(Can you really make discipline fun?!)
Tina was a tall, energetic and well-liked mechanic who worked at Hope Creek Generating Station in New Jersey. At the time, I was the Safety Supervisor for the site. During one of my morning tours I saw Tina on the turbine deck cutting a piece of sheet metal. Everything was fine except she wasn’t wearing gloves. She didn’t see me because I was on an upper level looking down to the deck. If she was doing something more dangerous I would have went down and talked to her about it right away.
Instead, I waited until I went back to my office and I did something drastically more effective and fun!
I wrote a short, humorous poem about Tina’s wonderful fingers and how important it was to take care of them. The poem also described what she was doing that put her fingers at risk. (I wish I would have made a copy and kept it.) Along with the poem, I included a severed rubber finger which I just happened to have in my collection of props. I sent her both items in a large company envelope.
The next time I saw Tina she came over to me and gave me a hug. She said it was a crazy surprise but that she loved it. In fact, she taped the poem and finger to the inside of her locker door. Everybody in the maintenance shop knew about it and it became a standing joke for a while among the mechanics.
You tell me: wasn’t that a more effective way to “discipline” someone rather than going over to the person and saying “please put your gloves on.” I know I enjoyed the experience. (The definition of discipline in this context is to “train to act in accordance with rules.” It can also be “punishment inflicted by way of correction and training” but that’s not what I wanted to do.)
By the way, Tina promised me she would never work without gloves when she needed them.
What innovative things do you do to make your safety discipline effective and fun?
‘till next time.
Richard
PS: Though I don’ have the “Finger Poem” I sent Tina, here is one by Belinda Folkes.
Mary’s Little Hand
Mary had a little lamb,
Its fleece was white as snow.
When it was time to shear one day,
Her overconfidence began to show.
Without the special Kevlar gloves,
Supplied by Farmer Brown,
Her fingers were in jeopardy,
Her face soon wore a frown.
The Little Old Lady who lived in a shoe,
Saw that Mary had started to cry,
“I should have worn my PPE…
Now it’s hard to wave goodbye.”
