Alive and Well at the End of the Day: The Supervisor's Guide to Managing Safety in Operations

by P.D. Balmert

Proven strategies and tactics that you can use to lead workers to safety Industrial facilities supervisors, from front-line managers to CEOs, can depend on Alive and Well at the End of the Day for tested and proven management and leadership practices that ensure the safety of their workers. With more than thirty years of hands-on experience in the chemical industry, including front-line management, author Paul Balmert understands the challenges facing supervisors in industrial facilities. His advice, based on firsthand experience, shows you how to identify and correct flaws in industrial practices. Moreover, he shows you how to lead by example, overcoming all obstacles that interfere with safety. Rather than focus on theory, this book offers concrete strategies and tactics that enable you Throughout the book, plenty of case studies and examples illustrate key challenges alongside step-by-step solutions. You'll also learn how to understand and leverage the psychology and motivations of your staff in order to fully implement safety practices and procedures. In short, with this book as your guide, you will be equipped and ready to lead your staff to safety.

290 pages, Hardcover

First published February 12, 2010

Reviews

[Craig Childs · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Balmert Consulting firm provided the backbone of my company’s safety management program. I read this book so I could be more knowledgeable about our philosophies on risk management and what we are doing to improve safety.

The book is written primarily for foremen and first line leaders with an emphasis on practical everyday application.

Significant topics include:

- The leader’s safety stump speech
- MOHI (moments of high influence)
- Using the injury triangle person-object-energy to identify ways to prevent accidents (you only have to remove one from the equation!)
-Using open-ended “darn good questions” in one-on-one coaching and safety presentations
-Managing a Safe Work Observation program
-Using a 4-square scorecard to manage performance metrics (leading activities, leading results, lagging activities, lagging results)

The most useful chapter explained the six dilemmas facing every safety leader:

1. Accountability Dilemma – There is always a gap between what a manager is accountable for and what she can control or influence.

2. Risk Dilemma – You can never reduce all risks to zero, but in the event of an accident, the risk you allowed will be deemed unacceptable.

3. Investigation Dilemma – An effective investigation depends on transparency, but many participants usually have a vested interest in concealing true root causes and shifting blame.

4. System Dilemma – Accidents usually have human causes, but humans are part of a bigger manufacturing system (how they are recruited, how they are trained, how they are supervised, etc.). How far do you go in “fixing the system” versus punishing the wrongdoer?

5. Middle Dilemma – Middle management acts as an insulating buffer between the top and bottom of an organization. They need to pass true information about real-world conditions to the decision-makers, but they are often rewarded for shielding the top and having a “can-do” or “make-do” attitude.

6. Leader Dilemma – Research shows the most effective reliability and safety leaders are usually “self-effacing, limelight-avoiding tacticians” not visionaries or strong communicators. Yet, these Type B leaders are not likely to be identified and promoted in most organizations.

This book is useful, although a bit dry reading at times.

[Sonny · Rating 2 out of 5]

Pretty exact regurgitation of the Safety Leadership class. Either read the book or take the class. The class barely misses a line from the book. That being said class was awesome in regards to safety leadership.