SAFETY
efks/123RF
THE PSYCHOLOGY OF SAFETY
Go beyond compliance with your safety culture
Ask any PDCA member firm
what their company’s top
priority is, and it’s likely that
“safety” will be the unanimous response.
Contractors may decide to hold regular
toolbox talks, conduct thorough site
inspections or reward people who adhere
to safety protocol, but a deeply ingrained
By Jill Harris, Lester Publications, LLC
safety culture across all employees is more
than the sum of regulatory parts.
“A company’s safety culture is reflected
in what people do when no one is
watching,” said Justin Ganschow, business
development manager with Caterpillar
Safety Services. “Attitudes, beliefs and
ideas about what is correct, safe and
appropriate are psychological artifacts,
reinforced by the actions or inactions of
leaders over time.”
At every construction company, employees
internalize the unwritten rules surrounding
the ways in which they get jobs
done, according to Ganschow. He asks:
when left with a task, do employees perform
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