Safe, Efficient, Profitable: A Worker Safety Podcast
Joe and Jen Allen of Allen Safety LLC take their combined 40+ years of worker safety, OSHA, EPA, production, sanitation, and engineering experience in Manufacturing Plants including Harvest Plants/Packers, Case Readies and Further Processing Plants, Food Production Plants, Feed Mills, Grain Elevators, Bakeries, Farms, Feed Lots, and Petro-Chemical and bring you their top methods for identifying risk, preventing injuries, conquering the workload, auditing, managing emergencies and catastrophic events, and working through OSHA citations. They're breaking down real safety opportunities, safety citations, and emergency situations from real locations, and discussing realistic solutions that can actually be implement based on their personal experiences spending 40+ weeks in the field every year since 2001. Joe and Jen are using all of that experience to provide a fresh outlook on worker safety by providing honest, (no sponsors here!) and straight forward, easy to understand safety coaching with actionable guidance to move your safety program forward in a way that provides tangible results.
Safe, Efficient, Profitable: A Worker Safety Podcast
Create Continuous Improvement in Safety Without Adding Risk #60
Jen from Allen Safety addresses the challenges and opportunities presented by rapid changes within workplaces. From turnover to shifts and product changes, she explores how safety managers can effectively navigate these dynamics wand create continuous improvement in safety metrics, safety measures, safety programs, safety training, and overall improve their safety culture all while running more efficient.
There's often a tension between pursuing continuous improvement and maintaining stability in safety protocols.
Jen shares insights on how new managers can establish their own methods while respecting the legacy left by predecessors, learning why things are done the way they are, how to make improvements without increasing or adding hazards and risks.
Strategic Resource Management
Addressing the controversial topic of resource reduction, Jen emphasizes the importance of strategic safety evaluations with key stakeholders and location content experts before making cuts.
She advises thorough assessment to understand the true impact of cutting resources on safety, operational efficiency, and overall business goals.
Risk Assessment and Mitigation
Before implementing changes or cuts, Jen advocates for a comprehensive risk assessment.
She prompts safety managers to consider potential ripple effects and the implementation of adequate safety buffers and safety nets if changes remove old safety nets and safety buffers to mitigate any new risks created.
Planning and Contingency
Jen emphasizes the necessity of having contingency plans in place for scenarios where cut resources create unforeseen challenges that could have catastrophic or wide-spread and costly impacts.
She encourages proactive planning to prevent emergencies and associated costs.
Identifying Non-Negotiables
Defining non-negotiables ensures critical safety measures remain intact despite changes and evaluations.
Jen underscores the importance of avoiding unnecessary risks and maintaining essential safety standards.
Conclusion
Jen concludes by encouraging safety managers to engage in critical evaluation and dialogue around resource management. Whether through comprehensive reevaluation or strategic cuts, the goal is to enhance safety and operational efficiency while avoiding unnecessary disruptions and risks.
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Safety management, organizational change, continuous improvement in safety, resource management strategies, risk assessment in safety, safety protocols, contingency planning, safety standards, workplace adaptations, safety program stability.
For more insights on navigating workplace changes and enhancing safety management practices, visit Allen Safety Coaching at allensafetycoaching.com. Connect via LinkedIn, Facebook, or Instagram for direct support and further discussions on optimizing safety strategies. Reach out today to ensure your workplace remains safe and compliant amidst ongoing changes.
So this week, on Safe, efficient, profitable, we're talking about change. We've had so much change happen with turnover and shifts and changes of products. So how do we adapt in the safety office and as safety managers and managers in general, to all of the changes going around us and how do we keep that continuous improvement going? So let's go, welcome back everybody. So my name is Jen and I am one of the owners of Allen Safety and today, like we said, we're talking about change. So we have had so much change. This has been on my heart to talk about because I just feel like we've had an incredible amount of change with the turnover I'm having. My plants have changes in how they're doing their shifts for production and maintenance. They're having changes in their hours, changes in the days in a row they're working. We're having product. We're having entire plants change over to running different products that they never ran before. So there's just change all around us. And how do we adapt to that from the safety office?
Speaker 1:Because I've noticed that it's interesting that all this change going on around us, but sometimes there becomes this conflicting thing of we want continuous improvement but we don't want to change anything, or we want continuous improvement and we're willing to make changes, but the changes we're making create an increased volatility and risk. We've got some tenured managers that have left us and they left a legacy. Got some tenured managers that have left us and they left a legacy. And it's hard to fight that legacy sometimes when you're new in that role and you keep having to hear how great the person is that was there before you and how, man, we just miss them and they were so incredible and they wouldn't have ever done it this way. And so you want to go in and you really want to make a name for yourself, and continuous improvement and showing that you can do it better, faster, cheaper is one of the ways that folks go about making that happen. And I get that, and so sometimes there becomes this concept of continuous improvement by way of cutting resources. And I want to be really, really clear, because I know that this can be controversial. Don't come for me, hang with me, I'm going to ask you to have an open mind on this one. So I want to be clear.
Speaker 1:We believe in reset points, we believe in reevaluation. We do it two times a year where we look at everything going on in the business, everything we're spending money on all of our different systems. Do they make sense? Are they adding value? Is it a good fit? Should we be doing that? Is it meeting our expectations in terms of what we thought we were going to get for the time and financial investment? So we genuinely believe in just doing a reevaluation, but we want to make sure that we do it carefully, right.
Speaker 1:We want to make sure that when we begin, as an organization, to ask questions in regards to what we can cut, that we have all the information and we want to be very intentional about understanding what we're cutting. What value did it bring? What was it supposed to bring? And how does that relate to the cost of the item? Is the item that we're looking at cutting? Is it a good fit to cut it? Is it not meeting expectations? Is it not doing what we need? Is it creating more drama? Is it creating more work? It's just, this wasn't what we thought. We were kind of sold something and it turns out it wasn't really for our business, it wasn't really for our industry, it wasn't what we needed.
