NOVEMBER 2024CONSTRUCTIONTECHREVIEW.COM8By Earl Bennett, Safety Director, Bowman Consulting GroupBUILDING A SAFETY CULTUREWhen people hear the word safety they may picture a jobsite filled with employees wearing hard hats, safety glasses, and other personal protective equipment (PPE). Most of us have a built-in instinct to keep ourselves safe, but instinct is not enough. In a perfect world, no one gets hurt and everyone goes home at night. That's where the "safety gets me home" mindset comes into play. Safety is a learned behavior. It must move beyond instinct and become a behavioral mindset deeply embedded in the hearts and minds of every employee. Typically, as individ-uals begin to move in this direction, the entire organization begins to shift into a collective mindset. When this happens, it is what is known as a safety culture.When the collective effort spills into a culture of safety, it never happens randomly or by accident. There are stages of change and growth. As a company expands its safety consciousness, along with compliance with client safety requirements, each stage is layered with behaviors and points of action that underscore and reinforce the overall establishment of the safety culture.Working within a culture of safety is desirable and conducive to health and well-being, but how does a company build a culture of safety? It begins with an unfortunate event or incident that requires attention. IN MY OPINIONEarl Bennett
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