Merely Compliant or Safety Leadership?

摘要

When it comes to safety, doing the minimum will only give minimal results. Changing the work place culture is difficult and cannot be expected to happen within only a few months after implementing new safety programs. These programs will need to be supervised and reviewed on regular basis. In 1948 Admiral Ben Moreel, then president of Jones and Laughlin Steel Corporation, wrote: "Although safe and healthful working conditions can be justified on a cold dollars-and cents basis, I prefer to justify them on the basic principle that it is the right thing to do. In discussing safety in industrial operations, I have often heard it stated that the cost of adequate health and safety measures would be prohibitive and that "we can't afford it." My answer to that is quite simple and-quite direct. It is this: If we can't afford safety, we can't afford to be in business.