I saw a truck on the road a couple days ago and the sign on the side said “Safety Third Trucking” . . . I thought it was funny. My wife said “I thought safety is always first” . . . it’s been a long time since I got into the discussion about how safety is not really first, but here goes: So if safety is not first, what is? |
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I. You have to make money. Or you have to grow food, or find it. It’s all the same thing. You have to do something, or you will starve. Which brings us to #2: II. You have to accept risk. In order to accomplish anything, you have to realize there are risks. But you manage the risk. That’s step #3 III. Analyze and mitigate the risk. Let’s start with the idea you are going to do something, because you MUST do something. It’s human nature. Next, think about what could go wrong. A. Make a list of the things that can go wrong B. Rank every possible bad outcome according to two parameters: a. How LIKELY is the bad outcome, and b. If it happens, how severe is the bad outcome. c. If the level of risk is acceptable at that point, accept risk and move on. d. If the combination of severity and likelihood gives you an unacceptable level of risk, you either find a way to mitigate it or don’t do it. A lot has been written on the topic of risk management, risk engineering, risk mitigation, etc. I’ve read a few papers on the topic. Of all the people I know of that have written and talked about risk management, no one did it better than Mike Rowe. He hit it out of the park a few years ago. Here is a shortcut to his 5-minute video on it: It explains how “Compliance professionals” keep saying “Safety first” when demanding some pretty stupid things. I’ve seen this all my life. This is why I NEVER tell anyone I am a compliance professional. I am a safety consultant. Safety includes common sense and getting things done. https://mikerowe.com/2020/03/walk-me-through-this-safety-third-thing/ I’d like to think the owner of “Safety Third” Trucking used this process. The truck I saw was in Illinois; the company is based in California. I. In order to provide for himself and his family, he decided to start the truck and drive to Illinois and back. II. How many things could go wrong? I’d like to think he went over a list of possible outcomes in his mind, or maybe he put them on paper. III. Execute the plan and do it in a quality way. A safety-engineered way of doing business. I’d like to think the driver of that truck accomplished this mission, delivered a load, returned to his family, and has done it a time or two since then. If you need help understanding the FMCSRs or how to make good risk-management decisions, maybe you will find one of our seminars helpful. If you would like us to visit your business operation and help you develop or improve your company’s system of safety management controls, we can help you. If you know someone that needs to go to a seminar to help them understand these topics, please pass our name along to them. If you could use some help setting up or improving your company’s safety management controls, give us a call or send us an email. |
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Sincerely, Mike England |