Speaker 1:And then, if that's the case, then all right, let's cut it, let's do it, but we want to make sure before we take that action, that we're asking the right questions to the right people, and what I mean by that is sometimes who we ask they weren't around when the original decision to implement that process, that system, that specific PPE style whatever that thing is you're looking at cutting or making a reduction on that individual you're asking wasn't around, and so they don't know why we do what we do, and they're not sure and they don't have all the answers on that, and so we really want to make sure that we gather all that information and we have as much of it as we can before we make those decisions. So why is this permit or this template or this document or this process that we do or this order that we do it? Why is it this way? Why do we need the training this way? Maybe the person that we're asking do we really need to do all this for training? Do we really need to do all of this for authorized electrical, or do we not? Well, if that person doesn't attend training, I would question whether that would be the correct person to ask that too. Should that person be deciding who is giving the training, what the qualifications are for who's giving the training and what is included in that training? If they're just managing the program, they're not a content expert for that location. On that subject, should they be doing it, or should the stakeholders be doing it?
Speaker 1:We want to make sure that we're clear on what our goals are before we start cutting things. So how is that going to affect our goal? Is it going to reduce risk, increase risk? Is it going to help us meet our goal? Is it going to derail us from meeting our goal? What is the impact?
Speaker 1:The next thing that I would ask is is it adding other risks that we hadn't considered, that are now getting introduced because of this different methodology or different style or whatever that looks like, this different concept that we're doing, this different system that we're doing? What else is impacted? Because sometimes we cut things and we realize, oh wow, there's a ripple effect here and that impacted so many more things than I thought it was going to, and so we want to really analyze and evaluate what are the far reaching effects? Or are there any? But could there potentially be any far reaching effects on other areas or other disciplines, subjects, whatever? That is, what else is affected here? And then, if I find, by cutting this item, I'm also removing some buffers, then what systems am I replacing them?
Speaker 2:with.
Speaker 1:So am I putting an equal or improved safety net or safety buffer in place for the one that I'm taking away? If I'm cutting something, is what I'm putting in place going to be better or is it going to help me avoid risk totally? Is it increasing risk or is it going to help me avoid risk totally? Is it increasing risk or is it going to help mitigate it further If I'm taking one safety buffer out that I'd like to, in a perfect role, replace it with one of equal or better functionality and driving down that risk? Lastly, when we look at cutting things, what are our backup plans if that thing that we decided to cut fails? Consider just very quickly the mode that we all go into when we're in emergency mode, when we're having downtime, when we're losing money. Every minute that we're down, the budget sort of kind of goes out the window. It's like all hands on deck. I don't care what it costs. We got to get back up and running, we got to fix this problem, we got to stop this emergency. And so, if we consider what that looks like, and then for the subject matter that we're looking at, cutting, if something went sideways or bad, what are the steps that we would put in place to prevent reoccurrence. So we have injuries, maybe downtime, maybe management time to prevent reoccurrence. So we have injuries, maybe downtime, maybe management time to prevent reoccurrence. We've got the cost of maybe some maintenance, repair work, fabrication work, those maintenance costs, maybe a citation. And consider if we incurred all those costs and we did everything that we needed to prevent that from ever happening again, what would it look like if we did all that on the front end, on our timeline timeline, instead of having to do it in chaos mode, all at one time spend whatever and in disorganized fashion because we got to get it done now? How would we manage that if we wanted to just prevent initial occurrence completely on the front end, and how would we manage that differently? And does that provide benefit? So just to wrap up, consider really quickly before you cut something, what's the value it's providing, big picture value, not just financial one item, but big picture management costs, management time. Just what else is it affecting All of those things? And then consider all the buffers that it may have provided and then consider if it didn't provide any at all. Maybe it was terrible and that's fine too. And then what systems are we putting in place, if it did have buffers that came with it to replace whatever things that we're removing. So if the thing I'm cutting takes buffers out of place, what systems am I adding to and implementing to replace those those buffers, so I don't have increased risk? Evaluate if you come out ahead and then, if yes, let's go, let's do it, I'm all for it.
Speaker 1:I love to run lean. Anybody can ask Joe or I, we love running very, very lean. But we do have some non-negotiables and the biggest thing here is that you want to identify what are your non-negotiables and you'll find that you have some. And the biggest thing that we want to make sure is that we avoid that cycle of now I know why they did that and now we're back to square one and we had all this drama, this chaos, and we actually ended up spending more money because we had this big thing that happened and now we had to fix it, and so that's the biggest thing is that we want to avoid. Now I know why they always did it that way. Now I know why the permit was that way, whatever was that way, why we picked those boots for the PPE. We want to never get into that.
Speaker 1:Hopefully, this helps you create your pro con list of what can we afford to cut, what are our non-negotiables, and then also just help you dive in a little bit deeper to help identify if there's some things that you've got questions on and really just challenging things. You'll end up still running better. So you may not cut the items that you're challenging, but at least it'll also help everybody understand well, here's why we do it that way, and that's always a benefit too. More education and understanding of why we do things the way we do is always a positive. And if you're looking for a budget option, you're like you know what we've got to train people this year?
Speaker 1:We don't have it in the budget AllenSafetyCoachingcom. It's a great way to train your supervisors. It's a great way to train a safety manager. That's new, that you're trying to onboard, that isn't super familiar with your location, the plant, the business. If you've got any questions, we have our LinkedIn, facebook, instagram, any of that good stuff. We're on it all. So just reach out, let us know, send us a direct message and we will see you next time.
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