employees

How do we change the fact that most workers lack the mind-set that safety is part of their ‘real job’? [That's the $6 billion question]... so writes the Australian blog, Safety Concepts. You'd think it would be the easiest thing in the world to motivate employees about: after all, it is their own lives and limbs we're talking about. Their own health and wellness - and given the human instinct for survival and selfishness, Workplace Safety should be an easy sell.

But it isn't. Obstacles to staff being keen about safety could include:

That's exactly what  a new partnership between the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), and the Williams College of Business at Xavier University in Cincinnati, is achieving.

"When there is a high moral code or standard at the office employees feel safer, more relaxed, less pressured and work more easily...." Wise words from one of the workplace safety blogs I follow, Workplace Safety Tips.

I always include the message of "Respect" in my talks with high schools and corporations over the years  - taking the conversation beyond WHIMS and hard hats to creating a workplace culture of employer respecting employee, and visa versa.