Safety Slogans
Many companies use safety slogans such as,
Accidents Big or Small, Avoid them All
or
Our Goal—Zero Harm
Slogans such as these emphasize the importance of safety on a regular basis. However, from a process safety point of view, they have limitations. They seem to over-simplify a discipline that requires dedication, hard work, education, thoughtful analysis, imagination and substantial investment.
Safety slogans can even have a negative effect. For example, a large sign at the front gate of a facility showing the number of days since a lost-time injury may encourage workers and managers to cover up events that really should have been reported. Even if those events are reported accurately, such signs could lead to cynicism regarding the safety program if employees believe that management is using them as an excuse for not investing in fundamental safety systems. The cynicism becomes even worse if employees believe that the slogans are being used as an excuse for blaming workers for accidents that could have been prevented by investment in better safety equipment, or in hiring more workers.
Another concern to do with slogans and signs ― once more, from a process safety point of view ― is that they implicitly treat safety purely as a behavior-based topic. Yet questions such as the following are not really to do with behavior.
Should we put a rupture disk underneath the relief valves?
How do we control alarm flooding?
Why did the intermediate storage tank overflow?
How do we respond to a total power failure?
Questions such as these require an understanding of complex systems and a thoughtful analysis of risk/reward ratios. They are not really to do with day-to-day behavior.
There is another, more subtle concern to do with slogans and signs. The two examples that at the head of this post contain within themselves an assumption that perfect safety can be achieved. Yet risk can never be eliminated. Hazards are always present, those hazards always have consequences, and the likelihood of their occurrence is always greater than zero. Does it make sense to ask employees to achieve a goal that cannot be attained? Or is it a case of, ‘Shoot for the starts, and reach the moon’?
In conclusion, safety slogans can be helpful in improving behavior-based safety, but they should not be used as an excuse to avoid risk-based analysis or investment in safety systems.
