New Construction Safety Video Is A Pleasant Surprise

New Construction Safety Induction Video is a Very Pleasant Surprise

Thanks to John Wettstein from safetystrategies.ca for sharing this.

Whilst most Tier 1 organisations are stuck in a vicious circle of tradition, sunk cost, fear, control, over confidence, paperwork, numbers and creating the illusion of safety, one has decided to do “safety differently”. Just over a year ago we wrote about Lang O’Rourke’s “paradigm shift in safety management” (see World’s 3rd Largest Construction Company Dumps Zero Mantra). In another video  (watch it here)  Head of OHS, John Green speaks of the previous “Mission Zero” and how, although it appears to have been successful from a numbers perspective, his concern was that the results had plateaued and over confidence had crept in which may be indicative of a pending disaster (where have we seen that before? here? ). The video also speaks of his vision for safety moving forward and is well work watching.

The video below was produced in conjunction with Sidney Dekker and is part of Laing O’Rourke’s ‘Next Gear’ safety agenda which challenges the traditional approach to safety and focus on numbers, building safety resilience into the organisation and is centred on three key principles:

1. People are the solution
2. Safety is the presence of positives; and
3. Safety is an ethical responsibility and not a bureaucratic activity

To quote Rob Long from his blog LTIFR SAFETY ZOMBIES:

It is amazing that this is even a news story (such is the power of the zero ideology). And all that is being invoked in dropping zero ideology is the presentation of three simple maxims, that: people are the solution, not the problem; safety is about positives, not the absence of negatives; and safety is a moral responsibility, not a bureaucratic activity.

Perhaps, this will be the first Tier 1 company that prioritises learning over the attribution of value to numerics. Perhaps the open reporting that should follow the dropping of zero ideology will change the culture of under reporting given life by the TRIFR Zombies. Perhaps learning will become the principle value in the organization and ward off the trance of the TRIFR Zombies. Good on the work of John Green and Sidney Dekker.

Quote from the video: “Adding systems and paperwork is counterproductive…. we need people working in a framework that supports them – not one that prescribes how to work”

WARNING: This video contains content and themes which may infuriate traditional safety people!

Ethical Responsibility FINAL from Laing O’Rourke Australia Hub on Vimeo.