Have you heard the joke about...?

One day a guy walked into a blacksmith's shop where the craftsman was beating on a cherry red horseshoe, shaping it to fit a customer's horse. Knowing the man wasn't familiar with the workings of a blacksmith shop, the smith announced, "Don't touch anything hot." Not being familiar with the hazards associated with this type of work, the man reached over and picked up a horseshoe. He was surprised to find out that the one he picked up was still hot. When he dropped it faster than he picked it up, the blacksmith calmly asked, "Was that hot?" He responded with clenched teeth, "Nope, it just doesn't take long for me to look at a horseshoe."

Sometimes we think we take actions because we think we know everything. As I state in my book, "I AM Safe!", there is a gap between knowing and doing. Working safe implies action or doing.

Sometimes, it seems that we focus more on the "doing" than the "knowing." To overcome this gap, it is essential that the organization become focused on learning. Consider the following 5 steps to help your organization and the individuals within it to be resolute in gaining knowledge that can be applied.

Five Steps to Resolute Learning

1. First, there must be an objective.
If the objective of an organization or individual is to prevent every workplace injury then we must identify what can cause harm. Every individual must learn to recognize the hazards that can cause harm. This is the basis of creating a safe work place.

2. Second, there must be a process.
Once employees are trained to recognize hazards, the next step is to use a process to capture the information about the exposures. This requires a survey of the workplace, tasks to be completed, and the tools required to do the job. This process is known as job hazard analysis (JHA). Through this analysis, the organization identifies accepted practices for mitigating the hazard; workers must be trained so they can begin to apply controls to reduce the risk of injury.

3. Next, organizational knowledge must be shared.
Knowledge about how to mitigate a hazard isn't worth much if it is not shared. And by sharing the information, learning can take place. Knowledge can be shared in a variety of ways in an organization: formal training courses, college classes, on-the-job training, observation, and personal development. Regardless of the method, learning is a progression of steps that can be applied by individuals and organizations.

4. The Progression of Learning
Progression means that there are steps that lead to a result. Simply put, if you do "A" then "B" then "C" you can expect "D". In the learning model, the progress begins with rote learning, then understanding, then application. The result is correlation.

Rote learning is the ability to repeat a learned knowledge or skill without a great deal of understanding.

Employees might be able to quote a safety rule found in a company's safety manual. In some cases they may be able to demonstrate an action to be safe such as, wearing a hard hat, safety glasses and ear plugs without knowing why they are doing it. Certainly we hope to observe employees carrying out this activity that leads to injury prevention, yet to stop at that point would simply be compliance. In other words, the individual performs this action only when and as the rules requires. If we can help the person to understand why they are doing it, the learning process begins to progress.

Understanding means that the individual or organization as a whole comprehends or grasps the reason for performing a required activity. Many organizations improve employee safety compliance by using the experiences of someone who has been injured on a job. Although this is effective because it increases awareness and motivates employees, it does little to increase understanding. Understanding begins to happen once employees are taught why, when and how to apply the safety activity to reduce the risk of injury.

Application is the ability to put into operation something learned and understood. The crucial component is that the appropriate knowledge must be applied consistently. By understanding the fundamentals of safety and then understanding how and when to make application of appropriate controls the connection, or correlation, can be made.

This correlation of appropriately applying knowledge to achieve is critical to moving an organization to continually create an injury-free workplace. The ability to recognize a hazard and then apply the control (safety rule) to other instances where the same rule or control will mitigate risk of injury is correlation. This progressive process of learning safety is the responsibility of the organization. Most organizations attempt to help workers apply the learning process in weekly, monthly, and, in some cases, an annual safety meetings.

5. Create Effective Learning Opportunities
Consider the effectiveness of the learning opportunities in your organization. Are you going beyond simply having employees read from the safety manual during the weekly or monthly meeting? Most employees will tell you, if you ask them, that this is a frustrating and annoying practice that makes them nervous and uncomfortable. Just reading a rule fails to complete the full learning process. The safety learning process must be designed to create the desired objective through specific steps that can be measured and then observed to insure the process is effective. Learning can take place when employees learn to recognize hazards, how to control them, and then create shared appropriate knowledge that can be applied.

Imagine a workplace where employees know the safety rule, understand why the rule exists, can apply the rule directly, and can also apply it to other hazards where it can effectively prevent injury. This is the foundation of a workplace where employees can take responsibility for safety, so that they and their co-workers can go home every day without injury. When the organization commits to develop a progressive learning process, the result will be the ultimate goal: Nobody Gets Hurt.

© 2011 Potter and Associates International. Carl Potter, CSP conducts his customized Hazard Recognition and Control Workshop at company locations that include the progressive learning model. Contact him at 800.259.6209 to learn more. You may also want to gain access to Carl's work by obtaining a membership to the Simply Seamless Safety® Institute at www.safetyinsititute.com. Members have access to the Safety Education Resource Center (SERC) where articles, videos and Vol.1 of 52 Weeks of Safety are located and license is granted to use this material to educate employees in creating an injury-free workplace. Click here for individual membership.

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