On March 11, the American Chemical Society’s Division of Chemical Health and Safety (CHAS) held an on-line “CHAS-chat” that discussed Quality Data for Safer Experiments. Given the increasing use of general-purpose search engines such as Google to collect hazard information, … Read More
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Home » Safety Platform Blog » Assessing the Quality of Chemical Safety Information

Home » Safety Platform Blog » Avoiding Blame in Incident Management & Incident Investigations

Avoiding Blame in Incident Management & Incident Investigations
In the previous article, The Purpose of Incident Management & Incident Investigations, the foundational principles of learning and improving were discussed. Further, in the article How we React Matters the concept of how organizations react to news from the workforce … Read More
Home » Safety Platform Blog » The Purpose of Incident Management & Incident Investigations

The Purpose of Incident Management & Incident Investigations
Incident management and incident investigations, while not typically welcome due to their nature of something having gone wrong, are a necessary tool in any EHS professional‘s toolbelt. They have been getting a bad reputation lately and pushed to ‘lagging indicator’ … Read More
Home » Safety Platform Blog » Management Observations: Challenges and Pitfalls

Management Observations: Challenges and Pitfalls
In previous articles we have addressed the importance of real-time management observations. Such observations help responsible managers understand actual job performance – rather than hoped for performance. We have also described what these management observations should look like and offered … Read More
Home » Safety Platform Blog » Creating a Data Action Plan to Turn Data Insights into Action

Creating a Data Action Plan to Turn Data Insights into Action
I previously assumed that data always led to insight, but I now firmly believe that is not the case. Regardless of our role in an organization, we tend to have a bias that if we look hard enough, good things … Read More
Home » Safety Platform Blog » Getting the Most from Your Management Observations

Getting the Most from Your Management Observations
In previous articles we have discussed what management observations should look like and why they are so important to safety. This article will look more deeply at “how” these observations maximize their effectiveness. There are several steps an organization should … Read More
Home » Safety Platform Blog » The Drawbacks of Safety Leading Indicators

The Drawbacks of Safety Leading Indicators
It is important for organizations to begin looking further “upstream” in their safety processes when determining how effective their overall safety program is. Some have coined this proactive method of insight as a “pre-injury investigation” (Conklin, 2012). For example, consider … Read More
Home » Safety Platform Blog » Developing COVID Training Programs

Developing COVID Training Programs
The 2020 COVID pandemic presents important challenges for organizations of all sizes. For example, even small restaurants that are able to operate with indoor dining often have to close for periods of time when one of their employees tests positive … Read More
Home » Safety Platform Blog » Look, Listen and Learn: The Path to Effective Management Observations

Look, Listen and Learn: The Path to Effective Management Observations
For some, the term “observation,” as typically used in safety, has a negative connotation. It is often associated with checklists and a search for “bad behaviors” in need of correction. Clumsily conducted worker-focused observations/inspections can easily appear patronizing and leave … Read More
Home » Safety Platform Blog » How’s It Really Going: The Importance of Management Observations

How’s It Really Going: The Importance of Management Observations
How often after a significant incident does your management act surprised? “We had no idea,” or “We have a really low TRIR rate; how could this have happened to us?” Well, of course, surprises do happen. But far too often … Read More