogs, classes and meetings, will be based on empirical science. I have spent almost 30 years sifting through the details of years of research conducted by some of the top scientists in the world along with my own personal observations of the hundreds of workplace injuries I have investigated. So until next time, keep learning and never give up.