With June being National Safety Month, it’s a great reminder to stop and think about what safety means to you and how safety influences your behavior at home, at work and on the road.
Everyone has a different definition of safety. Personal experiences, education and environment are just a few factors that have an influence on safety. The list of influencing factors is endless.
Being a safety professional, I look for certain safety items but I also do things that I think everyone does automatically. For example, I enforce helmets be worn when riding bikes, show my sons how to properly use a cutting knife, make sure they know where to assemble if there was a fire, and procedures to follow if there is a tornado.
At home, I personally make sure the smoke detectors are working and the batteries are changed, the fire extinguisher is still pressurized, the electricity is shut off when doing any electrical work, and proper personal protective equipment is worn when doing certain tasks around the house.
Before I back my car out of the garage I ask my sons if they are buckled. It is habit for them to automatically put their seatbelts on when they get into vehicles. While driving, I don’t turn around to look at them, even if they ask. I was fortunate a couple years back to avoid an accident because I had looked back at what one of my sons was doing, only for a second. When I turned back around, the car in front of me had stopped and I came inches from hitting them. From that moment forward, I made the decision to not let my kids distract me. Now if my kids ask for me to look at something, my response is, “I will look when I am stopped. Right now I am driving.”
At work, I’m focused more on employee safety and compliance with regulations. Safety is conveyed through training, newsletters and face to face communication. Eliminating trip hazards, ensuring office environments are ergonomically correct and providing critical training to allow employees to perform their job safely.
Safety doesn’t have to be difficult and I think a lot of the time it comes with that stigma. I’m sure that if you consciously think about your actions throughout the day, you will see that safety is automatically heavily intertwined in your life. Happy National Safety Month and stay safe!