Annotated Bibliography: Stimulating Skill Based Safety

Annotated Bibliography

Pater, R. (2016). Stimulating Skill-Based Safety. Professional Safety, 61(11), 15-17.

In this article, pater describes methods leaders can use to achieve improvements, go beyond trends and build solid results. He goes on to illustrate that improving skills is the bottom line to accelerating human performance in safety and decision making stems from acquiring or using new skills until they are second nature. (p.15) His research also notes the keys to developing employees’ skill sets within a company rely on three steps. The first step is to recognize that what is needed for learning new skills is different from what is required to learn new information. For example, learning to recognize that a specific basketball move

He also provides resources to help mitigate risk associated with those hazards. The construction industry is the most dangerous industries in the country with 774 fatalities, more than in any other single industry sector. The leading causes of work related deaths on construction sites are referred to as OSHA’s Focus Four. They are falls, electrocution, struck by object and caught in/between. (p.20) Falls are the leading cause of construction related fatalities leading to 264 deaths in 2010. The commentary illustrates OSHA requirements for working at heights which generally requires that any employee working at 4 ft. of higher to have fall protection. Two other generally accepted methods for protecting construction workers from falls are standard guard rail prevention systems and safety nets designed to catch the employee before hitting the ground. Electrical hazards are the 2nd leading cause of construction related fatalities with 76 deaths in 2010. The article breaks down the workers most effected by electrical hazards, major types of electrocution incidents and ways to better protect employees from electrocution hazards. Struck by hazards are the 3rd leading cause of fatalities in the construction industry with 64 deaths in 2010. Pete Rice categorized struck by hazards, gives examples of real life events related to struck by hazards and

(p.20) Further, it breaks down the two types of training that exist. Instructing workers how to perform basic task is the simplest form of training. The second type teaches the basic skills also, but produces far more impactful results. It teaches the skills and behaviors that align with the company’s goals overall. (p.20) For example if you hire a consultant to help improve the safety culture in your facility would, do you want to discuss only one department, or do you want to collaborate on an overall plan to fix the safety culture for the entire organization? Riley provides four important steps to take when planning a company’s training process. The first step is to define and keep the most important objectives in mind. This involves determining the specific training steps the group needs to take to achieve to achieve the end goal. (p.20) The second step is breaking down the silo’s and getting all disciplines involved in the development of the training. The third step focuses on thinking outside the box. The material used for the training should connect employees to larger trends and company initiatives. The last step targets identifying measurable metrics. The metrics will help leadership understand exactly what the training has accomplished. The authors ended with the view point that the more aligned the training is to the business goals, the