Targeting Zero: Eight Questions to Ask Before Using Zero as a Safety Target

摘要

Shooting 60 on a golf course or batting 0.380 for a baseball season are rare achievements of excellence even though they fall well short of perfection. Setting zero as a target may seem logical and it may feel easy to administer, but it could harm an organization's safety efforts. It may have questionable effects on employee motivation; it may involve as-sumptions that are either wrong or unreliable; and it may prevent an organization from improving. Since zero-injury targets are voluntary, and since they are merely one option among many, doubts surrounding their effectiveness should spur any organization to consider other approaches. Instead of focusing on zero, talk about something else. Such conversations may be the first steps toward an improved safety culture that may actually lead to (you guessed it) zero injuries.